Weekly Opening Analysis

The opening is Italian Game. Sorry for not posting for so long.

In the Italian game - first played by Italian chess masters as long ago as the sixteenth century - White develops the bishop to a strong diagonal, aiming through the center at f7. Depending on how the players continue, it may turn into open, gambit play; or slower, maneuvering play.

Pros:

• Natural play
• Focus on the center
• Rapid development

Cons:

• The bishop on c4 might be exposed
• Black's center is not under immediate pressure

Famous Practitioners: Gioachino Greco, Sergei Tiviakov