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Against e4, I usually respond with e5 when I play with the black pieces. The next move by White is usually Nf3, to which I respond with Nc6. In this very common setup, according to the Lichess database of beginner blitz and rapid online games, the five most frequent openings are:

• the Italian Game (3. Bc4) – 44%
• the Ruy Lopez Opening (3. Bb5) – 25%
• the Scotch Game (3. d4) – 17%
• the Three Knights Game (3. Nc3) – 8%
• and finally, the Ponziani Opening (3. c3) – 3%

So, it isn’t very common that you’d come across the Ponziani Opening if you respond with e5 with Black, which potentially gives the Ponziani Opening player a practical advantage. So how should Black respond?

Interestingly, there is only one move in the 6 most common responses to the Ponziani (which covers around 95% of all Ponziani games) where Black has a clear winning advantage over White (54% vs 42%). All the others give White the advantage.

As per the title of this video, that move is d5. As Black, you immediately strike in the centre. This actually fits one of the general opening heuristics – if you are given the opportunity to take the centre with pawns, it’s often advantageous to do so. More than that, the Ponziani Opening player might not be very familiar with this line either as it’s seen in only 6% of Ponziani games!

After this, it’s a matter of just playing chess. As can be seen in this game, the initial central control from my points resulted in a favourable position for my pieces with attacking opportunities, even though I didn’t play accurately. My opponent ended up with a somewhat unwieldy clump of pawns on their queenside. The wining move in this game had less to do with the opening, but a reminder of why you must always be looking out for checks. The discovered attack on my opponent’s queen from a knight move, with check, meant that White’s queen was lost. Acknowledging the catastrophic loss of material next turn, they opted to resign. Good game!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/48736132189

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.06.11"]
[Round "?"]
[White "bishopbrownsr"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C44"]
[WhiteElo "1224"]
[BlackElo "1224"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[EndTime "18:34:10 PDT"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 d5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. d3 Bg4 6. Be2 e4 7. c4 Qa5+ 8. Bd2 Bb4 9. Bc3 O-O-O 10. O-O exf3 11. Bxf3 Bxc3 12. bxc3 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 Nf6 14. Qh3+ Kb8 15. a4 Ne5 16. Qf5 Rxd3 17. f4 Nf3+ 0-1