The Italian Renaissance – I: Move Orders, Tricks and Alternatives

Descripción

The Italian Renaissance  With the seemingly bulletproof Berlin Wall and Marshall Attack continuing

to thwart White’s best efforts to find an advantage in the Ruy Lopez, many top players have

incorporated the Italian Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4) along with the related Bishop’s Opening

(2.Bc4) into their repertoires. In this two-volume work, GM Martyn Kravtsiv shares his insights on

this Italian Renaissance from White’s perspective.

The Italian Renaissance

 

The first topic is the Bishop’s Opening, which can be used as an Anti-Petroff move order as well as a

weapon in its own right. 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 may or may not transpose to the main Italian lines, and it is

useful to have it in your arsenal in order to choose the most effective sequence against each opponent.

Move Orders, Tricks and Alternatives

 

Next is the more popular 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3. Before reaching the Italian, White must be ready to deal with

the Petroff Defence (2…Nf6). Kravtsiv advocates the well-regarded 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3

variation, offering an array of weapons to cause problems for Black, including a large number of

untested yet dangerous ideas. The Italian Game will be covered in the second volume.

 

Join The Italian Renaissance and create your own masterpieces!

 

Martyn Kravtsiv is a Ukrainian Grandmaster with a peak rating of 2685, with expert knowledge

and experience of 1.e4.

“There have been many decent books recently on the Italian […] but this one is clearly my favourite.

It’s a real grandmaster repertoire – Kravtsiv doesn’t shun extremely deep analysis of some

middlegame positions – but there is a lot of grandmaster judgement in the lines too. Kravtsiv always

has an eye for a position that his engines consider equal but that might be easier for White’s game

and I have to say that I agreed with a lot of his evaluations. Excellent work – 4 stars!”

 

“He essentially presents two weapons for White after 1.e4 e5, the Bishop’s Opening, 2.Bc4, and 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3. The coverage is typically detailed, featuring a number of important-looking new ideas for White, but also contains plenty of explanatory text.”

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