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Recently, showed a quick wins video from my subscriber who crushed his opponent with the Ponziani-Steinitz Gambit with checkmate in 9 moves. Although my subscriber and his opponent were beginners, this gambit has a lot of life left in it in the intermediate level as well. I’ve seen comments that it’s not good out of the beginner level, but I beg to disagree! If anything, a gambit partly named after Wilhelm Steinitz, the first World Chess Champion, should not be taken lightly!

Those familiar with the gambit will know that it begins with an aggressive and unexpected forward knight advance (only 4% of games from this position), as a counter to White’s aggressive knight attack and the beginning of the Fried Liver Attack (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 Nxe4). One of the reasons I like this gambit is that the Fried Liver Attack lines are perfectly good for White. Against the Fried Liver Attack, Black is on the defensive for some time, and presumably, the player with the White pieces will be familiar with the positions.

The Ponziani-Steinitz Gambit is objectively bad [+2.5], but White must know to capture the f7 pawn with their bishop (5. Bxf7+) rather than persist with their original knight attack plan. Although Black is behind here, at least these are Fried Liver Attack type positions! However, if White doggedly persists with their original plan, the gambit has immediately worked! If White captures the f7 pawn with their knight (5. Nxf7), which is the most common continuation at beginner-intermediate level, the evaluation favours Black [-0.4] and there are massive attacks available to Black that are difficult to navigate by White.

We begin with (5… Qh4) with a mate threat on f2. According to the Lichess community database of lower-rated games of blitz and rapid, Black wins 67% of the time. Incredibly, White only finds the correct and best response (Qe2) in 4% of games! The top three responses by White on move 6, O-O (43%), Qf3 (28%), and g3 (21%), collectively representing 92% of games from this position, are all serious mistakes which give a substantial, and at times, massive advantage to Black!

Now, Qf3 and g3 are such massive mistakes that they are practically game ending as White will suffer catastrophic material loss and probably, emotional damage! However (6. O-O), which is the most common move, especially at intermediate level, isn’t “obviously” bad. For those of us who play the Ponziani-Steinitz Gambit, it’s important to know how to exploit the mistake!

For White to dull our attack, they need to attempt to force a trade of queens. To avoid this, we need to keep up the attack. So, (6… Nxf2) is the next best move, ostensibly “sacrificing” the knight for the f2 pawn. White will almost always capture the knight with the rook, but this is a mistake. Their best option here is to play (7. g3) for a queen trade. After the natural rook capture, however, our bishop develops and pins the rook to the king – another devastating attack on f2 (7. Rxf2 Bg4).

In this game at the end of move 9, my queen and bishop are in a powerful battery, and White’s king is stuck on h1. White’s queen has no movement as it must defend the back rank from mate, and indeed without the queen’s guard, I can mate on any of White’s available first rank squares (Qg1, Qf1, Qe1)!

With White’s queen pinned in position, my tactic becomes simple… Any other piece attacking the queen from a distance cannot be captured by the queen. Deflection of the queen from her guard duty is instant death for the white king! That is, unless White can develop their queenside pieces to allow their rook on a1 to defend the back rank. However, White simply doesn’t have enough time. On move 15, White miscalculates and blunders, thinking that trading bishops, and thus removing my battery removes the mate threat. However, the discovered attack on the queen added another attacking piece, the rook, and we have a back rank “ladder” mate. GG!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/78629990947

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2023.05.24"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Capo51"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C57"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Italian-Game-Knight-Attack-Ponziani-Steinitz-Gambit"]
[UTCDate "2023.05.24"]
[UTCTime "01:13:34"]
[WhiteElo "1285"]
[BlackElo "1397"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[Termination "vitualis won by checkmate"]
[StartTime "01:13:34"]
[EndDate "2023.05.24"]
[EndTime "01:23:35"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/78629990947"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/161168987.9f3ad36c.50x50o.a50eaca0fe71.png"]
[WhiteCountry "109"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.82046355.50x50o.c8c8e6b7296c.jpg"]
[BlackCountry "17"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. e4 {[%clk 0:29:47.7]} 1... e5 {[%clk 0:29:57.8]} 2. Nf3 {[%clk 0:29:43.5]}
2... Nc6 {[%clk 0:29:56.2]} 3. Bc4 {[%clk 0:29:39.5]} 3... Nf6 {[%clk
0:29:54.3]} 4. Ng5 {[%clk 0:29:28]} 4... Nxe4 $5 {[%clk 0:29:53.1][%c_effect
e4;square;e4;type;Interesting;persistent;true] Ponziani-Steinitz Gambit $1 This is
an audacious, aggressive, and unsound [+2.5] gambit that just so happens to be
potentially lethal against the Fried Liver Attack player $1} 5. Nxf7 $2 {[%clk
0:29:11.5][%c_effect f7;square;f7;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
c4f7;keyPressed;none;from;c4;opacity;0.8;to;f7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f7;persistent;false] White cannot persist
with the knight attack against the gambit as it is a serious mistake that gives
a dangerous advantage to Black [-0.4]} 5... Qh4 $1 {[%clk 0:29:51.1][%c_effect
h4;square;h4;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 6. O-O $2 {[%clk
0:29:01.2][%c_effect g1;square;g1;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
d1e2;keyPressed;none;from;d1;opacity;0.8;to;e2;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e2;persistent;false] A mistake that gives
Black a winning advantage, but Black will need to know how to exploit this
[-2.3]} ({This is the only line where White isn't completely losing and keeps
the disadvantage at roughly [-0.4]} 6. Qe2 $1 {[%c_effect
e2;square;e2;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 6... Nd4 7. g3 Nxe2 8. gxh4 Nd4 9.
Nxh8 Nxc2+ 10. Ke2 d5 11. Bxd5 Bf5 {... and chess continues $1}) 6... Nxf2 {[%clk
0:29:45.6]} 7. Rxf2 $6 {[%clk 0:28:57.1][%c_effect
f2;square;f2;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
g2g3;keyPressed;none;from;g2;opacity;0.8;to;g3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g3;persistent;false] A completely natural
looking capture, but it is actually an inaccuracy [-3]. Playing g3 and trading
queens is better.} 7... Bc5 $1 {[%clk 0:29:42.6][%c_effect
c5;square;c5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 8. d4 {[%clk 0:28:24.3]} 8... Bxd4
{[%clk 0:27:55.7]} 9. Kh1 {[%clk 0:27:27.8]} 9... Qxf2 {[%clk 0:27:19.7]} 10.
Nxh8 {[%clk 0:27:13.2]} 10... d5 $1 {[%clk 0:26:26.5][%c_effect
d5;square;d5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 11. Bxd5 $2 {[%clk
0:26:55.8][%c_effect d5;square;d5;type;Mistake;persistent;true] Another
completely natural looking capture that is surprisingly a mistake [-5.7]} 11...
Bg4 $3 {[%clk 0:26:01][%c_effect g4;square;g4;type;Brilliant;persistent;true] A
brilliant move $1 The White queen cannot move off the back rank.} 12. Bf3 {[%clk
0:26:25.8]} 12... Bxf3 {[%clk 0:25:50.1]} 13. gxf3 {[%clk 0:26:21.8]} 13...
O-O-O {[%clk 0:25:40]} 14. c3 $6 {[%clk 0:25:05.5][%c_effect
c3;square;c3;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
c1g5;keyPressed;none;from;c1;opacity;0.8;to;g5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g5;persistent;false] An inaccuracy [-6.8]}
14... Be3 {[%clk 0:25:24.1]} 15. Bxe3 $4 {[%clk 0:24:45.6][%c_effect
e3;square;e3;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_arrow
c1d2;keyPressed;none;from;c1;opacity;0.8;to;d2;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d2;persistent;false] This blunders [-M1]}
15... Rxd1# {[%clk 0:25:21.8][%c_effect
c8;square;c8;type;Winner,h1;square;h1;type;CheckmateWhite]} 0-1