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Two Knights Defense

Italian Game

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6

Black develops the knight instead of the bishop, allowing sharper, more aggressive lines for both sides.

Fun fact: Siegbert Tarrasch, a leading master of the early 20th century, called White's 4.Ng5 "a duffer's move", yet it is objectively one of White's best tries. Source

Practice this line

The idea

Instead of mirroring White with ...Bc5, Black develops the king's knight and attacks the e4 pawn straight away. It is more combative than the Giuoco Piano, and it hands White an important choice on the very next move.

Plans for White

The most aggressive answer is 4.Ng5, attacking f7 with knight and bishop together. Black almost always replies 4...d5, and after 5.exd5 White wins a pawn, though Black gets active play for it.

White can also avoid the tactics with 4.d3, defending e4 and keeping a slow, maneuvering game, or play 4.d4 to open the center.

Plans for Black

Against 4.Ng5, block the bishop with 4...d5. After 5.exd5, the main line is 5...Na5, which gives up a pawn for quick development and attacking chances.

Against the quiet 4.d3, develop naturally with ...Be7 or ...Bc5, castle, and prepare ...d5.

Watch out for

After 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5, the natural-looking 5...Nxd5 allows White's Fried Liver Attack (6.Nxf7) and the Lolli Attack (6.d4). Both give White a dangerous attack against Black's king.

Black also has the wild Traxler Variation, 4...Bc5, which ignores the threat to f7 and counterattacks f2. It is outside this course, but it shows how sharp the position after 4.Ng5 is.

Lines from here