Ponziani Opening
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| Moves | 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ECO | C44 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Origin | c. 1490 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Named after | Domenico Lorenzo Ponziani | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Parent | King's Knight Opening | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Ponziani Opening is a chess opening that begins with the moves:
It is one of the oldest chess openings, having been discussed in the literature by 1497. It was advocated by Howard Staunton, generally considered the world's strongest player from 1843 to 1851, in his 1847 book The Chess-Player's Handbook. For some decades, it was often called "Staunton's Opening" or the "English Knight's Game" as a result. Today, it is usually known by the name of Domenico Lorenzo Ponziani, whose main contribution to the opening was his introduction, in 1769, of the countergambit 3...f5!?
The opening is now considered inferior to 3.Bb5, the Ruy Lopez, and 3.Bc4, the Italian Game, and is accordingly rarely seen today at any level of play. Black's main responses are 3...Nf6, leading to quiet play, and 3...d5, leading to sharp play. Ponziani's countergambit 3...f5!? was successfully played in the grandmaster game Hikaru Nakamura vs Julio Becerra Rivero, US Championship 2007.
The opening 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 is one of the oldest known openings, having been discussed in chess literature by no later than 1497. It was mentioned in both of the earliest chess treatises: the Repetición de Amores y Arte de Ajedrez con ci Iuegos de Partido by Lucena and the Göttingen manuscript. Today the opening bears the surname of Domenico Lorenzo Ponziani. Although Ponziani did analyze the opening in 1769, his principal contribution was the introduction of the countergambit 3...f5!? Later the opening was favored by Howard Staunton, who in The Chess-Player's Handbook (1847) called it "so full of interest and variety, that its omission in many of the leading works on the game is truly unaccountable. ... it deserves, and, if we mistake not, will yet attain a higher place in the category of legitimate openings than has hitherto been assigned to it".
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Wikipedia