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I don’t normally do reviews of games against bots, but this game shows a very good demonstration of the tactical ideas that come out of one of my favourite lines in the Vienna Game, the Meitner-Mieses Gambit (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Qg4 Qf6 5. Nd5)! This comes out of “full copycat” variation of the Max Lange Defense and as per my previous posts, “never go full copycat”!

Nd5 is a very strong tactical theme in the Vienna Game generally, but particularly with the Meitner-Mieses Gambit line. Indeed, it arguably isn’t really a gambit as White isn’t worse after the move! Black is basically goaded, forced even to go down a very aggressive path with their queen where they are almost trapped! Black has only one good move that isn’t immediately losing, which is the committal (5… Qxf2+). White must play the obvious (6. Kd1) and suddenly Black is in some serious trouble as it is very much overextended. Black is facing an attack from a potential Nxc7+ which is a fork of the king and rook. It is also facing Qxg7 with the queen infiltrating onto the second rank with the rook trapped in the corner on the other side!

For the second time in this very short game, Black’s best move is Kf8, which is a difficult move to find which negates White’s attack. It’s White’s only good move – everything else approaches [+3] for White!

In this match, Black played the understandable (6… g6) which is a mistake at around [+4]. Considering that Black is up a point of material, it demonstrates the devastatingly bad position Black is in!

We now have (7. Nh3) and the black queen is forced to (7… Qd4) as the only safe square. We now have (8. d3) closing the door on the queen in the centre of the board with the trap sprung next turn! Black is forced to move their dark square bishop to give the queen an escape square, but it isn’t obvious which is the best square for the bishop. Black plays (8… Bd6), and inaccuracy [+5]. After (9. c3), the black queen is forced to another single safe square (9… Qc5).

Another developing move and the queen is forced to the edge of the board (10. Be3 Qa5). We continuing to attack the queen each turn with developing and forcing the queen to move (11. b4 Qa4+ 12. Bb3 Qa6). In the first 12 moves, Black moved their queen SEVEN times!

And now with the queen on the a6 square, the knight on d5 wields its power yet again. A capture on the c7 square is now a FAMILY FORK, demonstrating why moving the king to f8 was tactically so advantageous for Black many moves ago. I moved (13. Qf3) – my queen and light square bishop are both looking at the f7 pawn.

Black misses the tactic and I now have (14. Nxc7+) – a brilliant move! Black’s bishop on d6 cannot capture the knight as it must defend the f8 square. Otherwise, I have Qxf7+ and then Qf8# – back rank mate! However, as it’s a family fork, the king must move out of check and Black’s queen on a5 is captured with no compensation (14… Kd8 15. Nxa6)!

Against the bot, the rest of the game was just mop up. The bot played annoyingly well – I lost to the Deadpool bot several times before this game. Even in this game, I didn’t win for another 27 moves! However, it was a matter of forcing material trades and then creating a mating net with my overwhelming material piece advantage in the endgame. GG!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/computer/75240539

[Event "vs Computer"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2023.06.26"]
[Round "-"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "Deadlost"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C23"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Vienna-Game-Max-Lange-Meitner-Mieses-Gambit"]
[UTCDate "2023.06.26"]
[UTCTime "15:43:52"]
[WhiteElo "1425"]
[BlackElo "1300"]
[TimeControl "1/0"]
[Termination "vitualis won by checkmate"]
[StartTime "15:43:52"]
[EndDate "2023.06.26"]
[EndTime "16:35:21"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/computer/75240539"]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/images_users/tiny_mce/chess_dot_tom/phpT43HGa.png"]
[BlackCountry "225"]
[BlackTitle ""]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.f52a0759.78x78o.29c8e6a6dfbe@3x.png"]
[WhiteCountry "17"]
[WhiteTitle ""]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 {Vienna Game: Max Lange Defense} 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Qg4 Qf6
{[%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] Incredibly, Kf8 is
the best move in this position $1} 5. Nd5 {Meitner-Mieses Gambit [+0.8]. The
existence of the gambit is why you should never go \"full copycat\" $1} 5... Qxf2+
6. Kd1 g6 $2 {[%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;Mistake;persistent;true] This is very understandable, but a
mistake [+3.9]. Once again for Black, Kf8 is the best (and only good) move $1} 7.
Nh3 $1 {[%c_effect h3;square;h3;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 7... Qd4 8. d3
Bd6 $6 {[%c_effect d6;square;d6;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
c5e7;keyPressed;none;from;c5;opacity;0.8;to;e7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e7;persistent;false] Black identified that
the bishop must make room the prevent the queen being trapped, but this was not
the most accurate square [+5.1]} 9. c3 Qc5 10. Be3 Qa5 11. b4 Qa4+ 12. Bb3 Qa6
13. Qf3 b6 $4 {[%c_arrow
f7f5;keyPressed;none;from;f7;opacity;0.8;to;f5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f5;persistent;false][%c_effect
b6;square;b6;type;Blunder;persistent;true] A blunder where Black loses their
queen [+7] $1} 14. Nxc7+ $3 {[%c_effect
c7;square;c7;type;Brilliant;persistent;true][%c_arrow
c7e8;keyPressed;none;from;c7;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false,c7a8;keyPressed;none;from;c7;opacity;0.8;to;a8;persistent;false,c7a6;keyPressed;none;from;c7;opacity;0.8;to;a6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
a6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;a6;persistent;false,a8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;a8;persistent;false,e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e8;persistent;false]
Brilliant move - family fork $1 The bishop on d6 cannot capture the knight as it
needs to defend the f8 square. Otherwise, Qxf7+ and then Qf8# $1} 14... Kd8 15.
Nxa6 Bxa6 16. Ng5 {And from here, it's just mopping up. The bot fights on
valiantly but cannot win down 6 points of material with no compensation... GG $1}
16... f6 17. Nf7+ Ke8 18. Nxh8 Ke7 19. Nf7 Bxd3 20. Nxd6 Kxd6 21. Bc2 Ba6 22. a4
Ke7 23. b5 Bb7 24. bxc6 Bxc6 25. Bd3 Kf7 26. Bb5 Rc8 27. Bxc6 Rxc6 28. Kc2 Ne7
29. a5 h5 30. axb6 axb6 31. Ra6 Nc8 32. Rb1 Rc4 33. Bxb6 Nd6 34. Rb4 Rc8 35. Bf2
Ne8 36. Rbb6 Kg7 37. Rxf6 Nxf6 38. Qxf6+ Kg8 39. Qxg6+ Kf8 40. Rf6+ Ke7 41. Qf7+
Kd8 42. Bb6+ Rc7 43. Qf8# {[%c_effect
c2;square;c2;type;Winner,d8;square;d8;type;CheckmateBlack] Lovely mate $1} 1-0