Italian Giuoco Piano: Win Rate by Lichess Rating

Italian Game: Giuoco Piano · 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 · CC0 name list

At 1500–1799 (Lichess rating), Black scored 48.6% in 21,984 Italian Game: Giuoco Piano games (±0.6; games from Oct 2025–Sep 2026).

Black won 46.7% of them, White won 49.6%, and 3.7% were drawn.

Black scores below 50% at this level (outside the margin)

In games from Oct 2025–Sep 2026, Black scored 48.6% (±0.6) with the Italian Game: Giuoco Piano in sampled Lichess games at the 1500–1799 Lichess rating level (21,984 games). Observed results, not causation.

Data period: games from 1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026 (sample of the Lichess open database) · Page updated: 9 Oct 2026

49.5%

Black's score at Lichess ratings under 1200 · 11,627 games, Oct 2025–Sep 2026 sample

Black scores 49.5% under 1200 and 47.5% at 1800–2099.

Position after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5. 70,262 games in this sample reached it — 6,514 of them by a different move order.

At a glance

In this sample, White's score ranged from 50.5% (Under 1200) to 52.5% (1800–2099).
Treat this spread with caution: the margins are approximate (see How it works).
It appeared most often in the 1200–1499 group (1.6% of that group's games).
Draws were most common in the 2100+ group (8.3%).

These are observed results for the selected games (rated, players within 200 rating points of each other). They describe what happened — they do not prove the opening caused the result.

Results by Lichess rating level

Each row shows how the Italian Game: Giuoco Piano games at one rating level ended: White wins, draws and Black wins, across all time controls combined. Rating level is the average Lichess rating of both players.

White won drawn Black won. Italian Game: Giuoco Piano — results by Lichess rating level, all time controls combined (minimum 300 games per row).

Under 120011,627 gamesIn the headline

White wins 48.9% · draws 3.3% · Black wins 47.9% · White's score 50.5% ±0.9 · how common 1.4%
1200–149919,537 games

White wins 48.9% · draws 3.5% · Black wins 47.6% · White's score 50.7% ±0.7 · how common 1.6%
1500–179921,984 games

White wins 49.6% · draws 3.7% · Black wins 46.7% · White's score 51.4% ±0.6 · how common 1.4%
1800–209913,342 gamesCompared with

White wins 50.3% · draws 4.3% · Black wins 45.3% · White's score 52.5% ±0.8 · how common 1.0%
2100+3,772 games

White wins 46.9% · draws 8.3% · Black wins 44.8% · White's score 51.1% ±1.5 · how common 0.5%

"White's score" = wins + half of draws. "±" is an approximate 95% margin based only on the number of games. It does not cover sampling bias or related games (the same players appear many times), so real uncertainty is larger. "How common" = share of all sampled games at that level that reached this position. Ratings are Lichess ratings; they are not interchangeable with Chess.com or FIDE ratings.

Compare it with another choice from the same position, at the Lichess level and time control you choose: Compare in Find Your Opening (the comparison needs JavaScript)

Results by time control

Each row shows how the Italian Game: Giuoco Piano games ended in one Lichess time control, across all rating levels combined.

Italian Game: Giuoco Piano — results by time control, all rating levels combined (minimum 300 games per row)
Time control	Games	White wins	Draws	Black wins	White's score
Bullet	15,824	50.2%	3.1%	46.8%	51.7%
Blitz	35,428	49.3%	3.9%	46.8%	51.3%
Rapid	18,374	48.5%	4.5%	46.9%	50.8%
Classical	636	48.6%	7.1%	44.3%	52.1%

This table and the rating rows are separate summaries: rating levels are not split by time control here, and time controls are not split by rating. Observed results only; approximate uncertainty applies as above.

Most played replies for White at each level

Top replies with at least 150 games. "Score" is White's score after that reply (wins + half of draws). These comparisons alone can't show that one reply is reliably better — the margins are approximate and stronger or weaker players may prefer different replies.

Replies to 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 by Lichess rating level, all time controls combined
Rating level	Reply · share · games · score
Under 1200	4.d3 ·27.9% · 3,236 · 49.4% ±1.7 4.O-O ·21.3% · 2,477 · 50.2% ±1.9 4.c3 ·17.9% · 2,080 · 56.1% ±2.1
1200–1499	4.d3 ·25.5% · 4,982 · 49.7% ±1.4 4.c3 ·24.5% · 4,790 · 52.6% ±1.4 4.O-O ·19.3% · 3,766 · 50.4% ±1.6
1500–1799	4.c3 ·28.9% · 6,347 · 54.0% ±1.2 4.d3 ·21.0% · 4,615 · 50.1% ±1.4 4.O-O ·20.7% · 4,542 · 49.7% ±1.4
1800–2099	4.c3 ·33.3% · 4,439 · 53.3% ±1.4 4.O-O ·24.8% · 3,309 · 51.6% ±1.7 4.d3 ·16.5% · 2,195 · 51.3% ±2.0
2100+	4.c3 ·35.1% · 1,325 · 53.5% ±2.6 4.O-O ·23.5% · 886 · 49.8% ±3.1 4.d3 ·17.3% · 652 · 48.6% ±3.6

Up next: related positions with a page

Earlier position: Italian Game 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4
Deeper line: Evans Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4
Related line: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 (Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Traxler Counterattack)
Related line: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 (King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation)
Related line: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 (Philidor Defense)

Other choices from the same position for Black: each one's own level and score, as on its page
Opening	Lichess rating level	Games	Black's score
vs Italian Game: Two Knights Defense 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6	1500–1799	22,112	47.8% ±0.6

Each row is a separate page with its own games. A difference smaller than the two margins combined is no clear difference. Observed results, not causation.

Download these numbers: Italian Game: Giuoco Piano (CSV), released under CC0. For move-by-move exploration with your own filters, see the free Lichess opening explorer. This independent page lists each rating level and each time control in its own row for comparison.