Source Lichess
Black wins at least 3.7 more of every 100 games than it loses
how far wins run ahead of losses, 90% confident
At All Ratings, Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Suhle Defense keeps Black's wins running +3.7% ahead of its losses at worst, 90% confident, from 148K Lichess games. This gambit is playable but marginal. Win rate, draw rate and loss rate come from games played December 2023 to November 2025.
| Rating | Edge at worst | Black Win | Draw | Black Loss | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-999 | +4.3% | 54.2% | 1.5% | 44.3% | 824 |
| 1000-1199 | +5.0% | 52.9% | 2.0% | 45.1% | 3.5K |
| 1200-1399 | +4.9% | 52.1% | 2.5% | 45.5% | 9.7K |
| 1400-1599 | +5.8% | 51.9% | 3.2% | 44.9% | 21K |
| 1600-1799 | +1.9% | 49.7% | 3.5% | 46.8% | 34K |
| 1800-1999 | +0.6% | 48.8% | 3.8% | 47.4% | 40K |
| 2000-2199 | +3.1% | 49.9% | 4.2% | 45.8% | 26K |
| 2200-2499 | +5.5% | 51.0% | 5.0% | 44.0% | 12K |
| 2500+ | +7.0% | 51.5% | 8.9% | 39.5% | 1.1K |
The games never stop proving it. Black comes out ahead at every rating we can see.
Black wins 50.2% of Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Suhle Defense games, draws 3.7% and loses 46.1%. That rests on 148K games from Lichess.
2500+. There Black wins at least 7.0 more of every 100 games than it loses (90% confident), its highest Edge at worst.
Rapid. For Black, the Edge at worst — how far wins run ahead of losses, 90% confident — is +3.5% in Blitz (79K games) and +8.3% in Rapid (27K games).
Yes. The first rating where the games do not show Black coming out ahead is 0-999 in Bullet, 2500+ in Blitz, 0-999 in Rapid and 2000-2199 in Classical.
The Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Suhle Defense is extremely sharp: 3.7% of its games are drawn, so 96.3% end with a winner.
Play it. Black comes out ahead at every rating we can see.
This one is hard to meet at every level. As White, develop fast, castle early, trade pieces, and do not get greedy with the extra material. If sharp positions are not your game, decline it.
This rests on 148K games from Lichess. Every figure carries the range it is in, 90% confident, and the table above shows how many games sit behind each rating and each clock — the fewer there are, the wider that range.