Giuoco Piano – Refuting 6...Bb6

If Black retreats the bishop to b6 instead of checking, White advances with d5, e5 and d6: each push attacks a black piece and the pawn that reaches d6 smothers Black's queenside development.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb6 7.d5 Ne7 8.e5 Ng4 9.d6

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...Nf6 – Counterattack on e4: Black develops and exploits the fact that c3 has taken away the natural defence Nc3.
5.d4 – White carries out the plan: d4 attacks e5 and the c5-bishop and challenges Black to give up the centre.
5...exd4 – The most common reply: Black gives up e5 and exchanges on d4, so White must recapture with the c-pawn and the c5-bishop is attacked again.
6.cxd4 – White gets the ideal e4-d4 centre and attacks the c5-bishop, which has to move.
6...Bb6 – Black retreats the bishop without a check, leaving White time to advance the central pawns and gain space.
7.d5 – The advance attacks the c6-knight and gains space: White uses both central pawns to push the black pieces back.
7...Ne7 – The knight goes to e7, but there it gets in the way of development, and e4-e5 will immediately hit the f6-knight.
8.e5 – The second pawn advances with tempo on the f6-knight: the d5 and e5 pawns take the central squares away from the black knights.
8...Ng4 – The knight jumps to g4: it attacks e5 and, together with the b6-bishop, the f2 point.
9.d6 – The pawn hits e7 and c7 at once: after ...cxd6 exd6 the wedge on d6 blocks Black's development and the e7-knight must move again.

How to exploit the position

White has gained a lot of space and the d6 pawn hits e7 and c7; Black has an active knight on g4 and the b6-bishop aimed at f2, so the position is sharp.

After ...cxd6 exd6, the d6 pawn blocks the d7 pawn and the c8-bishop: Black struggles to develop the queenside.
The f2 point is attacked by Ng4 and Bb6 on the now-open diagonal: protect it (Qe2, O-O) before anything else.
h3 chases the g4-knight from its aggressive post and sends it to a passive square.
Qd5 or Ng5, together with the c4-bishop, attack f7 while the black king is still in the centre.

Master tips

Push with tempo, but watch f2

Every d5-e5-d6 push should attack a piece: that way Black has no time to develop.