3....Nf6 v 3....d5
I wondered what the really good guys played when faced with the Ponz.
So I checked on games from Informator which usually gives just GM and IM games.
It would appear it is a 6 and two 3's reply and it all depends on your style.
Players who you think would fight for the initiative as Black tend to favour 3...Nf6.
Dueckstein - Larsen, Le Havre, 1966
Minev - Sax, Baja 1971
Velimirovic - Tal, Yugoslavija-USSR, 1979
Makropoulos - Matanovic, Rome, 1981
Kuijf (2490) - Anand (2555), Wijk aan Zee, 1990
Anand then in 1990 was a fighter that is why I have left his 1990 grade.
Now of course he is adaptable in choosing who to mix it with.
These players all chose 3...Nf6.
If your style is to equalise first as Black then we all know who is the leader in this strategy
Anatoly Karpov.
And indeed in Ljubojevic - Karpov, Ljubljana, 1975 Karpov played 3....d5.
So all done and dusted? Probably not.
The Ljubojevic - Karpov game produced a flurry of tactics which 3....d5
players perhaps hoped they might avoid.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 d5 4. Qa4 dxe4 5. Nxe5 Qd5 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bc4 Qd7 8. d3 exd3 9. O-O Bd6 10. Nd2 Ne7 11. Ne4 O-O 12. Rd1 Re8 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bxh6 Nd5 15. Bxd5 Bxh2+ 16. Kxh2 Qxd5 17. Nf6+ gxf6 18. Qh4 Bf5 19. Qxf6 Qd6+ 20. Qxd6 cxd6 {Draw agreed here}