How to Play the Italian Game with Black

Solid plans for black to attack quickly against the Italian game from white.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - 01:22 - Intro
01:22 - 03:03 - Rule 1
03:03 - 03:24 - Rule 2
03:24 - 04:04 - Rule 3
04:04 - 04:28 - Rule 4
04:28 - 07:01 - Rule 5
07:01 - 19:28 - Castles, Nc3, Bg5 ideas
19:28 - 24:24 - c3 ideas
24:24 - 25:55 - Recap
25:55 - 29:25 - Extra options for BGG players
29:25 - END - Outro

[@lnvanry]

This is great content. Love the rules and parameters at the beginning. Keep them coming!

[@chrislevy42069]

Glad you liked it! Rules make life easy hahaha

[@marcusminifee3978]

Chris, excellent video. I was one of the guys crying about struggling in the Italian Game, if you remember...lol. Rule #1 transposing back into the deadly delayed Fritz is excellent, I thought I would never be able to play that line again after switching to the BGG. A lot of my opponents are scared to castle or play C3, which I have really struggled with. This video is gold...thank you sir!!!

[@chrislevy42069]

Glad it helped! Felt this one was very important for BGG players to know because of how often we get Italian games. There's even a lot more tricks that I just wasn't able to cover that you will find reviewing your games. At least us BGG players don't have to deal with Ruy Lopez, Scotch, Evans Gambit, only BGG and Italian games, and now hopefully you find much more success in them! Oh, and yes the Fritz lines are a super nice bonus lol

[@benjaminwimmer949]

Nice one, mate! Really like these rules you've set out, makes it much easier to follow the attacking plans. And thanks for including my dubious ideas, of course!

[@chrislevy42069]

Course! Been waiting for my comment from Ben hahaha

[@ThisSentenceIsFalse]

Wow. Thank you for the lines. I'm surprised you didn't include Chigorin's Q sacrifice line from Bologan's book. That one is in Graif's video though, for those who want to see it. Even though I identify as a Busch-Gass player, I force myself to identify as an Italian defender too for how much I have to play against it.

[@Zyrexia]

This sentence is not false

[@marcusminifee3978]

I'm a BGG player too and you have to be an Italian defender. I'm only half way through this video and I already see areas there I've struggled. Watching this a couple of times and whites in serious trouble.

[@chrislevy42069]

Haha thanks! Totally forgot to include that line in this video, it would have added a lot- but at least I did cover it in my BGG video towards the end. FM Graif has like a whole 30 minute video just dedicated to the queen sac line, so he's Definitely got that covered haha.

[@R.Akerman-oz1tf]

Greetings, My 1st exposure here. I love the vid; & Ru any relation to "the Rooook"?@@chrislevy42069

[@chrislevy42069]

True

[@SimenStaabyKnudsen]

This is great! You should start uploading games you play like IM Alex Banzea! :D Just do a speedrun with all your gambit rep

[@chrislevy42069]

I think I just may start doing this when I run out of gambits to cover for sure. Not going to be covering every Gambit out there, just one Gambit for each different opening, keeping things simple with my repertoire 😄

[@Siderite]

I like the rule based approach to an opening video. Plans and rules are the things that are most difficult to grasp as a total noob. I should know, I am one.

[@chrislevy42069]

This seems to be one of the few openings you can just set simple rules to follow, at least . Many openings just branch off in completely different directions, but it's crazy how consistent the Italian game positions usually are. Believe me, we are all noobs when it comes to chess

[@tobias4411]

Hi Chris, really great lines against Italian as black. But, you say that black should not trade off his darksquare bishop if white plays Be3, and instead play d6. What to do when they takes bishop? 6.Bxc5 dxc5 if 7.Bb5 pinning Knight to king also threatening to capture Knight giving black awful triplepawns?? If black tries to prevent this, the hanging pawn at e5 will be captured by knight... The engine gives +1.50 in whites favour. I can't see a way around this.

[@chrislevy42069]

I will say it is very rare for players to move the bishop to B5 after putting it on c4, so it is not very common to run into that move. Additionally, it is not very common for white to put the bishop on e3 before you have a chance to play either a6 or d6. If you can play either of those moves before the bishop comes to e3, you will have a chance to play the other move that is needed, either d6 or a6 to prevent Bb5. Worst case, in the situation where white does play that exact line, Be3 super early before developing the other knight, castling, or playing Bg5, you may find that taking the bishop is the best move. Have to say I have never run into that particular line before, in every situation besides this line, letting the bishop take will likely be your best shot. Cheers!

[@darrylgaston7009]

myself I am going to grabbing the e5 pawn on move 3. I'm a Moeller attack and Max Lange attack style player if I can, but I love crazy stuff like what your doing here!

[@chrislevy42069]

If you are unaware of the dangers that come if you take on e5, please check out my Busch Gass Gambit video!! I also have a video on the Max Lange attack as well, the one with the thumbnail "don't play fried liver, play this instead!". I love that kind of attacking chess, the BGG is the absolute best gambit opening I've ever seen for black against e4. Cheers!

[@darrylgaston7009]

thanks@@chrislevy42069 I noticed that if I take E5 then take the NC6 and black takes with the d pawn- after 5 c3 the preferred move is 5...Qh4 not Nf6 and after 6. Qf3 Qh6 7.b4 Bd6 8.Na3 Qg6 9.Nc4 Bg4 10. Qe3 Nf6 11.F3 12 Kf2 13 d4 or something like that :) I never expected anyone to ever play 2. Bc5...normally all I ever seen after 3. Bc4 is either 3...Bc5 or 3...Nf6 or 3...d6 so still trying to learn now that I'm 62 and haven't play a tourney in 35 years LOL

[@chrislevy42069]

Haha, well no worries there! I highly doubt you will run into an opening like this in a real tournament. According to the engine, it is technically +2.5, and there are 3 or 4 lines where white can get a significant advantage. However, for online play, those lines are found less than 1% of the time, and there are just so many fun traps. Either way, the line you recommended with Na6 is one of those lines, and now if you ever face this opening, you know how to handle it!

[@marcusminifee3978]

I was thinking…do you have any suggestions on if they pin you with their bishop on G5 but they are not castled? If you attack with the pawn and they drop back to H4…do you still wait to go after them until they castle?

[@chrislevy42069]

Yes, that was a position that I realized I missed after making the vid. All of the same things apply, yes, immediately hit him with h6, but don't push g5 unless they castle. You have that g5 move ready in case you need it, and you just play waiting/ improving moves until they castle. The one thing I would like to note- so they play Bg5, h6, Bh4, and then you improve. Let's say they then play Nd5, trying to take advantage of the pin- you then have to push g5, if they go back you just keep playing chess, but sometimes they will sacrifice Nxg5. Here you have to be careful NOT to take the knight on G5 right away. After Nxg5, Nxd5! Take their knight on d5, and after they take back now you are basically up a piece and there is no more pin. Hope that helps!

[@marcusminifee3978]

This makes total sense and works in blacks favor. One last question…what are your thoughts on white pushing H3 when they are NOT castled. Do we push H6 or hold for the Bishop G5 pin?

[@chrislevy42069]

@@marcusminifee3978 just follow the rules, if they push h3, we push h6. If they castle after that, of course we get our g5 push, but if not, there's nothing wrong with our pawn being on h6 like that. Stops the Bg5 pin and gets ready for the g5 push if they do castle. Hope that helps! Hard to give advice on when white doesn't castle, because there's a lot of random moves they could play to just wait.

[@marcusminifee3978]

Thanks, I appreciate it. My biggest mistake priory to your video was pinning the knight on G4 when they weren't castled and they would kick my bishop back and I would get into a long end-game that I would barely lose...very frustrating. The rules you laid out will definitely help. I've watched this video about 5 times because this is what I've struggled on the most...lol. @@chrislevy42069

[@chrislevy42069]

Oh man that's awesome! Sorry, I didn't happen to see this latest reply until now, but I am so glad I can create content that is good enough to watch 5 times!! I know there's a lot of FM Graif videos that I've watched 5+ times hahaha, thanks for your comments man I cannot say that enough

[@qupolo1918]

what's the best move if white goes rook e1 right after they castle?

[@chrislevy42069]

It depends on which other moves they have played first. Bg4 is a good move to pin the knight to the queen, sometimes you can just make waiting moves like a6, waiting for them to play something like h3 so you can push h6 G5. There's lots of ways to respond really, and if you are really unsure you can even check with the engine.