Crushing the Castle: Not Giuocking!

Crushing the Castle:  Not Giuocking!  By, Mrs Jessica E Prescott (nee Martin) aka BoundingOwl

Buon Giorno amici!  (Good day friends!)  Today we will learn Italian.  You probably know some Italian chess words already.  For example:  fianchetto (not chetto like chetto cheese or something.  But Ketto, like, "Excuse me Mad Hatter but the ketto is whistling.")

 

And you've heard of the Sicilian Defense?  Sicily is an island off of Italy.  Italians know a lot about chess.

 

Do you see the boot?  Do you see the arrow pointing at the boot?

So today we will look at a game whose opening is called "Giuoco Piano".  It sounds kind of like "joke-o-pee-ah-no".  Easy.

 

 

 

I have to tell you a secret.  When I teach beginners, I say things like, "You always have to castle.  Always.  It's super important.  You have to do it.  Castle. Got it?  Castle early.  Ms Martin said to castle.  Raise your right hand, promise to castle...."  and etc. 

But the secret is, for *advanced* players, like you, castling isn't ALWAYS correct.  You get to decide when to break the rules when you are a better chess player.

 

 

 

 

If you castle too early, your castle can get crushed.

 

 

Find mate in one.  There are TWO answers!!

 

 

 

 

Are you old enough to decide when it's right to break the rules?  Nothing in chess is 100% always correct.  It's amazing, but true.

 

 

Ciao amici!  (the C by itself is like CH as in CHESS)

I hope you learned how to crush a castle like an Italian!  Go get some pizza.