Ponzing About

WHAT do the following titans of chess have in common: Howard Staunton, Adolf Anderssen, Alexander Alekhine, José Capablanca, Max Euwe and Magnus Carlsen?
The easy answer is that all were world champions or, in the case of the first two, were widely regarded as best in the world, in their heyday, before the title came into general acceptance.
The rather more difficult answer is that all played the Ponziani.
Wikipedia says of the Ponziani: "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."
This entry could, perhaps, do with updating, not least becasue there are more than 8,000 examples of the Ponziani in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database.
Staunton - Daniel Harrwitz
Match 1846, game 7
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc3 3.c3 f5!?
Harrwitz, like Staunton, was an enthusiastic proponent of the Ponziani, so it is interesting he should choose this countergambit, which is credited to the 18th century Italian law professor Domenico Ponziani, after whom the whole opening is named. Much more common are 3...Nf6, 3...d5 and 3...d6?!, the last of which is popular with club players who are caught by surprise, and was even played by a world champion, Vassily Smyslov, but is somewhat passive.
4.d4
It is interesting to compare this position with a line of the Schliemann Counterattack in the Spanish, viz 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.d4!? (4.Nc3 and 4.d3 are more popular, but 4.d4!? has been played by strong GMs, including Nigel Short).

Ponziani

Schliemann Spanish

At first glance it might be thought more useful for White to have played Bb5 than c3, but theory regards the Ponziani line as better for White than the Schliemann one. It should be noted that the two moves are not trying to achieve the same thing; Bb5 is a developing move that indirectly attacks the black centre, while c3 is primarily aimed at building a white centre, although the natural follow-up d4 also attacks the black centre. As GM Mihail Marin says of 3.c3 in ChessBase: "Maybe not such a bad move after all. White threatens to occupy the centre with d2-d4, just 'a bit' earlier than this happens in the Ruy Lopez (if Black does not interfere with this sweet plan by choosing the Open variation or the Marshall Attack, of course)."
4...fxe4 5.Nxe5 Nf6
5...Qf6!? has been played by Spassky and Pachman.
6.Bb5
More popular is 6.Bg5, but Stockfish10 and Komodo10 prefer the text.
6...a6 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.Bg5 Rb8 9.b4!?
An unusual but seemingly effective response to Black's pressure down the b file.
9...Bb7?!
This may have been played with the idea of following up with ...d6 to evict the e5 knight, or of allowing ...d5 to protect the e pawn in the event of 10.Nd2. But better seems to be the engines' 9...Be7, when 10.Nd2 can be met by 10...0-0, as 11.Bxf6 gxf6! gives Black a nice game thanks to his bishops and strong centre.
10.Qa4?!
Keeping pressure on c6, but 10.Nd2 either wins the e pawn or, in the event of 10...d5, allows 11.Nb3, when the engines reckon White already has a winning advantage.
10...d5 11.0-0
Not 11.Nxc6? Qd7 12.b5 Bxc6 13.bxc6 Qg4, eg 14.Bxf6 Qxg2 15.Rf1 gxf6, when White's pieces are difficult to coordinate.
11...h6 12.Bh4 Qd6?
The queen is misplaced here. Better was 12...Bd6 (the c6 pawn is still taboo) or first 12...g5 and then ...Bd6.
13.Bg3 Rg8?
Avoiding losing the rook to a discovery (Ng6), but a better way of doing this was 13...Qe6.
14.Nd2 Rc8 15.Nb3 Nd7 16.Na5 Nb6 17.Qc2 Ba8
Black has avoided material loss, but now his king comes under attack.
18.f3 exf3 19.Rxf3 Qe6
Putting the queen on the same open file as the king hardly helps, but Black's game was already beyond saving.
20.Re1 Be7 21.Nexc6 Qxe1+ 22.Bxe1 Bxc6 23.Qg6+ Kd8 24.Nxc6+ 1-0
A massacre for the Ponziani, but early on the play was much more even-handed, and certainly 3...f5!? was not refuted by Staunton. I have a friend who plays the Ponziani every chance he gets, and it is precisely 3...f5!? that  worries him most (although he very rarely has to face it).