Re-Engineering the Chess Classics: The Italian Fury! Mariotti-Holm Budapest 1975 1-0

This video is in the Re-Engineering the Chess Classics series! To celebrate the publication of my new book (written together with my childhood coach Steve Giddins) I am examining a series of classic games - just as we did in the book - using the creative engine analysis techniques I described in "The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement" At the same time, I get to indulge my current obsessions for a couple of classic players ;)
This series of videos spotlights the great Italian player Sergio Mariotti, Italy's first grandmaster whose love of gambits and attacking play earned him the nickname (given by the British Chess Magazine apparently!) of "The Italian Fury"!
I promised you gambits and here is a Sicilian Wing Gambit for you to enjoy! It's a really nice game, Mariotti once again demonstrating non-standard judgements and the flexbility to play all over the board....Oh, and did I mention 2 exchange sacrifices finished off with a queen sacrifice? ;)
My sincere thanks to Claudio Logallo who responded to my Twitter and Mastodon appeal for information about Sergio Mariotti by sharing the vast amount of information he has gathered about Mariotti's career. I hope the planned book does come to fruition! Any mistakes are mine as my Italian is not very proficient!
Mariotti was born in 1946, became an International Master in 1969 and became the first Italian Grandmaster in 1974. From 1975 onwards, he was an amateur, fitting his chess in next to a full-time job in a bank.
He was an exceptional attacking player and his talent was such that no less a player than Mikhail Tal said of Mariotti that he would have been World Champion if he had been born in Russia. And indeed when you consider the players he beat brilliantly in the 70s and 80s - Korchnoi, Gligoric (twice), Polugayevsky, Benko, Andersson, Nunn - all of them in their prime, then you realise how strong he was!
For Italian speakers out there, do also take a look at / gambitoclub which is a series of 17 videos (some additional games) in which Mariotti demonstrates games himself!
I’m grandmaster Matthew Sadler, a 2-times British Champion, and ranked in the world’s top 50 for many years. I’m also a prolific author. My latest book "Re-Engineering the Chess Classics" appeared in May 2023. It uses the techniques described in "The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement" to analyse afresh thirty-five of the most fascinating and complex chess games ever played by World Champions and other top grandmasters.
"Re-Engineering the Chess Classics" is available from here:
www.newinchess... (Paperback English edition)
www.amazon.co.... (Paperback English edition)
"The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement" - which came out in October 2021 is, just like this channel, all about learning from and training with engines.
The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement is available from here:
www.newinchess... (Paperback English edition)
www.amazon.com... (Paperback and Kindle)
forwardchess.c... (Digital)
"Game Changer" came out on 20th January 2019 and won the prestigious ECF Book of the Year and FIDE Book of the Year prizes for 2019! The award-winning Game Changer - written together with Natasha Regan - brought the amazing chess games of DeepMind’s AlphaZero to the world. The Game Changer chess book is available in print and digital versions from these links:
newinchess.com/... (Paperback English edition)
forwardchess.c... (Digital)
www.chessable.... (Digital)
www.amazon.com... (Paperback and Kindle)
www.amazon.de/... (Hardback German edition)
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