The Italian Game is perhaps one of the oldest, most classical, and of course, most elegant chess openings. It’s easy, beautiful, and full of tactical ideas that can reward even the slightest mistake. Let’s discover some common Italian Game traps in an entertaining and straightforward way that you can quickly master with minimal effort. At the end, you’ll likely find yourself thinking that you’ve entered these positions a thousand times before and wish you had learned these nice tricks sooner!
It begins with:
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4
White develops quickly, eyes the vulnerable f7 square, and prepares to castle early or even d3 with the classic Paris Defense. The Italian is perfect for players who love open games, sharp yet strategic. However, under this opening, there are numerous traps that can decide the game before move ten.
In this blog, we will specifically dive into the Blackburne–Shilling Traps to counter attack this opening and then a legal mate for white. So, let’s dive in!
The Blackburne–Shilling Traps
1. Variation 1: e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4
This is the first trap. White can easily fall for it and take the free pawn with a tempo of double attack on f7 with the battery of Bc4.
But Nxe5 is a huge mistake?! You can see in the picture below which shows the analysis bar is favouring black even with a pawn down. Your next move is to blow your opponent’s mind with yet another sacrifice after you play Qg5!!
At this point your opponent will definitely ignore g2 pawn and go for the big fish (h8 rook). But that is going to be the biggest blunder of his life!! Just look how analysis bar shoots up!
Your opponent may either capture the h8 rook or play Rf1 which is another mistake. It’s turning out to be a nightmare for white. Since now you can play Qxe4 leaving white no option but to sacrifice their queen with Qe2 instead of bishop Be2 because then Nf3 is a checkmate!
If white captures the rook instead, you capture their h1 rook with a check, and using the similar idea, you can capture e4 and win a queen.
2. Variation 2: e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Ng4 or Nf3
Here, white tries to retreats to Ng4, but it is also a huge blunder, because after you play d5, it attacks Bc4 as well as Ng4. So, you easily win material! If White play Nf3, then you also simply take g2 and double attack.
The Legal Mate
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 d6. 4. Nc3 Bg4 5. h3
If black tries to maintain a pin to the queen, expecting white to play g4, white can brilliantly sacrifice the Queen as well as Knight!! If black goes for the queen, the checkmate is unavoidable because then you play Bxf7+ and then Nd5# is checkmate!
The Italian Game gives you rich positional ideas that you can implement even in the middlegame. Learning its traps helps you sharpen both your opening awareness and calculation. So that’s it for today, there are even more traps that will be discussed in part 2 so stay tuned!
At The New England Chess School, we help students master openings like the Italian through interactive lessons, real-game practice, and friendly tournaments. Whether you’re just starting out or aiming to compete, our coaches make sure you learn chess the smart way, one idea at a time.