Any particular lines in this opening that you find very useful?

My favorite would be 3.e4 as white. I've never had the opportunity to play against it as black

I think you have something mixed up. The Vienna starts with 1 e4

Ooops. Sorry, I meant 3.f4

Well you can't really play 3.f4 after 2....Nf6, cos then 3...d5 and you might as well agree to a draw then and there, and that's if you're rated above your opponent!

I like the fianchetto variation in vienna game

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The Game explorer's database stats don't really support this... They call it the Vienna gambit -- it seems to produce quite a few decisive games, with wins for both sides. I don't have any practical experience with this opening... seems like the King's Gambit for grownups. It's appealing.

Well I play the Vienna Game exclusively against 1...e5, and that line is no good for white, especially when you play the VG for one main reason - to gambit a pawn and get an attack.

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I wouldn't call the Vienna the most ambitious of opening play by White either.

Well it really depends on the level of play we are talking about. I've crushed (and I do mean crushed) many players OTB with it - in my eyes it's a sounder version of the KG.

I am not clear about who is talking about Vienna Game and who about Vienna Gambit here.

In the Vienna Game, what's the verdict on the Dracula-Frankenstein variation ?

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The stats do suggest that playing 1.e4. e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 gives Black better chances for a win than White would typically want to allow... but for a confident or aggressive White player the line seems perfectly playable.

Here's a high rated game from the lovely GM Hou Yifan

earlier this year, with White winning in the line given above.

Look at the rating difference... She could have won playing just about any opening.

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I picked that game because it was played so recently. GM level players (other than Naka) really don't play a lot of "that line is no good" openings.

Here's a pair of super GMs. Ivanchuk, the lower rated player, with White, wins. Don't get me wrong... I'm not saying this is the greatest line for White ever but you seemed to me to be suggesting it's unplayable -- I'm saying it's not unplayable. It's blitz. But it's entertaining.

 

Well when you're trying to wrong foot an Alekhine player with that rating, there isn't much in the way of aggressive play unless you're willing to learn the theory.

In your counter example the lower rated player is 20 points below, not 200+. Do you realise the odds of winning that a 232 point difference makes?