Let's play into the vienna game.
Well, well, well. So you took the Vienna Gambit course, and now you want to find out how to BEAT the Vienna Gambit? You came to the right place. Let's begin: pawn to e5.
Let's play into the vienna gambit
White goes for the Vienna. I hope you're not shocked when I say we'll play into it with knight to f6.
Aaaaand there's the gambit. Here, a lot of people take the pawn on f4 - and those people have no idea what they're doing. Taking the pawn just invites a huge attack from white, so instead we'll play pawn to d5.
Huh, this is NOT the mainline of the vienna gambit. Something tells me our opponent doesn't know what they're doing... Knight takes pawn on d5.
Another trap here: Knight takes knight on c3.
With the knight gone, now we can play our favorite move: Queen to h4 check.
Thanks for the free rook, kiddo. Queen to e4 check, forking the king and rook.
Give. Me. That. Rook. Queen to h1.
Something tells me we're winning this game.
We continue down the Vienna gambit mainline. We lost a pawn and our knight is under attack, so knight takes e4.
White has 2 attackers on our knight. We only have 1 defender. So we should either trade knights or defend the knight right? WRONG. Here, let's play a counter-trick by developing our other knight to c6.
Aaaaand white fell for our trap. Now whatever you do, DON'T take back. Instead, let's fork the queen and the c2 pawn with knight to d4.
White just lost the game. How? You'll see why in a second. First, let's take the knight with pawn to e4.
Now we have the killer move bishop to f5, skewering the queen against that weak c2 pawn. The queen has to move, and she can no longer defend that c2 pawn, which means our knight will be able to hop in and fork the king and rook.
Before we fork c2, let's toss in 1 last move so our rook can be active: rook to b8. This also guards the b5 square so White doesn't get any bishop-to-b5-check ideas once we move our knight.
OK, now we strike. Knight to c2, forking the king and rook.
And now we claim our reward. Knight takes rook on a1, yummmm
That'll teach white a lesson to never play the Vienna gambit against us.
We baited white into taking our knight, but they didn't fall for it this time. So, should we now add a defender to the e4 knight? Or what about the c6 knight? The answer is NO and NO. We once again ignore all of that and lay another trap: bishop to e6.
Let's take back, pawn to e4.
Oh no! It looks like we're a pawn down!! And there's a ton of pressure on our knight!!! One move here can give us the edge: bishop to d5, skewering the queen against the g2 square. All of a sudden, white is on their back foot.
Onwards! Queen h4 check. White is NOT happy about being a pawn up anymore.
Aaaaand the game is over. Queen to e4, and our battery against white's rook is unstoppable.
Oh! A free knight! Let's take. Queen to f3.
Bishop takes queen back on f3, of course.
I don't really know what to say here
Pawn takes knight on e4.
I'm not really sure what white's trying to do here, but Knight to c6 to attack the e5 square.
Oh... That was white's plan? Well, they just lost the game. Pawn to g6 first, to stop checkmate.
Now knight to d4, forking both the queen and the c2 pawn. This baits white into taking our e4 pawn - which is all part of the plan.
This move should be familiar: bishop to f5, skewering the queen to the c2 pawn.
Before taking on c2 with our knight, let's gain a tempo with rook to b8.
Now we strike. Knight to c2 forking the king and rook.
It's GG.
We need to defend our pawn, and the best way to do it is with bishop to f5.
HUGE mistake for white to move their g-pawn. Now we get our FAVORITE move: Queen to h4 check.
OMG 😭😭 White just hung their queen for no reason! They literally had two moves—one loses the queen, one doesn't—and somehow they pick wrong like HALF THE TIME. I can't even... Bishop takes pawn on g4, skewering the queen against her own king.
NOW THEY LOST THEIR KNIGHT AS WELL. THIS WAS THEIR MOST COMMON MOVE. I'm actually so done with this game. Bishop takes knight on f3.
Pawn takes queen on f3.
IDK why I got so emotional there...