the portuguese

Does anyone mess with this one much?  It looks a little dubious, and the game explorer gives black good chances after Bb5.  I only ask because i saw a dvd on this the other day which makes me think that it may be playable for white.  Any thoughts?

Probably playable, but definitely not good - after c6 Ba4 Nf6 Black gains the initiative and has prepared to break the center with d5 whenever he feels ready, and White's Bishop is on a bad square. The only drawback for Black is a bit of difficulty in developing the Queen's Knight.

Nice game Rich, though i have to say i agree with Steeve.  But, if someone made a DVD (Andrew Martin) on it, there much be more to it than appears on the surface.  The game explorer has black winning 100% of the time after 2...c6.  I know the game explorer isn't the most accurate thing out there, but 100% is still 100%.  Maybe after c6 white argues that, even though the bishop moves again, black has simply moved another pawn and neglected developement...i don't know.

Probably equal. It can't really be worse for white, it's a developing move after all. Some surprise value, but I doubt it has a lot of traps.

I don't know, scarblac, white loses a solid tempo after ...c6, and black can get in ...d5 soon, probably easier than white playing d4. Rich I hope you're joking.

Remember that after ...c6 and ...d5, the c pawn is pinned. And it's a tempo that black had to use to play c7-c6 -- hardly earth shattering stuff.

Something like this?

That variation can't be too bad for black; it's similar 1 e4 e5 2 d4 exd4 3 Qxd4 though black can equalize easily in that line. I don't think it's any better or worse, because ...c6 won some time even though it takes away c6 for black's knight. However, couldn't black play after ...c6 Ba4 Nf6 followed by castling? And after ...Nf6, white has to defend his e pawn so I think black is doing very well in either case. I suppose it is equal but it's very easily achieved for black and i don't even see the practical value of the move. Natural moves work well against it besisdes ...Nc6, transposing into the ruy lopez.

It didn't win time - white still has 1 piece developed vs 0, and black's move even blocked his Nb8.

I would argue that Black has already equalized after 1. e4 e5 2. Bb5 c6 3. Ba4 Nf6 simply because White has essentially lost the initiative after Black attacks the e-pawn. Sure it's White to move, but he must respond to a threat on a central pawn instead of making threats on Black.

 I see your point, but after Nc3, or d3 even, things look balanced again, and white is still ahead in development, but i guess this helps your point, that the position is equal

Ok. I had my engine play it against itself in 3 games and the result was +1-1=1. In the game that Black lost, I believe it was simply a case of the computer not analysing the losing line far enough but with no blunders from either side, the two games were one draw and one loss for white.

That being said, the engine Crafty suggests Be2 instead of Ba4 as a better line but this ends in draw with best play. In a few later games that I had it play on a faster time, the engines prefered to transpose into a Ruy Lopez variation with Nf6 instead of c6!

Thus, in conclusion, I'd like to say that this opening gives up most of White's first move advantage and Black can play for a win rather than equalizing, right from the beginning. So, unless you're playing for shock value, this probably isn't your best try.

It wins time if black can get in ...d5. This free ...c6 move could allow that. Or black can still play ...d5 exd5 Qxd5 which is also fine and the bishop is still misplaced. But I envision, after castling, a ...d5 break though maybe white can play d4 in that time but after Nf6 white has to start reacting to black as well. Anyway he's at least equal.

The Ponziani is : 1 e4 e5  2 Nf3 Nc6  3 c3

I highly doubt it's as good as any opening.