1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxf7
The Fried Liver Attack is a line of the Two Knights Defense: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5? 6.Nxf7. White sacrifices the knight on f7 to pull the black king forward. After 6...Kxf7 7.Qf3+ Ke6 8.Nc3, the king stands on e6 in the middle of the board and White's pieces pour in.
The attack only happens because of Black's 5...Nxd5, a natural recapture that is a mistake. Black's best move is 5...Na5, which attacks the c4 bishop and leads to a respectable gambit for Black. So the Fried Liver is best seen as a trap White sets with 4.Ng5, not a forced win.
4.Ng5 breaks the rule of not moving a piece twice in the opening, and Siegbert Tarrasch famously called it a duffer's move. It is still one of the most practical attacking tries against the Two Knights Defense at club level.
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It punishes a natural mistake and leads to a fierce attack that is easy to learn. If Black finds the correct 5...Na5, White still gets a sound position in the Two Knights Defense.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Qf3+ Ke6 8.Nc3
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This is a tactical opening and the pawn structure matters less than piece activity. After 8.Nc3 Black is a knight for a pawn up, but the king stands on e6 with no pawn cover, and the d5 knight is pinned against it.
White's plan is to open the centre with d4. Once the e5 pawn is exchanged, the e-file opens and a rook on e1 joins the attack. Black wants to trade pieces, secure d5 with ...c6 and walk the king back to the kingside.
After 5...Na5 the picture changes completely. Black gives a pawn but gains time against the bishop, and after 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 Black has strong central pawns and quick development as compensation.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Be2 h6 9.Nf3 e4 10.Ne5 Bd6
Black gives up the pawn and attacks the bishop. The main line 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Be2 h6 9.Nf3 e4 10.Ne5 Bd6 gives Black good development and central space for the pawn. This is why 4.Ng5 is not a forced win.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.d4
Instead of sacrificing at once, White first opens the centre with 6.d4. After 6...exd4 7.O-O Be7 8.Nxf7 Kxf7 9.Qf3+ Ke6 10.Nc3, the attack is even stronger than in the Fried Liver because the e-file is open. Many players consider 6.d4 White's strongest reply to 5...Nxd5.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6.Kxf2 Nxe4+
Black ignores the threat to f7 and counter-attacks f2. After 5.Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6.Kxf2 Nxe4+, White's king is exposed too and the play is wild. Many players prefer 5.Bxf7+ Ke7 6.Bd5 (or 6.Bb3), keeping an extra pawn while Black's king has lost the right to castle. It is also called the Wilkes-Barre Variation.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nd4
Two more ways to avoid the Fried Liver. 5...Nd4 (the Fritz) and 5...b5 (the Ulvestad) lead to sharp, less explored positions. Both are playable surprise weapons, but less reliable than 5...Na5.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Qf3+ Kg8 8.Bxd5+ Qxd5 9.Qxd5+ Be6 10.Qxe6#
After 7.Qf3+, 7...Ke6 is Black's most stubborn defence. If the king runs back with 7...Kg8??, then 8.Bxd5+ leaves Black two options and both lose: 8...Be6 9.Bxe6# mates at once, and 8...Qxd5 9.Qxd5+ Be6 10.Qxe6# mates a move later.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Qf3+ Ke8 8.Bxd5
Retreating to e8 avoids mate, but White simply takes the knight on d5. White has won the piece back and is a pawn up, with the black king stuck in the centre and unable to castle.
The Fried Liver is one of the oldest attacking lines in chess. The 6.Nxf7 sacrifice was known to Italian players around 1600, and the line is also called the Fegatello, after an Italian liver dish.
The Lolli Attack is named after Giambattista Lolli, an 18th-century Italian master, and the Traxler after Karel Traxler, a Czech priest and chess problemist who played 4...Bc5 in 1890. In the United States the Traxler is known as the Wilkes-Barre Variation, after the Pennsylvania city where it was analysed in the 1930s.
Copy the position at the end of the main line, open the chess move calculator, paste it into the “Paste FEN” box under the board and press the FEN button next to it. Stockfish 19 then suggests a move for the side to play, at the strength set on the calculator's slider, and you can play on from there to test your own ideas.
r1bq1b1r/ppp3pp/2n1k3/3np3/2B5/2N2Q2/PPPP1PPP/R1B1K2R b KQ - 3 81. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. Nxf7 Kxf7 7. Qf3+ Ke6 8. Nc3For a move-by-move review of a whole game you played with this opening, use the chess analysis board.
Knowing the moves is not the same as playing them under pressure. Play chess against the computer with the white pieces and steer the game toward the Fried Liver Attack from move one, then sharpen the tactics that come out of it with chess puzzles.
Go deeper: Checkmate patterns to know · Chess tactics for beginners
Against 5...Nxd5, yes: White gets a very strong attack and engines prefer White. But Black does not have to allow it. After 5...Na5 there is no sacrifice, and the game becomes a normal Two Knights Defense in which Black has compensation for a pawn.
After 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5, play 5...Na5 instead of 5...Nxd5. You can also avoid the line altogether with 3...Bc5 (the Giuoco Piano), or counter-attack with the Traxler, 4...Bc5.
The English name is a loose translation of the line's old Italian name, Fegatello, which refers to a liver dish.
Both come after 5...Nxd5. In the Fried Liver, White sacrifices at once with 6.Nxf7. In the Lolli, White first plays 6.d4 to open the centre and sacrifices on f7 a few moves later. Many players consider the Lolli the stronger of the two.
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