Bishop C4

What is it about moving the bishop to c4 that makes games more drawish? Even when not playing the Italian game, but using some sort of king pawn opening, I've noticed the games tend to be more drawish with Bc4. Fritz confirms this with its opening book move stats. E2 and B5 are almost always more popular and have a higher win percentage. Thoughts?

That's an interesting observation.

I notice that when playing white in the Sicilian many beginners (like myself) like to play 1. e4 c5 2. Bc4, or 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 4. Bc4. I know we're not getting that out of any book.

I've researched that a bit with my computer because I see it so often; also Rogozenko has a part of a chapter on the second one in his book Anti-Sicilians.

In that case, it seems that the problem is that f7 is not really at risk, because black can play ...e6 anytime, so the bishop on c4 doesn't actually accomplish much; while it often loses a tempi being chased around when black plays ... d5.

But I doubt that Fritz is considering patzer games like these in its stats!

I think the d5 thrust is what makes Bc4 drawish. It enables black to gain a strong center and wins a tempo from white, whereas white's development is usually premature and cannot easily take advantage of the f7 weakness if black plays accordingly. Hence, most lines that attack with Bc4 usually seem to be gambit lines, like the scotch gambit, in which white aims to gain enough tempos to make use of the attack on f7, but at the cost of material.

This is of course a 1600 USCF player's speculation, and not the analysis of a grandmaster, so take these words with a grain of salt.

-Waffles

I strongly disagree that the Italian Game is drawish.  If anything, it gives white most of the chances of winning compared to black who has to fight for counterplay and equality.  I have played this opening for many years and it has remained one of my finest weapons.

The Italian Game, I think, brings at most equality due to the d5 tempo gaining thrust of black. Of course anything will work at the club level, where you and I are at, but at the GM level, with perfect play, the GP should end in a draw since white's opening move advantage is nullified by the d5 thrust. The Ruy is basically a Gioucu with the bishop on b3 as opposed to c4, and hence cannot be attacked by d5; therefore white has more of an advantage in the Ruy than in the GP, as white is able to establish a strong center.