Vienna Game | Tactic: Smash the Castle!
#vienna #maxlange #tactics
One of the strategic ideas out of the Vienna Game is to launch a potentially rapid attack on Black's kingside, especially if they castle to that side. In this daily game, Black played a very solid Max Lange Defense (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6) but going down the "two knights" route (3. Bc4 Nf6). For much of the opening and then early middle game, it is mostly equal, or Black is even better.
However, consider the position on move 11 after I played (11. f5). We have both castled kingside, and although thinks that the position is pretty much equal [+0.1], I have a connect 4 pawn chain diagonal pointing at Black's kingside. This acts like a fence, potentially blocking off Black's pieces from defending, or joining in the attack. With me taking control of the space on the kingside, I potentially had an attack with my dark square bishop, my queen, and my rook.
The next few moves see some trades on the queenside. However, this simply leaves the queenside empty. The action will be on the kingside of the board!
Black tries to crack open the centre with (15... d5). I ignore it and position my queen onto the g-file (16. Qg3), pinning Black's g-pawn to the king, and getting ready for an attack with the help of my bishop. Black misses the impending attack, and captures the pawn in the centre and so, (17. Bh6) with an immediate mate threat on g7.
The thing with forthright and direct attacks on the king is that they aren't necessarily easy to deflect, and a mistake can be very consequential. Black makes the right move with (17... Nh6). A few moves later, I miss the best move by capturing the knight with my queen (19. Qxh5) and giving up my bishop. However, I thought this piece trade was "worth it" as it forced Black to open their g-file. Stockfish thinks that my attack has fizzled, so it was safe to do so.
However, humans aren't computers! Black, spooked by the open file played (20... Qd6) offering a queen trade, but this was a game ending blunder going from about [+0.4] to [+M9]! Black's king was trapped in their corner of the board with a gaping hole in the g-file. Black sacrificed their queen, but to no avail. Mate came on move 24 - GG!
Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/daily/513375399
