Ponziani Update 13

Download this update in .pgn format

There was a section on the Ponziani Opening in the Kasparov website. It begins: 
THE PONZIANI OPENING 
"This is a very complicated opening which leads to unclear game in several variations. Because it is rarely played, there are still possible improvements already in the first moves. We will show some ideas." 
I will do some "updates" regarding some of the analysis at this website. Some of the analysis is correct and some is incorrect. For this update #13 I will focus on some "incorrect analysis". Also will give the correct continuation for White... 

 

Ponziani Update 13
02.02.2001
[David Taylor]

Ponziani Update #13
by David Taylor 

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 d5 4.Qa4 given !? and later ! at website 4...Nf6 5.Bb5 This move is given an ! (N) at the website. I think it should be ?! [ Normal is 5.Nxe5 Bd6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.d3 0-0 8.Be2 as in Chapter 19 of my book. Black does not have enough compensation for the Pawn] 5...Bd7 [ 5...Bd6?? 6.exd5 Nxd5 7.Bxc6+ wins a piece] 6.exd5 Nxd5 7.Qb3 given ! at website 7...Nf4 this is where the variation goes wrong [ correct is 7...Nb6 8.0-0 Bd6 9.d4 0-0 and Black is slightly better (Taylor)] 8.0-0 a6 9.Bxc6 bxc6 10.Nxe5 and here it states White is clearly better e.g. 10...Qg5 [ or 10...Nh3+ 11.Kh1 ; or 10...Be6? 11.Qa4 ] 11.Qxf7+  

While this suggestion/analysis is incorrect--for my next update I will give one of the good ideas from the website. :)