Italian Game by rating
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4
The Italian Game is the first real opening most players are taught, and it stays playable at every level. What the numbers show is a position with two genuinely close moves rather than one right answer: Stockfish prefers Nf6 at -0.21, Bc5 costs a hundredth of a pawn, and human play splits between them all the way up the ladder.
How often each rating finds the engine move
Findability barely moves from 1000 to 2200 because there is almost nothing to find. Both leading moves are correct.
The position after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4
This is where the opening actually starts asking a question. 31 moves are legal; Stockfish scores every one of them at depth 20.
Stockfish plays Nf6 at -0.21. Its next two choices are Bc5 (-0.22) and d6 (-0.48).
| Rating | Most likely human move | Finds Nf6 | Cost in pawns |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1000 | Nf6-0.21 | 37% | same move |
| 1200 | Nf6-0.21 | 33% | same move |
| 1400 | Bc5-0.22 | 30% | 0.01 |
| 1600 | Bc5-0.22 | 29% | 0.01 |
| 1800 | Bc5-0.22 | 29% | 0.01 |
| 2000 | Bc5-0.22 | 34% | 0.01 |
| 2200 | Bc5-0.22 | 43% | 0.01 |
Two plies deeper
Following the most popular human continuation at 1400: Bc5 (31%), then d3 (26%).
Stockfish plays d6 at -0.26. Its next two choices are a6 (-0.27) and Nf6 (-0.29).
| Rating | Most likely human move | Finds d6 | Cost in pawns |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1000 | Nf6-0.29 | 26% | 0.03 |
| 1200 | Nf6-0.29 | 24% | 0.03 |
| 1400 | Nf6-0.29 | 25% | 0.03 |
| 1600 | Nf6-0.29 | 28% | 0.03 |
| 1800 | Nf6-0.29 | 33% | 0.03 |
| 2000 | Nf6-0.29 | 36% | 0.03 |
| 2200 | Nf6-0.29 | 31% | 0.03 |
See this for your own games
Chessdrive runs the same two engines on your phone. It shows the move you should have found at your rating, not just the move a 3500-rated engine would have played.
How these numbers were produced
Stockfish 18 by the Stockfish developers (see AUTHORS file) at depth 20, with MultiPV set to the exact legal move count of each position so no move is left unscored, and Maia3, chessformer, human move prediction, 5m (bundled with maia3-js, UofTCSSLab/Maia3-5M, about 5M parameters) for the human move distribution. Run on 2026-08-29 over 28 positions across 7 rating bands. Findability is Maia3's probability for Stockfish's top move; it is not a claim about win rate.