Nxe4 is a winning move in the Four Knights Italian (how to avoid the Giuoco Piano…)

#FourKnights 

When I play with the Black pieces, I respond to e4 with e5. Although I enjoy playing e5, there is one exception which is where my opponent steers the game into a Giuoco Piano, the “quiet game” of the Italian. This is completely solid for White, and fundamentally, I don’t like playing against the positional game of the Giuoco Piano as Black.

Now, the best way to completely avoid this is to play something other than e5, and there are many options. The French Defense, the Scandinavian, the Sicilian, the Caro-Kann, and many others. However, I like e5, and recently, I’ve come across this system as demonstrated in this game.

Firstly, if White plays the Italian, e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bc4, I respond with the Two Knights Defense, Nf6. Here, I’m trying to invite my opponent to attempt a Fried Liver Attack to which I’ll respond with the Ponziani-Steinitz Gambit.

Where White doesn’t go for the aggressive line, I often find that their default is to finish their development with Nc3, entering the Italian Variation of the Four Knights Opening. And here, there is an unexpectedly winning move for Black. In the same theme as the Ponziani-Steinitz Gambit, we immediately capture the pawn on e4 with the knight. According to the Lichess database of lower-rated games of blitz and rapid, this is by far the best move, with a 57%-to-39%-win rate for Black vs White. Given how equal most early positions of the Italian and Four Knights Game are, this is astonishing. This move isn’t even a gambit with Stockfish giving the position has 0.00. Rather, I think that it is simply easier to play for Black, and the move takes the game out of the positional lines.

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/50653162009