The Italian Game
Introduce yourself to one of the oldest and strongest openings in chess history. This opening is a timeless classic and is a great choice regardless of whether you are an amateur or Grandmaster.
Parent: King Knight’s Opening ECO: C50-c59 Origin: 15th -17th Century

The Italian Game, Michelangelo Merisi Carvaggio, The Chess Players
The Italian Game or is a double king pawn opening characterized by the development of white’s light-squared bishop to the square c4 where it attacks Black’s vulnerable f7-square. It is part of the large family of Open Games and King’s Pawn Games.
The opening can be both quiet and slow in nature or explosive and aggressive depending on how both sides would like to handle the opening.
This opening is one of the oldest openings in chess with the first serious analysis of it being done in the 16th century by players such as Damiano and Polerio ! There have been many advancements in the ideas for both sides and it is still considered one of the most sound openings in chess despite it’s old age.

The Italian Game
INTRODUCTION
THE MAIN LINE
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.…




Live Analysis, Chess Diagram, PGN Analysis, Cinematic Videos
THE MAIN LINE
LESSON 1
THE EVANS GAMBIT
The Evans Gambit
The Evans Gambit is an exhilarating opening that has been used by World Champions like Fischer and Kasparov and was a favorite of American great, Paul Morphy. This opening is a good counterpart to the Italian Game and is worth learning for both white and black. White sacrifices their b-pawn…




Live Analysis, Chess Diagram, PGN Analysis, Cinematic Videos
THE EVANS GAMBIT
LESSON 2
THE TWO KNIGHTS VARIATION
The Two Knights variation
The Two Knights variation of the Italian game is one of the most famous variations in all of chess. It's been played for hundreds of years and it is still seen at all levels of chess. No matter the level of the players it leads to early and interesting attacks…




Live Analysis, Chess Diagram, PGN Analysis, Cinematic Videos
THE TWO KNIGHTS VARIATION
FAMOUS GAMES
Cinematic Snapshots of famous historic games of grandmasters using The Italian Game designed for you to sit back and enjoy.
Polerio vs Domenico
1610 the tercios from Spain and its allies roam trough Europe at full march. Meanwhile in Rome 2 great chess players, Gulio Cesare Polerio and Domenico play the fried liver…
Anderssen vs Dufresne
The evergreen game was played between Adolf Andersen and Jean Dufresne in Berlin, Germany. It stays up to date up to this day, hence the name the evergreen game. Anderssen…
Marache vs Morphy
Paul Morphy plays the black side of the Evans Gambit against Napoleon Marache and makes it look easy. He finishes the game with a magnificent mate and creates a beautiful…
Steinitz vs von Bardenleben, Grecco Gambit
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…
Dubov vs Karjakin
This chess lesson features an exciting chess game. Daniil Dubov and Sergey Karjakin put on quite a display on the Russian Championship Superfinal playing the giuoco piano in the Italian…
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