Ponderchess / Openings
Play the guided film, or select a scene to pause and study its position.
Opening
The Ponziani Opening in 3D
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3. White prepares d4 to build a full pawn centre, at the cost of taking the natural c3 square from the queen's knight.
Rebuild the sequence yourself. The board responds to each move, and hints are available.
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Ponziani Opening: Spanish Variation, Harrwitz Attack, Nikitin Gambit, move by move: e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 c3 d5 Bb5 dxe4 …
The white pieces
Play d4 as soon as it is safe and use the c3-d4-e4 centre to gain space. The queen often goes to a4 to pin the c6 knight while Black's development is incomplete.
The black pieces
Strike in the centre before d4 arrives, with 3...Nf6 or 3...d5. White's queen's knight has lost its best square, so active piece play pays off for Black.
Look a little deeper · 01
The main replies are 3...Nf6, the Jaenisch Counterattack, and 3...d5. Both strike at e4 before White's d4 arrives.
Look a little deeper · 02
After 3...Nf6 4.d4 Nxe4 5.d5, White gains time against the knights. Black usually answers with 5...Ne7 or 5...Nb8, while 5...Bc5 is the sharper Vukovic Gambit.
Look a little deeper · 03
After 3...d5, 4.Qa4 pins the knight on c6 and threatens Nxe5. Black replies with 4...f6, 4...Bd7 or 4...Nf6, the Leonhardt Variation.
Look a little deeper · 04
The quiet 4.d3 against the Jaenisch avoids theory and leads to slow positions with Nbd2, Be2 and castling.
Ponziani Opening: Spanish Variation, Harrwitz Attack, Nikitin Gambit, move by move: e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 c3 d5 Bb5 dxe4 …
Keyboard: Space pauses, the arrow keys step. Gold arrows are White's moves, violet are Black's, red rays are threats, green shows support, blue shows plans.
