Giuoco Piano – Early 4...Qf6

Against 4...Qf6 White opens the centre at once with 5.d4, gains time with 6.Bg5 and castles, giving up the c3 pawn. For one pawn he gets four developed pieces against a black king in the centre and an exposed queen.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Qf6 5.d4 exd4 6.Bg5 Qg6 7.O-O dxc3 8.Nxc3

Move by move

1.e4 – Occupies the centre and frees the queen and the f1-bishop, which in the Italian Game goes to c4 to aim at the weak f7 point.
1...e5 – Black contests the centre at once: the e5 pawn controls d4 and f4 and opens the diagonal for the f8-bishop and the queen.
2.Nf3 – Development with an attack: the knight hits the e5 pawn, controls d4 and prepares quick kingside castling.
2...Nc6 – Defends e5 while developing and adds control of d4, the square White wants for a pawn.
3.Bc4 – The Italian Game move: the bishop aims at f7, defended only by the king, and controls d5, making ...d5 harder to achieve.
3...Bc5 – The Giuoco Piano: Black replies symmetrically, aiming at f2 and controlling d4 to hinder the d2-d4 advance.
4.c3 – Prepares d4: the c3 pawn takes d4 away from the c6-knight and will let White build an e4-d4 centre with tempo on the c5-bishop.
4...Qf6 – A premature sortie: the queen protects e5 and eyes f2, but takes the g8-knight's natural square and will become a target.
5.d4 – White opens the centre at once with tempo on the c5-bishop: the more lines open, the more exposed the f6-queen becomes.
5...exd4 – Black exchanges to open the c5-bishop's diagonal towards f2, but also opens lines for White, who is better developed.
6.Bg5 – The bishop attacks the queen and gains a tempo: White does not recapture on d4 and prefers to develop, offering a pawn.
6...Qg6 – The queen leaves f6 and attacks both e4 and the g5-bishop, which is defended by the f3-knight.
7.O-O – White castles and lets the c3 pawn go: every capture by the black queen costs Black development time.
7...dxc3 – Black takes the pawn, but only his queen, c5-bishop and c6-knight are in play, while White has already castled.
8.Nxc3 – The knight recaptures while developing and defends e4: for one pawn White has a big lead in development and threats such as Nd5 and Nh4.

How to exploit the position

White is a pawn down but has a big lead in development: four active pieces and a castled king against an exposed black queen and a black king in the centre.

Nd5 threatens Nxc7+ forking king and a8-rook and controls e7 and f6.
Nh4 attacks the g6-queen and forces it to move again, gaining more time.
The e4 pawn is defended by the c3-knight: bring the rooks to e1 and d1 (after Qd2 or Qe2) against the uncastled black king.

Master tips

Develop with threats

Against an early queen, every developing move should attack it or create a threat.