Meet#6: En passant!

Hello everyone.

This weekend the themed opening is going to be one of the oldest chess openings, that has been analyzed over centuries!

Note: Casual and noob players, relax! The chess opening strategy, like the one mentioned below and being used as a theme for our chess meetup group, is only to introduce you very roughly, to the world of chess openings, not to scare you into thinking we are professionals. We are not. We are very ordinary players trying to improve our chess.

It is called the Italian game or Giuoco piano (which means "quiet game" in Italian and Giuoco is pronounced "Goocho"). It is called so, because usually the game is close ended (meaning, pawns block the movement of bishops, queens etc. and it's not easy to play if you are an attacking kind of player). However, there are variations, where the game can be opened up if a player decides to and once the gates are opened, there is chaos everywhere. This is not a "quiet" game trust me...

http://photos1.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/2/b/f/b/600_435731259.jpeg

The game is played thus:

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 Nc6

3. Bc4 [Italian game starts with this move] and when black responds with [3...Bc5], the game transitions to the "quiet game" or Giuoco Piano!

Please note: [3. Bc4] is called Italian game while [3.Bc5] is called Spanish game. Although both are different by only one square, they play very differently at a tactical level.