The Italian Game: How to Play Chess's Oldest Opening

The Italian Game begins with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4. White develops a knight toward the center, then points the bishop straight at f7 — the weakest square in Black's camp, defended only by the king. It is simple, fast, and dangerous, which is exactly why people have been winning with it for more than four hundred years.

This guide covers the two main branches — the Giuoco Piano and the Two Knights Defense — the plans behind them, and the fastest way to make the whole opening stick.

What is the Italian Game?

The Italian Game is one of the oldest recorded openings in chess. Italian masters like Gioachino Greco were analyzing it in the early 1600s, and Greco's attacking games against f7 still look like modern miniatures.

The defining move is 3.Bc4. Where the Ruy Lopez pressures the c6-knight that guards e5 with 3.Bb5, the Italian puts the bishop on its most aggressive diagonal. From c4 it rakes the a2-g8 diagonal, hits f7, eyes the central d5 and e6 squares, and clears the way for White to castle immediately.

Black has two main replies, and they lead to completely different games.

The Giuoco Piano: the classical main line

With 3...Bc5 Black mirrors White and claims the same kind of diagonal. This is the Giuoco Piano — Italian for "quiet game" — although the classical treatment is anything but.

White's classical plan is 4.c3, preparing to build a full pawn center with d4. The main line runs 4...Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+: White gets the big center and open lines, Black gets active pieces and an annoying check. These positions are sharp, concrete, and a great education in how a pawn center trades off against piece activity.

White can even throw in 4.b4, the Evans Gambit, sacrificing a pawn to build that same center with extra speed.

The Giuoco Pianissimo: how top players handle it today

Modern grandmasters usually prefer the restrained 4.d3, often combined with c3 — the Giuoco Pianissimo, or "very quiet game." White protects e4, castles short, and maneuvers patiently, saving the d4 break for the moment everything is ready.

Don't let the name fool you. This is a main weapon at the absolute top of chess today, precisely because the slow buildup keeps every piece on the board and lets the better-prepared player grind out wins.

That is great news for you. The opening you learn as a beginner scales all the way up — you never have to throw the Italian away and start over.

The Two Knights Defense: Fried Liver and Traxler

Black's sharper reply is 3...Nf6, the Two Knights Defense. Instead of defending f7, Black develops with tempo and counterattacks e4. White's most aggressive response is 4.Ng5, ganging up on f7 with knight and bishop.

Black is practically forced to block the diagonal with 4...d5. After 5.exd5, recapturing with 5...Nxd5 walks straight into the Fried Liver Attack: 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Qf3+, and Black's king is dragged into the open on move seven. Defending that position over the board is miserable, and in practice almost nobody survives it. The safer main line is 5...Na5, kicking the bishop and giving up a pawn for active play instead.

Black's wildest option comes a move earlier. The Traxler Counterattack, 4...Bc5, flat-out ignores the threat to f7. If White grabs f7 with 5.Nxf7, forking queen and rook, Black answers 5...Bxf2+ and both kings come under fire at once. If you play the Italian as White, you don't need to fear the Traxler — but you absolutely need to know it exists.

Why the Italian Game is the perfect first opening

Every Italian move follows the classical rules you're told to learn: knights before bishops, fight for the center, castle fast. White can castle as early as move four, and even in the sharp main lines the king reaches safety quickly. If you want to see why those rules exist, the Italian is the cleanest demonstration in chess — it is opening principles turned into a repertoire.

The plans are just as clear. You are always doing one of three things: pressuring f7, preparing the c3-and-d4 central break, or building slowly with d3 while improving your pieces. Even when you run out of theory, you know what your position wants.

Learn the Italian Game first: it teaches the principles every other opening assumes you already know.

That is why it sits near the top of nearly every list of the best chess openings for beginners — and why it suits anyone who likes open positions, fast development, and real attacking chances without twenty moves of forced theory.

How to actually learn it

Reading about the Italian is not the same as playing it. The Giuoco Piano, the Pianissimo, and the 4.Ng5 lines are easy to mix up at the board, and mixing them up against something like the Traxler can lose the game on the spot. You need the moves in your hands, not just your head.

Start with the Italian Game course on GoWinChess. You learn each main line on an interactive board with the ideas explained as you go, then drill it from memory — no move list in front of you, just you recalling the line against the trainer.

The drills return on a schedule built on spaced repetition: lines you know cold appear rarely, lines you fumble keep coming back until you don't. That schedule is the difference between "I read about the Fried Liver once" and confidently playing 6.Nxf7 when it appears in a real game — most players forget their openings precisely because they never drill them.

Learn the Giuoco Piano lines first, add the 4.Ng5 attack against the Two Knights, and drill ten minutes a day. Within a few weeks the first eight to ten moves of chess's oldest opening will be automatic — and you can spend your clock time winning the middlegame instead.