Frankenstein Dracula

So. The Frankenstein Dracula is a long and dangerous chess opening. Unfortunate because I'm on iPhone I cannot post the variations and therefore, this question must be answered by a pro, someone who has great knowledge of this opening. After black plays 10... B6, threatening 11.. Bb7, aiming to capture the knight and secretly trap whites queen, the main moves for white are h4, qf3 and d3. However, I encountered c4 against my riv opponent reporres. On first seeing c4, I was surprised but thought it looked like an intelligent move. Of all the games I studied, I had not seen this, so therefore, I thought it was a mistake. Post games study of various databases further enhanced my belief. I could not find one games with that variation. However, chess.com computer analysis does not put a ? Next to this move. It believes it is a sound move, and I cannot find any obvious weakness to it. So my question is; is this a sound move for white.??

Yes

(I hope I didn't just agree to buy a time share)

May you post a diagram? I am very interested.

I thought White's move 11 was d3. What was it?

That's right. White usually does 11.d3. According to J.nunn that is white best move. However, 11.c4 was played and i cannot find a refutation for it, besides the fact that no1 has played it :/

Adding link to variations is best I can do :(

Link to variation - http://www.chess.com/opening/eco/C27_Vienna_Game_Stanley_Variation_Frankenstein_Dracula_Variation

c4 doesn't seem to do anything.  It gets in the way of the Bishop/Queen battery. It looks like the usual Bb7 idea is the way to go...unless you did that and it went bad.

Still not seeing it. 12 ... bxc5 13. Qxb5 Bxa8 picks up the Knight and White has no more development than he did 5 moves ago.

Yep that's right anthony :) :) me too. Black deliberately sacrifices his took for a strong attack, but c4 > c5 seems to ruin everything. In the main variation, the white queen is pushed aside to h3 and is therefore out of the action. But c4 kills blacks whole queenside and keeps the queen in te game, as far as I can see. (??)

@ spud. The fact that the white queen is now 'in the game/around the action' is the main difference I see. It looks better than sitting on h3

I thought the problem was that White's King-side was about to fly apart? I think we need a Meister here to say what's what...say "pfren" three times, it's kind of like Beetlejuice.

The Frankenstein–Dracula Variation is a chess opening, usually considered a branch of the Vienna Game, but can also be reached from the Bishop's Opening. The opening involves many complications, however with accurate play the opening is very playable for both sides.

The variation was given its name by Tim Harding in his 1975 book on the Vienna Game, in which he said that the bloodthirstiness of the character of play was such that "a game between Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster would not seem out of place."

The line is seen extremely infrequently in top-level play, mainly because the Vienna Game is seen so little at top-level play. Ivanchuk used the opening against Anand in Roquebrune in 1992 in a game that ended as a draw. Alexei Shirov had also played this in a simultaneous exhibition with black in Canada 2011.

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bc4

The moves which bring about he variation. Another common way of reaching the same position is 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 (Bishop's Opening) Nf6 3.Nc3.

3... Nxe4

This is the move that defines the Frankenstein–Dracula Variation. White cannot of course win material immediately, since 4.Nxe4 brings 4...d5.

4. Qh5

4.Nxe4 d5 is considered to give Black no problems. 4.Bxf7+?! Kxf7 5.Nxe4 is considered good for Black as long as he avoids 5...Nc6 (5...d5) 6.Qf3+ Kg8?? 7.Ng5! and White wins (7...Qxg5 8.Qd5#). 4.Qh5 threatens Qxf7#, a threat that White continues to renew in this line.

4... Nd6

Surprisingly, this awkward move is the only good response to White's dual threats against f7 and e5; 4...Ng5 would be met by 5.d4 Ne6 6.dxe5 with some advantage. Also possible is 6.d5, when 6...g6?? loses to 7.dxe6!, as in Böök–Heidenheimo, 1925.^[1] Instead, 6.d5 Nd4 led to very complicated play in Kis–Csato, Hungarian Team Championship 1993.^[2]

5. Bb3

Swedish grandmaster Ulf Andersson recommended 5.Qxe5+ Qe7 6.Qxe7+ Bxe7 7.Be2!, claiming that White has some advantage. (See Harding's 1998 column cited below.)

5... Nc6

5...Be7 (returning the pawn) is a quieter alternative, e.g. 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Nxe5 0-0 8.Nd5 Nxe5 9.Qxe5 Re8 10.0-0 Bf8 11.Qf4.

6. Nb5 g6 7. Qf3 f5

David Bronstein once won a game with 7...f6!? 8.Nxc7+ Qxc7 9.Qxf6 b6 10.Qxh8 Bb7 11.Qxh7 0-0-0, but he has not found followers.^[3]

8. Qd5 Qe7

8...Qf6 has also been tried.

9. Nxc7+ Kd8 10. Nxa8

Black almost always continues 10... b6, preparing Bb7 to trap the knight (see diagram). Black is at the moment a rook down, but will eventually regain the knight, leaving Black down the exchange. In return, Black will play for an attack.

Sorry, I didn't realize this was a real thing.

It's real, but I usually avoid it by playing the early Be7 and 0-0 leaving White looking awfully bored.

Thanks everyone. Still wanting to know if it's sound or can be refuted but the chat has been awesome. Last thing I'll say; I just went through 20 chessgames.com collection of this variation and in each game, the knight on c6 ended up on d4. However chess.com 2000 strength analysis recommends 12... Nb4. This puts the knight on a different square, and white queen can still escape. Does this c4 move change the whole dynamic of the attack. Something to ponder

the engines say 11. ...Nb4 12. Qf3 Bb7 13. Qh3 e4 14.Kf1 Nd3 and such

The Q keeps going to h3 for some reason.