Let's play the Vienna Game.
Let's learn the Vienna Game! If you loved the Vienna Gambit, and want to know what happens if the opponent doesn't play that knight move - this is the course for you. Let's start the same way: pawn to e4.
Let's continue the Vienna Game.
Then to play the Vienna Game, we bring our knight out to c3.
And here is where the game differs from the Vienna Gambit! Going pawn f4 here is no longer a good move because there is no knight to kick away, so what do we do in this situation? Let's play bishop to c4 here.
This is called the Copycat Variation, because so far our opponent has just copied all our moves. Let's put an end to the copying with queen to g4. This is a deadly move and you will win a LOT of games here.
Black has a double attack on our weak f2 pawn. If we don't defend it, we lose on the spot. That's why we play... knight to d5. Yes that's right we completely ignore the attack and just play knight to d5. Trust me and do it.
King to d1 only move.
Black thought it was checkmate, but they missed that our bishop is protecting that square. Bishop to f1 only move.
Black won't often hang their queen, but I included this because, as White, it's crucial to remember that other lines from this position only work because we have a bishop defending that square. That said, over 10,000 games have reached this position, sooo...
We are completely completely winning here. Black is attacking our queen but now we have queen to g7.
Now instead of taking the rook, we should actually play knight takes c7, forking the king and the OTHER rook.
Now instead of taking the other rook, we instead take the bishop! Knight takes bishop on e6. Black cannot capture back because their pawn is pinned.
Now is a good time to attack the black queen and give her the boot. Knight to h3.
It's so so over for Black here. Well done.
This is a good try from black, and it's a bit tricky. If we just take the rook we will lose on the spot because black will bring their light-square bishop out and check us. Let's instead play knight to e2 to give our king some shelter.
Let's recapture with the bishop on e2.
Well done! We are completely safe now and we can capture the rook on the next move. The game is pretty much over.
Black is only thinking one move ahead. Yes, they saved their g pawn, but now we put our queen on f3 and put a ton of pressure on their f pawn.
If Black offers a queen trade, we should play knight to d5, threatening the queen and a fork on c7.
Let's recapture with knight to f3.
Black defended the fork we were threatening. Here, the best move is pawn to d3, surprisingly.
A blunder! Now we have knight to f6 checking the king.
Mate in 1. Can you find it? Hint: bishop to h6.
Oh my GOD that was nasty. Would you believe me if I said this exact sequence has been played thousands and thousands of times?
Let's play pawn to d3 here. This opens up our dark square bishop.
Let's crack open the position with pawn to f4.
Let's continue development with knight to f3.
Here, the best move is knight to a4 attacking Black's bishop since the bishop is preventing us from castling.
Black is adding more pressure to our pinned knight, but this is actually a mistake. First, we capture the bishop on c5 with our knight.
Now we play the killer pawn to c3. Yes - we are actually INVOKING a capture on our knight.
Let's take back with pawn to f3.
This doesn't look great for us, but actually after rook to g1, we are completely winning.
Now we have the fantastic rook to g5, forking the knight and pawn. It also stops any queen to h4 check.
Now we win the game. Rook captures on e5 with check
Well done! We are crushing our opponent here. Between our strong pieces, our ownership of the center, and Black's weak king, I don't see how we can lose this.