Complete Guide to the Giraffe Attack in the Vienna Game! 🦒♟️
#viennagame #giraffeattack #chessguide #beginnerchess
Happy New Year everybody and welcome to 2024! I'm still on some annual leave and I thought that a great way to start the year is to review and make a video on one of my favourite openings in all of chess, the fabulous Giraffe Attack 🦒! The Giraffe Attack suits me perfectly - it's a bit silly and whimsical, it's quite uncommon, and it has trappy attacking lines that can result in very quick wins at the beginner-intermediate level!
This article and video was somewhat inspired by a very recent game where I won in SIX moves (Game 1) and this reminded me of a previous one where I won in FIVE (Game 2)! There are a bunch of tricks, tactical ideas, and traps in the Giraffe Attack and hopefully, this complete guide will cover them succinctly!
The Giraffe Attack starts in one of the less common responses by Black to the Vienna Game - Anderssen Defense (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bc5 3. Qg4). It is so named by Eric Schiller in his compendium, "Unorthodox Chess Openings" as White, "is sticking his neck out". How so? The logic is that White shouldn't move the queen to g4 with an attack on the g7 square unless the queen can actually capture the g-pawn. She can't (immediately) as the (only) correct response by Black which doesn't defend the g-pawn (3... Nf6) results in a losing disaster if White tries!
Luckily at the beginner-intermediate level, this is not a common response by Black, only 14%. In most of the other responses, so 6 out of 7 times, we have a good chance of playing a trap that gives a major advantage. Even in the 3... Nf6 line, there is still good chances of capturing an advantage in the opening!
#1 Black plays 3... Nf6 against the Giraffe Attack
The warning for potential Giraffe Attack players is to resist the temptation to capture the ostensibly hanging g-pawn on g7. Although the Lichess database of lower-rated games of blitz and rapid suggests that this is the single most common move by White (83%) with a win ratio of 52% to 45% (White vs Black), this is only because many players with black pieces freak out and blunder. Black actually has a completely winning line that is practically forced, starting with (4. Qxg7 Rg8). The rook, defended by its compatriot the knight on f6, attacks White's queen down the g-file and she has only a single safe square (5. Qh6) to which she must retreat. Black then has a brilliant bishop sacrifice with check (5... Bxf2+). Should White capture the poisoned bishop with their king, Black then has the follow up royal fork (6. Kxf2 Ng4+) and White should resign and return to the zoo. The only move for the king is (6. d1), but the position is miserable - this is not how the Giraffe Attack should be played!
Rather, after (3... Nf6), the correct move for White is to place the giraffe-queen on her "parking" square of g3 (4. Qg3). The most common response by Black is to castle kingside (4... O-O), occurring over half the time. According to the engine, this is completely fine, but White has a straightforward tactic with their queen staring at Black's king down the g-file - pinning the g-pawn to the king! The goal is to attack with the queen and the dark square bishop on h6. The achieve this, an important immediate move is (5. Be2) - the idea is to cover the h5 square which prevents Black from moving their knight from f6 to h5, which simultaneously defends the g7 square and attacks the queen on g3. Next, White opens the dark square diagonal with d3 and the attack is ready!
The above scenario involves the most common first or second moves by Black according to the Lichess database. However, if Black plays accurately, White is generally still fine. It just becomes a "game of chess" that must be played.
#2 Black plays 3... Qf6 against the Giraffe Attack
This is the single most common response by Black, occurring about half the time (51%). With Black's queen on f6, the powerful "Queen's knight on d5" opening tactic described on page 38 of my book, "50+2 Chess Quick Wins: tactical ideas for exciting chess for beginner players", is a central attacking theme. If Black permits it in various lines, this is often a winning attack, as seen in Game 1!
However, we can't play this immediately as Black does have their queen and bishop staring at our f-pawn (if played right away, we hang [-M2] with 4. Nd5 Qxf2+ 5. Kd1 Qxf1#). We must first block this threat with (4. Nf3) and in this position, Black must prevent our queen's knight on c3 from going to d5. In essence, their only good moves are forced - either Ne7 or c6. At the beginner-intermediate level, Black finds this in less than 1 in 4 games from the position.
Most commonly (22%) Black will be lulled into complacency and simple develop their knight (4... Nf6), which is a blunder. After (5. Nd5), White has an attack on the queen on f6 and the pawn on c7, which comes with an absolute fork of the king and rook. Black basically will lose a rook. Black's best option is to trade queens (5... Qg6 6. Qxg6 fxg6 7. Nxc7+ Kd8 8. Nxa8). If Black seeks to retreat their queen to defend c7 (5... Qd8), then Black is no longer guarding the g-pawn on g7 and the White queen can capture it immediately, with a follow up attack on the rook on h8.
Almost as commonly (22%) Black will attempt to attack the White queen with (5... Nh6). This is easily sidestepped by placing our queen on the "parking square" (6. Qg3). Other than placing their knight awkwardly on the side of the board, this doesn't achieve anything for Black. White, again, should play Nd5 if permitted at the next possible turn.
Curiously, the third most common response (16%) is what we saw in Game 2 (4... d6). Being attacked by a giraffe is disorienting and so it isn't uncommon that Black will see the "good" discovered attack of their light square bishop on the White queen by opening the diagonal with d-pawn development. Unfortunately, the bishop is hanging (potentially unexpected the the beginner-intermediate player playing heuristically rather than calculating carefully) and after (5. Qxc8+) the game is practically over.
#3 Black plays 3... g6 against the Giraffe Attack
The second most common response by Black against the Giraffe Attack (17%) is to push their g-pawn forward (3... g6). A way to conceptualise what has happened is that we have won a concession for Black as their dark squares around the king side is now rather weak and these squares cannot be easily defended by their dark square bishop which is hanging out on the wrong side of the board. What we need to be sensitised to is the White queen capturing the e-pawn on e5, which comes with deliciously winning triple absolute fork (king on e8, bishop on c5, and rook on h8).
White has two approaches against (3... g6) - and good solid approach, and a very tricky but potentially suboptimal one. I'm going to cover the tricky line first because it's just fun!
Tricky line - Giraffe Attack 3... g6 4. Bc4
In the tricky line, White immediately develops their bishop to c4. This creates the appearance (which illusory than real) that White is trying to set up a Scholar's Mate with the bishop and queen aiming for f8. The reality, however, is that White expects Black to see this, and in doing so, that it leads them to discover what appears to be a very clever tactical move with (4... d5). It seems like a great move as with one move Black has blocked White's light square bishop's access to the f7 square, is attacking that bishop with a pawn, and there is a discovered attack by Black's own light square bishop on White's queen!
However, it's a trap! White must play (5. Qg3) - remember the e-pawn on e5 and the triple absolute fork? White will gleefully (77%) capture the bishop (5... dxc4) which blunders (6. Qxe5+), and White is completely winning out of the opening.
This line can be relatively suboptimal as if Black plays conservatively at the beginner, e.g., (4... d6) or (4... Nf3), some of the tactical attacks can become closed and it's just a game of chess.
Solid line - Giraffe Attack 3... g6 4. Qg3
In this line, we "park" the giraffe-queen on g3, and immediately place pressure on the e-pawn on e5. Basically, we're aiming to get the triple absolute fork! Even if we're not successful, we still have a good position with a good advantage already due to Black's weakened dark squares on the king side which we can be exploited in the middlegame and endgame, if not the opening.
The opening idea to know - if Black plays conservatively and defends the e-pawn with (4. d6), the best move is (5. Na4) which effectively forces Black to trade their dark square bishop for the knight, and damages Black's pawn structure. This creates a good advantage for the rest of the game.
Otherwise, the goal is to attack the e-pawn. This can be by removing Black's defenders (e.g., knight on c6) by pinning it with a bishop, or trading it, and by sacrificing our king's knight (from g1 to the f3, and then attacking e5). What we aim for is the final capture of Qxe5+ with an absolute fork of the king and rook on h8.
#4 Black plays something else against the Giraffe Attack
The above three responses (Qf6, g6, Nf6) account for about 82% of all responses. Most of the others don't address the queen's attack on the g-pawn: d6 (8%), d5 (3%), Nc6 (2%), Nh6 (1%). White has a simple approach against these - as the g-pawn capture has been permitted, do it! Pretty much all of these are other response by Black are terrible and White is immediately winning.
Please consider adding this very fun line into your repertoire!
Game 1: https://www.chess.com/game/live/97733355675
