Ponziani Opening: Leonhardt Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 d5 4. Qa4 Nf6
The Ponziani Opening: Leonhardt Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C44, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 d5 4. Qa4 Nf6. It is a line of the Ponziani Opening. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 50 times by this move order. White won 40%, 0% were drawn and Black won 60%. The most popular continuation is 5. Nxe5 (82% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 75; best line 5. Nxe5 Bd6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. d3 O-O)
- ECO
- C44
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/ppp2ppp/2n2n2/3pp3/Q3P3/2P2N2/PP1P1PPP/RNB1KB1R w KQkq - 2 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 d5 4. Qa4 Nf6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 13 | |
| 1500-1999 | 22 | |
| 2000+ | 15 | |
| All | 50 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Nxe5 | 41 (82%) | |
| 5. Bb5 | 4 (8%) | |
| 5. exd5 | 3 (6%) | |
| 5. d3 | 2 (4%) |
Master games
39 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 33%, draw 13%, Black 54%). The strongest:
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2775) – GM Peter Svidler (2769) 1/2-1/2 · Supreme Masters 2013 · 2013-05-14
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2774) – GM Alexander Grischuk (2759) 0-1 · Levitov Chess Week Blitz · 2019-08-03
- GM Ivan Ivanisevic (2604) – GM Vladislav Kovalev (2648) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 12th May · 2020-05-12
- GM Vladimir Hamitevici (2508) – GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (2555) 0-1 · TCh-FRA Top 12 2018 · 2018-05-31
- FM Yasser Quesada Perez (2486) – IM Carlos Antonio Hevia Alejano (2525) 1-0 · ch-CUB 2014 · 2014-01-29
Search all games of the Ponziani Opening: Leonhardt Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- bullet_lover01 (2402) – IM kc6 (2433) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- Grygoriy12345 (2435) – Namit-100 (2355) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 600 + 0s
- elijahblood (2299) – Night-Forest (2288) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Ponziani Opening 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3
More Ponziani Opening lines (all)
- Ponziani Opening: Caro Gambit C44
- Ponziani Opening: Jaenisch Counterattack (3. c3 Nf6) C44
- Ponziani Opening: Jaenisch Counterattack (3… Nf6 4. d3) C44
- Ponziani Opening: Jaenisch Counterattack (4. d3 d5) C44
- Ponziani Opening: Jaenisch Counterattack (4… d5 5. Nbd2) C44
- Ponziani Opening: Neumann Gambit C44
- Ponziani Opening: Ponziani Countergambit C44
- Ponziani Opening: Ponziani Countergambit, Schmidt Attack C44
- Ponziani Opening: Romanishin Variation C44
- Ponziani Opening: Réti Variation C44
- Ponziani Opening: Spanish Variation C44
- Ponziani Opening: Spanish Variation, Harrwitz Attack, Nikitin Gambit C44
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.