The Ultimate Pawn Structure

Morning Mussings

First, here's a fun miniature I won over at Chess Cube, where Black chose the Philidor Defense, something I had talked about previously in another topic.

I've played several games opening with the Greco Variation of the Guioco Piano: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4, attacking the center quickly.

The Giuoco Pianissimo now holds my attention, especially with the move c3 before d3.

1. White's pawn at c3 guards d4 while preventing Black's Nd4.

2. The move d2-d3 defends e4 while giving White's pieces time to find better squares.

I like it.

I wonder how my opponents, with their early attacks, will respond to this quiet start from me?

Here's a top level game with the Giuoco Pianissimo where the pawn break in the center does not occur until 16...dxe4. That's a much longer wait than in any of my typical Live Chess games. Also, I like the way in which Anand takes the time to maneuver his knights over to the kingside.

In the following high level game, the pawn break in the center happens much sooner, with 8.exd5.

When playing the Italian, which pawn structure do you prefer and why?

So far, I have played either the Scotch Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4) or the Greco Variation, also called the Classical Variation:Center Attack (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4). I liked the idea of having both the f1-a6 and the c1-h6 diagonals open for my bishops after d2-d4.

One example of a high level game from Chess Base with C53: Italian Game: Classical Variation, Center Attack. The fireworks go off in the center quite fast!

I'm not getting much interest in this topic, probably because I filled it full of too much opening theory content with no clear reason as to why I did so. My fault.

Take Two

C53: Italian Game: Classical Variation