About this opening
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Rubinstein Variation is an opening in the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings,
classified under code C56. ECO group C (C00–C99)
covers open games (1.e4 e5) and the French Defence, including the Ruy Lopez, Italian, Scotch and King's Gambit. This particular variation is reached
after 22 half-moves from the
starting position, with the move sequence 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Bc5 6. e5 d5 7. exf6 dxc4 8. Re1+ Be6 9. Ng5 Qd5 10. Nc3 Qf5 11. Nce4 Bf8.
It belongs to the Italian Game family.
Within that family this is a level-3 branch (the Two Knights Defense → Max Lange Attack → Rubinstein Variation line). The immediate parent line is Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, transitioned via 11…Bf8.
The opening sequence in prose form: 1.e4 e5, 2.Nf3 Nc6, 3.Bc4 Nf6, 4.d4 exd4, 5.O-O Bc5, 6.e5 d5. From this position the encyclopaedia records no further canonical continuations — practical play branches into unnamed transpositions or returns to the parent line for alternative ideas.
Use the interactive board above to walk through the moves position-by-position. Click any move in the navigation to step backwards, or use the keyboard arrow keys. For statistical data — how often master-level players have reached this position, White's win-rate, draw frequency, Black's score — see the panel in the right column.
Caissly's coverage of C56 extends through every named sub-variation in this line and across all four locales (English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian). Where editorial commentary exists for a specific variation it appears as the page body; otherwise the page presents the structural data, board, and statistics as shown here.