New openings for the Modern Variant

The Italian Openings

Contents
Report on Italy
Opening Statistics
  • Modern Games in Progress
  • Finished Games
    • Openings List
  • Double Deutsch (Croatian V)
  • Savoy Maneuver
    • More Player Comments on Italy
    Back to the main article

    Report on Italy

    Number of wins:2
    Number of 3-way draws:2
    Number of 4-way draws:2
    Number of 5-way draws:0
    Number of eliminations:15

    Most Used Opening:Octopus, Croatic Variant11 times
    Second Most Used Openings:Balkan Powerhouse Adriatic Variant6 times

    With Egypt and Turkey, Italy is one of the top 3 powers in Modern to date. Italy has won by taking both the left half of the board, in seville, and the right half, in rostov, demonstrating great flexibility. Italy has demonstrated great initial growth, seldom doing badly in the first few years. After the first year, Italy has seven neighbours though, more than any other power, and has also proved vulnerable to attacks by alliances, even when relatively strong.

    The Octopus and Balkan Powerhouse have proven to be the most common openings for Italy. This is no surprise as they are also the most successful for Italy. Perhaps Italy's strategy will have to change when other powers learn to counter these openings? For now though, the almost sure promise of four builds in 1995 is quite irresistible.

    Opening Statistics

    Here is an updated list of games and openings used by Italy:

    Modern Games in Progress

    GameOpening UsedYear# SCsPlacement
    Norm7Balkan Powerhouse (Croatian V)2000181st
    Norm11Octopus (Adriatic V)1999121st
    Spring96Octopus (Croatian V)1999111st
    MilosBalkan Powerhouse (Croatian V)199891st
    Modt97bOctopus (Croatian V)1999111st tied
    Euro96Octopus (Adriatic V)2006142nd
    GdanskFrog Legs 2010122nd
    Modt97aSavoy Maneuver200192nd tied
    NorwayDouble Deutsch (Croatian V)199672nd tied
    Asterix Le GauloisOctopus (Croatian V)199542nd tied
    HryvnaNorthern League199542nd tied
    RenardBalkan Powerhouse (Adriatic V) 199542nd tied
    Academy4Balkan Powerhouse (Adriatic V)2009173rd
    PerotOctopus (Croatian V)2006133rd
    Gun1994Maltese Cross2007103rd
    ModgameAll You Can Eat (Adriatic V)199993rd
    AuroraMaltese Cross200673rd
    ThisthatTuscan Alliance200483rd tied
    EricOctopus (Adriatic V)199773rd tied
    Modern5Double Deutsch (Croatian V)199873rd tied
    ModernFrog Legs 200094th
    OdessaOctopus (Adriatic V)201464th
    Euro97Balkan Powerhouse (Adriatic V)199774th tied
    Taunt3Octopus (Adriatic V)200174th tied
    Modhof96Deutsch199995th
    NatoAll You Can Eat (Croatian V)200645th
    SpadesOctopus (Croatian V)200218th
    Izmir2All You Can Eat (Croatian V)200149th
    SardOctopus (Adriatic V)200629th
    OoLingua Franca199939th tied
    DetailsMisic Attack 2014-elim.
    FrontlinBalkan Powerhouse (Croatian V)2002-elim.
    HamburgAdagio Overture2001-elim.
    MilanOctopus (Croatian V)2013-elim.
    MinskVienna Gambit2014-elim.
    ModsquadBalkan Powerhouse (Croatian V)2008-elim.

    Finished Games

    GameOpening UsedYear# SCsPlacement
    RostovOctopus (Croatian V)I 2015331st
    SEVILLEBalkan Powerhouse (Adriatic V)I 2014331st
    IzmirAll You Can Eat (Adriatic V)EIS 2005221st tied
    DespairOctopus (Croatian V)FIR 2012212nd
    KatrasBalkan Powerhouse (Adriatic V)BIPT 2012211st
    CairoDouble Deutsch (Adriatic V)SPIT 2010123rd
    Day2dayOctopus (Croatian V)R 200773rd
    BlitzzOctopus (Croatian V)BEP 2017-elim.
    BuchananBalkan Powerhouse (Adriatic V)BEPSU 2022-elim.
    DesireOctopus (Croatian V)GSTU 2008-elim.
    DickensLibyan OffensiveEFG 2015-elim.
    Euro95Dolce VitaERT 2023-elim.
    LiarliarAll You Can Eat (Croatian V)T 2007-elim.
    Lie2meDeutschT 2007-elim.
    LyonOctopus (Croatian V)BPST 2011-elim.
    SpartikuItalian SpreadP 2004-elim.

    Openings List

    You can read about Italian openings in my previous article on Italy: Forza Italia. Of those, the Balkan Bulldozer has never been used. Openings not mentioned in the article are given below.

    Double Deutsch (Croatian V)

    Italy: Army Rome -> Venice.
    Italy: Army Milan -> Switzerland.
    Italy: Fleet Naples -> Maltese Sea.
    Italy: Fleet Venice -> Croatia.

    The Double Deutsch opening but with the Venice fleet sent to Croatia instead of the Adriatic. This is the standard Croatia vs Adriatic tradeoff of a guaranteed SC vs better positioning.

    Savoy Maneuver

    Italy: Army Rome -> Venice.
    Italy: Army Milan -> Piedmont.
    Italy: Fleet Naples -> Maltese Sea.
    Italy: Fleet Venice -> Adriatic Sea.

    Italy opens by sending Milan to Piedmont instead of Austria. This could be a bid to keep France out of Piedmont, and thus protect Milan, or it could be a jab at Marseilles or Monaco. An Italian army in Piedmont will likely force France to guess between keeping Monaco, defending Marseilles and defending Switzerland, and thus result in one less SC for France. If allied against France with another power, the loss of one build in 1995 will hurt France much more than Italy.

    More Player Comments on Italy

    "I disagree with the philosophy that Italy has the best position. Granted, it has access to a lot of SCs, but it is at the centre of 5 powers hungry for SCs. I think that Egypt is actually the strongest power on the board. It has only one natural enemy - Turkey - as by the time Italy gets ambitious it is usually being distracted. If it survives the initial year - in nopress Modern games so far Turkey goes to Eastern Med almost half the time - Egypt gets to attack a Turkey who has to deal with Ukraine and Russia. After Turkey, all other powers will be busy fighting on two fronts - Egypt gets to choose where to go. I will trade a few SCs for self-determination anyday."
    - Dean Gordon

    Bac kBack to the main article

    Vincent Mous-Harboesgaard
    (vim2@rocketmail.com)

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