The Italian Game Main Line

The Italian Game is one of the oldest openings in chess and for good reason; it occurs in the Göttingen manuscript and was developed by players such as Damiano and Polerio in the 16th century, and later by Greco in 1620, who gave the game its main line. It has been extensively analyzed for more than 300 years. The sound logic and reasoning behind the quick developing moves has found devoted followers for centuries. Learn the important mainlines for both colors.

Wilhelm Steinitz plays the Grecco Gambit in the Italian game against Curl von Bardenleben and literarily demolishes his self-esteem as he walks out of the Hastings chess tournament never to return.

Steinitz was an important player for the development of chess understanding. Not only was he the first World Champion, he helped advance the game past the romantic players of his time period. In this game this he plays the Italian Game in the Hastings chess tournament of 1895 which featured the top 24(!) players in the world. Having a tournament like that today would be unheard of and would be unimaginably strong. Von Bardeleben was tied for second place going into this game, only half a point behind the leader. This loss crushed Von Bardeleben mentally and has been written about in chess books ever since.

Daniil Dubov and Sergey Karjakin put on quite a display on the Russian Championship Superfinal playing the giuoco piano in the Italian game. A quick b4 is played as a novelty to giuoco piano.

Daniil Dubov is a bright young player who is well known for playing surprising and daring openings. In this game he tests out his creativity and a novelty in the giuoco piano variation of the Italian game against former World Championship challenger Sergey Karjakin. Karjakin is a fantastic player but in this game he is outdone by his creative and enigmatic opponent. Played in the 2020 Russian Championship, this game is getting the title of game of the year by most chess analysts. You don’t want to miss this game!