Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Knight Attack
C57 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5
Black scores 45.7% here across 2,701 club games — but the 3.4% who answer Qe7 score 35.2%, 11 points worse.
What Black actually plays here
Across 2,701 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, Black scores 45.7% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.
| Reply | Games | Share | Black scores | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| d5 | 1,994 | 73.8% | 46.5% | holds up |
| Bc5 | 314 | 11.6% | 49.7% | holds up |
| Nxe4 | 168 | 6.2% | 54.5% | holds up |
| Qe7 | 91 | 3.4% | 35.2% | below the line |
| h6 | 32 | 1.2% | 14.1% | below the line |
| d6 | 30 | 1.1% | 13.3% | 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.