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| Moves | 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ECO | C57 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Origin | Polerio vs. Domenico, Rome c.1610 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Named after | Italian way of cooking liver ("Fegatello" means to put the liver in a net and cook it over a fire, or, in modern times, in a pan. Here we can see a metaphor for what happens to Black’s king in this line: it is cooked like a "fegatello". Usually Black’s king is caught in the mating net and White increases the heat move by move - dead as a piece of liver") | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Parent | Two Knights Defense | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Synonym(s) | Fegatello Attack | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Fried Liver Attack, also called the Fegatello Attack (named after an Italian idiom meaning "dead as a piece of liver"), is a chess opening. This colourfully named opening is a variation of the Two Knights Defense in which White sacrifices a knight for an attack on Black's king. The opening begins with the moves:
This is the Two Knights Defense where White has chosen the offensive line 4.Ng5, but Black's last move is risky (other Black choices include 5...Na5, 5...b5, and 5...Nd4). White can now get an advantage with 6.d4 (the Lolli Attack). However, The Fried Liver Attack involves a far more spectacular knight sacrifice on f7, defined by the moves:
The Fried Liver has been known for many centuries, the earliest known example being a game played by Giulio Cesare Polerio in about 1610.
The opening is classified as code C57 in the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings (ECO) .
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
| 8 |
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8 | |||||||
| 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 5 | 5 | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
Play usually continues 7.Qf3+ Ke6 (not 7...Kg8?? 8.Bxd5+ with checkmate) 8.Nc3 (see diagram). Black will play 8...Nb4 or 8...Ne7 and follow up with ...c6, bolstering his pinned knight on d5. (If Black does play 8...Nb4, White can force the b4 knight to abandon protection of the d5 knight with the rather dubious 9.a3 Nc2+ 10.Kf1 Nxa1, although this involves giving up a further rook.) White has a strong attack, but it has not been proven yet to be decisive.
Because defence is harder to play than attack in this variation when given short time limits, the Fried Liver is dangerous for Black in over-the-board play, if using a short time control. It is also especially effective against weaker players who may not be able to find the correct defences. Sometimes Black invites White to play the Fried Liver Attack in correspondence chess or in over-the-board games with longer time limits (or no time limit), as the relaxed pace affords Black a better opportunity to refute the White sacrifice.
