In today's chess video, I will show you some
amazing tricks and traps when we start with e4, e5, knight f3, knight c6 and here we go
for c3. This is the Ponziani opening. The idea for White is to grab the center after
pushing d4. Some of the most popular moves you will see
from black are knight to f6, pawn to d5 or bishop to c5. Let's go over them one by one. First, let's look at knight to f6 with which
Black is attacking this pawn.
We continue with pawn to d4, and now black
has 3 options. He can take on e4 or he can capture this pawn
or he can even try to defend this pawn with something like d6. If he captures with the knight, then we push
this pawn forward. He can’t go here because after b4, the knight
is trapped. Going back to b8 is just a waste of a move. So more often than not, you will see him going
to e7.
Now we regain our pawn and we reach this kind
of unique position where all these three knights are lined up, just like this. Okay, so in this position, what would you
play as black? Just think about it. I guess many of you are concerned about this
knight in the center, so a very natural move that comes to our mind is d6, attacking the
knight & opening up this diagonal for the bishop. As per the database, around 80% of the players
play d6 in this position. And if your opponent also plays this, then
he can pack his bags & go home because this is not going to last long. We start with bishop b5 check. No matter how he blocks, we will finish him
off.
If bishop d7, then takes, takes & his queen
is gone so white is clearly winning. Going back, a logical move is to block with
c6. We take the pawn and now if he captures our
knight, then after a forced move sequence like this, we first get the rook, then we
take the knight and ultimately, we take this sweety as well. And as you can see, we’re completely winning
it from here. Alright, going back, in this position, instead
of taking the knight, if he takes this pawn, then we take with the knight, captures, captures,
it’s a three-way fork now & finally we pick up this horsey as well. And now, as you can see, White is leading
by a full knight & a pawn so again, we are completely dominating this game. By the way, in this position, after we take
with the knight, black can try to be a little cheeky with a move like queen b6, attacking
the bishop & also trying to mate on f2.
But you need not worry, you can easily counter
this by repositioning your knight. We defend the bishop, we block the checkmate
& throw a discovered check on the king. After he blocks, we take the bishop. We force the king to move, taking away his
right to castle. We have an extra pawn & if you evaluate this
position, white is way better in terms of king safety, pawn structure & even piece activity.
The engine gives almost a 6 point advantage
to white in this position. Anyway, let’s go back & look at some more
tricks in this opening. We looked at how you can completely destroy
your opponent if he plays d6 in this position. What if he plays knight to g6, opening up
this bishop’s diagonal. This, in fact, is the best move for black. Look, he is offering to exchange knights & this
knight is not defended. But here, instead of saving this knight, we
can setup a cunning little trap. We play bishop to d3, attacking this knight. So if he takes this, then we take his other
knight. Therefore, Black can try to act a little smart
here. He is anyway going to lose this knight so
he thinks why not just take this pawn, attack the queen & rook and open up the king. Makes sense, right? Well, if he tries to be greedy & takes this
pawn, then he is gone. Let me show you how. We’re not going to take this knight, let
him capture the queen if he wants. We will take this knight instead, he takes
the queen, we give a check, king has to move.
