Play the Ponziani (Everyman Chess)

I will never play the Ponziani as white since I’m exclusively d-pawn player on the white side. So I buy books like this to get ideas for what to play as black. This book is a lot to sort through, but to the author’s credit, he does emphasize the wide array of lines that are available and the importance of playing through various lines to get a sense of what would be most appealing to each player. With that in mind I’ll give a few thoughts on the Ponziani based on this book.First, for mere mortals who play Ponziani on the white side and spend 6 months preparing all the theoretical variations, good luck with that approach. First, there are an immense number of lines on the more technical side. But here’s the catch – there is no reason for black to play any of the main lines. Black has a zillion reasonably solid options.For example, consider 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 Nf6 4. d5 d6. Oops! Did you just spend six months studying lines with Qa4? Sorry! Is this objectively best for black? Probably not. Is it completely playable by mere mortals? Absolutely.Maybe I’d like to mix things up a bit. You’ve blocked the c3 pawn, so d5 is natural but f5 might also be a natural move to consider. So maybe I’ll get all crazy and play…1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 f5!?or…1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 d6!? 4. d4 f5!?Maybe I’m in a 10 round tournament and I played the Ruy Lopez and Semi-Slav for the first 9 rounds and I’m 9-0 and have clinched first place. Now I’m black against you and you play the Ponziani. It’s time to mix things up! How about 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 f6?! 4. d4 d5?! Did you prepare for that? Now let’s see who can actually think better at the board under time pressure. Because guess what? I play the Ruy Lopez and Semi-Slav. So good luck with your Ponziani.What about 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 d5 4. Bb4?! dxe5! I’ve studied this line *extensively* – far more than what’s even in this book. Why did I do that? In case you play Bb4 against me? No. Because studying such lines significantly increases my chess understanding. However, I now understand the Bb4 line so well that I’m confident I could play it. Even if someone plays this against me 3 years from now, I would still know the line well enough to play it.But there are other options in the Bb4 line. How about 4. … f6, which is likely to transpose back to the main line with 5. Qa5? That simplifies opening prep. Or 4. … Nge7 when white might consider the unique 5. Nxe5 or transposing back to the main line with 5. Qa4 f6?In summary, this is a great book. It provided exactly what I wanted by helping me identify a number of lines that I quite like. And I can decide which one to play when I sit at the board across from you. But this is not a book for those who are not willing to put in a lot of work!So roll up your sleeves and live, eat, and breath the glorious game of chess! Good luck!!

As a long time Vienna player (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3) in the last year or so I've been exploring alternatives against 1. e4 e5 without venturing into mainstream Italian, Scotch or Spanish waters. I've tried the Belgrade Gambit, Bishop's Gambit and Center Game. The first two have entire books devoted to them, but both involve pawn sacrifices and are therefore highly speculative by nature, and for the time being you will be largely on your own if you try the Center Game, though I understand there is a book in the works. So the fact that this book on Ponziani's has just come out, and that it does not require a speculative pawn sacrifice, caused me to give it a try. Dave Taylor had previously written "Ponziani Power" a decided labor of love, and yet does not allow his passion for his favored opening taint his objectivity, for instance in concluding that the line 3...d5 4. Bb5? is just bad for White.Besides the main responses 3...d5 and 3...Nf6, this book does not skimp on some of the less common responses, for instance with 25 pages on 3...f5 which indeed is the line I'd try as Black since not only do I play 1. e4 but I also defend it with 1...e5. One of my only gripes thus far is that in the line 3...Nf6 4. d4 Nxe4 5. d5 Ne7 6. Nxe5 Ng6, the move 7. Nxg6 is dismissed with ?! which I consider an incorrect evaluation. The problem is the authors only consider 7...hxg6 and then either 8. Qe2?! or 8. Bd3?! (those are my ?! in these cases), but the correct move can be extrapolated from other variations given by the authors, particularly 7. Qf3 Qe7 where the author's write that gives White "a small but solid edge, by weakening Black's kingside pawn structure" with 8. Nxg6. So why doesn't that likewise apply to the immediate 7. Nxg6?! Indeed after 7. Qf3 Qe7 8. Nxg6 hxg6 the authors give 9. Be3 and I would hereby like to recommend that the same is the correct move after 7. Nxg6 hxg6: 8. Be3! in which case 8...Qe7 9. Qf3 transposes, or 9. Qd3 is quite playable, the idea being that, unlike the lines 7. Nxg6 hxg6 8. Qe2?! or 8. Bd3?! quick Queenside development by White, culminating in Nd2 (after Be3 and Queen out), and if ...Nxd2 then Kxd2 and White's queen rook is ready to come to the open e-file with significant impact.I do have another specific gripe but I want to preface it by saying this -- ALL opening books have their shortcomings. And this is actually one of the better opening books I've read lately, and bear in mind, I've now switched to where I'm more concerned with what to play against the Ponziani than actually playing it. Long story short the book leaves out the following line, but I've checked my database and it only shows three games ever, and all of those in the last half of last decade. So probably no opening book has ever covered the following, the specific line being 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. e5 Ne4 6. Qe2 f5 7. exf6 d5 8. Nbd2 Qxf6 9. Nxe4 dxe4 10. Qxe4 and now 10...Qe7. Not saying it's an especially good line -- the queen-less middle-game that can arise after 10. Qxe4+ is surprisingly difficult to counter -- but it is a possibility.Now that Carlsen has played the Ponziani I can heartily recommend this book to people considering this opening. It is in general very thorough, and although there are always things to be discovered, this book is seldom if every glaringly wrong as some others in the Everyman Chess series can be. Like all such opening books it should be read critically, but when you do so, you realize just how good this book is.

Great analysis, clearly presented for a book which must present many, many lines of play.Naturally some errors are present; none as yet have been particularly disturbing, and proof reading an opening book such as this would be hideously time consuming and doubtless still not catch all errors.Recommended if you are keen on the opening; otherwise you'll bypass the book of course!

This book is very easy to read. This opening is very good for winning in lower levels as well as in higher levels. It gets most opponents out of their comfort zone quickly.

In meiner Anfangszeit spielte ich die Ponziani-Eröffnung mit gutem Erfolg und schönen Partien. Leider wandte ich mich mit wachsender Spielstärke von ihr ab, da es zu viele Theorievarianten gab, in denen es für Weiß nichts zu holen gab.Das ändert sich mit diesem Buch!Besagte Varianten werden komplett aufden Kopf gestellt und korrigiert!Es wird kreativ nachgewiesen, warum "Ausgleich"-Bewertungen vom Computer keine Superlative sind!Das Buch eröffnet neue theoretische Pfade anhand vieler schöner Partiebeispiele und offenbart die Ponziani-Eröffnung als eine exzellente Wahl für kreative Spieler, die langwierigen d4-Varianten, aber auch brachialen Königsgambit-Systemen ein Schnippchen schlagen wollen.Die Behandlung der Varianten ist darübner hinaus alles andere als stiefmütterlich. Es werden alle logischen Ideen beleuchtet und oft schärfere Alternativen zu den ruhiger geprägten Hauptvariantenn gegeben.Insgesamt hat mich dieser Kauf aus reiner Neugier dazu beflügelt, wieder das Ponziani-System anzugehen.5 von 5 Sterne!