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One of my favourite lines in the Vienna Game is the Giraffe Attack! It is simply a FUN line!

The Giraffe Attack is a slightly suboptimal response to the Anderssen Defense to the Vienna Game where White immediately takes advantage of Black’s early bishop move by placing pressure on the pawn on g7 with an early queen move (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bc5 3. Qg4). This is a highly provocative early queen move which isn’t too bad at [-0.4].

The advantage for White is that this sets up several potentially winning traps, especially against the common Black responses. Black defends g7 with a queen move of their own (3… Qf6) and this is an inaccuracy that brings us back to equality [0.00]. The logic for Black is clear – it defends not only the g-pawn by sets up a Scholar’s Mate attack on f2.

However, Black’s very belief that they have an attack can make them blind to the attack that is about to come! Our next necessary move (4. Nf3) seems defensive, principled, and not aggressive. I find that this move often lulls Black into a sense of complacency. And it worked! White has an extremely powerful attack with Nd5 that Black must prevent. However, in this position, the most common move by Black is the prosaic (4… Nc6) and the trap is sprung! This is a blunder [+5] and Black’s position is about to collapse.

The thematic Nd5 now attacks Black’s queen and their c7 square. Black’s only good response in this position is to trade queens, and then accept a loss of their rook on a8. My opponent decided to struggle by bringing their queen back to d8. However, the g-pawn is still hanging, and Black will now lose both the king’s rook and knight.

From move 6 to the final move 20 I devastate Black’s king side, capturing piece after piece. Black fights on valiantly, managing to eventually tuck their king on b8, escaping what I was hoping would be a checkmate attack. However, on move 20 I spring a queen trap with (20. Rg8) inflicting emotional damage. With all hope lost, Black resigns. GG!

The big takeaway from this game is to play the Giraffe Attack if you’re a Vienna Game player! It isn’t the best response to the Anderssen Defense objectively, but I would argue that it is the most fun!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/88756900715

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2023.09.18"]
[Round "-"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "barokbasti"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C25"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Vienna-Game-Anderssen-Defense-Giraffe-Attack"]
[UTCDate "2023.09.18"]
[UTCTime "06:20:38"]
[WhiteElo "1340"]
[BlackElo "1281"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]
[StartTime "06:20:38"]
[EndDate "2023.09.18"]
[EndTime "06:30:51"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/88756900715"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.f52a0759.50x50o.ab18600a8723.png"]
[WhiteCountry "17"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/307053215.91653c8c.50x50o.5872b4245943.png"]
[BlackCountry "111"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. e4 {[%clk 0:15:09.9]} 1... e5 {[%clk 0:15:07.6]} 2. Nc3 {[%clk 0:15:15.8]}
2... Bc5 {[%clk 0:15:11.5]} 3. Qg4 {[%clk 0:15:24.4] Vienna Game, Anderssen
Defense, Giraffe Attack [-0.4]} 3... Qf6 {[%clk 0:15:12.7][%c_arrow
g8f6;keyPressed;none;from;g8;opacity;0.8;to;f6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f6;persistent;false] This is the most
frequent response, and it's arguably an inaccuracy [0.00]} 4. Nf3 {[%clk
0:15:30.6] A trap is set by playing a boring looking position...} 4... Nc6 $4
{[%clk 0:15:09.1][%c_effect c6;square;c6;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_arrow
g8e7;keyPressed;none;from;g8;opacity;0.8;to;e7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e7;persistent;false] And the trap is
sprung $1 A blunder [+5]} 5. Nd5 $1 {[%clk 0:15:38.2][%c_effect
d5;square;d5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true][%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][%c_highlight
f6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f6;persistent;false,c7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c7;persistent;false]
A very thematic move in the Vienna $1} 5... Qd8 $2 {[%clk 0:14:51.9][%c_arrow
f6g6;keyPressed;none;from;f6;opacity;0.8;to;g6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g6;persistent;false][%c_effect
d8;square;d8;type;Mistake;persistent;true] Black's only good move is to attempt
to trade queens [+8.4]} 6. Qxg7 {[%clk 0:15:28.6]} 6... Nd4 {[%clk 0:14:35.4]}
7. Kd1 {[%clk 0:14:27.6]} 7... Nxf3 {[%clk 0:13:38.3]} 8. gxf3 {[%clk
0:14:25.8]} 8... c6 {[%clk 0:13:40.7]} 9. Qxh8 {[%clk 0:14:09.8]} 9... cxd5
{[%clk 0:13:37.8]} 10. d4 {[%clk 0:13:50.4][%c_arrow
h1g1;keyPressed;none;from;h1;opacity;0.8;to;g1;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g1;keyPressed;shift;opacity;0.8;square;g1;persistent;false]} 10... Bxd4 $6 {[%clk
0:13:31.1][%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
d4;square;d4;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true]} 11. Qxg8+ {[%clk 0:13:58.6]}
11... Ke7 {[%clk 0:13:37.2]} 12. Bg5+ {[%clk 0:14:07.6]} 12... f6 {[%clk
0:13:43.3]} 13. Qg7+ $6 {[%clk 0:13:57.8][%c_effect
g7;square;g7;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
g5f6;keyPressed;none;from;g5;opacity;0.8;to;f6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f6;persistent;false] This was
unnecessarily conservative, but I thought I might be able to get a mating net by
not sacrificing my bishop. However, this was an inaccuracy [+9.5]} ({I should
have just kept it simple with this exchange...} 13. Bxf6+ Kxf6 14. Qxd8+ {And I
win the queen, and chess continues...}) 13... Ke6 {[%clk 0:13:46.4]} 14. Bh3+
{[%clk 0:14:05.5]} 14... Kd6 {[%clk 0:13:52.8]} 15. Bxf6 {[%clk 0:14:04.6]}
15... Qe8 {[%clk 0:13:55.8]} 16. Qh6 {[%clk 0:13:12.8]} 16... Kc7 {[%clk
0:13:50]} 17. Qxh7 {[%clk 0:12:47.8]} 17... Kb8 {[%clk 0:13:53.7]} 18. Rg1 $1
{[%clk 0:12:48.9][%c_effect g1;square;g1;type;GreatFind;persistent;true] Queen
trap about to be sprung $1} 18... Bxb2 $4 {[%clk 0:13:41.9][%c_effect
b2;square;b2;type;Blunder;persistent;true] Black's queen is basically trapped
[+M11]} 19. Rb1 {[%clk 0:12:56.1]} 19... Bd4 {[%clk 0:13:34.7]} 20. Rg8 {[%clk
0:13:03.9][%c_effect
d1;square;d1;type;Winner,b8;square;b8;type;ResignBlack][%c_arrow
g8d8;keyPressed;none;from;g8;opacity;0.8;to;d8;persistent;false,h7g8;keyPressed;none;from;h7;opacity;0.8;to;g8;persistent;false,h7h5;keyPressed;none;from;h7;opacity;0.8;to;h5;persistent;false,h7g6;keyPressed;none;from;h7;opacity;0.8;to;g6;persistent;false,h3e6;keyPressed;none;from;h3;opacity;0.8;to;e6;persistent;false,h7e7;keyPressed;none;from;h7;opacity;0.8;to;e7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d8;persistent;false,e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e8;persistent;false,f8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f8;persistent;false,g8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g8;persistent;false,f7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f7;persistent;false,g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g6;persistent;false,h5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h5;persistent;false,e7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e7;persistent;false,e6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e6;persistent;false]
The Black queen is trapped, and Black resigns. GG $1} 1-0