Openings · C50–C54

Italian Game

The oldest opening in the book: the bishop comes to c4 and looks straight at f7.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4played as White

The idea

f7 is the one square in the starting position that only the king defends, and 3.Bc4 points at it from move three. That is the whole of the opening's reputation, and almost none of its modern practice.

What strong players actually play is slow: d3, c3, a knight from b1 to d2 to f1 to g3, and the d4 break saved until it is properly prepared. The older Giuoco Piano plays c3 and d4 at once and leads to sharper, more forcing chess. Both are the Italian; the difference is whether the centre is opened before or after the pieces are ready.

Practise the line

You play White; the other side answers on its own. Nothing here is saved or graded.

Your move 1 of 30/3

1.e4e5
2.Nf3Nc6
3.Bc4

Your move. Drag a piece, or tap it and then its square.

Common mistakes

Three that come up again and again below master level. Each is ordinary opening theory — a named trap, or the error every coach corrects — not a statistic, and not drawn from anybody's games.

Blocking the check with the knight

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 Nxe4

The mistake: Meeting the check on b4 with 7.Nc3, as though it were a developing move that happens to block.
Why it costs: It is not a developing move, it is a gambit. 7…Nxe4 takes the pawn and hits the knight, and the compensation only exists for someone who already knows 8.O-O Bxc3 9.d5 — the Greco Attack. Reached by accident, it is a pawn for nothing.
Instead: 7.Bd2, which blocks and defends at the same time, and leaves an ordinary position where White is a little more comfortable.

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Nxe5 Qg5

The mistake: Taking the free pawn on e5 after Black's odd-looking 3…Nd4.
Why it costs: 4…Qg5 forks the knight on e5 and the g2 pawn. The line that catches people is 5.Nxf7 Qxg2 6.Rf1 Qxe4+ 7.Be2 Nf3 mate — White is mated on move seven, having won two pawns.
Instead: 4.Nxd4 exd4 5.O-O, or 4.c3 straight away. Black has moved the same knight twice for nothing and White is simply better.

Expecting the Fried Liver

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5

The mistake: Playing 4.Ng5 in the belief that it wins a pawn or forces the Fried Liver.
Why it costs: The Fried Liver only happens if Black recaptures with 5…Nxd5. Against 5…Na5 the bishop is hit at once, Black gives the pawn back for fast development, and White has to know the follow-up rather than hope for it.
Instead: Play 4.Ng5 by all means, but with 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Be2 already decided on — a pawn up, awkward to hold, and a long game.

Where it fits

The lines out of it with pages of their own: Italian Game, Giuoco Piano and Two Knights Defence.

Try it on one of your own

The board above is for the line itself; this is for a game you played. Paste a game in this opening, or pull one from chess.com, and every move is graded against what the engine would have played. Open the board, read how the grading works, or go back to the other openings.