I need advice

@grammalu_son said in #25: > ... Not many well annotated games in the Italian game. Not much to chew on with the Giuoco, not a lot of room for growth. ... For what it is worth, there are books like: Winning with the Slow (but Venomous!) Italian https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Venomous-Italian-Easy-Grasp/dp/9056916742?asin=9056916742&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1 The Italian Renaissance https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/8313.pdf The Modernized Italian Game for White https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/8422.pdf Perhaps this comment (by GM Kaufman) would be of interest: "... Now jump ahead sixty years to 2020. ... the Berlin Defense to the Spanish (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6), which was considered a dubious sideline in Fischer’s day, is now considered to be very close to equal. Also the Marshall Gambit in the Spanish is now considered to be close to a draw, and good counters have been found to the various ways by which White used to avoid the Marshall. Due to the success of these two defenses, many strong players have switched from the Spanish to the Italian (3.Bc4 instead of 3.Bb5), which was considered to be a harmless sideline last century. While White is certainly still for choice after playing the Italian, his edge is clearly less than what White used to get with the Spanish before the Berlin and Marshall really caught on. The main point is that in the Spanish White used to be able to prepare d2-d4 successfully (which the Berlin and the Marshall avoid), while in the Italian playing d2-d4 without an earlier d2-d3 allows Black decent counterplay. ..." https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9092.pdf