Michael Tam

Match 2: 2022 Australia Day Tournament final round – Vienna Game Giraffe Attack!

I managed to make it to the third and final round of the Team Australia, 2022 Australia Day Tournament (Division 3) on chess.com! This is match 2 of 8 and I managed to win match 1!

I entered the final round with the lowest rating. The contestants:

  • vitualis (the chess noob!) – 1158
  • @gothedogs – 1159
  • @KnightBeatsAll – 1186
  • @edwardsl – 1229
  • @flylikeaD6 – 1266

I’m really excited that I’ll have a good chance of coming within the top three and getting a (virtual) medal! I’m going to covering each of my matches, win or lose, in this round.

Match 2 (https://www.chess.com/game/daily/426285963) was against @flylikeaD6 where I had the white pieces. I play the Vienna Game (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3) and my opponent responds with an early bishop move, the Anderssen Defense (2… Bc5). I’d only very recently created a video and article on the unsound but very fun Giraffe Attack (https://adventuresofachessnoob.com/2022/08/24/win-with-the-giraffe-attack-in-the-vienna-game/) (3. Qg4) that’s available in this position. Do I dare?! Yes!

My opponent responds with the second most common response to the Giraffe Attack by pushing forward their g-pawn (3… g6) and I smiled. This represents a permanent weakness to my opponent’s king-side defence that can, and will, be exploited! Stockfish’s evaluation is [+0.57] favouring White.

A few moves later on move 9, I lost my nerve. This was the same feeling I had in the first match where doubt gnawed at me, and not able to see a winning attack, I play a conservative backwards queen move (9. Qe2) to allow my knight on g1 the square to develop. Stockfish calls this an inaccuracy [-0.47], preferring an immediate aggressive attack with the dark square bishop to h6, taking advantage of the weakened dark squares in front of the castled Black king – the consequence of playing g6 against the Giraffe Attack.

Nonetheless, chess continues. My opponent brings their queen to f6 (9… Qf6), lining up a potentially double-attack with their own dark square bishop on c5 on my weak f-pawn. However, this attack is illusory and can simply be blocked with natural development of the knight (10. Nf3) which was my next planned move.

The next series of move demonstrate the geometric problem with the pawn on g6, and why Black’s attempted and aborted counterattack with their queen on f6 was a mistake. I develop my bishop normally (11. Bg5) and it comes with an attack on the Black queen. It has almost nowhere good to go and so retreats to the “fianchetto” position (11… Qg7) of g7! Next, I slide my queen over to form a battery with that dark square bishop (12. Qd2) and my opponent has one final chance to block the bishop’s attack on h6, which will skewer Black’s queen and king. They miss and blunder, and their position collapses with Stockfish giving the evaluation at almost [+5].

My opponent now lashes out with a desperate bishop sacrifice with check (13… Bxf2+), but this doesn’t work. My king is safe. Now up a piece, my goal was to force simplification. First the queen, then the light square bishop, and then, the knight. My opponent could have saved that knight with a backwards knight move, but their forward progression allowed me to “trap” it, insofar that their only good option was to trade knights.

On move 25, I managed to critically exploit Black’s undeveloped queen-side knight and rook by getting one of my rooks to their back rank (25. Re8). This pinned their pieces in place. A little manoeuvring later, Black lost their rook without compensation and checkmate of imminent. They resigned and I won my second match in the final round!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/daily/426285963

[Event "TA 2022 Australia Day Tournament Div 3  ratings up to 1150 - Round 3"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.08.25"]
[Round "-"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "flylikeaD6"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Tournament "https://www.chess.com/tournament/ta-2022-australia-day-tournament-div-3-ratings-up-to-1150"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C25"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Vienna-Game-Anderssen-Defense-Giraffe-Attack"]
[UTCDate "2022.08.25"]
[UTCTime "13:14:03"]
[WhiteElo "1170"]
[BlackElo "1271"]
[TimeControl "1/259200"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]
[StartTime "13:14:03"]
[EndDate "2022.08.29"]
[EndTime "06:25:11"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/daily/426285963"]

{[Game 2]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bc5 3. Qg4 {Vienna Game: Giraffe Attack $1 [-0.24]} 3... g6 $6 {The second most common response, g6 permanent damages Black's king-side defence and is a weakness that can be exploited later [+0.57]} 4. Qg3 d6 5. Bc4 c6 6. Qf3 {This threaten's a scholar's mate for the unwary. However, it is easy deflect.} 6... Nf6 7. h3 O-O 8. d3 Nh5 $6 {An inaccuracy [+0.94]} 9. Qe2 {I played conservatively, deciding to pull back to give room for the knight to develop. Stockfish considers [-0.47] this a mistake preferring an aggressive line.} (9. Bh6 {An immediate attack is the most accurate move.} 9... Ng7 10. h4
b5 11. Bb3 {and chess continues with White at a roughly [+1] advantage...}) 9... Qf6 10. Nf3 Be6 $2 {A mistake [+1.50] as White can counterattack the queen with the dark square bishop} 11. Bg5 Qg7 12. Qd2 h6 $4 {A blunder [+4.91] as the pawn is hanging and the queen and rook will be skewered} 13. Bxh6 $1 Bxf2+ $2 {A mistake [+8.34] as this desperate move doesn't stop the skewer} 14. Kxf2 Qf6 15. Bxf8 Kxf8 16. Qh6+ Kg8 17. Qg5 Kg7 18. Qxf6+ {As White is up a full piece, the strategy is to simplify with piece trades into a winning endgame} 18... Kxf6 19. Bxe6 Kxe6 20. g4 Nf4 21. Ne2 {[%c_highlight
d5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d5;persistent;false,h3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h3;persistent;false,g2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g2;persistent;false,d3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d3;persistent;false,h5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h5;persistent;false,e2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e2;persistent;false,f4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f4;persistent;false][%c_arrow
e4d5;keyPressed;none;from;e4;opacity;0.8;to;d5;persistent;false,c2d3;keyPressed;none;from;c2;opacity;0.8;to;d3;persistent;false,f2e2;keyPressed;none;from;f2;opacity;0.8;to;e2;persistent;false,f2g2;keyPressed;none;from;f2;opacity;0.8;to;g2;persistent;false,h1h3;keyPressed;none;from;h1;opacity;0.8;to;h3;persistent;false,e2f4;keyPressed;none;from;e2;opacity;0.8;to;f4;persistent;false,g4h5;keyPressed;none;from;g4;opacity;0.8;to;h5;persistent;false]
The knight on f4 is trapped and a trade is forced} 21... d5 22. Nxf4+ exf4 23. exd5+ cxd5 24. Rae1+ Kd6 25. Re8 {[%c_arrow
e8b8;keyPressed;none;from;e8;opacity;0.8;to;b8;persistent;false,b8a8;keyPressed;none;from;b8;opacity;0.8;to;a8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
b8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b8;persistent;false,a8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;a8;persistent;false]
Black's slow development is punished with their two remaining pieces pinned in place [+14.5]} 25... a5 26. Rhe1 b5 27. Nd4 b4 28. R1e7 f5 29. g5 a4 30. Rg7 Kc5 31. Ne6+ Kd6 32. Nc7 {And with this move, I can force trade/win their last two remaining pieces [+76.8]} 32... Ra7 33. Nb5+ {[%c_arrow
b5a7;keyPressed;none;from;b5;opacity;0.8;to;a7;persistent;false,b5d6;keyPressed;none;from;b5;opacity;0.8;to;d6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d6;persistent;false,a7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;a7;persistent;false]}
33... Kc5 34. Nxa7 Na6 35. Rxg6 {[%c_effect
f2;square;f2;type;Winner,c5;square;c5;type;ResignBlack] Black resigns} (35. Rxg6 {if the game continued [+M3]...} 35... b3 36. c3 Nb4 37. Rc8+ Nc6 38. Rgxc6#)
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