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When playing the Vienna Game (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3), around 5% of the time Black will respond with the Zhuravlev Countergambit (2… Bb4), with the bishop immediately pressuring our knight. The Zhuravlev Countergambit isn’t a particularly good response by Black, but it does have the virtue of being potentially unexpected by the less prepared Vienna Game player at the beginner-intermediate level. My experience with playing the Vienna is that Zhuravlev Countergambit games can often end up in positions not very similar to other Vienna Games and so, this might be beneficial when playing against the Vienna player.

According to Stockfish 15 NNUE (@ depth 40), the best four responses by White to the Zhuravlev Countergambit (all four are similar in evaluation at around [+0.4]) are:

• The immediate counter-counterattack with the knight (3. Nd5) – this used to be my go-to
• Take centre (3. d4) – when given an opportunity to take the centre with pawns, it’s usually good
• Ignore and just develop (3. Nf3) – the bishop isn’t much of a threat so just follow opening principles
• The wayward queen (3. Qh5) – the early bishop makes the wayward queen legitimate, immediately attacking the pawn on e5 and pressuring the pawn on f7

However, @benhunt72 of Chess Boot Camp recently had a video (https://youtu.be/SY56uxJvNmE) that introduced an interesting alternative – (3. Qg4)! I immediately liked this idea as it is extremely similar to the “Giraffe Attack”, which is available in the Anderssen Defense of the Vienna Game (https://adventuresofachessnoob.com/2022/08/24/win-with-the-giraffe-attack-in-the-vienna-game/). The Anderssen Defense is almost identical to the Zhuravlev, except that Black placed the dark square bishop on c5 rather than b4.

Although this giraffe-ish response to the Zhuravlev Countergambit is suboptimal according to Stockfish [0.00], on the Lichess community database of lower-rated games of blitz and rapid, it has the best win ratio by far for White (over 60%)!

My hunch here is that Black plays the Zhuravlev to pull White out of opening theory. However, taking the game down this “giraffe-y” line allows White to regain a certain advantage in that it’s trappy, not difficult to play, and immediately attacks a structural weakness from the early bishop move – the pawn on g7.

According to Stockfish, the queen can take the pawn on g7 immediately if it is allowed. In this game, my opponent attempted to defend the pawn by pushing the g-pawn (3… g6) and just like in the Giraffe Attack, this permanently weakens Black’s king-side and weakens the dark square diagonal. I parked my queen on g3, the natural “home” for the queen in the Giraffe Attack position (4. Qg3).

This ended up being crucial a few moves later. We battle over the e5 square and on move 9, I sacrifice my knight (9. Nxe5) which Stockfish rated as a brilliancy! Why? My opponent captured the knight (9… fxe5) and then the queen springs forward (10. Qxe5+) with an absolute fork of the black king and rook. This was a completely winning position [+5.72].

My opponent and I jostle for position for a few more moves, but it becomes clear that after a series of forced trades, we’d enter an endgame where I would be substantially up on material. My opponent opted to resign on move 15. Good game!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/58399889865

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.10.01"]
[Round "-"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "Brickman77"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C25"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Vienna-Game-Zhuravlev-Countergambit-3.Qg4"]
[UTCDate "2022.10.01"]
[UTCTime "21:52:36"]
[WhiteElo "1346"]
[BlackElo "1214"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]
[StartTime "21:52:36"]
[EndDate "2022.10.01"]
[EndTime "22:03:02"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/58399889865"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bb4 {Vienna Game: Zhuravlev Countergambit [+0.25]} 3. Qg4
{[%c_arrow
d1g4;keyPressed;none;from;d1;opacity;0.8;to;g4;persistent;false,g4g7;keyPressed;none;from;g4;opacity;0.8;to;g7;persistent;false,f8b4;keyPressed;none;from;f8;opacity;0.8;to;b4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g7;persistent;false] This is an objectively suboptimal [-0.20] but spicy and aggressive move that is similar to the Giraffe Attack where we immediately pressures the pawn on g7 to punish Black for the early bishop move} 3... g6 $6 {And it worked, as it induced Black to play an inaccuracy [+0.66], weakening the dark squares on the king-side} 4. Qg3
{[%c_arrow
g3e5;keyPressed;none;from;g3;opacity;0.8;to;e5;persistent;false,e5e8;keyPressed;none;from;e5;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false,e5h8;keyPressed;none;from;e5;opacity;0.8;to;h8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e5;persistent;false,e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e8;persistent;false,h8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h8;persistent;false]
Similar to the Giraffe Attack, the g3 square is a natural \"home\" for the queen, pressuring the pawn on e5 and the dark square diagonal} 4... Bxc3 $6 {An inaccuracy [+1.55]} 5. bxc3 d6 6. d4 {The goal is to attack the pawn on e5} 6... f6 $6 7. Nf3 {Stockfish didn't like this move calling it a mistake [+1.05] but this continues the tactic of pressuring e5} 7... a6 $2 {A non-committal move that was a mistake [+2.45]} 8. dxe5 dxe5 9. Nxe5 $3 {The tactic is sprung and Stockfish recognises this move as a brilliancy [+3.11] as Black can't capture back without major material loss} 9... fxe5 $2 {A mistake [+5.72] with Black accepting the Trojan horse} 10. Qxe5+ {[%c_arrow
e5e8;keyPressed;none;from;e5;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false,e5h8;keyPressed;none;from;e5;opacity;0.8;to;h8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e8;persistent;false,h8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h8;persistent;false]}
10... Qe7 11. Qxh8 Qxe4+ {Black counterattacks, but it doesn't work [+8.05]} 12. Be3 Be6 13. Qd4 {I opted to cash out at this point by asking for a queen trade and Stockfish considers this an inaccuracy [+5.23]} (13. Bd3 {[%c_arrow
d3e4;keyPressed;none;from;d3;opacity;0.8;to;e4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e4;persistent;false] Stockfish's preferred line [+8.05] continues with the attack and chases the offside black queen} 13... Qxg2 14. O-O-O Nd7 15. Rhg1 {[%c_arrow
g1g2;keyPressed;none;from;g1;opacity;0.8;to;g2;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g2;persistent;false] And chess continues...}) 13... Qxc2 14. Bd3 Nc6 {The queen is almost trapped and Black counterattacks the queen. However, I was planning on trading queens anyway so this is fine [+7.59].} 15. Bxc2 {[%c_effect
e1;square;e1;type;Winner,e8;square;e8;type;ResignBlack] Black resigns after the trades, they'll enter a losing endgame} 1-0