Destroying the Damiano!

We have discussed how the f2/f7 square is the weakest square at the start of the game because it's the only pawn that is defended only by the king. and advancing the pawn often leads to a quick loss for unsuspecting souls!

In 1512, the Portuguese chess master Pedro Damiano wrote a book which demonstrated how to punish Black when they push their f-pawn against 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6? And so naturally, the bad move became known as the Damiano variation, even though he knew it was bad!

Here's how to punish it!

Now, let's look at what happens when Black defends slightly better