By IM John Donaldson, USA Olympic Team Captain and author
Battling the Slow Italian Game by Milos Pavlovic is a detailed treatment of an opening variation that is hugely popular in Grandmaster chess today. The present work deals with the position that arises after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 with Pavlovic organizing his coverage around the development of Black’s king bishop: (1) 4…h6 (envisioning fianchettoing the bishop on g7); (2) 4…Be7; and (3) 4…Bc5. This through and up to date work, aimed at players 2000 and up follows up the author’s previous work Battling the Aggressive Italian Game: Calm Precision Against Fierce Attacks which covered 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 and 4.d4 as well as 3…Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4.
