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The Giuoco Piano, or the quiet game, is a very common line in the Italian Game. It is also a line that I feel apprehensive when playing against it as black. It’s the “quiet game” as there tends not to be early trades, and the game is highly positional. As the pressure builds, it might come down to who cracks first! In this game, my opponent and I were quite balanced, in material, position, and errors and blunders. It was a battle to the end of the endgame.

This was a game with plenty of blunders. I was extremely lucky on at least about three occasions where my opponent didn’t deliver a punishing, and probably winning blow, by exploiting my blunder. At the end, an inaccurate king move allowing for a skewer was what ended the game. Just like the video earlier in the week, it’s not who blunders first, or the most that matters, but who blunders last!

I hope you enjoyed the video, and thanks for watching!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/35678890419

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.01.11"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Bartologo"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "1233"]
[BlackElo "1175"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[EndTime "14:54:22 PST"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. O-O d6 6. Bg5 h6 7. Be3 Bb6 8. Nc3 Na5 9. Nd5 Nxd5 10. Bxd5 c6 11. Bxf7+ Kxf7 12. b4 Bg4 13. h3 Be6 14. bxa5 Bxa5 15. Nh2 Bc3 16. Rb1 b6 17. f4 Ke8 18. fxe5 Bxe5 19. Qh5+ Kd7 20. Ng4 Bxg4 21. Qxg4+ Kc7 22. Bf4 Bd4+ 23. Kh1 Rf8 24. Bh2 Qd7 25. Qxd7+ Kxd7 26. Rxf8 Rxf8 27. Bg1 Bf2 28. Rf1 Bxg1 29. Kxg1 Rxf1+ 30. Kxf1 Ke6 31. Kf2 d5 32. exd5+ Kxd5 33. Ke3 g5 34. g3 b5 35. h4 c5 36. hxg5 hxg5 37. Kf3 Kd4 38. Kg4 Kc3 39. Kxg5 Kxc2 40. Kf5 Kxd3 41. g4 c4 42. g5 c3 43. g6 c2 44. g7 c1=Q 45. g8=Q Qf1+ 46. Ke5 Qe2+ 47. Kd5 Qxa2+ 0-1