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.

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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. 1…e5

    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. 2…b5

    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.

  5. 3.Bxb5

    Captures the pawn on b5 and changes the local pawn or piece balance.

    Idea: Remove an active defender and improve the moving piece’s influence.

  6. 3…c6

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

    Idea: Create useful wing space while keeping the central structure flexible.

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.

Openings from the same volume

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