The Italian Game for beginners

The Italian Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4) is one of the best openings for beginners to learn, from either side, because its plans are simple and its traps are well known. The key fact: White's bishop on c4 aims at f7, a pawn that only Black's king defends. In my 118 rapid games facing it as Black, I scored 42%.

Those games are mine (nacsol3 on Chess.com), played in 2024, when my rapid rating in these games ranged from 771 to 1148. One club player's results are not general statistics, but they show clearly which beginner mistakes the Italian punishes. This page looks at the opening from Black's chair, because that is where I met it.

What the Italian Game is

Chess.com's Italian Game page (checked as of November 2026) defines it as 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4, with the bishop targeting f7 through d5. When Black replies 3...Bc5, the opening is called the Giuoco Piano, which that page calls "the most popular variation of the Italian Game". White can then choose between:

• c3 and d4, building a big pawn centre quickly.
• d3, the slow Giuoco Pianissimo, which the same page describes as a more positional game with the centre kept closed.
• b4, the Evans Gambit, where White gives up a pawn to gain time for an attack.

The page also says the Italian is "very common among beginners" but is played at every level. That matches my experience: it was the opening I faced most often with 1...e5 in my first year.

My results against the Italian Game

Chess.com labelled 118 of my rapid games as Italian Game or Giuoco Piano. I had Black in all of them.

My average accuracy in these games was 73.9%. For comparison, my score with Black across all my rapid games is 45%. The most common start was 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 (68 games). Sixteen more began with the bishop first, 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6, which reaches the same position.

White's fourth move made a difference. These are the three most frequent ones in my games:

Against the slow d3 setup I broke even. Against c3, which prepares d4, and against early castling, I lost about twice as often as I won. Those are the more direct setups, and the table says I handled them badly.

Stockfish marked 111 of my moves in these games as opening blunders, close to one per game, plus 185 in the middlegame and 29 in the endgame. The opening was a real problem here.

Mistake 1: leaving f7 to the king alone

June 2024, against maelgastine (1014), with me at 988. After 4.c3 d6 5.O-O, I developed my king's knight to e7 instead of f6.

r . b q k . n r
p p p . . p p p
. . n p . . . .
. . b . p . . .
. . B . P . . .
. . P . . N . .
P P . P . P P P
R N B Q . R K .

The knight on e7 looks safe, but it does nothing to slow White down. Stockfish's top reply for White is the knight jump to g5, which attacks the pawn next to my king; that pawn has no defender except the king itself. With the bishop on c4 also aiming at f7, White hits it twice. The engine rates the position after my move as clearly better for White. After the knight to f6 instead, it is about equal, and the knight attacks White's e4 pawn.

The rule I took away: in the Italian, the knight usually belongs on f6. There it guards h7, puts pressure on e4 and lets you castle quickly, so a rook joins the defence of f7. I lost this game.

Mistake 2: missing the free piece after a sacrifice on f7

The f7 square also attracts sacrifices. October 2024, against joecanada83 (1016), with me at 1052. White took on f7 with the bishop, giving check, I took it with the king, and White's knight took my e5 pawn with check. Now I had to move the king or block.

r . b q . . n r
p p p p . k p p
. . n . . . . .
. . b . N . . .
. . . . P . . .
. . . . . . . .
P P P P . P P P
R N B Q K . . R

I didn't need to move the king at all. My knight on c6 could simply take the checking knight. Stockfish rates that capture as winning for Black. Its line has White's queen giving check and winning back one knight, but Black still ends up a bishop up for two pawns. After my king move instead, the engine rates the position as about equal, because White's knight takes on c6 and attacks my queen.

I won this game anyway, but the lesson is useful for beginners on both sides. Against a check, list all three answers: move the king, block, or capture the checking piece. And as White, a sacrifice on f7 only works when the follow-up is real.

How to meet the Italian Game as a beginner

1. Develop the king's knight to f6. It was the engine's choice in the first position above.
2. Count the defenders of f7. If the answer is "only the king", look for White's knight jump to g5 or a bishop sacrifice.
3. Castle early. Once your king is on g8 and a rook is on f8, f7 has a second defender.
4. Know the trick for your side too. In game 480 White's rook move allowed a bishop sacrifice on f2, the mirror image of the attack on f7, and I missed it.
5. Don't chase the bishop for nothing. In the Giuoco Piano Na5 game my knight chased White's bishop to b3, the engine kept suggesting I take it, and I played other plans instead.

The slow lines are where I did best. My win against a 1159 in the Giuoco Pianissimo shows calm development beating a higher-rated player.

Because so many of my losses were tactical, the guide to stopping hanging pieces is a good companion to this page. And in 2025 I stopped answering 1.e4 with 1...e5 and switched to the Pirc Defense, a very different way to meet the same first move.

How Chess Coach helps with the Italian Game

Chess Coach is a connector for Claude and ChatGPT that reviews finished Chess.com and Lichess games with Stockfish. The opening_report tool shows the openings you play or face with each colour and your score in each, so you can check whether the Italian is where you are losing points. With review_game you pick one of those games and get its key moments explained in plain words, with a red arrow for your move and a green arrow for the better one. Practice mode then lets you replay your own mistakes.

It only works on finished games, never games in progress. New accounts get 14 days of full access free, no card needed. Setup takes a few minutes: see how to connect Chess Coach.