The Italian game II
Giuoco Piano and Evans' Gambit (continued)
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Giuoco Piano
Black
avoids the Moller 8...Nxc3
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 ed4 6. cd4
Bb4 7. Nc3 (risky main line) Nxe4 8. 0-0
White has to play
9. bxc3
when Black has another choice
Greedy 9...Bxc3
Safer 9...d5
Bernstein's line: greedy
9...Bxc3
Reply
10. Ba3
[10. Qb3 is also fun: see the Traps section]
This is Bernstein's line, and Black no longer has a
satisfactory reply. When I
came across this line as a junior I fell in love with it,
and always tried to
play it.
CHOOSE:
10..Ba1
10..d6
10..d5
10..Qf6
10..Ne7
The most important one to deal with is
the most obvious:
10... Bxa1
11. Re1+ Ne7 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Rxe7+ Kxe7 14. Qe1+
Kf8 15. Qxa1
with extra material, and White's attack is far from over.
Black must back out
earlier.
10... d6
is also insufficient
11. Rc1 Ba5 12. Qa4 a6 13. Bd5 Bb6 14. Rxc6 Bd7
15. Re1+ Kf8 16. Rxd6 cxd6
17. Bxd6+ Kg8 18. Bxf7+ Kxf7 19. Qb3+ Kg6 20. Ne5+
20...Kf6
[20... Kh5 21. Qf3+ Kh6 22. Nf7+ Kg6 23. Nxd8 Bxd8 24.
Qxb7]
21. Qf7+ Kg5 22. Qxg7+ Kh5 23. g4+ Bxg4 24. Qxg4+
Kh6 25. Nf7#
10... d5
Often a good idea but here is no good either:
11. Bb5 Bxa1 12. Re1+ Be6 13. Qa4 Qc8 14. Bxc6+
bxc6 15. Qxc6+ Kd8 16. Ng5
Qb8
10... Qf6
Not even close
11. Rc1 Bb4 12. Bxb4 Nxb4 13. Re1+
10... Ne7
best: the game might go
11. Qb3 d5 12. Qxc3 dxc4 13. Rfe1 Be6 14. Bxe7
Kxe7 15. d5 Qxd5 16. Rad1 Qc5
17. Re5 Qb6
White now can finish nicely:
18. Rxe6+ Qxe6
else Qxg7+ is terrible
19. Re1 Qxe1+ 20. Qxe1+ Kd8 21. Ne5
when White should be able to handle the Pawns, which lack
support from the
Rooks.
Bernstein: the safer 9... d5
This may be really where Black should back out.
10. cxb4 dxc4 11. Re1+
[A safer line for White here is 11. b5 Ne7 12. Ba3 O-O
13. Qe2 Re8 14. Qxc4]
11... Ne7
12. Qe2
[John Walker suggests the piece sacrifice with 12. Bg5
f6
[not 12... Be6 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. d5]
13. Qe2 fxg5 14. Nxg5
...which certainly puts Black under pressure, but it's
not my style.]
After 12. Qe2 Fritz wanted to play out a game it knew
about, which
ran:
12... Be6 13. Bg5 Qd7 14. Qe5 c6 15. Qxg7 O-O-O
16. Ne5 Qd5 17. Qf6 Ng6 18.
h4 Rhg8 19. Nxg6 hxg6 20. Rac1 b5 21. a4 Qxd4 22. axb5
Qxf6 23. Bxf6 Rd3 24.
bxc6 Kc7 25. Rxe6 fxe6 26. Rxc4
White's exchange deficit is compensated by the pawns
If you don't fancy this you can always play
11.b5.
Moller
attack
8... Bxc3
Now the key reply is 9. d5, although we will look at 9.
bxc3 below.
9. d5
9... Bf6
Neither
[9... Na5 ?] or
[9... Nd6 ?] are any good.
[9... Ne5 is better, but after
10. bxc3 Nxc4 11. Qd4 f5
Keene and Levy give
12. Qxc4 d6 13. Nd4 O-O 14. f3 Nc5
with
advantage
(Alert and anxious reader: "What about 11...Ncd6?
What about 11...O-O?"
What indeed?)]
[And after 9... Ne7 White continues logically
10. bxc3 O-O 11. Re1 Nf6 12. Bg5 Ng6 13. d6 h6 14. Qd3
hxg5 15. Qxg6 cxd6 16. Nxg5 Qc7 17. Bxf7+ Kh8 18. Re3
winning]
After 9...Bf6, the only try is
10. Re1
[If 10. dxc6 bxc6 11. Re1 Black can continue 11...O-O
12. Rxe4 d5 13.
Rf4 dxc4 14. Qa4 c3 15. bxc3 Bxc3 16. Rb1 Qd3 17. Rbb4 Ba6
18. Rbc4 Bxc4 19.
Rxc4 Rab8 -+]
10... Ne7 11. Rxe4 d6 12. Bg5 Bxg5 13.
Nxg5
13... O-O
[BCO reckons a better line is 13... h6 14. Qh5 O-O 15.
Rae1 Nf5 16. Nxf7
[16. Ne6 fxe6 17. dxe6 Ne7 -+ BCO2]
16... Qf6[[opthyphen]] Zak]
14. Nxh7 Kxh7
15. Qh5+ Kg8 16. Rh4 f5 17. Re1 Re8
[We saw ...Ng6 in the Traps section above]
18. Re6 Kf8 19. Be2 Nxd5 20. Qxf5+ Kg8 21. Qh7+
Kf7 22. Rxe8 Kxe8 23.
Qg8+ Kd7 24. Bg4+ Kc6 25. Qxd8 winning
If this is all a bit much, White can go instead
9. bxc3
when 9... d5
is OK for Black.
White is still ahead in development but Black still has a
pawn. At Grandmaster
level they have given up on this line, thinking White
cannot get enough of an
attack going. At club level, though, there may be enough
meat left to chew.
Let's look at two example lines, to see how games might
go.
10. Bb5 O-O 11. Qc2 Bf5 12. Bd3 Bg6 13. Rb1 Nd6 14.
Ba3 b6 15. Ne5 Bxd3 16.
Qxd3 Ne7 17. Rfe1 f6 18. Ng4 Qd7 19. Qh3 Rad8 20. Rb2 Ng6
21. Qf3 Rfe8 22. Rbe2
Rxe2 23. Rxe2 Ne4 24. h3 Qa4 25. Bb2 Qxa2 26. Ne3
when it has all gone minty for White.
So White can try instead
10. Be3 dxc4 11. Re1 f5 12. Nd2 Kf7 13. Nxe4 fxe4 14.
Rxe4 Qf6 15. Qe2 Bf5
16. Qxc4+ Kg6 17. Re3 Rae8 18. Rae1 Rxe3 19. Rxe3 h5 20.
h3 h4 21. d5 Ne5 22.
Qxc7 Nd3 23. Qxb7 Bc8 24. Qc6 Qxc6 25. dxc6 Nf4 26. Re7
a6
when White has enough pawns to account for the piece,
but their scattered
placing makes it hard to play for a win.
If you are not convinced by any of these lines (and while
they are
worth a punt in practice the theory is against them) you
can always play safe
on move 7. So let's look at that next.
Safe main line 7.
Bd2
7. Bd2
7... Bxd2+ 8. Nbxd2 d5
Of course.
9. exd5 Nxd5
[A solid line is 10. O-O O-O 11. Nb3]
10. Qb3 Nce7 11. O-O O-O
White has several alternatives in this well-known
position:
[12. Ne5]
[12. Ne4]
[12. Bxd5]
[12. Rae1]
[12. Rfe1]
For an example of 12. Rfe1 see the games section.
The
closed variation 4...Bb6
4... Bb6 5. d4 Qe7
[6. O-O+= is good enough, but try
instead...]
6. Bg5
This continuation was discovered by Jonathan Mestel and
helped him win the UK
Championship in 1975. Of course, Black doesn't want to
weaken the King's-side
with ...f6, when Nxe5 looks very dangerous.
6... Nf6 7. d5 Nd8 8. d6 cxd6
The capture with 8...Qxd6 9. Qxd6 cxd6 is no safer for
Black.
9. Na3 a6 10. Nc2 Bxf2+ 11. Ke2 Bc5 12. Nh4 Ne6
13. Nf5 +-
Mestel-Doyle '75; White has a large positional advantage
and may be winning.
Evans' Gambit 4. b4
4. b4
Evans' Gambit Declined
(4...Bb6)
4... Bb6
The best way to refute a gambit is to accept it.
5. a4 a6 6. Nc3 d6
[6... Nf6 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8. exd5 e4 9. dxc6 exf3 10. Qxf3
Qe7+ 11. Kd1
dxc6 12. Re1 Be6 13. Bb2 +=/+- estrin]
7. Nd5 Ba7 8. d3 h6
9. Be3 +=
With an edge for White - Panov/Estrin]
Evans' Gambit Accepted
(4...Bxb4)
4... Bxb4
[If instead 4... Nxb4 5. c3 Nc6 6. d4
transposes to the 5...Bc5 variation]
5. c3
Black has three choices:
5... Ba5
5... Bc5
5... Be7
Evans' Gambit with 5... Bc5
5... Bc5 6. d4 exd4 7. O-O
7...d6
[7... d3 8. Ng5 Nh6 9. Nxf7 +- BCO2 9... Nxf7 10.
Qh5]
8. cxd4 Bb6 9. Nc3 Na5 10. Bg5 Ne7
[10... f6 11. Bf4 Nxc4 12. Qa4+ Qd7 13. Qxc4 Qf7 14.
Nd5
14... g5 15. Bg3 Be6 16. Qa4+ Bd7 17. Qa3 Rc8 18.
Rfe1
g4 19. Nxb6 axb6 20.
Nd2 Be6 21. f4 gxf3 22. Nxf3 Ne7 23. e5 fxe5 24. dxe5 d5
25. Rf1 Nf5 26.
Nd4
when it's still awkward for Black
Now an old analysis goes:
11. Bxf7+ Kxf7 12. Nd5 Re8 13. Bxe7 Rxe7 14. Ng5+
Kg8 15. Qh5 h6 16. Qg6
hxg5 17. Nf6+ Kf8 18. Nh7+ Kg8 19. Nf6+
with a draw by perpetual check - Tchigorin.
Evans' Gambit with 5..Be7
5... Be7
6. d4
[6. Qb3 Nh6 7. d4 Na5 8. Qb5 Nxc4 9. Bxh6 gxh6 10.
Qxc4
unclear: Harding-Hodgson corr.
1975]
6... Na5 7. Nxe5 Nxc4 8. Nxc4 d5 9. exd5 Qxd5 10.
Ne3 Qd7 11. O-O
Nf6 12. c4 O-O
13. Nc3 c6 14. d5 cxd5 15. Ncxd5 Nxd5 16.
Nxd5
+= Nunn-Larsen 1980
White has a small edge.
The most famous recent example of this line is of course:
Kasparov,
Gary - Anand, Viswanathan, Riga 1993
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3
Be7 6. d4 Na5 7. Be2
A new move
7... exd4 8. Qxd4 Nf6 9. e5 Nc6 10. Qh4 Nd5 11.
Qg3 g6 12. O-O Nb6
The Black king never escapes the centre
13. c4 d6 14. Rd1 Nd7 15. Bh6 Ncxe5 16. Nxe5 Nxe5
17. Nc3
Develop before attacking with a move like Bg7
17... f6 18. c5 Nf7 19. cxd6 cxd6 20. Qe3 Nxh6 21.
Qxh6 Bf8
White's lead on development could hardly be greater
22. Qe3+ Kf7 23.
Nd5 Be6 24. Nf4 Qe7 25. Re1 1-0
An amazing destruction of the current world No.3 and his
PCA championship challenger.