Vienna Game | BRILLIANT Kingside Attack ‼️
#vienna #brilliant #bishopsacrifice
This was a very satisfying game for the beginning of the year! This was an inter-club tournament match between "The Great British Empire" and "Team Australia". Obviously, I played for Australia! I had the White pieces and had a beautiful Vienna Game!
Black responded to the Vienna with the uncommon c5 (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 c5), which while isn't a mistake per se, it is a bit suboptimal [+0.8] and doesn't stop the usual Vienna Game tactics. So, I developed my king's bishop (3. Bc4) and the structure I want to play is f4, and then develop the king's knight behind the pawn. To do this in a solid manner, d3 needs to be played first. So, (4. d3) and then (5. f4).
Black didn't want to take my f-pawn, and so, I captured instead (6. fxe5). This creates a semi-open f-file that is often advantageous for White in these positions.
On move 9, we both castle kingside and enter the middlegame. The strategy for White in this position is simple - attack the Black king with pieces. Importantly, White has the bishop pair, knight, queen, and rook on the f-file well placed for an attack. I played one more preparatory move (10. Qe1), which gives the white queen access to the g- and h-files, and we're ready!
I suspect Black wasn't expecting my next move - a bishop sacrifice (11. Bxh6)! It was very gratifying to see after the match that the chess.com engine rated this move a brilliancy! This bishop sacrifice punches a hole in Black's king's defences on the g-file, which immediately gave an opportunity for an attack by White's queen down the file (12. Qg3+). Black responds by snuggling their king towards their pieces (12... Kf8), but this was a mistake. Kh8 was better, but not easy to see.
Next, (13. Qh4) which attacked Black's hanging and undefended h-pawn and Black played a sensible-looking backwards knight move (13... Ng8) which defended that pawn and opened a diagonal allowing the queens to see each other, inviting a queen trade. However, this was another mistake [+7.5] and the end was nigh after (14. Qh5). Between my bishop on c4, rook on f1, and queen on h5, I had piled on overwhelming pressure on Black's f-pawn on f7 - an immediate checkmate threat!
Black defended valiantly but after (17. Rxf6), Black had to either sacrifice their queen or lose by checkmate. They played correctly with (17... Qxf6), but all hope was lost with (18. Nh7+), possibly unexpected, a royal fork at the end of the trade sequence! Emotional damage, Black resigned, GG!
The big takeaway from this game is the recognise this strategic motif in the Vienna Game/Vienna Gambit lines, especially if Black castles kingside.
