Why they're in this thing, I'd like to introduce you to the Italian game, so when you play E4 and
they play 85, 93, 96, you can either play the Spanish game, which is B5 or one square less, is
actually the Italian game.
So you can see the Spanish and Italian influences on the game of chess as it travelled around the world.
And those players in those countries gave the game new ideas, new terminology.
You knew literature, new ways of thinking about chess.
So here the Italian game, you got players like Grecco analyzing back in the 17th century, you know,
really, you know, hundreds of years ago, literally a lot of stuff in the Italian game.
So the Italian writers contributed a great deal to the early understanding of chess.
And you might want to use this as part of your repertoire when you first start.
It does target the potentially sensitive F7 square.
It's the only pawn which is kind of protected by the king.
So it's kind of a sensitive pawn in that regard.
And things can go quite quickly.
But, you know, quite, quite bad for black if they don't really know what they're doing.
Now, as an example here, a safe move, a relatively safe move is Bishop said, fine, because it keeps
an eye on G5.
You can see that the knight can't go to G5 here to target that sensitive square because of, you know,
queen takes night.
There's no there's no backfire.
The four here, you might think the backfire, but actually we can play Queen takes G2 and hit the rook.
So this kind of move avoids this kind of team effort against the F7 soft spot.
But that still is.
So that's one of the main moves.
Bishop C five, but not six is still a playable move despite the soft spots.
And it's great to understand why you know, what resources Black does or should not use here.
So if we look at Night of sex in this particular introduction, I like to just share with you some ideas,
some ideas for the attack on the soft spot.
And a common idea is actually because black hasn't suppressed male 95.
You can play this without the Queen winning it.
You're targeting that soft spot --.
And so if your new this is a great way of having a lot of fun early in the game because what are the
options for black to the fans?
So, for example, Bishop, is when you are going to take that -- and even -- the queen and rock
and here, you know, you're absolutely winning, you've actually kind of won the opponents queen.
That's a big advantage to have earlier on.
And again, you know, Bishop C5, you could take her -- queen and rook.
So this is, you know, when you attack the queen.
So what does Black do?
Well, quite often they do come up with D5, but they might not know the follow up.
Now, the proper follow up after E takes the five, that's better than ninety nine.
You know, if if you play Bishop takes you kind of losing because knights takes is not very good for
you as white because they can play this and then they could play this and actually you've just forfeited
casting whites.
This is not a pleasant position at all.
And in fact you could quickly lose with Bishop G4.
You might want to understand this from the black side and then move like Bishop S7 and then say Bishop
848, with the king trapped in the center, can lead to checkmate.
So you've got to be careful here to play.
Actually, you know, he takes the five and the best approach for black is ninety five.
So this is a well known counter gambit, which the playback back should use to reach a kind of semi
decent position, kick in and immediately make sure it can't use it for that easily and then kicking
it again and black gets good compensation here.
This is a playable position for both sides.
But ah, now let's assume, you know, your opponent doesn't really know what they're doing of the five
in terms of the follow ups and you play it and they play nine takes.
The best move here is actually the four.
This suspends the idea of doing something active on F7 for one moment longer, but it's for overall
quite a bit stronger actually than takes seven.
But we do get to see some violence on the chessboard after seven, when we can play, Knight takes a
seven and we're bringing the king out.
So this is a very interesting attack on that soft spot because it is the only square early on that's
protected by the king.
So in this regard, this, you know, Italian game is actually quite exciting here of the queen, a
free track like Seefried.
And now let's say they play this, which tries to defend.
Night and also facilitates C6, you have a very good position here with Queen Itoh and blacks in real
trouble, for example, C6, you kick this back, taking on five and you can take on D5, take on G5
again.
And this is just a huge position.
If you get this position, it's huge.
Queen H5 now threatening CHATENAY as an example and provoking weaknesses.
--'s that don't go back.
You can now play this for example.
And if they have really played like this, you're going to be mating them.
So all of these disasters, many, many disaster scenarios can result when you play Neuk G5, D5 and
they don't really know the follow up should be and they routinely take here.
So the absolute best follow up is to resist temptation.
Don't play.
It takes F7 immediately because there are some tricky lines there.
Now, just in case you're convinced otherwise, I'll show one which you mirthful.
You know, some, some mirthful is good, but if you play this now, the problem is this move is actually
rather good.
As an example, if you if you don't, Castle, let's say you don't cancel because that not only facilitating
C6 the right to the first thing, it's easy to check.
Now, let's say you don't cancel.
You play a free so neat, so you might think you've got a great attacking position here, but actually
Black has Koeneke four and technically after this move, I like to analyze things with computers and
I would urge you to get into that habit as soon as possible.
Computer technology in chess has advanced so much.
You know, back in the 80s, computers were being beaten grandmasters, but they're stronger.
Basically, the world chess champions now.
And this key move, you know, guarantees an advantage for black and that is actually hitting the bishop.
And if it takes C7, doublecheck king, these seven, Sharecare 27, and all of a sudden this isn't
at all clear whatsoever.
For example, Knight eight here, this isn't at all clear.
Blacks actually significantly better in theory.
You know, it's just crazy.
It's just crazy stuff.
So all of this stuff can actually be, you know, avoided if early on you play the most scientifically
correct move, which as far as most research researchers agree, defore actually delaying this attack
on F7, delaying this sacrifice.
So if Black doesn't, you know, play especially so and then there's other horrors as well, if you
know what is black to her.
Probably so DeFore is a key move, so say Bishop is OK.
He takes the form of me and then you can just cancel.
This is a great position.
So we're not even yet sacrificing on F7 now, especially when we can have fun with Knight takes F7 and
check here.
And this is very different because our Kings Castle, we have this rock in the center, we can play
check and look.
We've got two absolute pens now this is really, really strong continuation lightsey free will rip open
that defo so temporarily.
Sackur a piece there Rook takes e5 and the black king is being shredded.
This is a kind of Idil attacking position.
Bishop takes five chac.
It's a crushing advantage here for whites.
Blacks rooks are just asleep here and your bishops and queen, they're all alive, you know, waiting
to make the opponent.
So yeah these, these variations are extremely scary.
So let's go back to after ninety five D5 Eatings, but they're scarier if you play the move defore.
If we go back into that other line by the way and do a slight improvement to try and give it just as
the immediate night takes, have some which I don't recommend and you cancel instead.
So let's consider instead.
Is this good enough, is this position good enough.
Well C6 and this can be dangerous for black with this the for here as well, though it can be dangerous.
But Black's chances overall are slightly improved than other rotations.
But this this position, this particular sequence is also bad news for black.
If white plays the cards right, this could be really, really bad news for black.
It's king safety vs. material.
So there's a lot of fun to be had had, you know, practicing hunting kings and these sorts of wild
variations.
So you know what?
You know, you can try either.
But I'm just telling you, theoretically, that the immediate night takes F7 is not thought to be as
good as four.
So Defoe's like even more precise, it protects that bishop.
It delays this night, takes F7.
It asks what Black is actually doing here.
So usually Bishop S7 if it takes the fall, this is not a power feature of defore, then you can actually
play Seefried.
And here we've just won a piece.
Ouch.
So 1964 is not a very bright idea because of Kifri
884.
Instead then we can cancel and then here we've got eyepieces at full power.
This takes is rather nice.
They don't want to step back because they'll be kind of checkmated in short order.
You know, if they play Bishop ESX, then it's going to be Jemena.
Otherwise they're gonna have to sacrifice.
They're going to stay that off.
So, yeah, these are not very palatable options at all.
So, yeah, 1964 etext, these are not palatable options at all.
So he takes the fall, we just cancel around 1967, so what is black actually do here?
On Kingi eight Bishopsgate, so they can't cancel.
They're in big trouble in this kind of position.
Big, big trouble.
I mean, there are all sorts of things you're threatening me if they play this, you know, you even
go, ah, you've got very, very good options like Quiñones, five Chank and maybe just doubling the
pawns and taking here is one option with advantage.
So anyway, DeFore is the theoretically best move.
But in your Newcomen experience, you might actually want to experiment with both see the resulting
positions, but you can kind of know from the evidence of of of research that DeFore is actually the
preferred move to play in this position to punish what Blake is doing.
However, if you're on the black side of this whole thing and you do really want to play not forsakes,
I really hope you have in mind the counter gambit based on a five.
This is what professionals use.
This counts.
Camba So you sacrifice a pawn and you're in a good position to have a decent game soon.
So only for a pawn that you guarantee your king safety choices about trade offs.
Sometimes you want to be a little bit down and and have better king safety and peace activity and pull
Morphy.
If you study the games of pool Morphy in particular, you know, there are so many games he demonstrates
quality over material counts, quality in terms of his peace activity, central control, leading developments,
the initiative, you know, extra time because his pieces are out and about already attacking things
and crying France.
So the trade off here is reflected.
If you if you want to play this provocative, essentially it's a provocative opening.
When you play the night here, you're provoking 95 if you want to play it safer than Bishop C5.
So you avoid this whole ninety five.
Now let's go from the white perspective again on Bishop C5.
And I just want to outline a pitfall which the great acts the chess club has highlighted that many players
nutrition's might play might free.
We get kind of stodgy kind of style possession, which can be a bit dull and repetitive and and I don't
really want to put you off chess.
So this is not really a fantastically exciting way of playing the white position.
However, if you did start off or did some experiments with this move might see free and they play like
this, G5 is generally a bad idea.
You can actually play in here.
And because that bishop is on Seifi, this kind of is a common trap.
You're getting a big advantage here by playing for 95 and then here at four.
This is a very strong position for it because they're not really able to wriggle that quickly from this
Penns piece.
So this kind of position, if you get this on a chessboard, there's a key move here which guarantees
advantage.
And that's Bishop B5 safeguarding the bishop.
And you're really ready to crush the opponents here.
For example, 86 detainees, E4 and if 865, if you've got this very nice, nice pen and there's King
safety issues here for Black to contend with.
So this is all from this kind of stodgy variation.
So let's recap this very, very stodgy variation where you play.
So they play Bishop see five and you're making it even Stojan.
But you know what?
They're always a means of spicing up things here.
And in fact, this is an even, you know, the most kind of standard way of playing it.
There's an exciting gambit called the Evans Gambit before.
And with this, you can rapidly get points to the center and a very exciting position.
So you're trading off a bit material for other aspects of Excitement's lead, the pressure pieces,
coordinated pieces out and about King safety issues for the opponent.
So it's well worth checking out some Evans Gambit games.
And you can get this from Paul Morphy.
Find out about Paul Morphy.
And I might even just have a course in the future to examine Paul more of his games.
So all this is totally Paul.
If you go through Paul, move his games, you'll understand this open game a lot more so before as a
way of spicing things up.
But also the pretty standard move here is free.
So it's not Mitzy free that the downside of Noisey free.
Is it the block in your Seiple?
And actually I know this is not a developing move, but it is about central control and it does kind
of liberate pieces later if you.
Get some pawns off the boards and make the sensible open, your pieces generally are freer.
So, for example, no sex, you can actually play this quietly with differe, but later you're you're
going to play for the force.
It's a strategic kind of POUM break, a pawnbroker's, something which kind of liberates frees your
pieces.
So here later, you're going to be playing for the move defore.
And if they release their central control like this, you're going to have a very pleasant advantage.
So this is just the kind of bog standard way that one should be playing it.
But a lot of people new to chess seem to like, you know, like Seefried seems like logical and safe
to play, noisy, free.
But in fact, Siegfried's is the more standard way an exotic way.
Is this Evans gambit?
But yeah.
So the Italian game is is where I started my chess from.
My father, I think was trying to emphasize the soft spot, the early softball.
And in general, that philosophy of looking where the king is holding a piece or pawn will win you a
ton of games.
The king is the most valuable piece on the chessboard.
Look out for where there's a defensive dependency on the king himself.
And the Italian game reflects that.
There's a lot of early analysis.
Check out Grecco.
There's a lot of early little games showing little ideas and pitfalls in the games of Grecco.
So the Italian game is well worth exploration and experimentation.
It's where a lot of players started their opening theory.
The runner paths is very, very rich, compared a much more kind of in a way sophisticated and a lot
more to know the Italian game.
There's lots, though, of course, as well.
There is a lot to digest.
Chess is a gigantically, you know, gigantic, vast game.
But there are some, you know, pitfalls with many, many variations here.
I just want to point you out, though, that Netflix positively invites you fine, because we're not
controlling that G5 square.
Crucially, Bishop C5, you need to know how to make the game exciting for yourself.
And also, the more open you can make the center in general, the more you'll have peace activity.
The taste of the initiative, the taste of attacks, the taste of peace is working as a team.
You know, we want those king hunts.
You want to continue.
You want to hunt the opponents king.
And get practice in that, you know, that will make you a ferocious, you know, tactical player.
So the Italian game does offer some of that.
But you might also, as part of your repertoire, just simply do other stuff.
Don't don't even play.
Not afraid you might even experiment with the king's gambit.
There's the Scottish game, which you might experiment with, which is an early day for this opens up
things just really early days for the Scottish game.
But yeah, that's for a lot of the lectures.
I just wanted to give you an overview, a brief overview introduction of bishops see for the Italian
game.
So that's the Italian game and this is the Spanish game.
And it's that wonderful.
We have this global kind of contributions to chess, such a vast game with an interesting cultural,
historic heritage to explore.
OK, that's much.