Traxler Counter Attack

Traxler Counter Attack

The Traxler counter attack derives from the two knights defense from black after white develops into the Italian game.
After white moves his knight to g5, attacking the weakened f7 square, black counter attacks with Bc5, disregarding his own safety for a lethal attack on white's king side.
If white captures the pawn on f7 with his knigh, forking the queen and the rook, black can start the counter attack with Bxf2.
It is extremely difficult for white to avoid having his king chased around the entire board and although black is down in material early, black can easily bring his pieces into action very quickly while white usually has a hard time moving any of his queen side pieces.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6.Kf1 Qe7
7.Nxh8 d5 8.exd5 Nd4 9.c3 Bg4 10.Qa4+ Nd7 11.Kxf2 Qh4+ 12.Ke3
Qg5+ 13.Kf2 Qf5+ 14.Kg1 O-O-O 15.cxd4 Rf8 16.h3 Qf2+ 17.Kh2
Bxh3 18.Kxh3 g5 0-1

A Froemmel vs W Schneider
SO 101 1989
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense. Traxler Counterattack King March line
[Result 0-1]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6.Kxf2
Nxe4+ 7.Ke3 Qe7 8.Kxe4 Qh4+ 9.g4 d5+ 10.Bxd5 Bxg4 11.Bxc6+
Bd7+ 12.Ke3 Qd4+ 13.Ke2 bxc6 14.Nxh8 Bg4+ 15.Ke1 Bxd1 16.d3
Bxc2 0-1

E Adam vs H Schild
Blind Olympiad 1987
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense. Traxler Counterattack Knight sac line
[result 0-1]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6.Kxf2
Nxe4+ 7.Kg1 Qh4 8.g3 Nxg3 9.hxg3 Qxg3+ 10.Kf1 Rf8 11.Bd5 Nd4
12.c3 Qd3+ 13.Kg2 Ne2 14.c4 Nf4+ 0-1

Mikisa vs Karel Traxler
1896
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense. Traxler Counterattack Knight sac line
[Result 0-1]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6.Kf1 Qe7
7.Nxh8 d5 8.exd5 Nd4 9.c3 Bg4 10.Qa4+ Nd7 11.Kxf2 Qh4+ 12.Ke3
Qg5+ 13.Kf2 Qf5+ 14.Kg1 O-O-O 15.cxd4 Rf8 16.h3 Qf2+ 17.Kh2
Bxh3 18.Kxh3 g5 0-1

J Reinisch vs Karel Traxler
Hostoun 1890
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense. Traxler Counterattack Knight sac line (C57)
[Result 0-1]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5
5.Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6.Ke2 Nd4+ 7.Kd3 b5 8.Bb3 Nxe4 9.Nxd8 Nc5+
10.Kc3 Ne2+ 11.Qxe2 Bd4+ 12.Kb4 a5+ 13.Kxb5 Ba6+ 14.Kxa5 Bd3+
15.Kb4 Na6+ 16.Ka4 Nb4+ 17.Kxb4 c5# 0-1

Adolf Anderssen vs Gustav Richard Neumann
Berlin (Germany) 1866
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense. Polerio Defense Goering Variation (C59)
[Result 0-1]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6
7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Be2 h6 9.Nf3 e4 10.Ne5 Qc7 11.d4 exd3 12.Nxd3
Bd6 13.h3 O-O 14.Nd2 Re8 15.O-O Bf5 16.Nf3 Rad8 17.Bd2 Nc4
18.Bc3 Nd5 19.Nd4 Bg6 20.Bf3 Nxc3 21.bxc3 Ne5 22.Rb1 Nxd3
23.cxd3 c5 24.Nb5 Qa5 25.Bc6 Re6 26.Re1 Be5 27.Qb3 c4 28.dxc4
Bxb1 29.Qxb1 a6 30.Bd5 axb5 31.Bxe6 Bxc3 32.Re2 fxe6 33.cxb5
e5 34.Qb3+ Kh8 35.Rc2 Bd4 36.Kh2 Rf8 37.a4 Qe1 38.Qa3 Rg8
39.Qa2 e4 40.Re2 Qf1 41.a5 Rf8 0-1

John Nunn vs Predrag Nikolic
Naestved 1985
Chess opening-Italian Game: Two Knights Defense. Polerio Defense Suhle Defense (C59)
[Result 1/2-1/2]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6
7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Be2 h6 9.Nf3 e4 10.Ne5 Bd6 11.d4 Qc7 12.Bd2 O-O
13.O-O Nb7 14.Na3 Bxe5 15.dxe5 Qxe5 16.Nc4 Qe7 17.Qc1 Re8
18.b3 Nd5 19.Qb2 Bf5 20.Rfe1 Nc5 21.Ne3 Bg6 22.Nxd5 cxd5
23.Rad1 Red8 24.Bb4 a5 25.Bc3 Ne6 1/2-1/2