Vienna Gambit 3... d6 | King HUNT!
#vienna #viennagambit
This was a lovely game of the Vienna Gambit and a great example of one of its strategic themes - the "King Hunt"!
My opponent declined the Vienna Gambit with d6 (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d6) which is the best way of declining the gambit other than entering the Main Line (3... d5). The "Philidor-ish" Defense. As I've noted before in my Complete Guide to the Vienna Gambit, the way to play Declined 3... d6 is to develop the other knight (4. Nf3) to try and place a third pawn in the centre with d4.
Interestingly, my opponent played a common aggressive response with (4... Bg4), aiming to pin the knight to the queen. This is a somewhat suboptimal move, at least not really in keeping with opening principles or the slower defensive approach. Simple, with h3, Black must commit to trading their bishop. The only other alternative is pulling their bishop back or risk having it trapped. They trade their bishop for my knight, and my queen develops to a nice square with the queen and rook soon forming a battery.
We both castle kingside on move 8 and upon entering the middle game, the "King Hunt" begins in earnest! I now open the f-file for my queen-rook battery, and then open the dark square diagonal for my bishop to join the kingside attack. Black's knight goes on a queenside adventure and trades their knight for my bishop. Although Stockfish considers this trade better for Black, it's fine with me. I've removed one of Black's potential defenders for their king and the queenside antics don't worry me - my activity is against Black's kingside defences! With Black's moves, I use the opportunity to rotate one of my knights to join the attack.
And from move 18, Black's king is completely overwhelmed against my 4-piece attack. Their one active defender, the knight, is pinned to Black's queen. Black's rook is too cramped to be active and indeed, boxes in its king. Although I don't play the most accurately, the pins allow me to whack Black's h-pawn for free on move 20. And then on move 21, Black resigns, recognising that on the next move I will capture their queen by force! We're going on a King Hunt... GG!
Game on Lichess: https://lichess.org/ELFdLsP5
