---

After my blunderous loss to my sub who wishes to stay anonymous, we played another game. I had the White pieces this time and my sub, trying to avoid the Vienna Gambit themselves, played the Max Lange Defense, and then the “Copycat” variation (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5). You should never go full copycat as after (4. Qg4) with an immediate attack on the g7 pawn, it is not easy for Black to play the position.

Particularly at the beginner level, and my sub was rated in the 700s, this position is very strong indeed. My sub played an fascinating backwards knight move (4. Nce7). I think they were trying to shore up defences around their king, but this was a blunder [+8] as the g7 pawn is hanging and the threat is unresolved.

I capture the g7 pawn and Black strikes out with d5, temporarily avoiding immediate mate next turn by blocking and attacking my bishop. But my position is just too strong. I have three attackers on the d5 square and Black only has two defenders. I don’t play the most accurate chain of captures, but it doesn’t matter.

On move 12, I invite a queen trade and Black tries to valiantly counterattack attack with their own queen and bishop. A careless move by me could see a scholar’s mate type loss, but it’s not difficult to avoid and Black has simply lost too much material, and White is still rock solid as incredibly, all remaining pawns are on their starting square!

I must admit to being a bit anxious in this game as my sub seems particularly tricky with finding counterattacks and threats when there were down on pieces. And playing conservatively, I missed some quicker checkmate lines, though in my defence, mating nets in the middle of the board are not the simplest to see. Instead, I opted for the easier-to-see, high-yield, but not immediately winning tactics (e.g., a royal fork trading my knight for my sub’s queen). However, I eventually found a sequence and on move 28, deliver mate. GG!

[Event "Let's Play!"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2023.04.11"]
[Round "-"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "Chess Noob Sub"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C25"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Vienna-Game-Max-Lange-Defense-3.Bc4-Bc5-4.Qg4"]
[UTCDate "2023.04.11"]
[UTCTime "01:00:30"]
[WhiteElo "1177"]
[BlackElo "684"]
[TimeControl "1/604800"]
[Termination "vitualis won by checkmate"]
[StartTime "01:00:30"]
[EndDate "2023.04.13"]
[EndTime "23:29:18"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.82046355.50x50o.c8c8e6b7296c.jpg"]
[WhiteCountry "17"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://adventuresofachessnoob.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/cropped-noob_logo_icon_1200px.png"]
[BlackCountry "2"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 {Vienna Game: Max Lange Defense, \"Copycat\"
Variation (you should never go full copycat $1)} 4. Qg4 {An immediate attack on g7
pawn, punishing Black for moving the dark square bishop} 4... Nce7 $4 {[%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
e7;square;e7;type;Blunder;persistent;true] Early queen attacks are not
recommended UNLESS it's an explicit part of a known good opening that is
coordinated. Tactically though, at the beginner level, can can cause the
opponent to blunder as was the case with this fascinating backwards knight move
[+8]} 5. Qxg7 d5 6. Nxd5 $2 {[%c_arrow
c4d5;keyPressed;none;from;c4;opacity;0.8;to;d5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d5;persistent;false][%c_effect
d5;square;d5;type;Mistake;persistent;true] Stockfish considers this a mistake
[+4] but the position is still completely winning} 6... Nxd5 $2 {[%c_effect
d5;square;d5;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
e7g6;keyPressed;none;from;e7;opacity;0.8;to;g6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g6;persistent;false] But Black doesn't
seen Ng6, which relatively traps my queen. Trading knights is a mistake [+7].}
7. Bxd5 $2 {[%c_effect d5;square;d5;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
g7h8;keyPressed;none;from;g7;opacity;0.8;to;h8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
h8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h8;persistent;false] Here, taking the rook
first was best so this was a mistake/miss [+1.7] but I wondered whether an
immediate mate was possible...} 7... Be6 $4 {[%c_arrow
d8f6;keyPressed;none;from;d8;opacity;0.8;to;f6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f6;persistent;false][%c_effect
e6;square;e6;type;Blunder;persistent;true] A blunder in this complex position
[+10]. Black best move was Qf6 to force a queen trade.} 8. Bxe6 $1 {[%c_effect
e6;square;e6;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 8... fxe6 9. Qxh8 Qh4 $6
{[%c_effect h4;square;h4;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
d8g5;keyPressed;none;from;d8;opacity;0.8;to;g5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g5;persistent;false] Tricky move and I
have to be careful of the mate threat [+14]. However, Black hangs more
material.} 10. Qxg8+ Ke7 11. Qg7+ Ke8 12. Qg3 Qxe4+ 13. Kd1 Rd8 14. Nf3 Ke7 15.
Re1 Qc6 16. d3 Ke8 {[%c_arrow
d8d5;keyPressed;none;from;d8;opacity;0.8;to;d5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d5;persistent;false] At this point there
is a forced [M11], but even the best move, Rd5 defending the e5 pawn is at least
[+19]} 17. Nxe5 Qb6 $2 {[%c_effect b6;square;b6;type;Mistake;persistent;true]
Black blunders [+M3] by moving the queen out of the defense of the king} 18.
Qg8+ Ke7 19. Qf7+ {[%c_arrow
c1g5;keyPressed;none;from;c1;opacity;0.8;to;g5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g5;persistent;false] However, I miss the
mating line with Bg5+} ({The mating line...} 19. Bg5+ Kd6 20. Qxd8# {[%c_arrow
e5c6;keyPressed;none;from;e5;opacity;0.8;to;c6;persistent;false,e1e5;keyPressed;none;from;e1;opacity;0.8;to;e5;persistent;false,d8e7;keyPressed;none;from;d8;opacity;0.8;to;e7;persistent;false,d8d5;keyPressed;none;from;d8;opacity;0.8;to;d5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c6;persistent;false,d7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d7;persistent;false,e7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e7;persistent;false,d5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d5;persistent;false,e5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e5;persistent;false,d6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d6;persistent;false]
Lovely mating net}) 19... Kd6 20. Nc4+ {Royal fork $1} 20... Kc6 21. Nxb6 axb6 22.
a4 {To cut off b5 as an escape square for the Black king} 22... Rf8 23. Rxe6+
Kd5 24. c4+ Kd4 25. Qd7+ {[%c_arrow
d1c2;keyPressed;none;from;d1;opacity;0.8;to;c2;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c2;persistent;false] Surprisingly, there
is a faster mate by sacrificing the queen $1} ({The mating line...} 25. Kc2 Rxf7
26. Be3# {[%c_highlight
d5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d5;persistent;false,e5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e5;persistent;false,e4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e4;persistent;false,e3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e3;persistent;false,d3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d3;persistent;false,c3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c3;persistent;false,c4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c4;persistent;false,d4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d4;persistent;false][%c_arrow
c4d5;keyPressed;none;from;c4;opacity;0.8;to;d5;persistent;false,e6e4;keyPressed;none;from;e6;opacity;0.8;to;e4;persistent;false,e6e5;keyPressed;none;from;e6;opacity;0.8;to;e5;persistent;false,f2e3;keyPressed;none;from;f2;opacity;0.8;to;e3;persistent;false,c2d3;keyPressed;none;from;c2;opacity;0.8;to;d3;persistent;false,c2c3;keyPressed;none;from;c2;opacity;0.8;to;c3;persistent;false,d3c4;keyPressed;none;from;d3;opacity;0.8;to;c4;persistent;false,e3d4;keyPressed;none;from;e3;opacity;0.8;to;d4;persistent;false]})
25... Bd6 26. Be3+ Kxd3 27. Ra3+ Kxc4 28. Qb5# {[%c_effect
d1;square;d1;type;Winner,c4;square;c4;type;CheckmateBlack][%c_arrow
a3d3;keyPressed;none;from;a3;opacity;0.8;to;d3;persistent;false,b5b3;keyPressed;none;from;b5;opacity;0.8;to;b3;persistent;false,b5d5;keyPressed;none;from;b5;opacity;0.8;to;d5;persistent;false,b5d3;keyPressed;none;from;b5;opacity;0.8;to;d3;persistent;false,a4b5;keyPressed;none;from;a4;opacity;0.8;to;b5;persistent;false,e3d4;keyPressed;none;from;e3;opacity;0.8;to;d4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
b3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b3;persistent;false,c3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c3;persistent;false,d3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d3;persistent;false,b4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b4;persistent;false,c5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c5;persistent;false,d5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d5;persistent;false,c4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c4;persistent;false,b5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b5;persistent;false,d4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d4;persistent;false]
Finally, mate $1 GG $1} 1-0