Italian Game: Evans Gambit, McDonnell Defense, Main Line

Italian Game: Evans Gambit, McDonnell Defense, Main Line is a gambit, classified under ECO code C51 within the Open Games family. As with all gambits, one side sacrifices material early — usually a pawn — in exchange for development, open lines, or initiative.

The Open Games group covers open games — classical 1.e4 e5 openings where both sides contest the centre directly with pawns.

It begins with 16 plies and takes 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Bc5 6. d4 exd4 7. O-O d6 8. cxd4 Bb6 to reach the canonical position.

It is a variation of Italian Game: Evans Gambit, McDonnell Defense, which itself descends from the root opening King's Pawn Game.

It branches into 3 notable variations — Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Göring Attack, Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Ulvestad Variation.

Together the deeper variations number 8 across the full subtree.

Step through the moves on the interactive board below, review the live Lichess statistics, or play this position against Stockfish at one of six difficulty levels.