The Italian Game
Three natural moves - pawn to the centre, knight at the pawn, bishop at the weakest square on the board - and you have chess's classical first opening. Step through it below, then play it yourself.
Last updated
- First moves
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4
- ECO
- C50
- Best for
- White
- Style
- Balanced
- Theory
- Light
- Level
- Beginner
The Italian Game starts 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4, and the third move is the one that names it: the bishop takes the longest diagonal it will ever get, and at the end of that diagonal stands f7 - the only square in Black's camp that nothing defends except the king itself.
Every White move in this opening can be explained to a five-year-old, which is exactly why it has been played for five hundred years: a pawn to the centre, a knight at the pawn that answered, a bishop at the soft spot. There is no memorised trick anywhere in it - just principles wearing their own clothes.
Here is the modern main line. Step through it, and read what each move is for.
The main line
The Italian Game's modern main line - the Giuoco Pianissimo. Step through all twelve moves.
Watching it is not knowing it. Play White's six moves yourself - the board answers with Black's main-line replies, and if you stray, it shows you what the stray runs into.
You are White. Play the Italian's main line from memory: centre pawn, knight, bishop, c3, d3, castle.
The classical centre: c3 and d4
The Pianissimo above keeps the centre modest with d3. The older main line cashes c3 in immediately - and it shows exactly what that little pawn move was for.
The Giuoco Piano's classical centre: c3 prepares d4, and the recapture rebuilds a full pawn pair.
If Black plays 3...Nf6: the Two Knights
Half your opponents will not play 3...Bc5. The knight move looks identical in spirit - develop, hit e4 - but it allows White the most famous attacking sequence in beginner chess, and if you play the Italian you must know it from both sides.
The Two Knights Defense and the Fried Liver Attack - what happens when f7 is attacked twice and defended once.
The trap you must not fall for
The Italian has famous traps for White to set, but the one that actually decides games at club level is set against you. After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4, some opponents play 3...Nd4 - the Blackburne Shilling Gambit. It looks like a blunder: the knight moved twice, abandoned e5, and can be taken. Nothing about it is a blunder except taking the bait.
You are White. Find the move that keeps the advantage.
Black just played 3...Nd4, leaving the e5-pawn hanging. One capture wins a piece for nothing. The other loses the game. Choose.
The plans, for both sides
An opening is not its moves but its plans - what you do on move eight when the book runs out.
White's plans. In the Pianissimo: the b1-knight travels d2-f1-g3 (the same regrouping the Ruy Lopez uses), the c1-bishop finds e3 or g5, and the d4 break is played when it wins the centre rather than just opens it. The a2-a4 advance grabs space on the wing where Black's bishop no longer watches. In the classical line with d4: push the centre, open files, and use the lead in development before Black finishes untangling.
Black's plans. Mirror the regrouping - the f6-knight can reroute via h5 or d7 toward f4 - or strike first with d5 in one go. The c5-bishop drops back to b6 or a7 before c3 and d4 can trap it. And permanently: watch f7 until castled, and watch it again when White's queen or knight comes near g5.
The tactical patterns that decide these middlegames are the ones every Italian player meets: the fork on the loose pieces Black leaves while untangling, the pin of the f6-knight against the queen, and the early-queen raids that the Scholar's Mate page teaches you to punish.
The Italian's own family is one click away: the Evans Gambit is this exact position with 4.b4 played instead of a quiet move, and the same first two moves lead to the Ruy Lopez with 3.Bb5 and the Scotch Game with 3.d4.
Try it
Move three. Play the move that makes this the Italian Game.
The Italian is the opening where chess principles and concrete moves are the same thing - which makes it the best possible place to start playing whole games. The lessons take it from here: openings into middlegames, middlegames into the endings they become.
Common questions
- What is the Italian Game in chess?
- The opening 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4. White develops the king's knight at Black's e5-pawn, then puts the bishop on c4, where it points at f7 - the one square only Black's king defends. It is one of the oldest recorded openings, played and analysed since the 16th century, and it is still a main weapon at every level from first games to world championship matches.
- Is the Italian Game good for beginners?
- It is probably the best first opening there is. Every move develops a piece toward the centre, castling comes early, and the plans are visible on the board rather than hidden in theory: pressure f7, support the centre with c3 and d3 or d4, and put the rooks on the open files. You learn opening principles by playing an opening that is made of them.
- What is the difference between the Italian Game and the Giuoco Piano?
- The Giuoco Piano - Italian for 'quiet game' - is the Italian Game where Black answers 3...Bc5, mirroring the bishop development. So every Giuoco Piano is an Italian Game, but not the other way round: after 3...Nf6 the same opening becomes the Two Knights Defense, which is anything but quiet.
- What if Black plays 3...Nf6 instead of 3...Bc5?
- That is the Two Knights Defense, and it changes the game's character at once: 4.Ng5 attacks f7 a second time, and Black cannot defend it with a developing move. The safest reply, 4...d5, gives back the tension; taking on d5 with the knight walks into the Fried Liver Attack, where White sacrifices on f7 and drags the king into the open. If you play the Italian as White, this is the line you must know before your opponents do.
- How do you play against the Italian Game?
- The classical answer is 3...Bc5, developing the bishop to its most active diagonal and keeping the position balanced - the plans are the same as White's, one move behind. The sharper answer is 3...Nf6, hitting e4 immediately and inviting the Two Knights complications. What does not work is ignoring f7: Black has to notice which of White's pieces are looking at it before playing anything slow.
- Is the Evans Gambit part of the Italian Game?
- Yes. After 3...Bc5 White can play 4.b4, offering a pawn to drag the bishop off its diagonal and build a big centre with tempo - that is the Evans Gambit, a 19th-century favourite that still scores well. It shares the Italian's first three moves and its target: everything White gets for the pawn points at f7 and the centre.
Ideas this opening runs on:
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