The Complete Beginner Guide To The Italian (Part 1)
As many of you may know my most viewed blog with over 900 views was The Ultimate Beginner Guide To The London System , which was also my very first blog on an opening, know this blog was posted over a year ago and since then I have not done another complete opening but today that changes so let me introduce you to The Ultimate Beginner Guide To The Italian Game.
And in this blog I’m going to show you all the key variations to this brilliant opening, this isn’t like usual a trap blog, its just for showing the main lines including a couple of traps
The Italian Game is an opening where white focuses on quick development, aiming to control the center and put pressure on black. A key idea is the immediate targeting of the f7 square, which can lead to several tactical opportunities. The opening can turn into several variations, such as the Giuoco Piano, which makes for a slow, positional game, also the more attacking Evans Gambit, where white sacrifices material for development and tempo. In general, the Italian Game makes for both sharp tactical plays and strategic depth, making it flexible and very popular to players of all styles and ratings.
What Is It?
The Italian Game starts of with 1.e4 and black goes e5 white plays 2.Nf3 Nc6 and here to start the Italian white plays 3.Bc4, the Italian has started.
The Fried Liver
The most popular move for black is Nf6, and whites most popular response is 4.Ng5, the Fried Liver Attack and here black most likely d5 5.exd5 and here the most common move is Nxd5, a terrible mistake because white plays 6.Nxf7!! Kxf7 white goes 7.Qf3+ and here black has several moves, if Kg8 then 8.Bxd5+ Qxd5 9.Qxd5#.
And Ke8 8.Bxd5 and the most played move Nd4, which blunders mate in one with 9.Qf7#
Or if 7...Ke6 then 8.Nc3 Nb4 the most popular move, white goes 9.Qe4 and for example the most popular sequence here is c6 10.a3 Na6 11.d4 and here white has a 67% win rate and should win.
The mistake black played in these lines is 5...Nxd5, for black should play Na5, white goes 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Ba4 black goes h6 9.Nf3 is most common, e4 and the most common line is 10.Qe2 Be7 11.Ne5 and this is pretty much a position which can swing ether way, with black only 3% more likely to win then white.
Center Attack
The second most popular move for black is 3...Bc5, white most often plays 4.c3 then Nf6 for black and here it typically diverges into two lines, the Center Attack and the Giuoco Pianissimo, with the most popular being the Center Attack with 5.d4, here exd4 6.cxd4 and black goes Bb4+, because black doesn’t want to retreat because this allows white to attack there knight and get an even bigger center.
So black goes Bb4+ white blocks with 7.Nc3 and black goes Nxe4, white plays 8.O-O and they’ll go Bxc3, for they cant capture with the knight because of 9.bxc3 Bxc3 and 10.Qb3! because if Bxa1, 11.Bxf7+ Kf8 12.Bg5 Ne7 13.Re1 d5 is most common then 14.Bxe7+ Qxe7 15.Rxe7 Kxe7 16.Bxd5 and here whites position is better because of the open black king and so white wins 79% of the games from here.
So black instead goes Bxc3 9.bxc3 and black goes d5 is most common and here black has a overall 57% win rate so black should win here.
Giuoco Pianissimo
Instead of 5.d4 the Center Attack white often also goes 5.d3, the Giuoco Pianissimo, black most often goes d6 and white should play a surprising move 6.Bb3, not O-O or h3, why you may ask, well 1 it has a higher win rate for white, and 2 white doesn’t care about needing to defend this bishop if black goes Be6 as its already well defend, black most often goes Bg4 and the most common line follows with 7.h3 Bh5 8.Nbd2 O-O 9.Nf1 d5 10.Qe2 and here white surprisingly has a large advantage with a 64% win rate!
Why you may say? Well from this position white will build up a large attack on blacks king that he just cant defend from.
Evans Gambit
After Bc5 white also plays 4.g4! this is the Evans Gambit, Bxb4 and white goes 5.c3 most likely Bc5 then 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 and here black goes Bb4+, white blocks with 8.Bd2 Bxd2+ 9.Nbxd2 here black most often goes d6, white goes 10.Qb3 and black protects there f pawn with Qe7, white plays 11.O-O and here white even tho a pawn down has a +0.3 advantage and this shows in games because white win 62% of the time.
This is because white has much better development, thus white can attack more easily, also blacks position is so hard to play in that most of the time black makes big tactical mistakes
If instead of 5...Bc5 black goes Ba5 then 6.d4 exd4 7.O-O dxc3 8.Qb3 Qe7 9.Nxc3 Bxc3 10.Qxc3 and here whites development is so superior that white wins here 66% of the games.
And if black plays 4...Nxg4 it doesn't really matter, because of 5.c3 Nc6 6.d4 it just transposes back into the 5...Bc5 variation.
Paris Defense
Black doesn’t have to play ether Bc5 or Nf6 tho, they can play 3...d6, the Paris Defense, white usually goes 4.d3 black goes Bg4 5.h3 and here instead of Bh5 black plays Bxf3 6.Qxf3 then Nf6 white most often goes 7.Bg4 and here black strikes back with Nd4 8.Qd1 Be7 is most common 9.c3 Nc6 10.Nd2 O-O, here white has a slight advantage in that they have much better attacking chances which means they have a small advantage in win percentage.
If instead of 4.d3 white also plays 4.d4, black plays exd4 5.Nxd4 black responds with Nxd4 6.Qxd4 Nf6 7.O-O Be7 white goes 8.Nc3 O-O 9.Bg5 h6 white goes 10.Bh4 Be6 and here white has a slight advantage, but really it can swing ether way.
White may also play 4.Nc3, black goes Bg4 5.h3 Bh5 is most common and here white goes 6.Nxe5!! this is because if black takes the queen then 7.Bxf7 Ke7 8.Nd5# and if black goes Nxe5 then 7.Qxh5 and white is a pawn up and white wins 57% to blacks 36%.
This is a famous type of tactic/checkmate known as Legal's Mate, which is named after a french chess player called Legall de Kermeur
I hope you enjoyed this blog, I am planning on making a part two with even more variations very soon so if you want to see it make sure to follow me @NoahdeAlwis .
