Chess openings: Two Knights (C59)

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Two Knights (C59)
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 Ng5 d5 5 exd5 Na5 6 Bb5+ c6
7 dxc6 bxc6 8 Be2 h6

Number of games in database: 802
Years covered: 1855 to 2025
Overall record:
   White wins 36.5%
   Black wins 38.5%
   Draws 24.9%

Popularity graph, by decade

Explore this opening | Search for sacrifices in this opening.

PRACTITIONERS

With the White Pieces

With the Black Pieces

Yakov Estrin		12 games
Enrico Paoli		9 games
Karoly Honfi		9 games

Mikhail Chigorin		9 games
Efim Geller		8 games
Yuri Kruppa		7 games

NOTABLE GAMES [what is this?]

White Wins

Black Wins

Fischer vs A Bisguier, 1963

A Becker vs Vidmar, 1929

Bronstein vs Smyslov, 1952

Fomenko vs L Radchenko, 1967

L Belov vs R Nezhmetdinov, 1961

A Robbins vs Showalter, 1890

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page 1 of 33; games 1-25 of 802

Game		Result	Moves	Year	Event/Locale	Opening
1. Harrwitz vs Zytogorski		0-1	24	1855	Casual game	C59 Two Knights
2. S Leow vs R Franz		0-1	45	1856	Berlin Chess Society Tournament	C59 Two Knights
3. Anderssen vs B Suhle		0-1	25	1859	Breslau	C59 Two Knights
4. Anderssen vs de Riviere		1-0	62	1860	Paris	C59 Two Knights
5. NN vs Steinitz		0-1	24	1860	Casual game	C59 Two Knights
6. Speyer vs V Knorre		0-1	36	1860	Mykolaiv	C59 Two Knights
7. Anderssen vs NN		1-0	28	1862	Breslau	C59 Two Knights
8. Hirschfeld vs Kolisch		1-0	43	1864	Paris	C59 Two Knights
9. Hirschfeld vs Kolisch		0-1	36	1864	Parijs m	C59 Two Knights
10. Anderssen vs G Neumann		1-0	36	1866	Berlin	C59 Two Knights
11. Anderssen vs G Neumann		0-1	41	1866	Berlin	C59 Two Knights
12. De Vere / Ranken vs Staunton		0-1	24	1866	Consultation game	C59 Two Knights
13. G Neumann vs S Rosenthal		½-½	41	1867	Neumann - Rosenthal	C59 Two Knights
14. G Neumann vs de Riviere		1-0	22	1867	Paris	C59 Two Knights
15. E Schallopp vs von Reibnitz		0-1	37	1868	Blindfold simul	C59 Two Knights
16. Zukertort vs Gossip		1-0	30	1872	BCA Grand International, London	C59 Two Knights
17. Zukertort vs J Jenkins		1-0	28	1873	Simul	C59 Two Knights
18. E Alberoni vs Bird		0-1	22	1875	Alberoni - Bird Casual Series	C59 Two Knights
19. Chigorin vs M Beskrovny		1-0	40	1877	St. Petersburg	C59 Two Knights
20. A Wurm vs I Orchard		0-1	18	1877	Orchard - Wurm	C59 Two Knights
21. Anderssen vs E Schallopp		0-1	58	1877	Offhand	C59 Two Knights
22. Chigorin vs E von Schmidt		1-0	27	1879	Petersburg (Match)	C59 Two Knights
23. J Grundy vs D Starbuck		0-1	26	1879	Casual game	C59 Two Knights
24. N Petrovsky vs Alapin		0-1	38	1879	St. Petersburg	C59 Two Knights
25. V Lizel vs N Petrovsky		0-1	30	1879	St. Petersburg	C59 Two Knights


page 1 of 33; games 1-25 of 802

REFINE SEARCH: White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)

Nov-15-05		Averageguy: First! Here is an interesting miniature I played as black in this line. The game went 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.ed Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dc bc 8.Be2 h6 9.Nf3 e4 10.Ne5 Bd6 11.Nc4 Nxc4 12.Bxc4 0-0 13.0-0 Bxh2+ 14.Kxh2 Ng4+ 15.Kg1 Qh4 16.Re1 (I now have a forced mate.) 16...Qxf2+ 17.Kh1 Qh4+ 18.Kg1 Qh2+ 19.Kf1 Qh1+ 20.Ke2 Qxg2# Any comments would be appreciated.

Nov-15-05		TheAlchemist: Second! :-) <Averageguy> Very nice! I once had a similar possibility of Bxh2 in one of my games (in the Ulvestad variation), but didn't see it. I still went on to win the game, luckily. I suppose White should have played 15.Kg3, though, he would at least have lasted longer. Good job!

Jan-04-06		Benonione: Nice game. Of course 11.Nxc4? and 13.0-0? were very bad moves by white. If white plays normally it's not so easy, but black still has compensation for the pawn.

Feb-15-06		notyetagm: The C59 V Malakhatko vs G Timoshenko, 2003 ends in the brilliant 23 ... ♕xf3!!, forcing White to give up his queen to avoid a Blackburne mate. This is a model game in playing the Black side of the Two Knights Defense. In fact, in Jan Pinski's book on this opening, this game is the very first one in the chapter on the main line 4 ♘g5 d5 5 exd5 ♘a5.

Apr-15-10		rapidcitychess: I wrote a tad about this in the C57 page. Enjoy!

Feb-28-11		LDJ: In the main line of the Two Knights (from the diagram position: 9.Nf3 e4 10.Ne5 Bd6), what is the difference in play between <11.f4 exf3 e.p. 12.Nxf3> and <11.d4 exd3 e.p. 12.Nxd3>? Are there clear differences in plans or playing styles? Is one of those lines considered superior to the other?

Feb-28-11		tpstar: 9. Nf3 e4 10. Ne5 Opening Explorer 10 ... Bd6 Opening Explorer 11. f4 exf3 12. Nxf3 Opening Explorer 11. d4 exd3 12. Nxd3 Opening Explorer <LDJ> I used to play 10 ... Bd6 until a few years ago when one of my games was published in the state magazine, and an annotator said I should have known how 10 ... Bc5 is theoretically much better than 10 ... Bd6. However I haven't played amy games in that line since then. The idea is 10 ... Bc5 (intending 11 ... Bxf2+! 12. Kxf2 Qe5+) 11. 0-0 Qd6 pointing at h2 Opening Explorer . After 11. f4, one of my pet lines was 11 ... 0-0 12. 0-0 Bxe5 13. fxe5 Qd4+ regaining the Pawn, although this doesn't score well in the database Opening Explorer . After 11. d4, Black typically plays ... Qc7 followed by ... Rfd8 & ... Rab8. There are Chess Cafe articles claiming that 13. b3 & 14. Bb2 is an effective line for White, making good use of the QB while clutching the extra Pawn for the endgame Opening Explorer .

Sep-10-24		offramp: One of the oddest moves in the chess openings: 4. Ng5.

Sep-10-24		plang: Couldn't one argue that Black allowing that type of attack on f7 is just as odd?

Sep-10-24		offramp: Yeah it's weird. They know it'll go NOWHERE. Often the knight goes to h3. The bishop goes Bf1-b5-f1, sometimes. But it's the knight movements that are so ... Wonderful. That's what makes this opening so chessy.

Sep-10-24		Sally Simpson: 4. Ng5. wins a pawn in the mainlines. It's a hot pawn but theory says it can be taken. 4...Bc5 is fun and heavily analysed, so much so I never played 4.Ng5 in case I faced it. I saved myself many hours of memorising it's theory. I went 4.d4 exd4 and 5.Ng5 instead. That too can be fun.

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