Open games & French

Bishop's Opening

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4

The Bishop's Opening starts with 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 and is catalogued under ECO C23, in the open games & french half of the book. The catalog indexes 41 lines inside it, grouped into 40 named variations.

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h

Current setup

Move ideas

  1. 1.e4

    Claims the center with a pawn and opens lines for the queen and king’s bishop.

    Idea: Build quick development and make early castling possible.

  2. 1e5

    Meets White’s center directly and opens lines for Black’s queen and bishop.

    Idea: Fight for equal central space in a balanced, open position.

  3. 2.Bc4

    Develops the bishop to c4, bringing it into the game.

    Idea: Improve piece coordination and clear the back rank for castling and the rooks.

  4. 2Nf6

    Develops the knight to f6, bringing it into the game.

    Idea: Improve piece coordination and clear the back rank for castling and the rooks.

  5. 3.Nc3

    Develops the knight to c3, bringing it into the game.

    Idea: Improve piece coordination and clear the back rank for castling and the rooks.

  6. 3b5

    Advances the b-pawn to gain queenside space and control new squares.

    Idea: Prepare a fianchetto or discourage the opponent’s expansion on that wing.

Book continuations

Waiting for Lichess game popularity.

0 moves
This is the end of the indexed line.

Named variations

Each line below is an indexed entry under Bishop's Opening. Open one to load it on the board and keep exploring from that position.

16 more named lines sit inside this family — the tree above walks all of them.

ECO groups openings by the structures they lead to, so these families tend to share plans with the Bishop's Opening.