Domenico Lorenzo Ponziani

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This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Domenico Lorenzo Ponziani (9 November 1719 – 15 July 1796)[1][2] was an 18th-century Italian law professor, priest, chess player, composer and theoretician. He is best known today for his chess writing.[3]

Contents

[edit] Life

Ponziani was born in Modena in 1719. In 1742 he graduated in law at the University of San Carlo and was admitted to the College of Advocates in 1745. He was Professor of Civil Law at the University of Modena from 1742 to 1772 when he retired taking a pension and the title of honorary professor. In 1764 Ponziani took orders as a priest and in 1766 he became a canon in the Modena Cathedral. He became Vicar General in 1784, received the title of Protonotary Apostolic, and was made Vicar Capitular in 1785. Ponziani died in Modena and is buried in the Modena Cathedral.[4]

[edit] Chess writing

Ponziani was friends with fellow Modenese chess players and writers Ercole del Rio and Giambattista Lolli, and collectively the trio are known as the Modenese Masters.[5] In 1769 Ponziani published the first edition of Il giuoco incomparabile degli scacchi. As Ponziani did not include his name in the work (Opera d'Autore Modenese[5]) it was identified to the Anonymous Modenese.[3] The second edition in 1782 was much improved and laid out the principles of the Italian school of chess as exemplified by 17th century Italian masters such as Gioachino Greco.[5] Although Ponziani identified himself in the second edition, the 1820 translation by English naval officer J. B. Smith using the pen name J. S. Bingham, The Incomparable Game of Chess, attributed the work to del Rio.[3]

Ponziani's work is the best practical guide produced by the Modenese Masters.[3] Like writings by del Rio and Lolli, Ponziani deals only with the opening and endgame, with no discussion of the middlegame.[5] In the opening, the primary objective is to obtain the maximum amount of mobility for the pieces, aiming in particular for vulnerable points such as the f2 or f7 square. No importance is attached to formation or maintenance of a pawn center—pawns are used to drive back enemy pieces.[5][4]

In the opening, Ponziani is best known as the eponym of the Ponziani Opening (1.e4 e5 2.c3), although he did not originate it as it was published by Lucena around 1497. His name is properly attached to the Ponziani Countergambit (1.e4 e5 2.c3 f5) in the Ponziani Opening as he published the first analysis in 1782.[3][5]

[edit] Endgame studies

Ponziani 1769
Image:chess zhor 22.png
Image:chess zver 22.png a8 b8 c8 d8 e8 f8 g8 h8 kd Image:chess zver 22.png
a7 b7 c7 d7 e7 f7 g7 h7 pl
a6 b6 c6 d6 e6 f6 g6 pl h6
a5 b5 c5 d5 e5 f5 g5 h5
a4 b4 c4 d4 e4 f4 g4 h4
a3 b3 c3 d3 e3 f3 g3 kl h3
a2 b2 c2 d2 e2 f2 g2 h2
a1 b1 c1 d1 e1 f1 g1 h1
Image:chess zhor 22.png
White to move and win
Ponziani 1782
Image:chess zhor 22.png
Image:chess zver 22.png a8 b8 c8 d8 e8 f8 g8 h8 Image:chess zver 22.png
a7 b7 c7 d7 e7 f7 g7 ql h7
a6 b6 c6 d6 e6 f6 g6 h6
a5 b5 c5 d5 e5 f5 g5 h5
a4 b4 c4 d4 e4 f4 g4 h4
a3 b3 c3 d3 e3 f3 nd g3 h3 bd
a2 b2 c2 d2 e2 f2 kd g2 h2
a1 b1 c1 d1 e1 f1 g1 h1 kl
Image:chess zhor 22.png
Blockade allows black to draw

Ponziani's 1769 manuscript contained the endgame study above. White wins as follows:

1. Kf4 Kg7
2. Kf5 Kh8
3. Kg5

Or Ke6 or Ke5, but not Kf6?? stalemate.

3...Kg7
4. h8=Q+! Kxh8
5. Kf6 Kg8
6. g7 Kh7
7. Kf7 and wins.[6]

Ponziani (1782) also gave an example of an endgame blockade or fortress, in which the inferior side is able to hold a draw despite having only two pieces for the queen by hemming in the opposing king.[3] (See Pawnless chess endgames, Queen vs. two minor pieces.)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Gaige, Jeremy (1987), Chess Personalia, A Biobibliography, McFarland, p. 336, ISBN 0-7864-2353-6 
  2. ^ Murray, Sunnucks, and Hooper & Whyld give only the birth and death years; the full dates are from Gaige. Murray and Sunnucks give the year of death as 1792, but Gaige and Hooper & Whyld list 1796.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Hooper, David & Whyld, Kenneth (1992), “Ponziani, Domenico Lorenzo”, The Oxford Companion to Chess (2 ed.), Oxford University, p. 314, ISBN 0-19-280049-3 
  4. ^ a b Sunnucks, Anne (1970), The Encyclopedia of Chess, St. Martin's Press, pp. 362–3, LCCN 78-106371 
  5. ^ a b c d e f Murray, H.J.R. (1913), A History of Chess, Oxford University Press, pp. 868–869, ISBN 0-19-827403-3 
  6. ^ Irving Chernev. Practical Chess Endings. New York: Dover, 1961. Page 23.