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From: knight@rlgvax.UUCP (Steve Knight)
Newsgroups: net.games.pbm
Subject: Re: italian openings - brief analysis
Message-ID: <704@rlgvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 23-Jul-85 13:05:27 EDT
Article-I.D.: rlgvax.704
Posted: Tue Jul 23 13:05:27 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 25-Jul-85 20:59:49 EDT
References: <6006@duke.UUCP>
Organization: CCI Office Systems Group, Reston, VA
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Two interesting and offbeat Italian openings not covered by Andrew Reibman
are the Three Fleets opening and the Key Lepanto.  Both require a strong
Austro-Italian alliance, and both are rife with possibilities for either
party to stab the other.

The Italian Three Fleets opening was invented by postal player Edi
Birsan in the early 1970's as a means of dealing with the sticky
problem of Italy's often-useless second army.  The Key Lepanto,
invented by Jeff Key in the late 1960's, tries to get an additional
army into the Balkans for greater effectiveness against Turkey.
Both start out like a half-hearted attack on Austria:

	A Ven-Tri
	A Rom-Apu
	F Nap-Ion

The tip off for the other powers is the failure to back up A Ven-Tri
with A Rom-Ven (and in any event, A Ven-Tyo generally makes for a more
effective assault on Trieste).  When playing Three Fleets, the Austrian
player "responds" in the fall with a supported attack on the Italian
army in Trieste; Italy retreats it off the board (i.e., voluntarily
disbands it), and, having gained Tunis, builds two fleets for greater
flexibility in the Mediterranean.  Of course, A Rom and F Nap do
not have to follow the normal Lepanto opening here.

In the fall of the Key Lepanto opening, Austria lets the Italian
A Tri-Ser succeed, having either left Serbia open in the spring (risky)
or ordering A Ser-Gre, F Alb S A Ser-Gre in the fall.  Italy has thus
gained two builds with which to attack Turkey (or defend against an
adventurous France).  The I/A alliance has two units poised against
Bulgaria while Austria still has two armies defending against Russia.
The Key Lepanto can thus be a great defense if the pre-S'01 diplomacy
indicates a definite R/T in the making.

Neither is an opening you're likely to see often, but both can be
very effective, at least partly due to their unexpectedness.  Both
also require a good bit of trust on both Italy's and Austria's parts.
-- 
	Steve Knight
	{seismo,allegra,ihnp4,some other sites}!rlgvax!knight