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This game I played and won when feeling sad after a five-game losing streak. I had the White pieces, played the Vienna, my opponent used the Anderssen Defense, and thus of course, I respond with the Giraffe Attack (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bc5 3. Qg4)!

Why do I love the Giraffe Attack? Firstly, although it’s somewhat unsound, it’s not terrible. However, the main reason is simply the silly name! I imagine a rampaging giraffe charging the enemy at the beginning of the battle and causing mayhem!

And that’s pretty much what happened in this game! Black attempted to respond with (3… d6) opening the diagonal and attacking my queen with their bishop. However, the giraffe-queen was going for the g7 pawn and thus takes! This forces Black to the only good response which is to immediately trade queens to neutralise the threat.

However, the damage is done. White is now clean up a pawn in material and Black’s king-side defences are damaged with the g-pawn-sized hole!

The interesting and comforting thing that I found playing the rest of this game is how relatively easy it was for White. I didn’t play the most accurate moves, but I never really lost my advantage, and I would say that it was obviously so. Black made a blunder on move 9 and then another mistake on move 27 which caused them emotional damage, and thus, resigning on move 28. GG!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/64135444183

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.12.07"]
[Round "-"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "Sudin_Siburian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C25"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Vienna-Game-Anderssen-Defense-Giraffe-Attack"]
[UTCDate "2022.12.07"]
[UTCTime "07:05:36"]
[WhiteElo "1360"]
[BlackElo "1397"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]
[StartTime "07:05:36"]
[EndDate "2022.12.07"]
[EndTime "07:20:21"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/64135444183"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bc5 3. Qg4 {Vienna Game: Giraffe Attack [-0.24]} 3... d6 $2
{[%c_effect d6;square;d6;type;Mistake;persistent;true] This is a mistake [+1.76]
as Black didn't address the immediate threat to the g7 pawn} 4. Qxg7 Qf6 5. Qxf6
Nxf6 {The queen trade is the best move for Black to neutralise the immediate
threat, but, they are left with a damaged king-side pawn structure and down a
point of material} 6. Bc4 a6 7. Nf3 c6 8. d3 Rg8 9. Bg5 Bg4 $4 {[%c_effect
g4;square;g4;type;Blunder;persistent;true] A blunder [+5.47] as my goal is to
force piece trades if possible, and Black will lose a piece in the exchange. The
interesting thing after this point is that I don't necessarily play the most
accurate moves, but it's easy to play as White and so, I never lose the
advantage.} 10. Bxf6 Bxf3 11. gxf3 Rg2 12. Bh4 b5 13. Bb3 Bd4 14. Kf1 Rg6 15.
Rb1 a5 16. Ne2 $6 {[%c_effect e2;square;e2;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] A
relative inaccuracy (from [+6.63] to [+4.70])} 16... Bb6 $6 {[%c_effect
b6;square;b6;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] Black doesn't capitalise and I
regain the advantage to [+6.63]} 17. c3 a4 18. Bc2 Nd7 19. f4 exf4 20. Nxf4 Rh6
21. Bg3 Ne5 22. Ke2 Kd7 23. d4 Ng6 24. Nxg6 hxg6 25. Bf4 Rh5 26. Kd3 Rah8 27.
Rbg1 f6 $6 {[%c_effect f6;square;f6;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] An
inaccuracy [+8.44]} 28. Rxg6 {[%c_effect
d3;square;d3;type;Winner,d7;square;d7;type;ResignBlack] And Black opts to
resign, GG} 1-0