Opening Repertoire: The Italian Game 🇮🇹.
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Intro:
Hello everyone it is @Utkarsho here! Welcome back to my series of openings. In my previous blog I discussed about the Vienna game but today my dear friends we will look at by far the most common of opening in almost all levels and that is The Italian Game. hope you enjoy. 😊
Details:
So, what is the Italian Game? Well, it starts with......,
This is what is known as the Italian Game. Now, first we may look at some lines and discuss the ideas in each of them. So, first we should look at the main line.:---
The main line is the Giuoco Piano Variation. The ideas 💡 here is castling and then developing a attack You can play the more calm line here or immediately break the centre in with d4. You can also play c3 to plan to Break open the centre later. However there one Very spicy gambit here that can be played. It's the Evan's Gambit. Let's look at it:-
The main Idea behind this gambit is to get good tempos on the bishop and gain the control over the centre with c3 and d4. It also has various attacking plans and tricks that can help you win more games. So, first let's look at bishop ♝ takes the pawn. Now attack the peasant and now it can go to a5, c5 or to e7. Let's deal with Be7 first...
So, after bishop to e7 we play d4 at planed, pawn takes and then we recapture with our pawn. Now here is a list of what we accomplished--
- We are dominating the centre
- We have a lead in development
- The other two undeveloped pieces can move out easily
- We are just one move away to caste
- All of the pieces are in attacking position
- We can target 🎯 the weak f7 pawn with our queen, bishop and the knight ♞.
- We can prevent the opponent from casting with Bishop a3
- The bishop on c1 can be placed on the long a1-h8 diagonal,
So, this should be a good game. But If black played for example d6 instead of exd4 then Qb3 by us and if black plays ♞ the horsey to then we just take the pawn on f7 with our bishop and Kf8 is forced because if Kd7 then the following checkmate...
So, king f8 but then a beautiful move Qf4 and if king takes then Queen takes and we are in a much better position.
Coming back if h6 supporting the f7 pawn then just goble this knight and after gxh6 we again take f7 and if Kd7 then just Qxe6#, so Kf8 and then we bring the bishop to h5 with a mate on the next move..
So, We know what to do if e7 but what about Ba5 .Well, then there are nasty tricks here as well. So, Bishop a5 then as usual and if d6 then the same attack as told earlier but if exd4 then I recommend you to caste first as the bishop is actually pinning us. Now if takes the following line-----
Or this one
In case black decides to take the pawn with his queen 👑 then Bg5 and casting is a BLUNDER as we take their knight and then fork the king and the queen. Also we have open files for our rooks as well. Going back all the way when we just casted if he doesn't take we will look to recapture the pawn back bring our knights to the game and attack gracefully. Remember Qb3 is one of the key moves in many of these lines.
So, 2 moves covered what else, well Bc3 is possible as well. So let's look at it. Now, there is nothing new we do the same stuff as before and black is losing time by moving the bishop over and over.
So by far we looked what to do if the bishop accepts the gambit but what if the knight does? Then all the same stuff and plans but please don't take the pawn on e5 as Qf6 or g7 can lead to serious threats.
Now, if he declines the Evan's Gambit then you don't even lose a pawn ♟ but the opponent loses a move. From here just follow some basic opening principals and your good to go. That's the Evan's Gambit and the Giuoco Piano. Now the other variation in the Italian is the Two Knights Defense .
Here you can play the calm d3 as well but what I like to do here is Ng5 and going for the fried Liver Attack or the loly attack. Here is how the fried Liver looks....
So, after d5 player often play Na5. But I have a much better response for black. Instead of d5 here we play Bc5 the Traxler Counter Attack.
The Traxler is very dangerous for white so, We must just ignore the fork for a good reason. But If we're greedy and take the pawn we are gone. Let me show why( Now, I we are going to act as if we are black):--!...
Now, we play the brilliant Bxf2+!!.
After he takes we play Nxe4 check. Now, white has a few options, 6 of them. In either way just follow the simple plans I will show you. Make sure you play the crucial move Nxe4+ when the king takes, plan to bring the other knight to the centre as well, launch an attack with your queen, caste and bring the rook in to the fight as well(but I like just bringing the rook instead of 0-0 because of the discovery lined towards us, move the pawn on d7 for attacking the centre and to bring the bishop out. If you follow these main plans then this is just a piece of cake for you, but don't just memories the many moves that are possible or you pranked yourself.
So, let's become white now and not take the pawn in the Traxler. Now, you can face sidelines like the Rousseau gambit then you need to study on your own, I will just tell you one thing if it is played...
Play d4 but don't take the pawn for a good reason.
Outro:
So, that's the Italian Game. Hope you learned something today and I see you in my next blog. Also please do leave a comment below whether you liked this blog or not.
bye!👋
Your sincerely@Utkarsho
