10 Openings Every Chess Player Must Memorise

The Italian Game is a variation of the Open Game which can lead to strong aggressive positions for white. Similarly to the scholar’s mate opening, the intent is to get whites’ king’s side bishop to C4 so as to attack blacks’ pawn on F7.

As a variation of the Open Game, the E4 opening with E5 as a response is required to proceed into an Italian Game. Instead of playing bishop to C4, as with scholar’s mate, whites’ plays the king’s side knight to F3. This attacks the pawn on E5, and attempts to force black to defend. The two strongest responses are for black to move the king’s side knight to F6, a counter-attack on the E4 pawn known as the Petrov Defence, or the queen’s side knight to C6, defending the E5 pawn.

The C6 move is the play white is looking for in the Italian Game. This is the point when white would move the king’s side bishop to C4, attacking the F7 pawn. From this position, there are a selection of fun variations that can take place. A viable play here for black is moving the king’s side bishop to C5, attacking the undefended F2 pawn in what is known as the Giuoco Piano. Another is to now play the king’s side knight to F6 move from before, called the Two Knights Defence which can lead to white playing the Fried Liver Attack.