The Ponziani is one of the oldest known openings, having been first discussed in chess literature by no later than 1497. It was mentioned in both of the earliest chess treatises: the
Repetición de Amores y Arte de Ajedrez con ci Iuegos de Partido by
Lucena and the
Göttingen manuscript. Today the opening bears the surname of
Domenico Lorenzo Ponziani. Although Ponziani did analyze the opening in 1769, his principal contribution was the introduction of the 3...f5!? Later the opening was favored by
Howard Staunton, who in ''The Chess-Player's Handbook'' (1847) called it "so full of interest and variety, that its omission in many of the leading works on the game is truly unaccountable. ... it deserves, and, if we mistake not, will yet attain a higher place in the category of legitimate openings than has hitherto been assigned to it."
Napoleon Marache, one of the leading American players, similarly called it the "Queen's Bishop's Pawn Game" in his 1866 manual. In their treatise
Chess Openings Ancient and Modern (1889, 1896),
E. Freeborough and the
Reverend C.E. Ranken called it "Staunton's Opening". In an appendix to later editions of Staunton's work, R.F. Green, editor of
British Chess Magazine, also called it "Staunton's Opening", directing those seeking a definition of "Ponziani's Game" to the former name. Green referred to 3...f5 as "Ponziani's Counter Gambit". Chess historian
H. J. R. Murray in his celebrated 1913 work
A History of Chess called the opening simply the "Staunton", explaining that he was using "the ordinary names of the Openings as used by English players of the present day".
James Mason in his treatise
The Art of Chess (Fourth Edition c. 1910?) referred to the opening as the "Ponziani–Staunton Attack". The famous German
Handbuch des Schachspiels, which went through eight editions between 1843 and 1916, called it the "Englisches Springerspiel" (English Knight's Game). The Reverend E.E. Cunnington in
The Modern Chess Primer (Thirteenth Edition 1933) referred to it as the "Ponziani Opening (sometimes called Staunton's)".
Wilhelm Steinitz, the first
World Champion, in his 1895 treatise
The Modern Chess Instructor (Part II), called the opening the "Ponziani Opening", as did his successor,
Emanuel Lasker, in ''Lasker's Manual of Chess
. Similarly, Frank Marshall in Chess Openings
, the authors of Modern Chess Openings (Second Edition 1913), and Siegbert Tarrasch in The Game of Chess'' (1931, English translation 1938) called it "Ponziani's Opening". William Cook in ''The Chess Players' Compendium'' (Fifth Edition 1910) called it "Ponziani's Game", while
Francis Joseph Lee and Gossip in
The Complete Chess – Guide (1903) called it "Ponziani's Knight's Game". Contemporary authors likewise call it the "Ponziani Opening", "Ponziani's Opening", or simply the "Ponziani". ==Overview==