Most common is 5.Na5, sacrificing a pawn for an active position. After the more common 4.d5 5.exd5, Black generally avoids 5.Nxd5 allowing 6.Nxf7, the Fegatello or Fried Liver Attack, or 6.d4, the Lolli Variation, both of which are difficult to defend under practical conditions.

If White attempts to exploit the weakness of Black's f7-pawn with 4.Ng5, Black may try the knife-edged Traxler/Wilkes-Barre Variation (4.Bc5 !?). Bronstein) have proposed it be renamed so. This is more in the nature of a counterattack, and some (e.g. Side lines are covered under C50.ģ.Nf6 is the more aggressive Two Knights Defense. The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings gives the Italian Game ten codes: C50–C54 for the Giuoco Piano, and C55–C59 for the Two Knights Defense. The term Italian Game is sometimes used interchangeably with Giuoco Piano, although the latter also refers particularly to play after 3.Bc5. It has been extensively analyzed for more than 300 years. The Italian Game is one of the oldest recorded chess openings it occurs in the Göttingen manuscript and was developed by players such as Damiano and Polerio in the 16th century, and later by Greco in 1620, who gave the game its main line. It is part of the large family of Open Games or Double King's Pawn Games. The opening is defined by the development of the white bishop to c4 (the so-called ' Italian bishop'), where it attacks Black's vulnerable f7-square. The Italian Game is a family of chess openings beginning with the moves:

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