"Make a move that surprises Nepomniachtchi, gets him out of book — I guess that’s the main idea!" says Jan Gustafsson on the reason for playing a particular chess opening, referring of course to the 2021 World Chess Championship match in Dubai, where he worked with Peter Heine Nielsen, Laurent Fressinet, Jorden van Foreest and Daniil Dubov on Team Magnus. Episode 3 of Jan's Opening Clinic has an Italian Opening theme.   

You can find the questions Jan was asked under this article, and here's Part 3 of his answers below (you can also check out Part 1 & Part 2).

You can jump straight to an answer that interests you by using the clickable timestamps below — you'll also find those timestamps at YouTube, and if you click on the "chapter" (e.g. "Intro") at the bottom of the video there you'll see a clickable "Chapters" pane on the right.

1. Intro (00:00:00) 
2. FBardamu: Queen's Gambit Accepted 3.e4 b5 4.a4 c6 5.axb5 cxb5 6.Nc3 Qb6!? — what is the best way to tackle it? (00:01:05) 
3. rw94: What is the status of the early ...d5 lines in the Italian? (00:10:38) 
4. Peano724: How would you play the Queen's Gambit Declined? (00:22:33) 
5. lonesboule: Italian with 5.d4, 12...Ba5: is this line still a draw? Would you recommend Black to go for it nowadays? (00:29:35) 
6. breaker90: Italian with 6...a5 and 7...Ba7; what is the purpose of this line? (00:41:09) 
7. crispyambulance: Two Knights 4.d4 exd4 5.e5 d5 6.Bb5 Ne4 7.Nxd4 Bd7 8.0-0 Bc5 9.Bxc6 bxc6 10.f3 Ng5; would you go for 11.f4 or 11.Be3? How would you meet either move? (00:52:49) 
8. Outro (01:01:12)

Jan points out the questions have an Italian theme, referring to the opening 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 which, it's hard to imagine now, was not so long ago considered more a part of chess history than something it was worth trying at the very highest level. 

Today, from the questions I’ve seen, we almost have a thematic Italian Opening episode, which is always good news for me, because I need to try to keep up with the Italian, which is such a confusing opening. Although it looks simple there are so many move-orders and so many ways to go. I appreciate the questions, although I’m not sure I have all the answers!

The episode can be thought of, therefore, as a partial update to Jan's earlier chess24 video series on how to meet the Italian.

Grandmaster repertoire: Fighting the Italian Jan Gustafsson

Apart from recording his answers, Jan has once again been busy, recording the Chicken Chess Club podcast...

...promoting the Chicken Chess Club podcast on the Perpetual Chess podcast...

...and even playing some chess. If Jan's game on Saturday in the Chess Bundesliga was instantly forgettable, the 24-move game on Sunday was one for the books.

Episode 4 of Jan's Opening Clinic 27 will be coming soon and you'll be able to find it at YouTube or on our Shows page.

If you're a Premium member (use the voucher code JANISTAN to get 40% off!) there's still time to ask Jan a question for one of his shows this season. Simply add your question to the comments section underneath the original article.  

See also:

• Jan's Opening Clinic 27 article with the questions for Jan  
• Jan's Opening Clinic 27, Episode 1
• Jan's Opening Clinic 27, Episode 2