Vienna Game Main Line | You Dare Use My Own Spells Against Me!
#vienna #viennagambit #mainline #paulsenattack #bardeleben #heyde
I've played one of my subscribers @the_nut_job, a New Zealander many times where we both train and learn along the Vienna Gambit lines. In this game, my sub played the Vienna Game, I responded with the Falkbeer to steer it into the Main Line, they then used the Paulsen Attack, to which I responded with the "anti-Paulsen" which is the Bardeleben Variation, to which they played the Heyde Variation (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. Qf3 f5 6. d4)!
Previously, I've covered a whole series of videos on these sequences on how to play with both White and Black. My view is that the Heyde Variation is a fantastic line for the Vienna Game player against the prepared opponent who knows of the Main Line, and the Bardeleben Variation! Almost no one really knows of the Heyde Variation (https://www.chess.com/blog/vitualis/vienna-game-main-line-heyde-variation) so I was immediately reminded of the Harry Potter meme from the Half-Blood Prince where Snape accuses Potter, "YOU DATE USE MY OWN SPELLS AGAINST ME, POTTER?!".
At the end of move 9, we'd had both castled (opposite side castling) and had entered the middle game, and I was entirely out of theory. One of the advantages of the Heyde Variation for White is that although that Black is technically ahead on evaluation, it isn't easy to play as Black. I realised this in the game as I couldn't see any obvious good candidate moves and at this point, I was out of theory. To be honest, I have never really studied playing AGAINST the Heyde Variation as Black!
As typical of what usually happens in daily games, I get inpatient playing moves on my phone, and on move 10, make a straight up mistake with (10... Qe7). I recognised this immediately after I made the move. At the same time, it felt liberating as I could now play in a style that I really enjoy - CHAOS STYLE - where I play aggressively, create ongoing tactical threats, and ruthlessly sacrifice material for a strategic end!
In the subsequent moves, I sacrifice my c-pawn, my rook on a8, my knight on b4, my b-pawn, and then my a-pawn! Yes, that's right, 11 points of material! However, that last pawn was poisoned as (18... Rxa8)! If my sub wanted to save their queen, then Ra1 was back rank checkmate!
The only move White had was to trade their queen for my rook, which was actually fine - Stockfish gives an evaluation of [0.00]. However, winning is not just about evaluation! If you've been psychologically defeated and resign, it's a win all the same! My sub, suffering emotional damage, believed that they had lost the match and so resigned on move 18. GG!
Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/daily/537759529
