Learn the Italian Game in 20 Minutes [Chess Opening Crash Course]

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🔹 Hidden line in the Italian Game | Crushing Chess Opening for White –
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In this video lesson, GM Igor Smirnov gives you a quick crash course on one of the most popular chess openings, the Italian Game, which happens after the following moves: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4.

You will learn the general opening theory, guidelines, key ideas, attacking plans, common errors, and some cool traps. Instead of just memorizing the opening moves, you will learn and understand the key ideas and purpose of each move.

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► Chapters

00:00 Italian Game Chess Opening [Ideas & Plans]
00:24 Why 3.Bc4? Don’t memorize moves, understand the opening
01:18 Giuoco Piano, 4.c3
03:34 Pawn sacrifice for a winning attack
04:32 Can you find the winning move for White?
05:00 If White plays 5.d4
06:55 If White plays 5.d3
09:07 Black plays 5…d6, Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo
10:10 If Black delays castling 6…0-0 and plays 6…a6
11:43 Creating an escape square for the c4-bishop
12:33 Most common error by White (DON’T make this mistake)
14:34 If Black plays Bg4, pinning your knight
17:01 Building up the kingside attack
18:46 Summary & Conclusion

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124 Comments

  1. after watching this video. bishops are strong

  2. What if blacks bishop takes white knight in the pin after pawn h2 pawn.

  3. Why would black bishop symmetrically respond to white bishop to b5?

  4. We say white is in big trouble not in a big trouble

  5. Traps are great…. If the opponent does this exact set of moves, which is unlikely.

  6. White bishop takes pawn. If Queen takes back then white checkmates with their own queen

  7. 12:52 could you save the night on f3 for the pawns, so you keep the pin on the Queen? If not can someone explain why

  8. Really great video! Learned a lot from it and will correct the mistakes I was making with my number one opening. Thank you 😀

  9. What if black goes knight f6 attacking the kings pawn who is undefended?

  10. With the bishops pinning knight to queen why not just take the knight if pawn on the edge moves up and threatens it?

  11. Hi Igor, at 12:13, can i play a3 instead of a4 so b4 in the future sounds promising ?

  12. I am a 800 level player. I get screwed by bad openings and have such a hard time memorizing all of this. The principles are understood but it's a lot to absorb to avoid falling into common traps right at the beginning of the game.

  13. another nice video. For people playing casual chess its great to have this knowledge. Win rate up 35%

  14. bxd6+ forces the queen to take back and then qf7# is mate

  15. Wow I'm new in chess. I've really find it frustrating playing the game because I really do not understand how to calculate my moves. But with your channel I feel quite confident. I will start trying out these moves. Thank a lot.

  16. First game trying this after watching , 92.2 accuracy 😄

  17. yes Bishop x d6, and if knight e7, queen can go to f7

  18. What happens if Black Bishop takes Pawn on D4?

    I’m still new, and I’m not sure how that’s game over.

  19. Νικόλας Βιτουλαδίτης says:

    Bxd6+ is the winning move because if queen takes then it's mate. If queen doesn't take then we capture the queen and win the game

  20. 4:40 bd6 forks king and queen since queen capturing will blunder mate (though after you take the queen it’s mate anyway)

  21. Pd7-d6
    Pe5xPd6
    Pc7xPd6
    Rf1-e1+
    Ke7-f8
    Ba3xpd6
    Qd8xBd
    Re1-e8#

  22. Excellent lesson. I started playing the Italian after reading Kaufman's book. It was great to hear some of the game planning and thought processes one should have in different positions- used it to take a nice win this AM in Blitz. Thank you, sir!

  23. Bxp chk and blacks Q is lost at best otherwise
    Q-f7 is mate.

  24. How does it castle the king after getting checked by the bishop ? 😅

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