Best Way to Counter the Fried Liver Attack

Today I’m sharing with you the best way to counter the Fried Liver Attack as Black. The Fried Liver Attack occurs after the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5, where White attacks the f7-pawn with their knight and bishop. It is one of the most played variations in the Two Knights Defense, especially up to the 1700 rating level.

The Fried Liver Attack is so famous because it’s a variation from the so popular Italian Game.
And the Italian Game is so popular because its moves are very intuitive and standard.
☉ So, if you enjoy the Fried Liver Attack, surely you will enjoy the Deutz Gambit too, which is another exciting variation from the Italian Game.

After 4…d5 5.exd5, most chess players either play 5…Nxd5 or 5…Na5, but the variation that has the highest win rate for Black is 5…Nd4, called the Fritz Variation. More than 450,000 players have fallen for a deadly trap in this variation. Even the great Bobby Fischer was lost in 12 moves in this variation!