Elite Italian Game for White - Fight the Systems with ...Bc5 - Part 2: Closing the Escape Routes
When GM Jose Martinez Alcantara and GM Pier Luigi Basso published their first volume on the Italian Game, they introduced a weapon that top players genuinely feared: the Bg5 systems after 5...d6. The setup was quite uncomfortable that Black's best minds started searching for alternatives—any move order that could sidestep the main battlegrounds entirely. This second volume is the authors' response to those escape attempts. Where Part 1 established dominance in the main lines, Part 2 systematically deals with every modern sideline Black has developed to avoid the pressure. The message is clear: there are no safe havens, no comfortable transpositions, no escape routes left.
Sealing Off the Alternatives
The course confronts Black's most resilient defensive tries head-on. The trendy 4...d6 5.d4 Bb6—once dismissed as a positional mistake until Jorden Van Foreest rehabilitated it at the highest level—receives thorough dismantling in Chapter 8. The provocative 5...h6, designed to shut down Bg5 systems in one move, splits into two critical paths: Carlsen's 6...Bb6 (Chapter 5) and Nakamura's 6...Be7 (Chapter 6), each demanding precise understanding of the resulting queenside tension after 6.b4. Even Niemann's recent 3...d6 sidestep, which produced a crushing win against Caruana, gets complete theoretical clarification in Chapter 9. Martinez Alcantara and Basso don't just handle these lines—they explain the strategic principles behind White's advantage in each variation, showing you exactly why these "improvements" fail under pressure.
Complete Variation Map
The course covers:
After 5.d3 O-O:
- 6.O-O d5 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.Re1 — The main tabiya position
- 6.O-O h6 — Oro Faustino's favourite (Chapter 1)
Black's Anti-Bg5 Systems:
- 5...h6 6.b4 Bb6 — Carlsen's approach (Chapter 5)
- 5...h6 6.b4 Be7 — Nakamura's setup (Chapter 6)
The Trendy 4...d6 Complex:
- 4...d6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb6 — Central tension with Bg4 pressure (Chapter 7)
- 4...d6 5.d4 Bb6 — Van Foreest's continuation (Chapter 8)
The Niemann Sidestep:
- 3...d6 — The anti-Bg5 move order that surprised Caruana (Chapter 9)
Complete Your Italian Repertoire
Martinez Alcantara and Basso bring the same surgical precision they demonstrated in Elite Italian Game for White - Fight the Systems with ...Bc5 - Part 1. Combined with their comprehensive treatment in Elite Italian Game for White - Fight the Systems with ...Nf6, these courses provide complete coverage of the Italian complex. Where the first volumes forced opponents into uncomfortable positions, this second volume on the ...Bc5 systems ensures they have nowhere left to run. The Italian Game has always been about understanding—not memorizing—and this three-course series provides the complete picture of how White should dominate after 3.Bc4.