603 games from Lichess · Updated January 2026
At all ratings, the Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Rubinstein Variation has a 49.9% expected score for Black (we're 90% confident it's between 46.5% and 53.2%), based on 603 Lichess games.
Deep-dive datasets for this opening
Improves with rating: 20% → 31%
Best in Classical (60%), worst in Blitz (46%)
Click any cell to filter. Green = above 50%, Red = below 50%.
| Rating | UB | Bulle | Blitz | Rapid | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-999 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1000-1199 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1200-1399 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1400-1599 | — | — | — | — | |
| 1600-1799 | — | — | |||
| 1800-1999 | — | — | |||
| 2000-2199 | — | ||||
| 2200-2499 | — | — | |||
| 2500+ | — | — | — |
Expected score matrix by rating bracket and time control
The Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Rubinstein Variation has a 48.2% (90% CI: 44.9%-51.6%) win rate for white, based on 603 rated games from Lichess.
The Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Rubinstein Variation performs best at 2200-2499 Elo with a 52.2% win rate for white (189 games). Win rate tends to decline at higher ratings as opponents know the theory better.
Blitz (49.8%) outperforms Bullet (47.7%) by 2.1%. Choose your time control wisely.
The Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Rubinstein Variation has a sharpness score of 96.1 (very decisive), meaning 96.1% of games end decisively. Average game length is 34 moves.
At 1800-1999 Elo, the Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Rubinstein Variation has a 45.8% (90% CI: 37.8%-54.0%) win rate for white, based on 100 Lichess games. Average game length is 32 moves with a 3.4% draw rate.
At 2000-2199 Elo, the Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Rubinstein Variation has a 45.7% (90% CI: 40.9%-50.6%) win rate for white, based on 286 Lichess games. Average game length is 33 moves with a 3.3% draw rate.
At 2200-2499 Elo, the Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Rubinstein Variation has a 52.2% (90% CI: 46.3%-58.2%) win rate for white, based on 189 Lichess games. Average game length is 37 moves with a 5.5% draw rate.
In Bullet games, the Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Rubinstein Variation has a 47.7% (90% CI: 41.3%-54.1%) win rate for white (161 Lichess games). Draw rate is 2.2%.
In Blitz games, the Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Rubinstein Variation has a 49.8% (90% CI: 45.7%-53.9%) win rate for white (401 Lichess games). Draw rate is 4.1%.
The Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Rubinstein Variation is slightly favors black with a 48.2% (90% CI: 44.9%-51.6%) win rate across all ratings. It performs best at 2200-2499 Elo. Your results depend on your rating, time control, and how well you know the typical plans.