---

This is the fifth episode of the “chessnoob Game Review” series where the focus will be on identifying in how a game, whether I win or lose, could have been improved. This gives me an opportunity to reflect more deeply about a game and hopefully, the lessons that I draw for myself will be helpful to my fellow beginner and beginner-intermediate chess players!

Today, we have another standard (Falkbeer) Vienna Gambit game (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4) but where Black declined the gambit with their queen (3… Qe7), a move I had not previous encountered. This is not a good move [+1.73] as the queen is pushed around after recapturing the board in the centre (4. fxe5 Qxe5 5. d4). Black offers a queen trade (5… Qh5) and after thinking for over a minute, I couldn’t see how this would be bad for me and accept (6. Qxh5 Nxh5).

At the end of move 6, I have two pawns in the centre and a developed knight developed, while Black had only one knight awkwardly on the edge of the board. Stockfish agreed that White was substantially ahead and despite material equality, gave an evaluation of [+4.5]!

On my next move, I advanced my knight to the d5 square, a powerful move in the Vienna as it threatens a fork of White’s king and rook after capturing the pawn on c7. This was the second best move according to Stockfish. There is an extraordinary engine line that is worth highlighting!

Engine line: that line starts with (7. Be2), immediately attacking the undefended black knight on the edge of the board. It has only one square it can go (f6) where it won’t be immediately captured for free, so this move (7… Nf6) is practically forced. However, as per the usual Vienna Gambit idea, we can now advance our e-pawn and attack the knight once again (8. e5) and now, the only square available for the knight is its home square of g8 making this a forced move (8… Ng8). Incredibly, the best possible position for Black according to Stockfish at the end of move 8 is where Black has no developed pieces or pawns!

Now, I wished I found that line, but as before, I played the almost as good and human move (7. Nd5) and my opponent found the best response (7… Kd8). One of the tricky things with Vienna Gambit lines is that White’s advantage is almost entirely due to development and position as the material is equal. This means that inaccurate play can result in an attrition of that advantage, and this occurred in this game. Luckily for me, my opponent made some inaccurate moves as well and had some structural disadvantages in that they had given up the right to castle. The king in the centre is a liability and a target. This ended up being a decisive weakness when Black allowed one of my centre pawns to reach the seventh rank with a full open d-file for my rook. With Black’s rooks stuck on the corners and unable to develop, my opponent opted to resign in that lost position. GG!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/58837840147

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.10.06"]
[Round "-"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "ElNonno"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C28"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Vienna-Game-Falkbeer-Vienna-Gambit"]
[UTCDate "2022.10.06"]
[UTCTime "23:31:36"]
[WhiteElo "1346"]
[BlackElo "1380"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]
[StartTime "23:31:36"]
[EndDate "2022.10.06"]
[EndTime "23:44:59"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/58837840147"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 {Vienna Gambit} 3... Qe7 $2 {[%c_arrow
d8e7;keyPressed;none;from;d8;opacity;0.8;to;e7;persistent;false] Declining the Vienna Gambit with the queen is a mistake [+1.73]} 4. fxe5 Qxe5 5. d4 Qh5 {A mistake [+4.51] as the queen trade allows White to gain development tempo} 6. Qxh5 Nxh5 7. Nd5 {[%c_arrow
d5c7;keyPressed;none;from;d5;opacity;0.8;to;c7;persistent;false,c7e8;keyPressed;none;from;c7;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false,c7a8;keyPressed;none;from;c7;opacity;0.8;to;a8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e8;persistent;false,a8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;a8;persistent;false,c7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c7;persistent;false]
This was the second best move [+4.02]} (7. Be2 {[%c_arrow
e2h5;keyPressed;none;from;e2;opacity;0.8;to;h5;persistent;false,h2g3;keyPressed;none;from;h2;opacity;0.8;to;g3;persistent;false,c1f4;keyPressed;none;from;c1;opacity;0.8;to;f4;persistent;false,h5f6;keyPressed;none;from;h5;opacity;0.8;to;f6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g3;persistent;false,f4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f4;persistent;false]
Stockfish prefers this move. Although material is equal, White has a massive lead on development} 7... Nf6 8. e5 Ng8 {Extraordinarily, the engine finds that having no developed pieces or pawns at the end of move 8 is the best available position from the opening - better than [+4.5]}) 7... Kd8 {Black found the best move. White's advantage is entirely in development as there is material balance. My inaccurate play in the subsequent moves results in an attrition of my advantage.} 8. g4 {An inaccuracy [+2.43]} 8... Nf6 9. Nxf6 gxf6 10. Bf4 {An inaccuracy [+1.32]} 10... d6 11. h3 {A mistake [+0.83] as developing Bf2 is better} 11... Nc6 12. c3 {An inaccuracy [+0.88] as developing Nf3 would have been better} 12... a6 13. O-O-O {An inaccuracy [+1.44] as Bc4 would have allowed development of the bishop with tempo} 13... Ne7 14. g5 Bg7 15. e5 {A blunder [-1.35] as this results in the loss of a pawn} 15... fxe5 16. dxe5 Ke8 $4 {However, Black doesn't seen the line and blunders back in a tricky position [+3.44]} (16... Ng6 {[%c_arrow
g6e5;keyPressed;none;from;g6;opacity;0.8;to;e5;persistent;false,g6f4;keyPressed;none;from;g6;opacity;0.8;to;f4;persistent;false,g7e5;keyPressed;none;from;g7;opacity;0.8;to;e5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f4;persistent;false,e5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e5;persistent;false]
Black should have played this line would have given them the advantage} 17. Ne2 {[%c_arrow
e2f4;keyPressed;none;from;e2;opacity;0.8;to;f4;persistent;false,g6e5;keyPressed;none;from;g6;opacity;0.8;to;e5;persistent;false,g6f4;keyPressed;none;from;g6;opacity;0.8;to;f4;persistent;false,g7e5;keyPressed;none;from;g7;opacity;0.8;to;e5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f4;persistent;false,e5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e5;persistent;false]}
17... Bxe5 {Black wins the pawn}) 17. exd6 Nf5 {A mistake [+7.44]} 18. dxc7 Be6 19. Bg2 Ra7 20. Rd8+ {[%c_effect
c1;square;c1;type;Winner,e8;square;e8;type;ResignBlack] Black resigns} 1-0