The Scotch game is my favorite opening. I play it whenever I can. I was playing white here. (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Bc5 5. Ng5 Ne5 6. Nxf7) I was playing a bot rated 2000 and I got a brilliant move when I took f7 w/ my knight. Any ideas as to why this is a brilliant move???
Scotch Gambit Sarratt Variation III
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In the Sarratt Variation of the Scotch Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 ed 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.Ng5) White goes straight for Black's throat (weak point f7.) To do so White violates opening principles: don't start an attack with insufficient force/don't move a piece twice in the opening. However, enthusiasts of this attack would argue: 1) White starts with a half-move advantage, which allows such adventures; and 2) this is a special case anyway.
It is true, in theory, that 5.Ng5 at worst passes the opening move advantage to Black (a minimal sacrifice, if it could even be called such.) However, 5.Ng5 is also a special case, in a sense, because there is disaster threatened on f7. As has been shown, it is not a matter of indifference how Black responds to this threat. In fact, it has been shown that Black is best advised to defend with 5...Nh6.
If White continues with a faux sacrifice on f7 (6.Nxf7 Nxf7 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Qxb5), material equality gets reestablished, but look at the cost: in the first 9 moves White made 2 pawn moves, 3 moves with the KN, 2 moves with the KB, and 2 moves with the Q. Surely, for all their efforts, these pieces must be on the verge of mating or winning decisive material. Nope, the minor pieces and QP are back in the box, warming up for their next game, while the Q looks absolutely lonely and exposed on c5. The KP looks okay on e4, but that was true on the first move, before the fireworks.
So, the "Sarrattistas" -- to coin a phrase -- turned their attention to White's possibilities. Some of the hard core practitioners became aware that there is no chess law that demands they faux sacrifice on f7 on their 6th turn. They could make some other move! However, they weren't about to give up on the idea of attacking f7, at least not the hard core Sarratistas. The only problem is that one of their favorite tactical assets -- loose Bc5 -- could be easily supported by, say, ...d6, throwing that whole thing right out the window. Therefore, the only way to proceed was to keep Black too busy to play ...d6. The move which serves this purpose is 6.Qh5, bringing nearly unbearable pressure on f7 and no time for 6...e6.
The first player of note to try this move in serious play was Conrad Waldemar Vitzthum von Eckstädt, after whom this attack is named (Vitzthum Attack), at Leipzig in 1853. His opponent was Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa. We could call this confrontation "The Grandaddy of the Vitzthum Attack Game", but I prefer "The Battle of Two Guys with Really, Really, Really Long Names."
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 ed4 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.Ng5 Nh6 6.Qh5 Qe7
This is not the only Black move to cover f7, but almost certainly the most popular. The others are 6...0-0 and 6...Qf6, the former doing surprisingly badly and the latter surprisingly well, from a statistical standpoint, when they are tried. [Fact: almost every good player plays 6...Qf6 with ...Qg6 ASAP nowadays.]
7.f4 d6 8.O-O Na5 9.Bd3 Ng4
This move is why many players insert Ph2-h3 on moves 7 or 8. Now that the Bb5 is secure and enough resources available to protect f7, this somewhat misplaced N goes to a better square.
10.h3 Nf6 11.Qf3 h6 12.Bd2 Nc6
All the attackers have been beaten back and the Vitzthum Attack's debut was a dismal failure. The rest of the game is given because of some nice tactical play.
13.b4 Bb6 14.b5 Nd8 15.e5 de5 16.fe5 Nd7 17.Nf7 Nf7 18.e6 Qe6 19.Bf4 Nf6 20.Nd2 O-O 21.Bc4 Qf5 22.Qb3 Qh5 23.Rae1 Kh8 24.Ne4 Ne4 25.Re4 Nd6 26.Re5 d3 27.Kh2 Qh4 28.Bg3 Bg1 29.Kh1 Rf1 30.Bh4 Bd4 31.Kh2 Be5 32.Bg3 Bg3 33.Kg3 d2
Two years later, again at Leipzig, Vitzthum tried his attack against Adolf Anderssen.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 ed4 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.Ng5 Nh6 6.Qh5 Qe7 7.f4 d6 8.h3 ...
As we know, this is necessary. The one drawback of the Nh6 is it's inability to do anything but protect f7. However, Vitzthum's position allows Black to get the N into play by a tactical route anyway.
...Na5 9.Bd3 Nf5
It is now clear why knowledgeable Vitzthum attackers don't play 7.f4, but 7.0-0 and 8.h3 or vice-versa. The rest of the game has no relationship to our topic, but is given anyway because I like it.
10.Nxf7 g6 11.Qe2 Ng3 12.Qf3 Nh1 13.Nh8 Qh4 14.Kd1 Nf2 15.Ke2 Nd3 16.Qd3 Be6 17.Qb5 Nc6 18.Qb7 d3 19.cd3 Nd4 20.Kd1 Bg4 21.hg4 Qh1 and mate in 2.
Two years later Anderssen sat down in Manchester, whetting his chops for a feast, when Edward Pindar rolled out another Vitzthum Attack. Unfortunately for Anderssen, Pindar's platter didn't have any juicy 7.f4s and Pindar only had gruel and stale bread on the menu for him.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.Ng5 Nh6 6.Qh5 Qe7 7.O-O d6 8.h3 Ne5 9.Bb3 Bd7 10.f4 ...
Now that there is a target on e5, this pawn enters the game with tempo, and could become quite dangerous.
...Bb5
Black goes in for complications when cool-headed defense is called for. In Anderssen's day defense meant moving ones K out of check or, like here, going for complications.
In Hungary 1998, Toth secured a draw against Horvath with Ng6 11.f5 Ne5 12.f6 gxf6 13.Qxh6 fxg5 14.Bxg5 Qf8 15.Qh5 Bb5 16.Rf5 Qg7 17.Bf6 Qg3 18.Rxe5+ Kd7 19.Rxc5 Qe3+ 20.Kh1 Qc1+ 21.Kh2 Qf4+ 22.Kg1 Qe3+ from this position. [These were ~ ELO 2000 guys at the time; so, you may draw your own conclusions. However, it's not like anybody could make much of a database out of recent IM or GM games in the Sarratt. The good players nowadays don't want anything to do with it in serious games.]
11.fxe5 Bxf1 12.Ne6 Be2 13.Nxg7+ Kd7 14.e6+ Kc6 15.Qxh6 Raf8 16.Bd5+ Kb6 17.b4 1-0
Well, it appears White has some chances after all in the Sarratt Variation, using the Vitzthum Attack (sometimes spelled "Vitzhum", which is just plain wrong) if all other tricks fail.
Still, I hope I kept Black players from falling right off the ledge in this variation and gave enough information to White players to guarantee they have a chance in an off-the-wall variation.