Should you decline the Vienna gambit with d6?
Yesterday, I played two games back to back where in response to my Vienna Gambit, the opponent declined the gambit with pawn to d6. I lost the first game due to an egregious blunder, but was successful with the second. This is a good opportunity to explore how the game progresses to this response.
Although declining the Vienna gambit with d6 isn’t disastrous for black, it also isn’t good. As these two games show, white has good opportunities for a strong king-side attack in the midgame. If black castles king-side, this gives good opportunities for white to win.
Game 1
Game 2:
