Ponziani Opening

Named after the 18th-century Italian priest Domenico Lorenzo Ponziani. With 3. c3 White prepares d4 to build a full pawn centre.

It is reached after 5 moves: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3.

Black is to move and has 31 legal moves. Over the next four moves — two for each side — the game can branch into 812,934 different games. Those games reach 275,731 different positions: most positions can be reached in more than one way, 2.9 on average.

The Lichess opening list names 15 further lines after this position, such as Jaenisch Counterattack (3... Nf6) and Ponziani Countergambit (3... f5).

The same moves can be played in 12 different legal orders that all reach this position. For example 1. Nf3 e5 2. e4 Nc6 3. c3, which starts as the Zukertort Opening.