BLUNDER! Don’t play the Napoleon-ish Queen!


As a general principle, bring out the queen early is typically bad unless it’s a specific line of theory. However, there are some lines that are especially bad this is one of them in the Vienna Game (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3).

One of the things about the Vienna Game is that at the beginner-intermediate level, many people just don’t know how to respond. In this game against an opponent in their 1200s, they played (2… Qf6), which is like a reverse Napoleon Attack (https://adventuresofachessnoob.com/2022/05/28/the-napoleon-attack-is-bad/). Stockfish calls this a straight up mistake [+1.75] (which is pretty bad on move 2).

The reason why this is so bad in the Vienna is that Nd5 immediately forks the queen on f6 and the pawn on c7. That’s what I played, which was a little impatient, but it will often induce another blunder by Black, which is moving the queen to c6 (3. Nd5 Qc6). The best move for Black is for the queen to just go back to its home square, a move that is inhuman. On c6, the queen blocks the natural development square of the knight, and it’s in a position where it will be at risk of being trapped and captured, as we’ll see later in this game!

That opportunity came on move 10. I missed the best move, which is (10. Bxb5). The bishop pins the queen to the king and thus forces the queen to capture the bishop back (10… Qxb5) or it’ll be lost next turn. However, with the queen now on b5, a forward knight attack (11. Nxc7+) results in a royal fork of the king and queen, and again, the queen is lost!

Not seeing that immediate winning move, I took a slightly more passive approach, bringing in an extra attacker to the b5 square before launching the attack. This worked and the white queen was still pinned to king and lost and resigned soon afterwards. GG.

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/59346067615

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.10.12"]
[Round "-"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "FlemmingBisp"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C25"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Vienna-Game"]
[UTCDate "2022.10.12"]
[UTCTime "20:40:23"]
[WhiteElo "1340"]
[BlackElo "1232"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]
[StartTime "20:40:23"]
[EndDate "2022.10.12"]
[EndTime "20:50:13"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/59346067615"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 {Vienna Game} 2... Qf6 $2 {An interesting \"reverse Napoleon
Attack\" [+1.75]} 3. Nd5 {[%c_arrow
d5f6;keyPressed;none;from;d5;opacity;0.8;to;f6;persistent;false,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
f6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f6;persistent;false,c7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c7;persistent;false]
And this is why the queen on f3 is misplaced in the Vienna.  However, this immediate attack is somewhat suboptimal.} (3. d4 {The best line according to Stockfish eventually results in a large advantage in development to White} 3... Bb4 4. Bd2 d6 5. Nd5 {[%c_arrow
d5f6;keyPressed;none;from;d5;opacity;0.8;to;f6;persistent;false,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,d5b4;keyPressed;none;from;d5;opacity;0.8;to;b4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f6;persistent;false,c7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c7;persistent;false,b4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b4;persistent;false]}
5... Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 Qd8 {White is ready to castle queen-side while Black has no pieces developed}) 3... Qc6 $4 {A blunder [+4.05].  The queen is at high risk of getting trapped in this location.} 4. Nf3 f6 5. Bd3 {This was a blunder, but White still has the advantage [+1.65]. Although it didn't happen in this game, there is a potential future risk of the bishop and knight being forked by a pawn.} 5... a6 6. O-O Ne7 7. c4 d6 8. b4 b5 9. cxb5 axb5 {A serious mistake that loses the queen [+7.59], but I didn't see the immediate winning tactic} 10. Nc3
{[%c_arrow
c3b5;keyPressed;none;from;c3;opacity;0.8;to;b5;persistent;false,b5c6;keyPressed;none;from;b5;opacity;0.8;to;c6;persistent;false,c6e8;keyPressed;none;from;c6;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false,d3b5;keyPressed;none;from;d3;opacity;0.8;to;b5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
b5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b5;persistent;false] The} (10. Bxb5
{[%c_arrow
b5c6;keyPressed;none;from;b5;opacity;0.8;to;c6;persistent;false,c6e8;keyPressed;none;from;c6;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c6;persistent;false] This two-punch combo, a bishop-pin and then knight fork, is one of the reasons why the queen's move to c3 was a blunder on move 3} 10... Qxb5 11. Nxc7+ {[%c_arrow
c7e8;keyPressed;none;from;c7;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false,c7b5;keyPressed;none;from;c7;opacity;0.8;to;b5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e8;persistent;false,b5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b5;persistent;false]
And the queen is captured}) 10... Ba6 {A mistake [+6.25].} 11. a4 {A third attacker on b5} 11... bxa4 {A mistake [+8.25]} 12. b5 {[%c_arrow
b5c6;keyPressed;none;from;b5;opacity;0.8;to;c6;persistent;false,b5a6;keyPressed;none;from;b5;opacity;0.8;to;a6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c6;persistent;false,a6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;a6;persistent;false]}
12... Bxb5 13. Bxb5 {[%c_arrow
b5c6;keyPressed;none;from;b5;opacity;0.8;to;c6;persistent;false,c6e8;keyPressed;none;from;c6;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c6;persistent;false] And the queen is caught by the pin} 13... Qxb5 14. Nxb5 Kd8 15. Rxa4 {[%c_effect
g1;square;g1;type;Winner,d8;square;d8;type;ResignBlack] The opponent resigns [+14.1] as the rook trade is forced and they are in a completely losing position down 8 points of material} 1-0

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