The Knight Attack (4.Ng5!) | Italian Game Theory

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The Knight Attack is the most aggressive way to fight the Two Knights Defense in the Italian. White immediately puts pressure on the f7 weakness and pushes on relentlessly!

For an introduction to the Italian game, watch this video:    • Italian Game | Opening Basics and Common V...  

The Italian Game branches out into two main openings – the Giuoco Piano, where black plays 3...Bc5, and the Two Knights Defense, where black continues with 3...Nf6.

The latter move leaves the f7 pawn weaker than usual (since he is still unable to castle due to the bishop on f8) and white immediately attacks it for the second time with the move that signifies the Knight Attack – Ng5.

Now both the Italian c4 bishop and the knight attack the same weakness and black has to react. There are two possible continuations. The most common one, d5, leads to the Knight Attack. The Traxler counterattack is the second possible move, and we are going to cover that in a separate video.

After 4...d5, black blocks out the c4 bishop and aims to disrupt the attacking potential. The resulting position branches out after 5.exd5. Here black has to choose between three moves. The main and the best move is Na5, attacking the bishop, and the two sidelines are b5 and Nd4.

All the variations are covered in detail.

The Knight Attack is one of the sharpest variations in the Italian Game and it almost always leads to super-exciting games which revolve around tactical ideas.

Moreover, the main line with Na5 leads to a position in which white is up a pawn but has severely slowed development, and if black is able to utilize on that white is in trouble. However, if white managed to untangle and develop his pieces, the extra pawn will be of extreme importance.

A wonderfully sharp opening and one of my favorite ways to fight the king’s pawn. I hope you enjoy playing it too!

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