Bardeleben Variation | CRUSH the Vienna Gambit!
#vienna #viennagambit #mainline #bardeleben #brilliancy
If you're a regular viewer of my channel, you'd know that my favourite opening in chess with White is the very lovely, Vienna Gambit, the Mozart of chess openings.
However, what should you do if someone uses the Vienna Gambit against you when you have the Black pieces? Recently, I introduced the Bardeleben Variation in the Main Line: https://www.chess.com/blog/vitualis/vienna-game-main-line-win-with-black-against-the-paulsen-attack
Although it feels almost heretical to write this, luring the Vienna Gambit player into the Main Line, and then down the Bardeleben Variation (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4. 5. Qf3 f5) is the tactic to CRUSH the Vienna Gambit!
Part of this is about psychology. At the beginner-intermediate level, someone who chooses to play the Vienna (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3) will probably play the Vienna Gambit against the Falkbeer (2... Nf4 3. f4). This is almost a given. If they chose to play something else at this level, they probably never intended to actually play the Vienna in the first place, and the game will most likely transpose into some sort of Italian Game.
As Black, we now get to force the next few moves with (3... d5) entering the Vienna Game Main Line as White as their options are limited and the best moves are obvious (4. fxe5 Nxe4). At this point, the best move for White is the Paulsen Attack (5. Qf3) - it's the most common choice according to the Lichess community database, it's not difficult to find, and some big-name chess YouTubers have recommended the Paulsen in their content on the Vienna Main Line. That's what you'll probably see.
In this game, my opponent rated at around 1300 wasn't familiar with the Main Line. After d5, they spent about two minutes deciding their next move, and as expected, found the usual Main Line sequence. Then on move 5, found the Paulsen Attack after about 30 seconds. These moves are "logical"! However, after (5... f5), things start to get tricky for White, especially if they aren't familiar with the position!
My opponent still found the best next couple of moves, but their position is not easy to play. Black can (and I do) force a damaging of White's queenside pawn structure, and on move 8, White makes the first move that deviates from theory, even though it seems to make sense.
As the game progresses the structural problems with White's damaged pawn structure, and potentially weak dark squares reveal themselves - I manage to force White's king to stay in the centre and gain a lead in development, castling, and getting my rooks into the centre files. White attempts some counterplay with their queen, but I'm relatively too well defended, and White's queen cannot launch a successful attack on her own. Moreover, her foray into my territory left White's king underdefended against my coordinated attack and on move 22, White's attempt to make a fortress was a blunder with Stockfish finding a forced checkmate line in 22 moves! I found the initiation of that line, a rook sacrifice that smashed the d-pawn in front of White's king, cracking open the fortress by blowing up the front gate! White didn't quite play with the machine precision, and I had checkmate 3 moves later! GG!
Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/73264611495
