Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Knight Attack, Normal Variation

Chess opening · ECO C57 · 8 half-moves

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

The Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Knight Attack, Normal Variation is reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5. It is White's move in the position shown.

It branches from the Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Knight Attack with 4… d5.

How often it is played

The Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Knight Attack, Normal Variation and its variations appeared in 0.31% of games — 9,395 of 3,000,000 rated games sampled from Lichess in September 2026. That makes it number 132 of the openings listed here.

Results

White won 51%, 3.1% were drawn and Black won 46%. These are games between players of every strength and time control, so they say how the opening does in practice rather than how sound it is.

What the engine thinks

Stockfish, at depth 18, evaluates the position at +0.17 — which is level. Positive numbers favour White; see reading the evaluation bar.

Similar openings

The most-played alternatives — what else could have been chosen around the move where this opening begins.

Main continuations

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