Vienna Game 2… f5 | INCREDIBLE PROMOTION CHECKMATE!
#vienna #reversekingsgambit #promotioncheckmate
This was a rapid 10+5 game on Lichess where my opponent played the unusual "reverse King's Gambit" response to the Vienna Game (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 f5). Now, I might have faced it once before and I knew that this was not a good response to the Vienna (in fact, a blunder at [+1.9]), but I also wasn't sure whether taking the f-pawn immediately was problematic. As it turns out, it is. In essence, this critically weakens Black's light squares around their king, which can be immediately attacked and exploited safely.
I this game, I took a somewhat more conservative approach and placed a second pawn in the centre first, before taking the f-pawn. For both me and my opponent, the series of moves in the opening are inaccurate as I didn't punish Black immediately, and Black didn't attempt to defend against the potential punishment immediately! Such is life in beginner-intermediate chess!
On move 6, however, I calculated a punishing and as it turned out, winning line. As per above, this exploited the very weak light squares around the Black king, which was now very exposed. Black had practically no developed pieces other than their bishop fecklessly on b4. The e- and f-files were now semi-open. My queen and light-square bishop attack f7 in the style of the scholar's mate. Black attempts to defends first with the knight - a mistake as it's sniped at long range by my dark-square bishop. Next, their queen attempts to defend, but on the wrong square, checkmate is now unavoidable. Move 14, a lovely pawn promotion checkmate with gxh8=Q#! This game is the story of the humble e-pawn, the MVP who managed to capture and advance their way to h8 striking the killer blow!
The big takeaway from this game is to move your f-pawn in the opening with care! Outside of opening theory, it is rather dangerous at the beginner-intermediate level!
Game on Lichess: https://lichess.org/793gaZ3b
