So Im guessing you're looking for advice from the white perspective?
Make a repertoire something like this:
Two knights=max lange or fried liver attack
Classical Bc5 play Evans gambit.
That should get you a fair amount of tactical play.
Survivng the Italian Game
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Eh, just skimmed through a few of your games... the losses mostly stem from tactical oversights or just dropping pieces due to poor calculation/failure to see threats and defences. Obviously familiarisation with tactical patterns is a must, and the best way is to keep losing games until you remember the patterns, and turn them on your future opponents. (Downright brutal, but you'll remember painful losses much easier than solving tactics puzzles or reading books.)
But this is an opening thread. So I'll talk about the Italian game. I noticed you started with 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 when trying to get there; this is the Bishop's Opening, not Italian. 2...Nf6 will take you away from the structures you want. So:
And now, general ideas on the Italian.
I strongly recommend 3...Nf6 4. d3 leading to safe, quiet but instructional setups, more so than the violent tactical skirmishing after 4. Ng5 or 4. d4. Avoid those lines if you're not booked up, aren't very strong at tactics, or both.
And as for the Italian proper, the meat of it:
Mind you, the moves I gave are mostly not optimal, but aim to demonstrate the most common plans, tactics and features of this opening.
Disclaimer, my last few games have also been crap because I suffer from periodic insomnia, I am on day 3 of next to no sleep. So playing a lot of garbage.
Personally, I think you should play the tactical lines, to improve your tactics.
You mention 4.d3, and 4.Ng5. but the way I see it most often in books is 4.c3. to prep d4 is there a reason you prefer 4.d3?
So basically this thing has a lot of variations that are very sharp unless I keep it quiet. Lots of ways for both players to get in fast trouble.
going to give it a better look tommorow hopefully after some sleep.
OK. FINALLY I'm done with that huge infodump. From memory and on-the-spot analysis too, so it's surely not perfect. The main ideas I learnt and applied back when I played this should all be there, though. Sorry for inducing all your multiple posts. Oh, and after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. c3?! Nxe4 is a very dubious gambit. Or just hanging a pawn, probably. That was the diagram you saw as I was editing, I think.
OK, so main takeaways of that long post.
1) Against the Two Knights' Defence (3...Nf6), either read up and dive in, or dodge the issue with 4. d3.
2) In the Giuoco Piano, 4. d4 is the main line and good if you've read up. Otherwise, the simple 4. d3 is enough for equality and allows you to play sensible, easy-to-understand chess.
3) The pins with Bg5 (and corresponding ...Bg4) should be timed well. Trading for the knight is not usually good, giving up the bishop pair while not really influencing the centre. In general, you'd want to play the move only after your opponent castles short, where you can have the thematic Nxg5 sacrifice if your opponent pushes h6-g5.
4) The d4-d5 push with black's Nc6, Nc5 and Be6. This pattern appears in many games, even QP openings (white's Nf3, Bf4, Bd3, black pushes e5-e4.)
5) The battery with Bc4-Qb3 and the countermeasure ...Na5.
6) Most importantly, realise both sides are playing for d4/d5 and try to push yours first. Defending your e4/e5 pawn while you try is also important. This is the classic example of "central control" everybody tells beginners to learn.
Jul 13, 2016
0
#10
Remellion wrote:
OK. FINALLY I'm done with that huge infodump. From memory and on-the-spot analysis too, so it's surely not perfect. The main ideas I learnt and applied back when I played this should all be there, though. Sorry for inducing all your multiple posts. Oh, and after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. c3?! Nxe4 is a very dubious gambit. Or just hanging a pawn, probably. That was the diagram you saw as I was editing, I think.
OK, so main takeaways of that long post.
1) Against the Two Knights' Defence (3...Nf6), either read up and dive in, or dodge the issue with 4. d3.
2) In the Giuoco Piano, 4. d4 is the main line and good if you've read up. Otherwise, the simple 4. d3 is enough for equality and allows you to play sensible, easy-to-understand chess.
3) The pins with Bg5 (and corresponding ...Bg4) should be timed well. Trading for the knight is not usually good, giving up the bishop pair while not really influencing the centre. In general, you'd want to play the move only after your opponent castles short, where you can have the thematic Nxg5 sacrifice if your opponent pushes h6-g5.
4) The d4-d5 push with black's Nc6, Nc5 and Be6. This pattern appears in many games, even QP openings (white's Nf3, Bf4, Bd3, black pushes e5-e4.)
5) The battery with Bc4-Qb3 and the countermeasure ...Na5.
6) Most importantly, realise both sides are playing for d4/d5 and try to push yours first. Defending your e4/e5 pawn while you try is also important. This is the classic example of "central control" everybody tells beginners to learn.
What should you do after 4. 0-0 and then 4... Nxe4?
I notice Super GMs do not go after the e4 pawn and will castle and if they do, after Re1 they will NEVER play d5, it seems and prefer to play 5...Nd6.
Can you help me out a bit?
Possibly helpful:
Two Knights Defence by Jan Pinski (2004)
http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_opening/ev_the_two_knights_defence.asp?KATID=BO&ProductID=324&PUBID=EV&AUTID=46&BUYID=&ID=BO-Opening
Italian Game and Evans Gambit by Jan Pinski (2005)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626192818/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen78.pdf
Chess Openings for White, Explained 2nd Ed. by Alburt, Dzindzichashvili & Perelshteyn (2010)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627032909/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen89.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626210017/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen132.pdf
http://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/good...good...good...disastrous
Beating 1.e4 e5 by John Emms (2010)
My First Chess Opening Repertoire for White by Vincent Moret (2016)
A Simple Chess Opening Repertoire For White by Sam Collins
Chris Baker's A Startling Chess Opening Repertoire
http://www.theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/more-nco-gambits-and-repertoires
Beating the open games, Mihail Marin
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626195205/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen102.pdf
Open-Games-Black-Igor-Lysyj
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627104938/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen159.pdf
Play the Open Games as Black by John Emms
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627022601/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen11.txt
Bologan's Black Weapons in the Open Games
http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Bologans-Black-Weapons-in-the-Open-Games-76p3873.htm
Starting Out: Open Games by GM Glenn Flear (2010)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626232452/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen134.pdf
Play 1 e4 e5! by Nigel Davies (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626201436/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen80.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627083715/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen98.pdf
The Kaufman Repertoire for Black & White by Larry Kaufman (2012)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626221508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen162.pdf
Opening Repertoire: The Open Games with Black by Martin Lokander (2015)
Playing 1.e4 e5 - A Classical Repertoire by Nikolaos Ntirlis (2016)
The recurring theme in my games is that my tatics need A LOT of work. Even the games I have won could've been much better. I recalled a post a while back by Remillion suggesting that the Italian Game should be played by amatures. I find it usually quite easy to get into the Italian game, but I find it quite difficult to play correctly and win. Need some help. Any general tips are appreciated.