Your opponent played badly, so it's kinda no surprise that you won.
I finally beat the fried liver
Your opponent played badly, so it's kinda no surprise that you won.
He actually had some interesting ideas but ended up getting his queen trapped. Don't take offense to this statement, but both my opponent and myself are rated higher than you so I'm not sure that your statement that he played badly means anything in context with playing badly compared to whom. Compared to a 1500+ player, sure he played badly, so did I. Compared to 1400 players on live blitz he had me worried for quite a bit there.
I'm pretty sure that the correct move for white after 8.Ncb4 is 9.a3, kicking the b4 knight away from supporting the d5 knight. This actually looks pretty bad because it allows the fork 9.Nc2+, after which white loses at least an exchange as well as the ability to castle. But after 10.Kd1, white can quickly occupy the half open e file with his h1 rook, applying more pressure on black's vulnerable king. If 10.Nxa1, something like 11.Nxd5 followed up by Re1 should give black some trouble. Since the main idea behind the fried liver is to sacrifice material in order to achieve quick checkmate, the loss of the a1 rook (which may not see any play in the FLA) should not be too much of a concern for white. The compensation is that it allows white time to build up his attack against black's centralized king.
TLDR ver: White should have been more aggressive with the FLA. After black was able to consolidate his king position, the game was pretty much lost for white regardless of the queen loss near the end.
#4- 9.a3? is considered an error by white according to modern theory leading to a substantial advantage to black. Black can take the rook without worries. Much better is 9.0-0 and 9.Qe4. Also interesting, but not as good as those two moves is 9.Bb3.
#5- The Traxler cannot be used against the Fried Liver since white has already sacrificed his knight after black took the pawn with 5...Nxd5. The Traxler is a variation that can be used against the Two Knight's Defense 3...Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5. A minor correction, but necessary to avoid confusion.
To the OP, if you want better chances at playing against the Italian, don't play 3...Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5?! when white can play the dubious Fried Liver Attack with 6.Nxf7?!, or the much deadlier Lolli attack 6.d4! when black cannot equalize. Much better is the main line Two Knight's Defence 5...Na5 6.Bb5+ when you can play 6...Bd7 or 6...c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 with a very active position in exchange for the pawn.
#4- 9.a3? is considered an error by white according to modern theory leading to a substantial advantage to black. Black can take the rook without worries. Much better is 9.0-0 and 9.Qe4. Also interesting, but not as good as those two moves is 9.Bb3.
I see, thanks for the correction. However, I still don't see how white would be able to continue after black solidifies his knight on d5 with 9.c6. This would allow the black king to more easily find shelter since it is no longer tied to the center to defend the d5 knight. For this reason, wouldn't 9.0-0 lose valuable time for white? I understand that 9.a3 would lose material, but white has to keep his attack alive to justify the initial knight sac on f7.
I have been struggling playing against the fried liver for a while trying many different methods. I finally won a game against the fried liver. Although I won the game I made a lot of mistakes and would appreciate any advice for play after 8.... NcB4