A Modern Repertoire against the Italian Game: The 5...Bb6 System
From the very first lessons, players are taught to fight for the center rather than hand it over. GM Sina Movahed's new repertoire against the Italian Game is built on the opposite instinct: Black lets White occupy the center with pawns, then attacks it at once, before White has time to settle. It is a counterattacking approach that turns the Italian's slow, positional character on its head.
For decades, the Italian Game has been an awkward place to be as Black. The quiet maneuvering plans and the many move orders leave plenty of room to drift, and it is easy to end up passively placed with no clear idea. Movahed's answer sidesteps the heavily analyzed main lines that follow 4...Nf6. After 3...Bc5 he meets 4.c3 with the flexible 4...d6, lets White build the center with d4, and only then drops the bishop back to b6 — giving up a pawn to seize the initiative before White can consolidate.
The idea in one move
The whole system is organized around a single point. After 5.d4 Bb6 6.dxe5, Black replies 6...Bg4!, pinning the knight on f3 and generating unpleasant pressure from the beginning. The evaluation stays close to equal, but the positions are sharp, little-known, and genuinely uncomfortable to face over the board — exactly where the surprise value lies. Instead of memorizing long theoretical variations, Black is the one asking the questions.
Variation map
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5
White's move-4 alternatives:
- 4.b4 — the Evans Gambit and other early gambits → Chapter 1
- 4.Nc3 — the symmetrical approach → Chapter 2
4.c3 d6
- 5.b4 and other rare fifth moves → Chapter 3
- 5.d3 Bb6
- 6.Nbd2 and other rare choices → Chapter 4
- 6.O-O — the main move → Chapter 5
4.c3 d6 5.d4 Bb6 (preparing the pawn sacrifice)
- 6.O-O and other rare tries → Chapter 6
- 6.dxe5 Bg4! (the point — Black pins the knight)
- 7.Qd5 — threatening mate, plus rare options → Chapter 7
- 7.Bg5 → Chapter 8
- 7.exd6 — grabbing a second pawn → Chapter 9
- 7.Bb5 — the most challenging test → Chapter 10
What's inside
- 10 chapters
- 20 test positions
- Memory Booster
- To Go version of every chapter
- Video instruction
- Multilingual PGN (English, German, French, Spanish)
If White avoids the Italian
This repertoire is the answer when White develops with 3.Bc4. When White instead chooses the Ruy Lopez with 3.Bb5, Movahed offers an equally combative reply in his separate course, the Arkhangelsk Variation According to Sina Movahed. Together, they let a 1...e5 player be ready for both of White's main bishop moves.
If you have grown tired of drifting through the Italian's quiet waters, this is a chance to change the terms of the fight — to give White the center and then take the initiative, armed with a system your opponents will rarely have seen.
INTRODUCTION BY GM SINA MOVAHED
SAMPLE CHAPTER
SAMPLE VIDEO