WEBVTT 00:01.140 --> 00:07.890 Why they're in this thing, I'd like to introduce you to the Italian game, so when you play E4 and 00:07.890 --> 00:17.910 they play 85, 93, 96, you can either play the Spanish game, which is B5 or one square less, is 00:17.910 --> 00:19.170 actually the Italian game. 00:19.410 --> 00:25.590 So you can see the Spanish and Italian influences on the game of chess as it travelled around the world. 00:26.250 --> 00:31.710 And those players in those countries gave the game new ideas, new terminology. 00:33.360 --> 00:37.330 You knew literature, new ways of thinking about chess. 00:37.740 --> 00:46.220 So here the Italian game, you got players like Grecco analyzing back in the 17th century, you know, 00:46.230 --> 00:51.480 really, you know, hundreds of years ago, literally a lot of stuff in the Italian game. 00:52.770 --> 00:57.900 So the Italian writers contributed a great deal to the early understanding of chess. 00:58.410 --> 01:03.380 And you might want to use this as part of your repertoire when you first start. 01:03.660 --> 01:08.500 It does target the potentially sensitive F7 square. 01:08.880 --> 01:12.030 It's the only pawn which is kind of protected by the king. 01:14.400 --> 01:17.610 So it's kind of a sensitive pawn in that regard. 01:17.790 --> 01:20.130 And things can go quite quickly. 01:21.390 --> 01:26.040 But, you know, quite, quite bad for black if they don't really know what they're doing. 01:26.790 --> 01:35.130 Now, as an example here, a safe move, a relatively safe move is Bishop said, fine, because it keeps 01:35.130 --> 01:36.750 an eye on G5. 01:36.750 --> 01:43.430 You can see that the knight can't go to G5 here to target that sensitive square because of, you know, 01:43.440 --> 01:44.460 queen takes night. 01:44.550 --> 01:46.210 There's no there's no backfire. 01:46.260 --> 01:52.800 The four here, you might think the backfire, but actually we can play Queen takes G2 and hit the rook. 01:53.190 --> 02:03.390 So this kind of move avoids this kind of team effort against the F7 soft spot. 02:04.710 --> 02:06.350 But that still is. 02:06.360 --> 02:08.040 So that's one of the main moves. 02:08.040 --> 02:13.020 Bishop C five, but not six is still a playable move despite the soft spots. 02:13.290 --> 02:19.970 And it's great to understand why you know, what resources Black does or should not use here. 02:20.610 --> 02:29.560 So if we look at Night of sex in this particular introduction, I like to just share with you some ideas, 02:29.570 --> 02:31.830 some ideas for the attack on the soft spot. 02:32.280 --> 02:39.210 And a common idea is actually because black hasn't suppressed male 95. 02:39.210 --> 02:42.960 You can play this without the Queen winning it. 02:43.440 --> 02:45.420 You're targeting that soft spot --. 02:45.870 --> 02:51.690 And so if your new this is a great way of having a lot of fun early in the game because what are the 02:51.690 --> 02:53.700 options for black to the fans? 02:54.450 --> 03:00.270 So, for example, Bishop, is when you are going to take that -- and even -- the queen and rock 03:00.270 --> 03:06.120 and here, you know, you're absolutely winning, you've actually kind of won the opponents queen. 03:06.120 --> 03:08.370 That's a big advantage to have earlier on. 03:10.050 --> 03:15.090 And again, you know, Bishop C5, you could take her -- queen and rook. 03:15.690 --> 03:17.730 So this is, you know, when you attack the queen. 03:17.940 --> 03:19.490 So what does Black do? 03:19.830 --> 03:23.790 Well, quite often they do come up with D5, but they might not know the follow up. 03:24.330 --> 03:31.260 Now, the proper follow up after E takes the five, that's better than ninety nine. 03:31.590 --> 03:38.280 You know, if if you play Bishop takes you kind of losing because knights takes is not very good for 03:38.280 --> 03:44.520 you as white because they can play this and then they could play this and actually you've just forfeited 03:44.520 --> 03:45.480 casting whites. 03:45.960 --> 03:48.150 This is not a pleasant position at all. 03:49.320 --> 03:53.220 And in fact you could quickly lose with Bishop G4. 03:53.670 --> 03:59.670 You might want to understand this from the black side and then move like Bishop S7 and then say Bishop 03:59.670 --> 04:03.150 848, with the king trapped in the center, can lead to checkmate. 04:03.720 --> 04:07.200 So you've got to be careful here to play. 04:07.200 --> 04:13.800 Actually, you know, he takes the five and the best approach for black is ninety five. 04:13.800 --> 04:19.800 So this is a well known counter gambit, which the playback back should use to reach a kind of semi 04:19.800 --> 04:27.570 decent position, kick in and immediately make sure it can't use it for that easily and then kicking 04:27.570 --> 04:30.540 it again and black gets good compensation here. 04:30.840 --> 04:32.880 This is a playable position for both sides. 04:33.510 --> 04:41.010 But ah, now let's assume, you know, your opponent doesn't really know what they're doing of the five 04:41.190 --> 04:45.510 in terms of the follow ups and you play it and they play nine takes. 04:45.510 --> 04:49.950 The best move here is actually the four. 04:50.370 --> 04:56.280 This suspends the idea of doing something active on F7 for one moment longer, but it's for overall 04:57.150 --> 05:00.090 quite a bit stronger actually than takes seven. 05:00.450 --> 05:07.690 But we do get to see some violence on the chessboard after seven, when we can play, Knight takes a 05:07.750 --> 05:09.870 seven and we're bringing the king out. 05:10.380 --> 05:17.070 So this is a very interesting attack on that soft spot because it is the only square early on that's 05:17.070 --> 05:18.180 protected by the king. 05:18.810 --> 05:26.640 So in this regard, this, you know, Italian game is actually quite exciting here of the queen, a 05:26.650 --> 05:29.010 free track like Seefried. 05:29.610 --> 05:32.550 And now let's say they play this, which tries to defend. 05:32.630 --> 05:42.070 Night and also facilitates C6, you have a very good position here with Queen Itoh and blacks in real 05:42.070 --> 05:51.490 trouble, for example, C6, you kick this back, taking on five and you can take on D5, take on G5 05:51.490 --> 05:52.030 again. 05:52.420 --> 05:54.220 And this is just a huge position. 05:54.220 --> 05:56.130 If you get this position, it's huge. 05:56.590 --> 06:02.920 Queen H5 now threatening CHATENAY as an example and provoking weaknesses. 06:02.920 --> 06:04.330 --'s that don't go back. 06:04.330 --> 06:06.400 You can now play this for example. 06:06.940 --> 06:10.500 And if they have really played like this, you're going to be mating them. 06:11.230 --> 06:19.270 So all of these disasters, many, many disaster scenarios can result when you play Neuk G5, D5 and 06:19.270 --> 06:24.460 they don't really know the follow up should be and they routinely take here. 06:24.910 --> 06:28.510 So the absolute best follow up is to resist temptation. 06:28.520 --> 06:29.050 Don't play. 06:29.210 --> 06:33.370 It takes F7 immediately because there are some tricky lines there. 06:34.540 --> 06:40.030 Now, just in case you're convinced otherwise, I'll show one which you mirthful. 06:40.180 --> 06:47.410 You know, some, some mirthful is good, but if you play this now, the problem is this move is actually 06:47.410 --> 06:48.220 rather good. 06:48.640 --> 06:57.070 As an example, if you if you don't, Castle, let's say you don't cancel because that not only facilitating 06:57.400 --> 07:00.420 C6 the right to the first thing, it's easy to check. 07:00.940 --> 07:02.980 Now, let's say you don't cancel. 07:04.470 --> 07:12.000 You play a free so neat, so you might think you've got a great attacking position here, but actually 07:12.000 --> 07:20.370 Black has Koeneke four and technically after this move, I like to analyze things with computers and 07:20.370 --> 07:23.650 I would urge you to get into that habit as soon as possible. 07:24.600 --> 07:27.720 Computer technology in chess has advanced so much. 07:28.740 --> 07:32.600 You know, back in the 80s, computers were being beaten grandmasters, but they're stronger. 07:32.610 --> 07:35.280 Basically, the world chess champions now. 07:35.580 --> 07:42.030 And this key move, you know, guarantees an advantage for black and that is actually hitting the bishop. 07:42.450 --> 07:51.030 And if it takes C7, doublecheck king, these seven, Sharecare 27, and all of a sudden this isn't 07:51.360 --> 07:53.340 at all clear whatsoever. 07:53.760 --> 07:57.330 For example, Knight eight here, this isn't at all clear. 07:57.990 --> 08:01.320 Blacks actually significantly better in theory. 08:01.830 --> 08:03.780 You know, it's just crazy. 08:03.780 --> 08:05.150 It's just crazy stuff. 08:05.580 --> 08:12.570 So all of this stuff can actually be, you know, avoided if early on you play the most scientifically 08:12.570 --> 08:21.270 correct move, which as far as most research researchers agree, defore actually delaying this attack 08:21.270 --> 08:23.160 on F7, delaying this sacrifice. 08:23.670 --> 08:33.030 So if Black doesn't, you know, play especially so and then there's other horrors as well, if you 08:33.030 --> 08:34.320 know what is black to her. 08:37.320 --> 08:44.510 Probably so DeFore is a key move, so say Bishop is OK. 08:44.560 --> 08:47.880 He takes the form of me and then you can just cancel. 08:47.910 --> 08:49.080 This is a great position. 08:49.260 --> 08:56.250 So we're not even yet sacrificing on F7 now, especially when we can have fun with Knight takes F7 and 08:56.250 --> 08:56.910 check here. 08:57.300 --> 09:03.630 And this is very different because our Kings Castle, we have this rock in the center, we can play 09:03.630 --> 09:06.930 check and look. 09:06.930 --> 09:14.310 We've got two absolute pens now this is really, really strong continuation lightsey free will rip open 09:14.310 --> 09:16.560 that defo so temporarily. 09:16.560 --> 09:22.440 Sackur a piece there Rook takes e5 and the black king is being shredded. 09:22.860 --> 09:25.230 This is a kind of Idil attacking position. 09:25.590 --> 09:27.060 Bishop takes five chac. 09:27.060 --> 09:29.910 It's a crushing advantage here for whites. 09:30.210 --> 09:36.270 Blacks rooks are just asleep here and your bishops and queen, they're all alive, you know, waiting 09:36.270 --> 09:37.380 to make the opponent. 09:37.770 --> 09:41.490 So yeah these, these variations are extremely scary. 09:43.080 --> 09:52.710 So let's go back to after ninety five D5 Eatings, but they're scarier if you play the move defore. 09:55.590 --> 10:00.780 If we go back into that other line by the way and do a slight improvement to try and give it just as 10:00.780 --> 10:08.130 the immediate night takes, have some which I don't recommend and you cancel instead. 10:08.130 --> 10:09.480 So let's consider instead. 10:09.480 --> 10:11.760 Is this good enough, is this position good enough. 10:12.720 --> 10:21.510 Well C6 and this can be dangerous for black with this the for here as well, though it can be dangerous. 10:22.470 --> 10:28.590 But Black's chances overall are slightly improved than other rotations. 10:28.590 --> 10:34.050 But this this position, this particular sequence is also bad news for black. 10:34.050 --> 10:37.650 If white plays the cards right, this could be really, really bad news for black. 10:37.920 --> 10:40.530 It's king safety vs. material. 10:40.740 --> 10:46.260 So there's a lot of fun to be had had, you know, practicing hunting kings and these sorts of wild 10:46.260 --> 10:47.100 variations. 10:47.460 --> 10:48.330 So you know what? 10:48.330 --> 10:50.220 You know, you can try either. 10:50.220 --> 10:56.520 But I'm just telling you, theoretically, that the immediate night takes F7 is not thought to be as 10:56.520 --> 10:58.020 good as four. 10:58.680 --> 11:03.810 So Defoe's like even more precise, it protects that bishop. 11:05.040 --> 11:06.840 It delays this night, takes F7. 11:06.840 --> 11:10.380 It asks what Black is actually doing here. 11:12.480 --> 11:22.470 So usually Bishop S7 if it takes the fall, this is not a power feature of defore, then you can actually 11:22.470 --> 11:23.460 play Seefried. 11:23.970 --> 11:25.800 And here we've just won a piece. 11:25.800 --> 11:26.310 Ouch. 11:26.910 --> 11:31.110 So 1964 is not a very bright idea because of Kifri 11:33.630 --> 11:34.680 884. 11:34.680 --> 11:41.070 Instead then we can cancel and then here we've got eyepieces at full power. 11:41.070 --> 11:43.830 This takes is rather nice. 11:44.220 --> 11:49.770 They don't want to step back because they'll be kind of checkmated in short order. 11:50.430 --> 11:55.060 You know, if they play Bishop ESX, then it's going to be Jemena. 11:56.400 --> 11:57.780 Otherwise they're gonna have to sacrifice. 11:57.780 --> 11:59.610 They're going to stay that off. 12:03.240 --> 12:07.830 So, yeah, these are not very palatable options at all. 12:08.460 --> 12:13.710 So, yeah, 1964 etext, these are not palatable options at all. 12:15.630 --> 12:21.990 So he takes the fall, we just cancel around 1967, so what is black actually do here? 12:24.130 --> 12:27.570 On Kingi eight Bishopsgate, so they can't cancel. 12:27.610 --> 12:30.430 They're in big trouble in this kind of position. 12:30.460 --> 12:31.370 Big, big trouble. 12:32.170 --> 12:37.210 I mean, there are all sorts of things you're threatening me if they play this, you know, you even 12:37.210 --> 12:45.790 go, ah, you've got very, very good options like Quiñones, five Chank and maybe just doubling the 12:45.820 --> 12:48.950 pawns and taking here is one option with advantage. 12:49.960 --> 12:53.290 So anyway, DeFore is the theoretically best move. 12:53.500 --> 12:58.770 But in your Newcomen experience, you might actually want to experiment with both see the resulting 12:58.780 --> 13:06.250 positions, but you can kind of know from the evidence of of of research that DeFore is actually the 13:06.250 --> 13:11.680 preferred move to play in this position to punish what Blake is doing. 13:12.190 --> 13:17.530 However, if you're on the black side of this whole thing and you do really want to play not forsakes, 13:17.770 --> 13:22.930 I really hope you have in mind the counter gambit based on a five. 13:23.740 --> 13:25.180 This is what professionals use. 13:25.180 --> 13:25.720 This counts. 13:25.720 --> 13:32.350 Camba So you sacrifice a pawn and you're in a good position to have a decent game soon. 13:32.860 --> 13:37.930 So only for a pawn that you guarantee your king safety choices about trade offs. 13:38.410 --> 13:44.320 Sometimes you want to be a little bit down and and have better king safety and peace activity and pull 13:44.320 --> 13:44.860 Morphy. 13:44.860 --> 13:50.410 If you study the games of pool Morphy in particular, you know, there are so many games he demonstrates 13:51.640 --> 13:58.810 quality over material counts, quality in terms of his peace activity, central control, leading developments, 13:59.020 --> 14:04.150 the initiative, you know, extra time because his pieces are out and about already attacking things 14:04.300 --> 14:05.230 and crying France. 14:05.530 --> 14:07.630 So the trade off here is reflected. 14:07.630 --> 14:13.720 If you if you want to play this provocative, essentially it's a provocative opening. 14:13.960 --> 14:20.170 When you play the night here, you're provoking 95 if you want to play it safer than Bishop C5. 14:20.620 --> 14:22.890 So you avoid this whole ninety five. 14:23.050 --> 14:26.890 Now let's go from the white perspective again on Bishop C5. 14:27.160 --> 14:33.760 And I just want to outline a pitfall which the great acts the chess club has highlighted that many players 14:33.760 --> 14:35.610 nutrition's might play might free. 14:35.860 --> 14:43.270 We get kind of stodgy kind of style possession, which can be a bit dull and repetitive and and I don't 14:43.270 --> 14:44.890 really want to put you off chess. 14:44.890 --> 14:49.840 So this is not really a fantastically exciting way of playing the white position. 14:50.110 --> 14:57.280 However, if you did start off or did some experiments with this move might see free and they play like 14:57.280 --> 15:00.010 this, G5 is generally a bad idea. 15:00.670 --> 15:02.790 You can actually play in here. 15:02.860 --> 15:07.750 And because that bishop is on Seifi, this kind of is a common trap. 15:08.080 --> 15:16.660 You're getting a big advantage here by playing for 95 and then here at four. 15:16.690 --> 15:22.510 This is a very strong position for it because they're not really able to wriggle that quickly from this 15:22.930 --> 15:23.770 Penns piece. 15:24.130 --> 15:30.040 So this kind of position, if you get this on a chessboard, there's a key move here which guarantees 15:30.250 --> 15:31.000 advantage. 15:31.270 --> 15:34.030 And that's Bishop B5 safeguarding the bishop. 15:34.720 --> 15:39.910 And you're really ready to crush the opponents here. 15:40.330 --> 15:51.490 For example, 86 detainees, E4 and if 865, if you've got this very nice, nice pen and there's King 15:51.500 --> 15:54.340 safety issues here for Black to contend with. 15:54.640 --> 15:58.000 So this is all from this kind of stodgy variation. 15:58.000 --> 16:01.770 So let's recap this very, very stodgy variation where you play. 16:03.760 --> 16:06.460 So they play Bishop see five and you're making it even Stojan. 16:06.730 --> 16:07.540 But you know what? 16:07.570 --> 16:11.710 They're always a means of spicing up things here. 16:12.160 --> 16:18.550 And in fact, this is an even, you know, the most kind of standard way of playing it. 16:19.300 --> 16:22.900 There's an exciting gambit called the Evans Gambit before. 16:23.440 --> 16:28.960 And with this, you can rapidly get points to the center and a very exciting position. 16:29.230 --> 16:36.100 So you're trading off a bit material for other aspects of Excitement's lead, the pressure pieces, 16:36.100 --> 16:39.580 coordinated pieces out and about King safety issues for the opponent. 16:39.730 --> 16:43.060 So it's well worth checking out some Evans Gambit games. 16:43.390 --> 16:45.340 And you can get this from Paul Morphy. 16:45.610 --> 16:47.650 Find out about Paul Morphy. 16:47.800 --> 16:51.720 And I might even just have a course in the future to examine Paul more of his games. 16:51.730 --> 16:53.710 So all this is totally Paul. 16:54.010 --> 16:59.740 If you go through Paul, move his games, you'll understand this open game a lot more so before as a 16:59.740 --> 17:01.150 way of spicing things up. 17:01.930 --> 17:05.950 But also the pretty standard move here is free. 17:06.310 --> 17:09.430 So it's not Mitzy free that the downside of Noisey free. 17:09.730 --> 17:12.550 Is it the block in your Seiple? 17:13.030 --> 17:20.110 And actually I know this is not a developing move, but it is about central control and it does kind 17:20.110 --> 17:22.540 of liberate pieces later if you. 17:22.660 --> 17:27.820 Get some pawns off the boards and make the sensible open, your pieces generally are freer. 17:28.300 --> 17:34.600 So, for example, no sex, you can actually play this quietly with differe, but later you're you're 17:34.600 --> 17:35.970 going to play for the force. 17:36.010 --> 17:41.650 It's a strategic kind of POUM break, a pawnbroker's, something which kind of liberates frees your 17:41.650 --> 17:42.160 pieces. 17:42.460 --> 17:46.060 So here later, you're going to be playing for the move defore. 17:46.390 --> 17:51.970 And if they release their central control like this, you're going to have a very pleasant advantage. 17:52.180 --> 17:56.520 So this is just the kind of bog standard way that one should be playing it. 17:56.740 --> 18:02.380 But a lot of people new to chess seem to like, you know, like Seefried seems like logical and safe 18:02.380 --> 18:03.310 to play, noisy, free. 18:03.310 --> 18:07.450 But in fact, Siegfried's is the more standard way an exotic way. 18:07.450 --> 18:08.830 Is this Evans gambit? 18:09.850 --> 18:10.690 But yeah. 18:10.690 --> 18:14.860 So the Italian game is is where I started my chess from. 18:15.220 --> 18:21.190 My father, I think was trying to emphasize the soft spot, the early softball. 18:21.430 --> 18:27.820 And in general, that philosophy of looking where the king is holding a piece or pawn will win you a 18:27.820 --> 18:28.630 ton of games. 18:28.930 --> 18:31.890 The king is the most valuable piece on the chessboard. 18:32.230 --> 18:36.610 Look out for where there's a defensive dependency on the king himself. 18:36.910 --> 18:38.890 And the Italian game reflects that. 18:39.070 --> 18:40.690 There's a lot of early analysis. 18:40.900 --> 18:41.920 Check out Grecco. 18:41.920 --> 18:47.740 There's a lot of early little games showing little ideas and pitfalls in the games of Grecco. 18:48.100 --> 18:52.570 So the Italian game is well worth exploration and experimentation. 18:52.720 --> 18:56.020 It's where a lot of players started their opening theory. 18:56.890 --> 19:02.200 The runner paths is very, very rich, compared a much more kind of in a way sophisticated and a lot 19:02.200 --> 19:04.520 more to know the Italian game. 19:04.520 --> 19:06.790 There's lots, though, of course, as well. 19:06.790 --> 19:08.030 There is a lot to digest. 19:08.030 --> 19:11.920 Chess is a gigantically, you know, gigantic, vast game. 19:12.400 --> 19:17.860 But there are some, you know, pitfalls with many, many variations here. 19:18.160 --> 19:23.230 I just want to point you out, though, that Netflix positively invites you fine, because we're not 19:23.230 --> 19:24.640 controlling that G5 square. 19:24.640 --> 19:29.920 Crucially, Bishop C5, you need to know how to make the game exciting for yourself. 19:30.220 --> 19:35.050 And also, the more open you can make the center in general, the more you'll have peace activity. 19:35.050 --> 19:39.430 The taste of the initiative, the taste of attacks, the taste of peace is working as a team. 19:40.060 --> 19:41.920 You know, we want those king hunts. 19:41.920 --> 19:42.590 You want to continue. 19:43.030 --> 19:46.720 You want to hunt the opponents king. 19:48.940 --> 19:54.350 And get practice in that, you know, that will make you a ferocious, you know, tactical player. 19:54.820 --> 19:57.280 So the Italian game does offer some of that. 19:57.760 --> 20:01.540 But you might also, as part of your repertoire, just simply do other stuff. 20:02.020 --> 20:03.250 Don't don't even play. 20:03.250 --> 20:05.630 Not afraid you might even experiment with the king's gambit. 20:06.070 --> 20:11.020 There's the Scottish game, which you might experiment with, which is an early day for this opens up 20:11.020 --> 20:14.620 things just really early days for the Scottish game. 20:14.750 --> 20:16.560 But yeah, that's for a lot of the lectures. 20:16.570 --> 20:22.720 I just wanted to give you an overview, a brief overview introduction of bishops see for the Italian 20:22.720 --> 20:23.040 game. 20:23.680 --> 20:26.230 So that's the Italian game and this is the Spanish game. 20:26.230 --> 20:27.400 And it's that wonderful. 20:27.640 --> 20:35.440 We have this global kind of contributions to chess, such a vast game with an interesting cultural, 20:35.740 --> 20:38.220 historic heritage to explore. 20:38.560 --> 20:40.180 OK, that's much.