The Express Italian: A Practical Repertoire for White
Somewhere along the way, the Italian Game quietly changed character. The first three moves stayed the same — 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 — but the fourth became a slow d2-d3, and the Italian became known for patient maneuvering rather than early fireworks.
GM Mitrabha Guha's new course restores the Italian's older, faster character. The starting position is the familiar one, but at every crossroad, the repertoire takes the direct road rather than the quiet one.
A repertoire built to be played
This is a repertoire built to be played rather than memorized in long theoretical lines. That is how Guha frames it in his introduction: a practical approach to 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6, based on 3.Bc4 and aggressive directions in the Italian.
Two choices define the character. Against the Two Knights (3...Nf6), Guha passes over the safe 4.d3 and the topical 4.d4 for the immediate 4.Ng5, heading for the Fried Liver — an attacking idea traced back to around 1610 and still sharp four centuries later, where the fight centers on the f7-square.
Against the main 3...Bc5, he meets 4.c3 Nf6 with the central strike 5.d4, opening the position instead of keeping it closed. After 5...exd4 6.e5 d5 7.Bb5 Ne4 8.cxd4, White has a stable center and sets the terms of the middlegame.
The forcing lines come with fresh ideas of Guha's own. In the Fried Liver, 9.h4!? supports the g5-knight while keeping the attacking motifs on h7 and f7 in the air; and in the final chapter, against 10...Bg4, he offers a new idea to complicate the game and steer it his way.
A map of the repertoire
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4
3...d6 and other rare third moves → Chapter 1
3...Nf6 — Two Knights, 4.Ng5
- 4...d5 5.exd5 b5, plus other move 4–5 deviations → Chapter 2
- 5...Na5 6.Bb5+ Bd7 → Chapter 3
- 5...Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Bd3:
- 8...h6 and other sidelines → Chapter 4
- 8...Nd5 9.h4!?:
- 9...Qc7 and rare tries → Chapter 5
- 9...h6 → Chapter 6
- 9...Be7 → Chapter 7
3...Bc5 4.c3
- 4...d6 and other rare moves → Chapter 8
- 4...Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.e5 d5 7.Bb5 Ne4 8.cxd4:
- 8...Bb4+ → Chapter 9
- 8...Bb6 9.Nc3 O-O 10.Be3:
- 10...f5 and other tries → Chapter 10
- 10...Bg4 → Chapter 11
Both knight moves, one author
After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3, Black's two principal replies are 2...Nc6 and 2...Nf6. The Express
Italian answers the first. For the second, Guha has already built the companion: The 4.Nd3 Petroff – A Complete Repertoire for White, which meets the Petroff by retreating the knight to d3 and steering the game away from the drawing lines. Studied together, the two courses give White a ready answer to both of Black's main knight developments.
Inside the course
- 11 chapters
- 20 test positions
- Memory Booster
- To Go version of every chapter
- Video instruction
- Multilingual PGN (English, German, French, Spanish)
Take it into your next game
If your Italian has drifted into quiet d3 positions, this is the repertoire that puts the fight back on the board — direct against the Two Knights, direct against 3...Bc5, and compact enough to trust in any time control. Add it to your White arsenal against 1.e4 e5, and pair it with the 4.Nd3 Petroff so both of Black's knight moves already have an answer.