English Chess Forum

Hello everyone

First of all, I hope everyone and their families are fit, healthy and safe during this time.

Our chess club has reopened, and whilst we are not playing any competitive matches (and we are restricted to the government's rule of six) we thought we would use this opportunity to look at various things to do with chess, that perhaps you would not normally be able to do, during a normal chess league season.

When looking at an opening, we decided to have a look at the Italian Opening. The reasons for this is because as white the first three moves involve moving the central pawn e4, the king side knight Nf3 and the king side light squared bishop Bc4. In other words about as close as you can get to three perfect moves to start with.

So what are the good and bad points as both white and black of this opening?

David Blower wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 04, 2021 1:03 am

So what are the good and bad points as both white and black of this opening?

That it can be dull as ditch water?

I think you have to be GM standard or know their ideas to get anything out of it with either colour.

The Italian is basically the Spanish without the theory.

And it helps that the Berlin bore is avoided.

It is probably THE most common opening to be taught to beginners by those who think beginners should be lumbered with openings.

They delight in reeling off loads of moves in the Flegatello Attack to impress the children.

I've been playing the Italian for 45 years. I even beat Malcolm Pein with it once, in pre-historic times.

The idea was always to avoid theory.

I think I had a book on it by Mr Harding of this parish.

e4 occupies the centre and lets the B & Q out.
Nf3 attacks e5 and develops a piece.
Bc4 aims at f7, develops a piece, allows White to castle, and makes the B more difficult to attack.

Black should wonder what will happen next, e.g 3....Nf6, 4.Ng5 or 3....Bc5, 4.b4, depending on Black's response.

The drawback is that it may not be desperately exciting if you don't do one of those...

I think the Harding book concentrated on 3. Nc3, but that does allow 3...Nxe4, with the kind of mess I was hoping to avoid.

I soon learned that 3. d3 was safer, and that seems to be the main line these days.

To be clear, I refer to move order e4 e5 Bc4 Nf6.

I never wanted to play 2. Nf3 as that meant learning the Latvian, and other scary stuff.

I thought AlphaZero had now proven to us all that 1.d4 and 1.c4 are best by test? Really, really, extensive test

Roger de Coverly wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 04, 2021 9:49 am

David Blower wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 04, 2021 1:03 am

So what are the good and bad points as both white and black of this opening?

That it can be dull as ditch water?

I think you have to be GM standard or know their ideas to get anything out of it with either colour.

Not so.
I saw a YouTube video earlier today about something called the Alexandre Gambit. Seems quite exciting for both sides, especially when white plays d4 to hit the black bishop on c5 as the immediate response to blacks d5 attacking the white bishop on c4.

Nick Ivell wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 04, 2021 11:04 am

I never wanted to play 2. Nf3 as that meant learning the Latvian, and other scary stuff.

An opening that computers have pretty much refuted (even if I did play it myself in my misplaced youth)

You can transpose to the Evans Gambit.