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Domenico Lorenzo Ponziani
Il Giuoco Incomparabile degli Scacchi
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Domenico Lorenzo Ponziani
"Il giuoco incomparabile degli scacchi sviluppato con nuovo metodo, per condurre chiunque colla maggiore facilità dai primi elementi fino alle finezze più magistrali." - Modena 1769
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Fuentes Históricas
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"The Chess World: a magazine devoted to the cultivation of the game of chess" (Vol.II)
London 1867
DOMENICO LORENZO PONZIANI
... ... ...
This elegant and carefully written book closes with a well arranged index of thirteen pages. The accompanying account of the various editions through which it has passed and of the translations it has undergone we have endeavoured to make as full and complete as possible. For a great portion of the bibliographical information we are indebted to a kind friend, whose knowledge of the literature of chess is wonderfully large and exact.
II giuoco incomparabile degli scacchi, sviluppato con nuovo metodo, per condurre chiunque colla maggiore facilità dai primi elementi sino alle finezze piu magistrali. Opera d'Autore Modenese, divisa in tre parti. Modena, per gli Eredi di Bartolomeo Soliani. 1769. Small 4to. pp. 383.
This is the first edition. It contains nothing that is not in the second, except a section on the Muzio Gambit, which, from some unaccountable reason, Ponziani omitted upon revising his work. In 1769, he considered the sacrifice of the Knight advantageous, but perhaps changed his mind previous to 1792. The Italian method of castleing may have caused this alteration in his opinions.
II giuoco incomparabile degli scacchi, - - - - divisa in tre parti. Seconda edizione purgata ed arricchita di nuovi moltissimi lumi e scoperte, Modena, per Bernardo Soliani. 1782. Small 4to.
This is the best edition. Thirteen years of additional study and practice had not been without their natural effect on Ponziani's mind. There are many corrections and much new matter in this impression. It is, of course, the most valuable one, both for the collector and student.
II giuoco incomparabile degli scacchi, - - - - divisa in tre parti. Seconda edizione. Venezia, a spese di Simone Occhi, per Simone Occhi. 1801. 8vo
This Venetian edition, although it has Seconda edizione on the title-page, has no connection with Ponziani's own second edition, but is a reprint of the 1769 edition, with none of the improvements contained in that of 1782. The publisher was evidently not aware that the work had ever been revised.
II giuoco incomparabile degli scacchi, divisa in tre parti. Terza edizione. In Venezia, nella stamperia Negri, a spese di Simone Occhi, MDCCCXII. 8vo. pp. VIII. and 380.
Schmidt is wrong when he asserts that this second Venetian edition is copied from that of 1782. Simone Occhi was still in the same ignorance of Ponziani's revisional labours as in 1801. The table of abbreviations is wanting; the first part contains only five chapters; the critical notices of previous authors close with Cozio, and the six pages of precepts are not to be found: and there are many things in the games and index different from the Modenese edition of 1782.
Il giuoco incomparabile degli Scacchi, ----- divisa in tre parti; purgala ed arricchita di nuovi moltissimi lumi e scoperte. Prima edizione romana eseguita su quella di Modena nel 1782, Roma, tipografía di Demenico Ercole. 1729. 8vo. pp. VIII. and 242.
This is an exact re-impression, page for page, of the amended and enlarged edition of 1782. For practical use, therefore, it is just as desirable.
Le cinque aperture del giuoco degli scacchi, tratte dall' opera dell' Autore Modenese, seconda edizione stampata in Modena nel 1782. Edizione veronese eseguita con metodo più facile, più breve e più intelligibile. Verona, dalla tipografía di Pietro Bisesti. 1837. 18mo. pp. 152.
Le leggi del giuoco degli scacchi, tratte dall' opera dell' Autore Modenese. Verona, tipografia di Pietro Bisesti. 1837. 16mo. pp. 12.
This Veronese edition is very much abridged. We have not been able to learn the editor's name. The last title is only a separate impression of the chess laws. Besides the Italian editions already enumerated there is another and probably abridged edition published in Milan. Melzi, in his Dizionario di ???r? anonime e pseudnime di Scrittori Italiani (Milano, 1848-52) says, vol. I. p. 463, in speaking of Ponziani's book, "Ne abbiamo anche un' edizione di Milano, pel Sonzogno, 1831. 12mo." There is also extant in Modena another book on chess by Ponziani, which has never been printed. It is in the possession of his family and bears the following title: -
La pratica del giuoco degli scacchi. ossia il primo scioglimento dci pezzi diviso in due aperture principali; nuovo sistma pratico inedito dell' Avvocato Canonico Domenico Ponziani Autore del libro dallo stesso composto ad uso privato 1782.
An accurate description of this manuscript is much to be desired.
The incomparable game of chess, developed after a new method of the greatest facility, from the first elementss to the most scientific artifices of the game. Translated from the Italian of Dr. Ercoie dal Rio by J. S Bingham, Esq. To which is prefixed an essay on the origin of the game by Eyles Irwin, Esq. London, printed for J.J. Stockdale, No. 41, Pall Mall. 1820. 8vo. pp. XV and 340.
The translator has committed a singular blunder in ascribing Ponziani's work to Ercole del Rio, or dal Rio, as he erroneously prints it. He was unfortunate, too, in not being aware of the amended edition of 1782; he has apparently used that of Venice, 1812, in making his English version. The insertion of part of Mr. Irwin's essay, first published in the fifth volume of the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, hardly compensates for the omission of thirty of Ponziani's Semicenturia di Partiti. The twenty positions which are retained are on engraved diagrams. J. S. Bingham is supposed to be a nom de plume. The English critics have never hazarded an opinion as to the real name of the translator.
Das Schachspiel nach dem Italienischen des Autore Modenese; dargestellt von V. Mosler. Mit 7 Kupfertafeln. Coblentz, bei J. H. Hölscher. 1822. 8vo. pp. XII and 108. — American Chess Monthly.
It seems probable that Bilguer, and after him Schmidt, both err in asserting that Mosler made this translation from one of the Venetian editions. His preface distinctly mentions the second and better edition of 1782, and it would be strange if, knowing the existence of this, he should have used a poorer one. In rendering his author he has, however, made so many and so great changes in the arrangement of the matter that it would be almost impossible to institute an accurate comparison of his version with the original. He leaves out, for reasons given, both the laws and end-games. Avowedly preferring Koch's and Allgaier's notation, and the latter's tables, he has worked the book over into such a shape as to adjust itself to a corresponding mode of printing. He has transferred all the games into seven tables, and has then thrown all the rest of the matter into the form of notes. His preface is in many respects curious. He professes himself astounded at the incomprehensible and wilful errors of several great players such as Philidor and Greco, and sets forth his own opinions and criticisms with all the assumption of a chess king. - American Chess Monthly.
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Giacinto Amati
"Ricerche storico-critico-scientifiche sulle origini: scoperte, invenzioni ecc."
"Anonimo modenese: Osservazioni pratiche sul giuoco degli scacchi. Fu ristampato col titolo: il giuoco incomparabile degli scacchi, sviluppato con nuovo metodo, ecc. Opera d'autore modenese, divisa in tre parti, per gli eredi Soliani, stampatori ducali, i quali dicono che questa ristampa viene eseguita sopra l'opera il giuoco degli scacchi impressa in Moderni nel 1769, e non nel 1760, ed in Venezia è ripetuta l'edizione nel 1801 per Simone Occhi, e nel 1812 nella stamperia Negri.
Quest' opera, che viene attribuita al merito impareggiabile del sig. consigliere del Rio, ha riportato giustamente l'approvazione di tutti i più accreditati giuocatori e maestri di scacchi, essendo essa la più perfetta in ogni sua parte a preferenza delle più accreditate non solo tra le nazionali, ma tra quelle de' più celebri oltremontani ed orientali : questa è piena di novità giuste, marcate e finissime, non meno per la più esatta istruzione, che per la purezza de' suoi metodi. Anche il sig. Lolli, di cui siamo per parlare, ha voluto onorare le fatiche dell'anonimo suo concittadino, facendosi glossatore di un' opera che accrebbe pregio a quella che in seguito egli stesso pubblicò."
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Girolamo Tiraboschi
"Notizie biografiche e letterarie in continuazione della Biblioteca modonese"
"Dedicatosi per sollievo delle gravi sue incombenze al giuoco degli scacchi, fin dal 1749 aveva dettate alcune osservazioni pratiche per esercizio proprio. Divenuto in appresso sacerdote, e Canonico,
si limitò ad occuparsi in questo geniale trattenimento nelle vacanze canonicali, e ritirandosi egli allora in un suo podere situato nella villa suburbana del SS. Crocefisso detta la Crocetta scrisse il libro che si ha alle stampe intitolato: Il giuoco incomparabile degli Scacchi – Opera di Autor Modenese.
Fuori di questo tempo di vacanza egli attendeva ai doveri proprii di Ecclesiastico, e con tanta delicatezza di coscienza che non giucava agli scacchi se non qualche rara volta, e ad eccitamento soltanto del suo intrinseco amico il Consigliere Ercole del Rio, eccellente giuocatore di scacco, e che riuscì a vincere la somma modestia del Vicario Ponziani inducendolo a pubblicare il suddetto lavoro.
L'importanza dell'opera succitata del Ponziani esige che se ne faccia una breve storia: nell'anno 1769 fu pubblicata coi tipi degli Eredi Soliani in Modena la prima edizione dell'opera del nostro Autore il quale celò, non si sa per qual motivo, il proprio nome sotto le parole Anonimo Modenese, cosa che in appresso produsse degli equivoci, perchè molti in seguito attribuirono quest'opera al suo
amico Ercole del Rio soprannominato, il quale non ne fu veramente l'Autore ma lo coadiuvò assai come rilevasi dalla prefazione del libro che appena pubblicato fu riconosciuto eccellente e classico, sia per la istruzione piena in esso contenuta, sia per la chiarezza e connessione del metodo ivi usato.
Questa prima edizione però non corrispose alle idee dell'Autore, perchè vi si notano molti errori, e scorrezioni di stampa, cosa che gli rincrebbe assai, e ne procurò quindi una seconda che comparve nell'anno 1782, ma ricca di giunte e variata in modo che si può dire un'opera nuova, in cui incontransi scoperte sul giuoco degli scacchi sommamente interessanti.
Dopo la morte del Ponziani si riprodusse coi torchj di Venezia per due volte nel 1801, e nel 1812, ma sempre sulla prima edizione di questo libro, senza toglierne gli errori, ed anzi aggiungendone alcuni.
Nel 1829 poi fu ristampato in Roma coi tipi di Domenico Ercole, e molto plausibilmente sulla edizione del 1782; le copie della quale eransi già da molto tempo rendute difficili a trovarsi, stante il rapido spaccio delle medesime, prova non dubbia del pregio di questo lavoro del nostro Autore.
Presso i sui discendenti poi esiste manoscritto un altro opuscolo che porta il seguente titolo: La pratica del giuoco degli Scacchi ossia il primo scioglimento dei pezzi diviso in due aperture principali; nuovo sistema pratico inedito dell' Avvocato Canonico Domenico Ponziani Autore del libro dallo stesso composto ad uso privato 1782.
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John Cochrane, Ercole del Rio
"A Treatise on the Game of Chess"
"The incomparable Game of Chess, translated from the Italian of Dr. Ercole dal Rio, by J. S. This book is translated with sufficient accuracy for the purposes of the Chess player, but it would have been better had he not confined himself to so literal a translation. He has translated the third edition of this book, published at Venice, 1812, which is greatly inferior to the second, published at Modena, 1782, the third being probably a reprint of the first. The work is erroneously ascribed to Dr. Ercole del Rio, who was the celebrated Anonymous Modenese. The author of this treatise was Domenico Canonico Ponziani, an advocate in the Ecclesiastical Courts, and a friend of Ercole del Rio, who was an advocate in the Civil Courts. In the advertisement to the second edition, Ponziani is distinctly stated to be the author, and is said to have been assisted by his friend Del Rio, in the composition of the work".
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William Lewis
"Letters on Chess: Containing an Account of Some of the Principal Works on... - Letter XVII"
"The author of whose work I proceed to give you some account may justly be placed among the highest in the first class of writers on chess, and I should suppose was equally eminent as a practical player.
The first edition of Ponziani's work was published anonymously in 1769 at Modena, and is entitled: il giuoco incomparabile degli Scacchi sviluppato con nuovo metodo per condurre chiunque colla
maggior facilità dai primi elementi sino alle finezze più magistrali.
In 1782 a second edition, revised and corrected, was published also at Modena; this edition gives us the name of the author, for in a notice of the publisher he states that not only has he been induced to print a new edition of this work from its acknowledged excellence, but also because the author Sig. Avvocato Domenico Canonico Ponziani, had kindly promised to revise and improve the work, and to add some new discoveries, mostly his own, but partly also by Sig. Consiglieri Ercole Del Rio.
It is this second edition, which is extremely scarce, of which I purpose giving you some account.
It contains, with one exception, all that is excellent in the former edition, besides much new matter; the exception I allude to is the Muzio Gambit; to this game he devotes a chapter in the first edition recommending the sacrifice of the Knight, and stating in a note that though it be impossible to examine every move, yet what he has given will convince the reader that the Knight may be sacrificed without danger (castling of course in the Italian way). In the second edition no notice is taken of this Gambit, nor any reason given why the chapter in the former edition relating to it has been omitted; one would naturally suppose that if Ponziani had discovered a defence he would have
given it, or have still recommended the sacrifice of the Knight; but no, not a syllable respecting it appears in the second edition; he merely instructs the first ...
King's fifth square, and says that he will recover the Pawn. Ponziani's work is written on an excellent plan; he never suffers the player of the Black pieces to whom he addresses himself to make any bad moves, but shows him how to take advantage of those committed by his adversary; his system of noting down the moves is very convenient, and has since been adopted by others.
The first fifty pages are devoted to an account of the movements of the pieces, laws of the game, a notice of the principal authors, and a number of general rules and remarks; after these come the games, which are divided into five openings, vis.: 1st. The Giuoco Piano, or King's Knight's game; 2nd. Those games in which the first player deviates from the Giuoco Piano on the second move; 3rd. Those in which the second player deviates from the Giuoco Piano in one of the first three moves; 4th. The King's Gambit, and 5th. The Queen's Gambit. All these games have instructive notes, in which the bad moves are pointed out.
I shall in this and the subsequent works I may have occasion to notice confine myself chiefly to what is original. All modern treatises must, to a certain extent, be made up from former works, and no author of the present day can expect much praise for his work unless it contain original and valuable matter; it is the abundance of new moves which constitutes the great excellence of Ponziani's Treatise."
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Arqueología del Ajedrez 
