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Recently, I found a most delicious queen sacrifice trap in the Vienna Game while playing a game of rapid. Initially, I thought that this might be completely novel, but when checking the full Lichess database, there was one previous bullet game of this exact line. Nonetheless, I’m really proud of this game with checkmate in 11 moves!

I had the White pieces and the game started with the full “copycat” variation of the Vienna Game: Max Lange Defense (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5) and as usual, I play (4. Qg4) asking Black what they are going to do with g7. Although Black is technically “fine”, this is not an easy position for Black to play. The best next move for Black is the rather inhuman looking (4… Kf8) according to Stockfish 15.1 NNUE at high depth! Never go full “copycat”!

In this game, Black played (4… g6), which is an inaccuracy [+0.5] that permanently weakens the kingside dark squares. I park my queen on g3, which as you might remember is the natural “parking” square for the queen in the relatively similar position of the Giraffe Attack.

My opponent and I develop pieces and on move 7, Black plays the good move (7… Nh5) attacking my queen on g3. Now, I saw what the best move was quickly – (8. Qg5) – and the offer of a queen trade. However, I recalled a recent game where I played the “Giraffe-ish Queen” in another game of the Max Lange Defense (https://adventuresofachessnoob.com/2023/02/22/vienna-game-giraffe-ish-queen-in-the-max-lange-defense/) where I ended up with a rather similar position with my opponent’s knight attacking my queen on g3. In that game, the surprising move of sacrificing the queen, and instead, making a forward advance of the knight (Nxe5) to attack Black’s f7 pawn was the best move.

Having been sensitised by that possibility I tried calculating this line in the game – spending almost 3 minutes. And within that calculation, there was a devilishly beautiful trap! I saw that this was technically a bad move, worse than [-6] according to Stockfish, but it required Black to forego the temptation of capturing the hanging queen…

So, I decided to go for it – (8. Nxe5) – simultaneously hanging my queen and my knight! Black probably thought that I had gone mad, and, of course, took the queen (8… Nxg3) after only 9 seconds and I was super-excited as I now had a mate-in-3!

Bishop takes the f7 pawn with check, defending by the knight on e5! The king is forced to go to one of two squares, but mate is inevitable either way. My opponent moves the king to f8 (9. Bxf7+ Kf8). Remember those weakened kingside dark squares? My dark square bishop flies across the board to h6 with check, and the king is forced to move yet again to their last available square (10. Bh6+ Ke7). And on move 11, my second knight leaps forward (11. Nd5#) closing the mating net of the bishop and knight pairs! Beautiful! GG!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/71458975573

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2023.03.02"]
[Round "-"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "yugpalsingh"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C25"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Vienna-Game-Max-Lange-Defense-3.Bc4-Bc5-4.Qg4"]
[UTCDate "2023.03.02"]
[UTCTime "01:18:50"]
[WhiteElo "1452"]
[BlackElo "1544"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[Termination "vitualis won by checkmate"]
[StartTime "01:18:50"]
[EndDate "2023.03.02"]
[EndTime "01:25:24"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/71458975573"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.82046355.50x50o.c8c8e6b7296c.jpg"]
[WhiteCountry "17"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://www.chess.com/bundles/web/images/noavatar_l.84a92436.gif"]
[BlackCountry "3"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. e4 {[%clk 0:29:57.7]} 1... e5 {[%clk 0:29:56.8]} 2. Nc3 {[%clk 0:29:53.5]}
2... Nc6 {[%clk 0:29:54.3] Vienna Game: Max Lange Defense} 3. Bc4 {[%clk
0:29:45.6]} 3... Bc5 {[%clk 0:29:51.6] \"Copycat\" Variation is \"okay\" for
Black objectively, but not easy to play [+0.25]} 4. Qg4 {[%clk 0:29:42]} 4...
g6 $6 {[%clk 0:29:22.3][%c_arrow
e8f8;keyPressed;none;from;e8;opacity;0.8;to;f8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f8;persistent;false][%c_effect
g6;square;g6;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] This is an inaccuracy that
permanently weakens the kingside dark squares [+0.5]. The best move for Black
according to Stockfish 15 NNUE @depth 40 is the inhuman looking Kf8.} 5. Qg3
{[%clk 0:29:36.8]} 5... d6 {[%clk 0:29:18.7]} 6. Nf3 {[%clk 0:28:54.7][%c_arrow
c3a4;keyPressed;none;from;c3;opacity;0.8;to;a4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
a4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;a4;persistent;false] Not the most optimal
move [0.00], but is \"fine\"} 6... Nf6 {[%clk 0:29:04.6]} 7. d3 {[%clk
0:28:18.2]} 7... Nh5 {[%clk 0:28:39.2] A good move $1} 8. Nxe5 $5 {[%clk
0:25:34.4][%c_arrow
g3g5;keyPressed;none;from;g3;opacity;0.8;to;g5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g5;persistent;false][%c_effect
e5;square;e5;type;Interesting;persistent;true] I gambit my queen $1 This move is
objectively a blunder [-6] but I calculated an amazingly devious trap $1} 8...
Nxg3 $4 {[%clk 0:28:30.1][%c_effect
g3;square;g3;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_arrow
d6e5;keyPressed;none;from;d6;opacity;0.8;to;e5;persistent;false,c6e5;keyPressed;none;from;c6;opacity;0.8;to;e5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e5;persistent;false] And they blunder
[+M3] $1 The queen is a trap - Black needed to capture the knight first $1} 9.
Bxf7+ $1 {[%clk 0:25:27.4][%c_effect f7;square;f7;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]}
9... Kf8 {[%clk 0:28:19.4]} 10. Bh6+ $1 {[%clk 0:25:20.7][%c_effect
h6;square;h6;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 10... Ke7 {[%clk 0:28:13.5]} 11.
Nd5# {[%clk 0:25:18][%c_effect
e1;square;e1;type;Winner,e7;square;e7;type;CheckmateBlack] And that's a GG $1} 1-0