How popular is this variation?

My impression was that in your country you have no synonyms, as you can barely spell. Apologies.

And yes, Michele Godena is a weak player, who has no luck against strong opposition. How true.

Now, go on with your stupidity exchibition. It's no fun, but we cannot do anything to cure that.

Wow, he defeated Polgar on a bad day. How impressive!

The same can be said for hundreds of other amateurs.

Polgar did not play like a 2700 FIDE player here. 

Just because he won a blunder-filled game from a superior player means nothing.

Edit: I just checked this guys games.

He has trouble against 2200-2300 FIDE rated players.

Don't make him out to be a genius for finding his single best game.

It doesn't change the fact that he was weaker. 

A 1914 Lasker-Capablanca match would be a great deal more impressive.

Apparently he knows how to catch players in their "bad day", though: He has won against Bologan, Veskovi, Naiditch, Ivanisevic, Timman, Smirin, Motylev, has drawn against Radjabov, Movsesian, Almasi, Jobava, Kamsky... and so it goes. He has been Italy's #1 for more than 15 years, and he is still strong enough to beat 100 Yeserlovs in a simul without conceding a single draw.

How did you come to the verdict Polgar played badly? As far as I'm concerned, your understanding about chess comes nowhere close to judging a grandmasters play.

Now please, here is a tip for you: The less you open your mouth, the less of a probability to talk bullshit.

It's the general consensus by the internet and by the fact Polgar has wiped the floor with players like Kasparov.

Here's a tip: stop spreading BS.

The guy hasn't won against a GM for a long time.

Most of his games consist against playing 2300-2400+ opponents who he barely manages to draw against.

The fact he has had such a low rank and had done such a bad job getting better proves my theory.

Italy must suck when it comes to chess to produce a player who at best has had a 2561 FIDE rating.

He might have a chance against some of his local club players, but he might as well stay in Italy with that sucky performance.

Another one of Michele Godena's genius games against a 2300:

His opponent in the game you posted is an experienced, slightly aged IM, who you cannot judge by any means.

Will you throw more of that, or you have run out of bullshit for today?

Of course yereslow is right; it's logical after all. Godena routinely plays 2300 rated guys barely managing to draw. That's how he maintains his 2500 rating: by drawing (when he is lucky) some 2300.

pfen, you are one of the best contributors here, why are you wasting time with this idiot? You offered him a model game from black as an example; he totally missed the point. Just let him alone with his ignorance, he is not going to listen at you. 

He has dropped several points in the past year losing against players 100-200 points below his rank.

I'm not impressed.

He won that game against Polgar when she was having a bad day.

It was not through his skillful play. 

Saying he is anywhere near the power of players like Polgar is just retarded wishful thinking.

Is that your excuse? His games are full of draws against weaker opponents, and when he does face stronger players he loses 75% of the time.

There are more games like this. 

I love how Pfren finds Polgar's worst game and declares the opponent equavilent to her rank.

That's like finding a lost game by Alekhine where's he's drunk and semi-conscious and proclaiming the opponent a genius, or of the same caliber.

No, it comes from the fact Polgar is many levels above him.

If he's so great, why has he been a 2500 for the past 15 years?

FYI Carlo D' Amore is a fairly strong IM, rated currently at 2484. A couple of years ago, he had no particular trouble drawing with Black against Caruana.

Michele Godena is actually a very strong player- Sergei Shipov has named him "The Italian Machine". His rating isn't that great because he is a well-known time-pressure addict, and he spoils great positions  when short on time pretty frequently.

By the time this game was played Caruana was indeed a woodpusher who was rated just 2709 by accident.

 I was recently watching some games live from the mitropa cup, and by move 15 he unually has less that 5 minutes on the clock. He is really the greatest time trouble addict i have ever seen :D

In case you're interested, you can watch him playing live here http://www.crochess.com/mitropa/livem/index.html. The game starts in half an hour, and maybe you will manage to see one of his legendary time troubles :)

I wish I could woodpush my way to a 2700 rating. 

How much wood would a woodpusher push if a woodpusher would push wood?

Thank you for the link, Bresando.

Godena is definitely an enigma. He ALWAYS, invariably, plays the same openings (Sicilian c3 and Italian/2knights as white, e5 and traditional slav as Black), he never, ever cared to play something else, or surprise someone. His knowledge in that openings (the c3 sicilian in particular) is one of the greatest in the world, his positional understanding is superb, his technique next to flawless. So- why he is devoting so much time in the opening, when he faces positions he has probably played hundreds of times before? This is quite a mystery...

Yes, the surprising thing is that he often stops thinking for 20 minutes at move 8 or so, then you look at a database and you find that he already had the very same position 8 times in previous games. 

Right now, he used 7 minutes on move 2...

@pfren -

While I disapprove of the conduct of both vereslov and brettgoodrich, especially with respect to the childish insults about Greeks, I am equally upset at the very insulting remarks you have made toward the US.

I understand your commentary may have been motivated by anger toward brettgoodrich, but your statements in no way reflect reality. Most Americans are quite well educated. In general, there is no validity in stereotypes, which are bred from ignorance and perpetuated by hatred.

I would also like to thank you for your many insightful comments regarding chess. It is a pity that some individuals distract us from the principal subject we all came to discuss.