Italian Game Mastery (Udemy) Review

We cannot give a verdict on Italian Game Mastery, because Udemy blocks automated access and everything below comes from search listings. Those listings describe a very long beginner course, about 26 hours by Tryfon Gavriel, with a price we could not confirm, so the first thing to settle is whether you want 26 hours on one opening at all. If you do not, our best Italian Game courses comparison has shorter options whose line lists we could read.

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Test depth: Public information only. Nobody at ChessCourseFinder has taken this course. This page is based on search listings seen on 8 November 2026; we could not open the Udemy page directly. How we review explains the limits.

This review has no star score. Fit, price and limits are set out instead, and how reviews are made is public.

What the search listings show

Every row below is as shown in search listings on 8 November 2026. We could not open the Udemy course page, so confirm each one there.

Udemy also lists a different course called "Chess openings: The italian game"; do not confuse the two.

Is 26 hours the right size for a beginner opening course?

Probably not as a first purchase, unless the hours turn out to be mostly general chess taught through the Italian. The sums below are calculated from the listed figures, and listed time is not the time it takes to study something.

• About 26 hours is 1,560 minutes. The lecture count was not confirmed, so we cannot give a length per lecture.
• At three hours a week, viewing alone takes just under nine weeks (26 / 3 = 8.7), before you play a single practice game.
• If the price is $19.99, that is about $0.77 per listed hour (19.99 / 26). We could not confirm any other price.

A low cost per hour is not the same as an efficient use of your time. By comparison, ChessBase's The Italian Four Knights lists 1h 45m at €24.90 as of 8 November 2026, though its delivery text also says "approx. 4-8 hrs". That is far more per hour (about €14.23 on the listed 1h 45m) and far less to get through.

Coaches commonly advise that players below roughly 1200 gain more from tactics and from not hanging pieces than from opening depth. That is received wisdom rather than a measured result, but if it describes your games, the order of work matters more than the price. The listing's mention of pins, forks and skewers suggests some tactics content, and we cannot see how much.

How often will you actually get the Italian?

Only some of the time, and the listing names the rarer detours. Lichess's page for 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3, read on 8 November 2026 with its default filters, showed these Black replies:

The Philidor and Petrov together came to 27%, against 3% for the two gambits the listing names. Those are Lichess games at all default speeds and ratings, not your own opponents, but they show why a beginner should look for answers to 2...d6 and 2...Nf6 in the section list. Replies other than 1...e5 are outside any Italian course, so you will still need something against 1...c5, 1...e6 and the rest.

What a beginner Italian course should cover

A course sold as a complete first opening should give a clear answer in each of these. "Named" means a listing mentioned it, and "Not seen" means we saw no section detail, which is not the same as it being absent.

The course also has to take a side on a real disagreement. Exeter Chess Club's junior booklet, an edition dated April 1996 and posted in 2009, tells young players to avoid its version of the Giuoco Pianissimo (4.Nc3 Nf6 5.d3 d6), calling the position blocked and hard to play, and to choose 4.c3 or the Evans instead. Our Italian Game comparison reports the opposite coaching preference, for the quiet 4.d3 as the lower-memorisation route. Both are opinions. Check which of them this course teaches, and whether it matches how you like to play.

How to use Udemy's refund window sensibly

Per search snippets of Udemy's help centre, eligible purchases may be refundable within 30 days, some only as credit, and instructors set list prices that Udemy and instructors can discount at any time. We could not open those help pages, and subscription plans are said not to carry the guarantee. Some third-party pages claim refunds are refused after heavy use; we could not verify that, so do not plan on watching everything first.

A cautious way to use the window:

1. Check the price at checkout in your own currency. Ignore the struck-through figure.
2. Read the full section list before paying and find the 3...Nf6 and 4.b4 material.
3. Watch only those two sections in the first week, and play five games using them.
4. If the lectures are too broad or too slow for you, stop there and read the current refund page.

Check these before paying

• The instructor, hours and "last updated" date, on Udemy itself.
• Whether Philidor and Petrov answers exist, not only the Elephant and Latvian.
• Whether lectures teach a repeatable set-up or mainly walk through games. The listing does not say.
• Recent written reviews rather than the star figure. With 27 ratings, one reviewer shifts the average noticeably.

Who it might suit, and who should skip it

It might suit an adult beginner who enjoys long video series, wants one teacher for many hours, and finds it at the lower listed price. Skip it if you want to be playing the opening within a fortnight, if you still lose most games to one-move blunders, or if you already know the basic plans. Anyone rated above the listed 1500 should skip it on the seller's own range.

The free route covers the first stage

You can learn the opening's first stage without paying. Lichess's puzzles by opening listed 76,110 Italian Game puzzles on 8 November 2026, including 19,901 for the Two Knights, 6,001 for the Giuoco Piano and 3,962 for the Evans Gambit, which are real-game tactics in the positions you will reach. The Exeter booklet above is free and includes a section on traps. RussBell's Chess.com blog overview, updated 7 September 2026, links videos and articles (mostly free, though it also links paid books) on the Giuoco Piano, Giuoco Pianissimo, Two Knights and Evans Gambit; it is one enthusiast's selection. Our guide to Lichess studies and practice covers the tools, and our list of free Udemy chess courses shows what costs nothing on Udemy itself. What you give up is a single teacher and a set order.

Better-documented alternatives

Our best Italian Game courses page compares options by line coverage and level wording, so it is the place to go for a shorter or more clearly described course. For how to vet any instructor on this platform, see Udemy chess courses reviewed.

What the seller's pages do not tell you

• The listings disagree on student numbers, we could not confirm the price, and we cannot tell which figures are current.
• The named detours are the rare ones. On Lichess's figures the Philidor and Petrov are about nine times as common as the Elephant and Latvian combined (27% against 3%).
• Whether 26 hours is opening theory, annotated games or general lessons. That split decides whether the length is an asset.
• How current the material is, since the only date we saw is a creation date from an aggregator.