Chess Openings: Learn to Play the Ponziani Opening!

What's up guys, welcome to the

chess

giant? I'm Solomon Riddell and in today's video we're going to cover a rare but honestly underrated option for White that has been successful at master and grandmaster level for decades and it all starts with e4 and after e5 we're going to go with the main option knight f3 attacking the pawn on e5 and following the c6 knight there are plenty of good

chess

opening

options here for white in this channel we have covered the c4 bishop with the italian game and/or gekko piano dory lopez with the b5 bishop and d4 with the Scottish game or Scottish gambit and these are all very strong chess

opening

s, but Black is generally well prepared for them.

Are there any high level chest

openings

? Any high-level moves here? Usually not well prepared, today we are going to cover c3 with the Ponziani opening a very good strategic move looking to prepare this d4 push and first of all, thank my guy for recommending us to do this video. I love listening to it. 'All recommendations for chess openings, so if there are any chess openings you would like to see covered on this channel, let me know in the comments section below and we will do our best to make it happen, but guys, let's return to this position.

There are really only two moves here that give Black a fighting chance and they are d5 or the f6 knight. If Black does not make any of these moves and makes a move like bishop e7 or bishop c5 or a6, White will simply advance in the center of the board with the d4 pawn on d5 having options of d5, White will simply have a advantage going into the middle game, so let's go over these two moves with d5 ​​and the f6 knight in this video, first going through d5, many would be tempted to take d5, but following and taking d5, Black could simply get that pawn back and make a move like the bishop g4 pressing the knight on f3 on the queen side of the castle and honestly I think black has a better game so I recommend the queen move a4, a very hyper dynamic but very good move. one pressing the knight on c6 and we are also pressing d5 and also now the pawn on e5 now in this position there are some options for black, the first is f6 simply defending the pawn on e5, another option is to put the bishop on d7. indirect pressure on the queen on a4 and the last one is d take e4 now let's review these three moves first bishop d7 I think it is very important to be prepared for this move and in fact I recommend memorizing this opening line that we are going to take d5 and many are wondering why black is giving up a pawn, but now we see the d4 knight and at first glance it looks like white is in trouble, the bishop on d7 is attacking the queen on a4 and this knight on d4 takes it away from him. on both b3 and c2, so here white has to perform the move queen d1 returning to the original square and black would love to start

play

ing moves like knight f6 bishop c5 take the pawn on d5 and gain an attacking advantage , but right now the knight on d4 is actually being attacked by the pawn on c3, the only reason we didn't make the last move was because our queen was under fire, so by

play

ing the queen d1 we are threatening the knight on d4 and now, after the knight takes f3, we go To recover with the queen, getting our queen in this game and also defending the pawn on d5, we are simply ahead here and after the knight f6, let's go with the bishop c4 reinforcing the pawn on d5 and now, after a move like e4, we have the queen. e2 note that with our bishop on c4 it is not blocked now on that f1 square and after a move like the bishop d6 here white has to be careful in the

ponziani

opening, we have to play aggressive attacking chess always fighting for the center of the board.

It is very easy for white to get a disadvantage at the end of the game if white plays passively, we cannot make a move like h3 or castling on the king's side or b3 or a3, we have to fight for the center of the board with the move d4 And next. h6, personally, I really like this idea of ​​the b3 bishop. The e3 bishop is actually two-sided in its purpose. First, this bishop has the potential to reach c2 and put pressure on the pawn on e4, but more than that, it opens up this pawn on c3 for play. c4 protecting the pawn on d5 and even moves like c5 attacking the bishop on d6 we will continue with c4 knight c3 gets our bishop in play and honestly I think white is a pawn up and black doesn't have much to show for it.

In this variation, so that it covers the d7 bishop, we are going to take the pawn on d5 and if the d4 knight plays the d1 queen, take the knight on f3, solidify our pawn on d5 and play chess ahead. Now what about the move d takes e4? What do we do in this situation? Many would be tempted to play the queen takes e4, but after the queen takes e4, Black simply has a better game. Black can play the knight f6 with tempo attacking the queen on e4 and follow up with moves like the bishop g4 pressing the knight on f3 queen d7 castle queen-side bishop c5 honestly, White has a very passive position here and the White can never break through on d4 because the pawn on e5, the knight on c6 and the queen on d8 all attack that square, so it goes without saying that we can.

Don't take that pawn on e4 and I personally recommend that the knight take e5, snatch the pawn on e5 and then attack the knight on c6 with our knight centralized on e5 and the queen on a4. Now the most popular move for Black is the queen d5 making two. The first thing is to defend the knight on c6 and also attack our knight on e5 and here I just like to take the knight on c6 and if the queen takes e6 we have this idea of ​​the b5 bishop and White is clearly winning that game since White will get a complete queen. only for a minor piece, so here after b takes c6, yes black has saved the queen, but now black has a very poor pawn structure and is isolated on a7 and doubly isolated pawns on c7 and c6 and the c6 pawn in particular is also very vulnerable to attack. as a pawn on e4 at the moment, so we will continue with the c4 bishop protected by our queen and attacking the opponent's queen on d5 and following the d6 queen.

I like the d3 move. This is actually a key move in this variation. And now that? The land is white, I mean, it looks like white is just giving up a pawn, but now we are going to castle the king's side and after a move like bishop e7, the purpose of d3 is seen, since now we can play the bishop f4 if we did. We didn't play d3, the bishop on c1 would be blocked, but now we can play the f4 bishop with tempo attacking the queen on d6 and it looks like Black can just take that bishop, but then we take the pawn on c6 attacking both the king and the Queen. rook and white has a simply better game there, so following the move of the d7 queen, more or less forced to defend the pawn on c6, we are now going to play the d1 rook, so by playing d3 we get our bishop on the game and now we play the d1 rook. ready to snatch the pawn off the board and after the f6 knight we have the rook take d3 and here guys I just think white has a game I mean look at the bishop here a bishop on f4 attacking the c7 pawn a bishop on c4 attacking the f7 pawn works on d3 very actively on the d-file and a queen on a4 pressing that c6 pawn is simply a better play for white and here let's say that black makes a move like the d5 knight, well now we have the rook takes d5 and next c takes d5 bishop e5 forming a battery ram and now the queen on d7 is pinned to the king and white is winning completely, so the key is after d take e4 to not take with the queen, but take that pawn on e5, take the knight. on c6 and I enjoy an advantage in pawn development and structure now, what about the f6 move?

I really like this move for Black, but it would still give White the advantage as now we can play the bishop b5 by forming a battery ram on a4 and b5 attacking the knight on c6 and following a move like the knight e7 now we have e takes d5 and after the queen takes d5 d4 again guys in the

ponziani

opening we have to fight for the center if we don't fight for the center black will have a clearly better advantage So here we play d4 and after a move like the bishop d7 we are going to castle on the kingside and at least when I first went over this opening I was wondering, wait a second, why can't black just play e4 attacking the knight on f3 and then? a move like not fd2 f5 I mean it seems like black has a clearly better game here the pawn on f5 and the pawn on e4 are very advanced here black and the castled king side make a move like f4 and f3 and i I just didn't see a way for White to get an advantage coming out of this opening, but then I went over the theory and the b3 knight here is actually a surprisingly strong move and its idea is to eventually get to the c5 square and continue. a move like the knight e5. and this is actually a pretty strong move for Black to play the knight e5, we could take the knight on e5 but then the bishop takes b5 and it would be played attacking both our queen on a4 and the rook on f1, so that we can't take the knight, but instead playing the knight a3 is a very strong move and in most openings I wouldn't recommend putting a pair of knights on a3 and b3, but here the knights are surprisingly dangerous, the knight on a3 defends the bishop on b5 and the knight on b3 attacks that c5 square and Black can get into trouble very quickly here, as the knight pair is very strong.

We have a queen on a4 and a bishop on b5 and our pawn on d4 is attacking that knight on e5, for example, what if the bishop's move takes b5 and plays well? now we are not going to take with the queen, but with the knight and now we have two threats, the first is to take that knight on e5 and we also have a knight that takes c7 and a knight on d6, double check ideas, so here Black has to get out of the way with the king f7 and here we could take the knight on e5, but I think White has an even bigger advantage after the knight takes c7, bifurcating the queen on d5 and the rook on a8 and following a move like queen c4, we're going to snatch that away.

The queen on the board snatches the rook and now we have a rook and a pawn up and Black really has nothing to show. White is completely winning this game, so that covers the d5 move where we are going to play the a4 queen. pressing the knight on c6, pawn on d5 and pawn on e5 and if you memorize those three opening variations you will be prepared for anything that comes your way, but what about the f6 knight move? What do we do in this situation? I mean, normally after a move like the knight f6 we could play the knight c3 and defend that pawn, but now we have the pawn on c3.

Do we make a move like queen c2 or d3? Now many people prefer these movements, but I personally think it is too passive. for white, I mean, after d3 move, black can continue with d5 ​​advancing in the center of the board, play bishop g4 by fixing r9 on f3 queen d7 castled queen side, black has a lot of activity in this game and white really doesn't have much to do. Prove it, so again I think any Ponziani player has to fight for the center of the board with this d4 key idea, attacking the pawn on e5 and also threatening possible d5 ideas to gain space in the center of the board and now Black has some.

Interesting options, I mean what does Black do with the centralized pawn on d4 attacking the pawn on e5. Black needs to do something and the three most popular options at grandmaster level are first taking the pawn on d4, the knight takes e4 taking the centralized pawn and d6 just defending the pawn on e5 now let's go first above e take d4 and against e takes d4 we are not going to recover with the c pawn or the knight on f3 but simply play e5 advancing in the center of the board very aggressively and attack that knight on f6 and now black is a very interesting decision, does black take the knight to d5 or does Black take the knight to e4?

Well first looking at the knight e4, White has a very key move, queen ii, absolutely beautiful idea, attacking the knight on e4 and indirectly the king on e8 why would you say the queen is indirectly attacking the king on e8? Well, as everyone can see, the knight on e4 is not defended, we are threatening to take it and really the only two ways for Black. to defend this pawn it is d5 or f5 but in any of these cases we are simply going to use the impessant rule and again the knight will be under attack, so reviewing the d5 move again we have impissant here and now the knight. is under attack once again so now we see f5 and obviously we can't get back to power because our pawn is on d6, but now we can just take d4 and the next knight takes d4 and c takes d4.

Now we see a very good opening chess position for White with this idea of ​​f3 in the game he attacks the night on e4 and if we can get f3 there is simply no way for Blacksave the horse. Really the only way to do this is to play a move like the e6 bishop we're on. We're still going to play f3 or king f7 where we could play the queen c4 with check, so there's really no easy way to save that e4 knight well, so after a move like the bishop takes d6, now we can play f3 and many white players might not feel comfortable. with this move f3 because of the queen h4 check now normally in this position at first glance I wouldn't feel at all comfortable with f3 because of the queen h4 but now we can play king d1 and black can't really do anything with this knight the knight doesn't can reach g3 or f2 because it is literally pinned to the king on e8, so following the castle and king flank we can now take the pawn and true black has an advantage in the development and this very strong idea of ​​the bishop g4 fixes to the queen on the king on d1 but now we can play coin c4 controlling the king with tempo and following the king h8 now we go with the bishop e three here black is one piece less and I don't see any real advantage coming from that, I mean Yes, our king on d1 is a little exposed, but there is really no way to put this king in a checkmate position if a move like the bishop g4 controls, we simply play the bishop e2 and if the bishop takes e2, we simply We recover with the queen and I just don't see any way for Black to recover that piece, it would give White a clear advantage.

If you plug this position into any computer program, it will tell you that d5 or f5 are the best options, but I can totally understand why Black would do it. I'm not comfortable with any of these because of the idea out there, so here What happens if Black makes a move like the c5 knight by moving the knight out of the line of fire? Well now we can play c takes d4 attacking the knight on c5 and if the knight e6 we have d5 bifurcating both knights and on top of that guys just look at our centralized pawns.

Both pawns on d4 and e5 are very strong and give White a huge space advantage in this game. Now, if Black does not want to branch with the d5 move, Black will make a move like the a6 knight, but now. the knight on a6 is extremely awkwardly placed and we are going to continue playing naturally developing chess with a move like the nice e3 and after the b4 bishop we have a space advantage due to our pawn on e5, so why not use it playing with the queen? e4 and after castling the bishop on the kingside d3 threatening mate on one and after g6 bishop g5 attacking the queen on d8 white has a simply better game here and honestly this game probably won't last much longer, for which covers the move of the e4 knight on which to play the e2 queen what about the d5 knight?

What are we doing here? Well, I personally against the t5 knight I prefer the queen's move b3 c takes d4 is the most popular option, but black actually wins most of these games, but after the queen's move b3 it has been very difficult for black to find an even game, we will attack the knight on d5 and following a move like the knight b6 again, we will take d4 forming very strong centralized pawns in the center of the board here and if d5 we are going to continue with the bishop e3 bishop d3 and after a move as the bishop e6 play the knight bd2 the king's side of the castle move a rook to c1 there really isn't much black can do to prevent white from following this plan and I like white's play here, I think the White has a slight advantage with the strong pair of bishops on d3 and e3 as well as a solid rook on c1 and I simply think that with this pawn on e5 and pawn on d4, White has a space advantage in the center of the board and if someone gave me this position and said hey, which side would you rather be on, I'd rather be white so that covers the move and take d4, we're not going to get the pawn back, but we're going to play e5 aggressively, chasing that knight on f6, potentially getting back the pawn c. on d4 and forming a space advantage in the center of the board what about the move the knight takes e4 immediately what do we do here we take the pawn on e5 we play a move like the bishop t3 these are not necessarily terrible options, but I think d5 is by far the best move attacking the knight on t6 and forcing the knight away from the e5 pawn.

This knight on t6 is defending the e5 pawn and after the black snake move we are going to snatch that pawn off the board and if we move as if playing the g6 knight, we can simply take the knight on g6, play the d3 bishop attacking the knight on e4 and if the c5 knight attacks our bishop, we don't want to give up our bishop so we can bring our bishop back to c2 again. I have a very strong pair of bishops on c2 and c1 and after a move like d6 bishop plays e3 and it would give white a slight advantage here.

I really like White's chances. We are going to continue with a move like the a3 knight castling the king's side bringing the queen leads to say d2 or e2, brings the rooks to the central ranks and white has a very good game reaching the middlegame and finally , but not least, the d6 move here Black is simply trying to hold the position together and I personally do not recommend it. taking the pawn on e5 or playing d5 immediately, but instead of naturally developing the pieces, let's play the d3 bishop and after a move like g6, play castling on the king's side, notice how it's never really a good option for Black takes the pawn on d4. because we could simply win back with our c-pawn that we moved on move three in this game and white will simply have an advantage in the center of the board on d4 and e4, black won't really have much to show, so here's the best for the Black is not to take the pawn but simply to continue developing, but after this happens we will simply play h3 protecting the square on g4 so that neither the knight nor the bishop can reach that square and the following castlings will play the rook e1. play the a3 knight again, there is not much black can do to stop white's play here after h6 we will play the c2 knight, a very interesting maneuver here playing the a3 knight and the c2 knight, but the purpose of the knight in c2 is actually bilateral first. outside, support our centralized pawn on d4 and secondly, prepare a b4 push after a move like a6, now we can play the d2 bishop and after the d7 bishop we go with a4 preparing a b4 pawn push d5 c4 c5 in the queen side and I really like it.

In white's game, I think white has a clear advantage on the queen side and it is true that black can make a move like h7 knight or h5 knight. I try to attack on the king's side of the board, but I simply think White has too much of an advantage. get a head start in this race if you want to

learn

how to play galco piano with white against e5 and knight c6, one of my favorite chess openings for white, click the video on the left if you want to explore more test openings in general, click on the playlist on the right, leave a comment to let me know what other videos you would like to see covered on this channel and as always, thank you, thank you for watching peace.