Italian prep

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d3 Nf6 5.c3 d6 6.Nbd2

if black castles 6..0-0, here's a sample line 

6...0–0 7.0–0 (7.Nf1!?) 7...Bb6 8.Bb3 Ne7 9.h3 Ng6 10.Re1 c6 11.Nf1 d5 12.Ng3 h6 Radjabov-Le 2020

Radjabov continued 13.Bd2 Be6 14.Qc1!?  dxe4 15.dxe4 Bxb3 16.axb3 Kh7 17.Nf5!

White wants to play Nf1-g3 quickly.

6..a6 7.Nf1!?  h6 8.Ng3 0–0 

This is the tabiya for the entire variation. White has played Nbd2-f1-g3 before castling.Sometimes, Black plays Ba7 before castling with similar positions.

White has a choice, 9 Bb3!? delaying castling or 9 0-0

Variation A: 9 Bb3!?

9.Bb3!?   Ba7 (9..d5 10 ed5 Nd5 11 0-0 Re8 12 Re1!? -instead of h3- Nf6 13 h3 Be6 14 Bc2 Bd5 15 b4 transposes in a key line) 10.h3 

10..Be6  (10..d5 directly 11ed5 Nd5 12.0-0 Re8 games by Bologan,Chigaev,Tkachiev 13 Re1 Be6 14Nh5!? ) 11Nh2!? starting the attack right away (Ng4,Nf5 and Qf3 are common ideas) , see next diagram

on 11..d5 12 Qf3 is very strong keeping the tension Morozevich-Adams 2008 12...Na5 (12...dxe4 13.dxe4 Na5 14.Bc2) 13.Bc2 dxe4 14.dxe4 Nc4 15.Ng4! Nd7 (15...Nh7 16.b3!) 16.0–0 Qh4 17.Nf5! with attack

on 11..Ne7 12 Ng4 Ng6 13Nf5 Re8 there is on the diagram below 14Nxg7!

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Variation B  9.0-0 

9...Ba7 (9..Be6 10 Be6 fe6 11 d4!?) 10.Bb3 

We reach the tabiya for Variation B

Here Black tried 10..Be6 11.h3 (Luke Mc Shane 11Be3) 11...Qd7?! 12.Be3 Ne7 13.Nh4 Ng6 14.Nhf5! Carlsen-Nakamura 2011 with strong attack for White 

Please note 10..d5!? is possible right away. white takes on d5 and plays Re1. 

10..Re8 11h3 Be6 is more natural for Black. Black wants to play d6-d5. White to play in the next diagram

after 11..Be6 (Variation B)

Here White can try 12 Bc2 like in Duda-Carlsen 2020 or 12 Nh2!? like Jakovenko in 2019

B_1) Duda Line 12 Bc2 

12...d5 13.exd5 Nxd5 14.Re1 Qd6 15.Nh4 Qe7 

 

16 Qh5!? Rad8 17 d4 Nf4= or 16 Nhf5 Qf6! Duda-Carlsen 2020 Tata Steel

B_2) Jakovenko 12Nh2!? 

12.Nh2!? Bxb3 ( critical line is 12...d5!? 13.Qf3 dxe4 14.dxe4 Bxb3 15.axb3 Re6 16 Rd1 Qf8 17 Nf5 Ne7! 18 b4 Rd8=) 13.axb3 Ne7 14.Qf3 Ng6 15.Nf5

 Re6 16.Ng4 Nxg4 17.hxg4 Nh4 18.Qh3 Nxf5 19.exf5 Re8 20.Bxh6 gxh6 21.Qxh6 f6 22.Qg6+ Kf8?? (22...Kh8) Jakovenko-Zou 2019

Spanish Defense ..g6,Bg7

a popular plan for Black is to play d6,g6,Bg7 in the Spanish Defense. We will see how White should respond 

 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 g6

There is no obvious refutation, White should continue development.

7. O-O Bg7 8. Re1 O-O 9. Nbd2 

This is a key position for this variation. Black has a lot of options here to continue. The best way is to illustrate all the possible 9th moves with arrows. white usually plays Nf1-g3

in the next diagram. This is a lot of ground to cover.

Variation A: Black plays 9..Nh5 right away.

9..Nh5 10Nf1 f5 

11. exf5  11... Bxf5 12. Ng3  12... Nxg3 13. hxg3 b5  14. Bb3+  d5 

Here we are in the game Miton-Shirov 2009, but I recommend 15d4!with 15..e4 16 Ng5 followed by f2-f3 which is very strong for White.

Variation B: Black plays ..h6 to prepare a future f7-f5

 9..h6 10. Nf1 10... b5 11. Bc2 

11... d5 12. Bd2

12..Be6 13. a4 13... Qd6 14. b4 Nd7 15. Bb3 

15..dxe4  16. dxe4 Nb6  17. a5 Nc4 18. Ne3

Nepomiachi-Akopian 2010, White is slightly better 

Variation C: 9..Nd7 10Nf1 Nc5 11Bc2 (11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. d4 Anand-Caruana 2018)Ne6

12. Ng3 Bd7 13. h3 Kh8 (13..f5? 14ef5 gf5 15d4! with threat d4-d5)

14 Ne2!? (14Be3) Ne7 15. d4 with ideas Be3 and a2-a4

Areshchenko,A (2673)-Matta,V (2246) 2009