Ponziani Opening: Spanish Variation, Harrwitz Attack, Nikitin Gambit
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 d5 4. Bb5 dxe4 5. Nxe5 Qd5 6. Qa4
The Ponziani Opening: Spanish Variation, Harrwitz Attack, Nikitin Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C44, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 d5 4. Bb5 dxe4 5. Nxe5 Qd5 6. Qa4. It is a line of the Ponziani Opening. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 7 times by this move order. White won 71%, 0% were drawn and Black won 29%. The most popular continuation is 6… Ne7 (57% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.53 (Stockfish, depth 33; best line 6… Ne7 7. Nxc6 Nxc6 8. O-O Bd7 9. d4)
- ECO
- C44
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
r1b1kbnr/ppp2ppp/2n5/1B1qN3/Q3p3/2P5/PP1P1PPP/RNB1K2R b KQkq - 2 6- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 d5 4. Bb5 dxe4 5. Nxe5 Qd5 6. Qa4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 4 | |
| 2000+ | 3 | |
| All | 7 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… Ne7 | 4 (57%) | |
| 6… Qxe5 | 2 (29%) | |
| 6… a6 | 1 (14%) |
Master games
20 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 30%, draw 10%, Black 60%). The strongest:
- GM Shanglei Lu (2599) – GM Veselin Topalov (2816) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE World Cup 2015 · 2015-09-18
- GM Shanglei Lu (2595) – GM Hua Ni (2703) 0-1 · 6th Hainan Danzhou GM · 2015-07-06
- FM Seyed Kian Poormosavi (2262) – GM Eltaj Safarli (2585) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 4th Jan · 2022-01-04
- CM Matfey Rogov (2163) – GM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen (2633) 0-1 · Titled Tue 5th Mar Late · 2024-03-05
- CM Matfey Rogov (2149) – GM Igor Lysyj (2589) 1-0 · Titled Tue 18th Jun Late · 2024-06-18
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Grappler1990 (2485) – siete7729 (2515) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- Leherzahn (2308) – unichtozhitel2222 (2253) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
- magnusson127 (2040) – Ragequitter20 (1994) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Ponziani Opening: Spanish Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 d5 4. Bb5
More Ponziani Opening lines (all)
- Ponziani Opening C44
- 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: Leonhardt Variation 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
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.