Italian Game: Complete Guide

The Italian Game, also called the Italian Opening, is a White opening in the Open Games family that runs 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4, putting the bishop on the a2-g8 diagonal so it stares down f7, the square a black king has the hardest time covering until it castles. It is the other way to play 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6: where the Ruy Lopez leans on the c6-knight with 3. Bb5, the Italian goes after the king right away. Today most of the opening is played as the slow Giuoco Pianissimo, with a quiet d3 and patient maneuvering, but this trainer teaches the older and far sharper reading: a full c3 and d4 center against 3...Bc5, and a leap at f7 with 4. Ng5 and the Fried Liver against 3...Nf6. It is also one of the most common things you will ever meet at the board, since the Two Knights and the Giuoco Piano between them account for close to three in five of all club games that arrive at this position.

The Italian is a family, and Black’s third move settles which branch you land in. 3...Bc5 is the Giuoco Piano, where White picks between the c3 and d4 center taught here, the quiet d3 Giuoco Pianissimo, and the Romantic-era Evans Gambit, 4. b4, which hands over a pawn to gain the tempo that builds the same center. 3...Nf6 is the Two Knights Defense, and after 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Black chooses between the greedy 5...Nxd5 that allows the Fried Liver, the level-headed Polerio 5...Na5, the Fritz 5...Nd4 and the Ulvestad 5...b5. Black can also refuse to defend f7 at all and answer 4. Ng5 with the Traxler Counterattack, 4...Bc5, known as the Wilkes-Barre Variation in American sources, throwing a counterattack at f2 instead. The Hungarian Defense, 3...Be7, and the Blackburne Shilling Gambit, 3...Nd4, round out the third moves you will actually meet. This trainer plays the c3-d4 center and the Møller against the Giuoco Piano, 4. Ng5 against the Two Knights, and declines the Traxler with the calm 5. Bxf7+ rather than walking into the complications after 5. Nxf7.

You reach the Italian from the most-played sequence in all of chess, 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4, and then Black chooses a defense. At club level the most popular reply, about one in three games, is 3...Nf6, the Two Knights, hitting back at e4, and this trainer answers it with the aggressive 4. Ng5 that sets up the Fried Liver. A little over one in four plays the Giuoco Piano, 3...Bc5, copying White’s bishop, and there the course cracks the center open with 4. c3 and 5. d4, the Møller Attack. The Blackburne Shilling lunge 3...Nd4, roughly one in twenty, is dealt with by the simple 4. Nxd4 instead of the greedy capture on e5. And when Black sidesteps the whole fight, with the Philidor 2...d6 (about one in seven), the Petroff 2...Nf6 (about one in nine), the Hungarian 3...Be7, or a quiet 3...d6, the answer is always the same shape: bring the pieces out, keep the bishop pointed at f7, open the center with d4, and settle into a pleasant position you already know how to play.

If you are the one facing this Italian, the first thing to learn is restraint, because the c3-d4 lines exist to trap players who cannot stop taking. Snatch everything on c3 and then the rook in the corner and you walk into Re1+ with your queen falling. The respectable road begins 3...Bc5, and after 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 the book continuation is 5...exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ 7. Nc3 Nxe4, where Black is genuinely fine but only with exact moves. In the Møller, 8...Bxc3 9. d5, the move that holds is 9...Bf6, dropping the bishop back to the a1-h8 diagonal, and you have to be willing to hand the extra piece straight back when the attack peaks. If you prefer 3...Nf6, remember that 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 invites the Fried Liver, while 5...Na5 keeps things sane. Above all, get the king to safety early: nearly every Black catastrophe here arrives with the monarch still marooned on e8. And if forcing lines are not your taste, a steady ...d6, or ...Be7 played early, shuts the center and starves White of the open files the whole system runs on.

The Italian Game is among the oldest openings ever written down, examined in Italian manuscripts hundreds of years ago and named for the country whose masters first charted it. The 17th-century player Gioachino Greco mapped out much of the tactical play that still gives the sharp variations their bite, the c3-d4 gambit included, and the Fried Liver and the broader Two Knights quarrels have been argued over since the Romantic age. Through most of the last century the slow Giuoco Pianissimo with d3 held sway, and it is still a favorite of modern elite players who treat it as a low-theory escape from the Ruy Lopez. What this trainer teaches is the older, more confrontational reading: throw the center open at once, train the guns on f7, and make Black defend a king that has not yet found a home.

What is the Italian Game in chess?

It is White’s most direct way to play 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6, and one of the oldest openings on record. The third move is 3. Bc4, which puts the bishop on the a2-g8 diagonal aimed at f7, the one square in Black’s camp that only the king defends, and it stays pointed there for the rest of the game. The Italian Opening, as it is also called, splits by Black’s answer: 3...Bc5 is the Giuoco Piano, 3...Nf6 the Two Knights Defense. Where the Ruy Lopez, 3. Bb5, leans on the knight that guards e5 and builds slow pressure, the Italian goes at the king at once and costs a fraction of the theory.

How do you play the Italian Game?

Play 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 and keep that bishop aimed at f7. Against the Giuoco Piano, 3...Bc5, build the center with 4. c3 and 5. d4 and tear it open while the black king is still at home; the Møller Attack, 4...Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ 7. Nc3 Nxe4 8. O-O, is the main road, and it is forcing, so learn the moves, not just the idea. Against the Two Knights, 3...Nf6, hit f7 again with 4. Ng5, when 4...d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 lets the Fried Liver loose with 6. Nxf7. Either way: castle early, put a rook on e1, and cash in only once the black king is stuck in the middle.

How do you beat the Italian Game as Black?

Stop taking, because the c3 and d4 lines exist to punish greed: grab on c3, take the corner rook when Qb3 appears, and Bxf7+ has your king walking while the extra bishop rots on a1. The sound road is 3...Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ 7. Nc3 Nxe4 8. O-O, where Black is fine but only with exact moves, and after 8...Bxc3 9. d5 the move that holds is 9...Bf6, handing the extra piece back once the attack peaks. Against 4. Ng5, prefer the level-headed 5...Na5 to 5...Nxd5. Above all, castle: nearly every Black catastrophe here arrives with the king still on e8. The trainer covers each of those defenses, from White’s side of the board.

What is the Fried Liver Attack?

It is the sharpest weapon in the Italian against the Two Knights Defense. After 3...Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. Nxf7, White gives up a knight to pull the black king out to e6 and then hunts it with Qf3 and Nc3. White scores well over 60 percent with it at club level, and most opponents have never been made to defend it. It is not forced, though, and this trainer drills the sound alternatives too: the Polerio 5...Na5, the Fritz 5...Nd4, and the Traxler Counterattack 4...Bc5, which the course meets with the calm 5. Bxf7+ rather than accepting the sacrifice.

Is the Italian Game good for beginners?

Yes, it is one of the friendliest openings to learn on. It puts the oldest lessons in chess to work from the third move, develop fast, fight for the center, castle, and pressure f7, and the patterns you pick up here keep paying off in nearly every other opening you study. It also costs a fraction of the Ruy Lopez’s book and never gets outgrown, since 3. Bc4 is still played at the top of the game. The one warning is that the c3-d4 and Ng5 lines taught here are forcing, so the critical variations ask you to know the actual moves, not just the plan.