Alternatives to Playing Italian Game (900 elo)

I always played the Italian before hitting about 1000. Big mistake. There are a lot of interesting 1. d4 openings, and gambits equally powerful as the fried liver. The Ruy Lopez is an opening I really regret not playing back then. The English is also a not-super complex opening that can surprise your opponent. So have fun with your openings, but I suggest you to broaden your repertoire.

Originally, The OP seemed unsure or confused about the Italian Game.

He was saying it was boring/not fun.

He was thinking Fried Liver was trap.

At the time I made my previously post, It looked as if OP was still on fence about playing the Italian Game.

Recently, It looks like the OP has edited his original post.

It looks like he has made up his mind to stop playing the Italian Game.

——————————

I really don’t know if I can be of any value on this thread at this point.

I don’t really have any other 1.e4 lines to suggest to him.

- Two Knights - I have always thought it was noob line.

It is good opening, but I just think it’s boring trash.

- Scotch - I have always hated it.

I’m not sure why, but it wasn’t my style.

- Vienna - I have always thought it was defensive line which allows Black the chance to play a reverse Ruy Lopez or Italian Game a tempo down.

- Ruy Lopez - A God tier opening, but the OP can’t play it.

The line is to complex and his opponents are to inexperienced to even let him get into any of main lines. It would be wasted effort.

- Italian Game - It is the go to beginner line!

It is like a mini-version of Ruy Lopez with out all the complex line theory.

————————

Than we start getting into the questionable lines of 1.e4 e5

- Kings Gambit - It’s to risky.

The OP doesn’t seem like a great attacking player.

- Ponziani - I think it wishes it could be Ruy Lopez or Italian Game

I have seen people use it, but I don’t recommend it ever.

- 2.g3 - It’s a pretty bad fianchetto line.

A Bishop on g2 is pretty bad when their are pawns on e4 + e5.

The Bishop get buried in that position, but again random people play it.

- 2.d3 - It’s considered a bad line which blocks in Light Square Bishop for no reason.

- 2. Qh5 - This line is considered bad, but I do recommend it to players who are lower level.

The OP is just to strong in ranking to play Queen line. His opponents will not fall for it.

The OP is trying to break 1k ranking points and you need a legit opening at that point.

- 2. c4 - It leaves a hole on d4.

The OP doesn’t seem like great Positional player.

————————

Yeah, there is nothing.

Maybe, the OP should not play 1.e4.

He could try 1.d4 with London or 1.Nf3 with KIA.

Whenever the move is played, it says "Max Lange Defense" on the right.

I definitely have confused so many people. Idk why I didn't say it first but it's not JUST the Italin Game, I'm really having a dilemma with openings in general. I mean, I would try openings to give me positional strategy but lots of them seem complicated like for example, I watched a video on the Vienna, it seems amazing but it feels like I have to memorize so much things. I would really appreciate any sort of good suggestion, maybe I'm just not playing the Italian Game correctly???

@Post #46

The Italian Game doesn’t have tons of memorization which is what makes it very popular among beginners players.

I think all you need is some tips which I can show you below:

On move 1, you start with e4 to gain space and open up your Bishop + Queen.

There are a lot of different moves your opponents can play against 1.e4.

To get better in chess, your going to have to find openings to play against these different move options which means your going to need more than 1 opening. You will need several.

The Big 4 Toughest Moves for Black are the below ones:

1…e5 - King Pawn Defense

1…c5 - Sicilian Defense

1…c6 - Caro Kan Defense

1…e6 - French Defense

The Italian Game is an opening which is beginner friendly against Blacks 1…e5 line.

Black move 1…e5 is the most Classical move for Black to play.

You have probably seen the above move a lot in your games because it is extremely popular.

Against the other moves your going to have to find a different opening to play, BUT don’t panic

It’s ok - you can’t learn everything about chess in 1 day.

You just have to learn 1 move/opening at a time.

—————

After, your opponent plays 1…e5.

It is your turn and I recommend developing your Knight.

Do you notice something?

Black e5 pawn is undefended!

It has no support!

By playing our Knight move on move 2, we are attacking the Black pawn.

We are being aggressive!

Black has to do something to defend their pawn or we will capture it.

If they do a stupid move, we will take their pawn and we will be winning!

See how easy that is?

Lets show an example:

Look at Black - They played 2…a6?

Does that defend the e5 pawn?
No so we take it and now we are winning and they are losing!

If the player playing Black is a good player, they will not let you take their pawn.

‘They will defend it and the best way to defend it is with their Knight.

And now we are close to reaching the Italian Game Position.

We would love to play d3, but if we play d3 our Light Square Bishop will become a prisoner behind our pawns which is bad!
For the above reason, we move the Bishop outside before playing d3 so it isn’t trapped!

Check out difference:

Do you see how our Bishop is trapped?

By moving the Bishop to c4, we move it outside our pawn formation so that it can at least attack Black pawns instead of our own pawns!

TA DA! 
We reached the Italian Game and every move makes sense!

The moves we are playing make sense and the moves our opponent is doing against us makes sense! That’s a perfect opening line.

Openings that don't require much memorization when facing opponents of your own strength?

Pretty well ALL of them. Almost any opening is playable against similar-strength opponents.

At the 1000 rating level, you probably don't win or lose many games due to opening prep. You will be winning or losing games because of lack of situational awareness (example: blunders), on your part or on the opponent's part.

To answer your specific question, though:

There is a trade-off.

Yes, there are opening systems that allow you to get your pieces out and get your King castled without too much concern for the I-go-here, he-goes-there stuff.

But this comes at a cost.

If you hope to come out of the opening with any advantage, you have to understand the different center structures that can arise for BOTH players (not just for White), and know how to proceed in each case.

Also, be aware (as part of the cost) that system openings (such as the London System or the King's Indian Attack) naturally don't put much pressure on the opponent, so if he knows what he is doing your opponent can typically get dynamic equality or something close to it.

Book lines require memorization. System openings require understanding.

Yep, I've seen my main problem is situational awareness and stuff, but I also really dread getting symmetrical games like the four knights game and it's really not fun at all.
I also would like to work on my blunders but I'm not sure how I can do so.

At our level (mine as well as yours) the only important task in the opening is to reach a middle-game position in which we feel comfortable and confident.

Openings that do exactly that for me... the Sicilian Najdorf or the King's Indian as Black, the King's Indian Attack or the Botvinnik System as White... might be totally wrong for you. It's a matter of personal taste.

I like unbalanced, assymetrical positions where both sides have advantages and disadvantages... both sides have something to play for.

What? The Italian has more theory than any other opening.

just use Italian and don't suck

What your saying is untrue.

If you look at the Italian Game as a whole, It has less theory vs. a lot of other lines.

—————

One thing I will acknowledge is I think the Italian Game for White side Player is easier vs. the Italian Game for Black side Player.

I would argue the White side has less theory vs. the Black side which seems counter intuitive, but if you was to apply the knowledge in practice it makes a lot more sense.

***Actually, I want to be very careful with my words because the white side does have more theoretical positions vs. Black, but it’s an illusion, right?***

Maybe, I should give an example:

The above is the Italian Game position.

If you was to play/find a good move for Black in the above position, How many would you find?

- Bc5

- Nf6

- Be7

The main 2 moves are Bc5 & Nf6.

The move Be7 Hungarian is a good move, but not really a main move.

So if your platting White how many lines would you need to study? 3 right?

Now in the above position - it is white to move

How many moves does White have available to them?

- Castles

- c3

- d3

- Nc3

So you can hopefully see what I mean

————————

This is why I often tell beginners to not play 1…e5.

I think 1…e5 is to difficult for beginners and I think they would be better off playing 1…e6.

Absolutely not. I have no idea what you're trying to say or prove.

You started by stating that the Italian has very little theory, then he followed up with listing lots of variations. Those variations are all extremely complicated and has been analyzed to death in the past 200 years.

You are correct, Magipi

My original statement said the Italian Game has very little theory.

I stand by what I said because I truly believe it is true.

—————

After I made my original statement, you said the Italian Game has more theory vs. any other opening.

I responded by saying that your statement is untrue.

I believe your statement is a false statement.

——————————

Afterward, I tried showing you examples of the Italian Game theory so you can understand what I am trying to say.

It seems my examples didn’t do a good enough job.

I thought they was good, but maybe not.

——————————

Afterward, A Chess Friend named Kindaspongey decided to message me showing me interesting quotes & Information about the subject at hand.

It made me wonder that perhaps showing a comparison example would help clear up the situation.

Lets compare the Italian Game Position to the Ruy Lopez Position.

In the above position, I showed the moves which are considered good moves for Black to play.

- Bc5 - Be7 - Nf6

3 moves in all

In the above position, I am showing the Ruy Lopez.

How many moves can Black play which are considered good moves?

- a6

- d6

- Bc5

- Nge7

- Nf6

In addition, Their are several moves considered slightly underwhelming for Black, but they are still considered playable side line moves.

- Bb4

- Nd4

- f5

So how many moves can Black actually play in this position?
8 Moves

———————————

Now that you see the comparison which line do you think has less theory?

The more playable moves the opponent can play against you, the more theory you will have to learn in order to prevent them from getting an advantage out of the opening from you.
This is the nature of chess.

———————

Now, A person could decide to ignore theory and not care about it.

BUT it doesn’t change the fact theory exists.

Every line in chess has theory. Why? Because that is how some chess players make money!

A Title player can put any hot trash line that you can think of and even lines you can’t think of. They will bottle it up add some random text to it and sale it in book.

And depending on how renowned the title player is the book will sale like hot cakes.

—————

So the question is how much theory does a line actually have?

As a whole the Italian Game has very little theory vs. a lot of other lines.

I agree with chesstrekker12! ChessMood's databases and training programs can give you strong opening options other than the Italian and increase your elo to be much higher than 900. I recommend ChessMood and hope it works for you!