Study Openings #1: Giuoco Piano

This is the Giuoco Piano. I will go through most possible variations, and logical ones, to learn as much as possible for as many openings as I can(since I'll be doing this for most openings). This is a variation on the Italian Game, so it begins the same way but then changes along the way which makes it great of an accessory to have alongside your Italian Game strats. I've heard it's a really good opening to learn for the lower levels but I'm sure it's played all across the ratings from time to time.

Obviously this is a fight for center control which is why you play 4. c3, so that you can eventually move up your d pawn and dominate the center. Let's see what could happen based on the opponents next move.

Mainline goes as following w/ Greco's Attack:

Another variation where knight doesn't capture on c3, Therkatz - Herzog Variation:

Now we list of many other variations, most of which start when Bb4+.

Aitken Variation:

Mestel Variation, this differs because opponent brings the Queen into play:

Steinitz Variation:

Rosentreter Variation:

Eisinger Variation, weird one since it relies on Black being stupid but worth perhaps trying in the future:

Holzhausen Attack, aside from development being a tad bit better I don't quite understand this variation's efficiency:

Krause Variation, interesting:

I'm fairly sure those are more Variations than this but this covers the most important, and probably, frequent ones. The point is that Black doesn't choose much in this opening. White can dictate most of what transpires and in most situations that follow logic, White can come out on top. I like this opening but I'm uncertain if I could keep my cool should Black play his queen early since there aren't many variations that deal with this efficiently, it feels like to me, which is strange because Queen being played early is usually a mistake. Can't wait to look into the Pianissimo and Evan's Gambit soon! I'll be rolling on the Italian Game for another 4-5 blog posts, perhaps more.