Italian Game: Classical Variation
C54 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6
White scores 53.9% here across 1,279 club games — but the 3.5% who answer b4 score 46.7%, 7 points worse.
What White actually plays here
Across 1,279 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, White scores 53.9% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.
| Reply | Games | Share | White scores | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| d4 | 681 | 53.2% | 55.2% | holds up |
| d3 | 379 | 29.6% | 54.4% | holds up |
| O-O | 108 | 8.4% | 56.5% | holds up |
| b4 | 45 | 3.5% | 46.7% | below the line |
| Ng5 | 37 | 2.9% | 31.1% | below the line |
"Below the line" means the reply scores at least three points worse than the position does overall. Replies played fewer than 25 times are left out: the sample is too small to read.
Is this costing you anything?
A table of averages cannot tell you whether you go wrong here — only your own games can. Opening Leak Lab reads your Chess.com or Lichess archive, finds the decisions you repeat, and checks each one against this book and a bundled Stockfish.