---

Yesterday, I played two games back to back where in response to my Vienna Gambit, the opponent declined the gambit with pawn to d6. I lost the first game due to an egregious blunder, but was successful with the second. This is a good opportunity to explore how the game progresses to this response.

Although declining the Vienna gambit with d6 isn’t disastrous for black, it also isn’t good. As these two games show, white has good opportunities for a strong king-side attack in the midgame. If black castles king-side, this gives good opportunities for white to win. That’s it for today – thanks for watching!

Game 1: https://www.chess.com/game/live/31635000547

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.11.25"]
[Round "?"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "Nahudelossantos"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C28"]
[WhiteElo "1208"]
[BlackElo "1205"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[EndTime "19:21:46 PST"]
[Termination "Nahudelossantos won by checkmate"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d6 4. Bc4 Nc6 5. d3 Bg4 6. Nf3 Nd4 7. O-O Bxf3 8. gxf3 Be7 9. f5 g6 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. Bxd5 c6 12. Bb3 d5 13. Bh6 Bg5 14. Bg7 Be3+ 15. Kh1 Rg8 16. Bxe5 gxf5 17. Bxd4 Qg5 18. Bxe3 Qg2# 0-1

Game 2: https://www.chess.com/game/live/31636176097

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.11.25"]
[Round "?"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "javaeiro"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C28"]
[WhiteElo "1215"]
[BlackElo "1168"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[EndTime "19:49:06 PST"]
[Termination "vitualis won by checkmate"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d6 4. Bc4 Be7 5. d3 h6 6. Nf3 O-O 7. O-O a6 8. a4 Nc6 9. Nd5 Bg4 10. f5 Nd4 11. h3 Bxf3 12. gxf3 Nxd5 13. Bxd5 c6 14. Ba2 c5 15. c3 Nc6 16. Kh1 Bg5 17. Bxg5 Qxg5 18. Rg1 Qh4 19. Qf1 b5 20. Qg2 Qg5 21. h4 Qxh4+ 22. Qh2 Qf6 23. Rg6 Qd8 24. Qxh6 c4 25. Qxg7# 1-0