Welcome to my first post that discuss a famous chess position coming from the Italian Game. This article will tell you about:
- My passion for Chess
- Where you can learn more about Chess
- The importance of being familiar with certain positions
I am currently teaching chess in NY through virtual teaching. I first got into chess when I was a kid and eventually found myself teaching after-school programs. Chess is kind of "booming" right now but this is literally going right under my nose. After a few years of playing it I found myself playing it pretty competitively, and slowly but surely turned away from this activity to play more sports.
If you don't know the rules of chess you should check out this video, and feel free to leave a like! So let's dive into our position of the day, shall we!
The Italian Game
You may have seen this position before, or may not. White aggressively pushes his pawn two squares forward as Black was getting ready to castle kingside. Black's Bishop is threatened but simply retreating it would lead to the loss of Black's e5 pawn.
You may know what to play here, but a lot of players, who've played chess for years have no clue of what's actually going on there. Any master or strong player, has, at one point or another studied this positions and most likely faced it. Knowing or not knowing isn't that big of a deal, but looking into it after catching sight of it is pivotal to actually improve at the game.
Now there are players who like certain type of positions, and others who don't, but whether or not you're an e4 player as White or or and an e5 player as Black, you must know a little bit about this. Why!? Just because you don't like vegetable doesn't mean your body doesn't need them.