---

Today, I’m going post another video in the “2 Games, 2 Wins!” series, and this time, for the Ponziani Opening! Interestingly, I played two games against the same opponent, who used the Ponziani Opening for White, and the equivalent setup – a kind of reverse Ponziani Opening – for Black.

As mentioned in an earlier video on the Ponziani Opening, the slight delay with the c-pawn move can be exploited with immediately taking the centre with pawns. It is a situation where the opening heuristic of taking the centre if you are given the opportunity is correct.

The very interesting thing about these two games is how the same “themes” carried across both games. For instance, in both games, my opponent (i) lost control of the centre, (ii) short castled while underdeveloped, and (iii) allowed a knight on the e-file on their second rank which created serious mating opportunities.

As I played these two games, I was reminded of the biases I had in my own games – effectively, moves which are bad or suboptimal, but I kept playing them. Reviewing and analysing your games afterwards is important in identifying these patterns.

Game 1: https://www.chess.com/game/live/50458169225

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.07.01"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Dacic67"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C44"]
[WhiteElo "1152"]
[BlackElo "1194"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[EndTime "16:51:25 PDT"]
[Termination "vitualis won by checkmate"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 d5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. c4 Qe4+ 6. Be2 Nd4 7. O-O Nxe2+ 8. Kh1 Bh3 9. Re1 Bxg2+ 10. Kxg2 Qg4+ 11. Kh1 Qxf3# 0-1

Game 2: https://www.chess.com/game/live/50458213491

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.07.01"]
[Round "?"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "Dacic67"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C25"]
[WhiteElo "1201"]
[BlackElo "1145"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[EndTime "16:59:56 PDT"]
[Termination "vitualis won by checkmate"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 c6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. f4 exf4 5. e5 Qe7 6. Qe2 Nd5 7. Bxd5 cxd5 8. Nxd5 Qc5 9. c4 Be7 10. b4 Qc6 11. b5 Qc5 12. Nf3 O-O 13. d4 Bh4+ 14. g3 fxg3 15. hxg3 Bxg3+ 16. Kf1 Bxe5 17. dxc5 Bxa1 18. Ne7+ Kh8 19. Qh2 h6 20. Bxh6 d6 21. Bxg7+ Kxg7 22. Qh6# 1-0