here is another continuation after 3. c3 d6 4. Bc4
Ponziani opening traps
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another line after 3. c3 d6 4. Bc4!
Wow!
I never got such in depth ponziani study after 3...d6 which I occasionally get in my games.
For me the fun lies in quick tactics and feint attacks, but the real power lies in the pawn center, with long games.
:( now I'd have to study this opening in detail (thing I hate) :(
Pikay wrote:
Wow!
I never got such in depth ponziani study after 3...d6 which I occasionally get in my games.
For me the fun lies in quick tactics and feint attacks, but the real power lies in the pawn center, with long games.
:( now I'd have to study this opening in detail (thing I hate) :(
I am only giving the tip of the iceberg. There are more good lines and traps than I can possibly give here.
One thing, if you learn some of the sharp lines, you will get a lot of early wins! You get rewarded for your study!
here is another 3. c3 d6 4. Bc4! variation:
another 3. c3 d6 4. Bc4! line;
another line after 3. c3 d6 4. Bc4!
Looks like a fun but serious opening to to OTB.
atrociousOpening wrote:
Looks like a fun but serious opening to to OTB.
While I am showing only games with tricks or quick wins, I have a very strong record against masters with this opening. It is a "sound" opening in that there is no line in which BLACK comes out with even a slight advantage. This opening with best play by both sides is a draw as is the Ruy Lopez, The English Opening, the Queens Gambit and a host of other sound openings.
ponz111 wrote:
atrociousOpening wrote:
Looks like a fun but serious opening to to OTB.
While I am showing only games with tricks or quick wins, I have a very strong record against masters with this opening. It is a "sound" opening in that there is no line in which BLACK comes out with even a slight advantage. This opening with best play by both sides is a draw as is the Ruy Lopez, The English Opening, the Queens Gambit and a host of other sound openings.
Currently watching Chessexplained's ponziani video. you should check this out on youtube.
Contrary to most other popular openings (Ruy, Caro, Bird etc), in Ponz the whole middlegame is decided clearly between moves 6 and 10.
I hate long, drawn out games. Ponz is good when it comes to opening traps and even if black avoids the traps, white doesn't suffer from the side effects (except that I find it hard to develop my dark bishop quickly).
White almost always manages to get a strong center presence, but has to pay for this on the queenside.
The Ponziani is pretty much OK. It might even be white's fifth best answer to 2...Nc6... (after Bb5, Bc4, Nc3, and d4).
It's also fun to play. I have played the Black side countless times in blitz games against FIDE deputy president George Makropoulos (at the time he was an IM of GM strength). The main debate was the "show me how greedy you are" 3...d5 4.Qa4 Nf6!? line.
The line pfren mentions is called the Leonhardt's variarion:
Yes, of course there is "new theory" at the Leonhardt. By the time we were blitzing the Ponziani with Makro (around 1980) white's strongest against 3...d5 was considered by some 4.Bb5, which is bad (see Harding's book at Chess Digest, published 1984, where 4.Bb5 gets an exclamation mark). We had analysed 4.Bb5 at depth with Makro, and he had found the refutation of Harding's line a couple of years before the book was published.
I played a 3min game.
TrumanB in the game you played you had a winning advantage. It was good enough. I would suggest you not play 3 minute games?
pfren I devoted a whole chapter in my book why 3. c3 d5 4. Bb5 loses. There are plenty of older books on the Ponziani which give 4. Bb5 as playable--they are wrong.
Here is another variation after 3. c3 d6 4. Bc4!