---

As a Vienna Game and Vienna Gambit player with the White pieces, it becomes critically important to learn how to play the Main Line once you move into the intermediate level. Simply, those further along their chess journey will often know that the Vienna Game Main Line is relatively good for Black, and so will choose to enter it. Black will often have some great attacking opportunities, and for the Vienna player unfamiliar with the Main Line, they will more often than not lose Main Line games as they are tricky to play.

In this Team Australia club tournament game, my opponent must have had some knowledge about the Vienna Game (or used the allowed move explorer in daily games in chess.com) as they played the Bardeleben Variation against my Paulsen Attack (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. Qf3 5. f5). This is the most accurate move according to the engine, and I’ve previously made articles and videos of the Bardeleben Variation; I consider this an “anti-Vienna” approach!

And it’s “anti-Vienna” as the most accurate move according to the engine, (6. d3) leads to a rather difficult position for White to play after (6… Nxc3 7. bxc3 d4), even if the evaluation is [0.00] at high depth.

In this position, I find it better to not necessarily think about engine evaluation, but in terms of tactical motifs. In Main Line games, it is often very dangerous for White to lose control of the centre. Thus, keeping hold of the e5-pawn as a priority is “good”. And this is the logic of the Heyde Variation (6. d4) – immediately bolstering the defence of our e5-pawn before Black can undermine our ability to do so. White also needs to always keep an eye out for Qh4+, a consequence of having moved the f-pawn early in the form of the Vienna Gambit. This limits what we can do with our queen on f3, until our king has moved to a safer location.

In the Main Line, the battle is in the middlegame, and we need to survive safely until then!

Black plays well and logically in the following moves. They add pressure onto my defensive structure; good moves, even if they aren’t necessarily the most accurate each time according to the engine. Similarly for White, the engine finds complicated ways of exploiting these inaccuracies, but responding to the upfront tactics and threats is “fine”. The evaluation mostly hovers around neutral.

On move 8, (8. Bd2) unpins my c3-knight, adds a third defender to that knight, and prepares me for long castles. Black strikes with (8… Nxd2?!), trades their forward e4-knight for my bishop and ostensibly winning a concession in that White needs to capture back with (9. Kxd2), losing the right to castle. The curious thing here is that this move was a borderline mistake [-0.1 → +0.6]!

Why? Black’s e4-knight is part of the threat combination that could make Qh4+ lethal. By trading the knight away, that venom from that tactic is lost. Secondly, where White can build a centre complex of pawns in the Main Line, the king is often safe! So, losing the right to castle isn’t necessarily a major problem for White. Thirdly, Black has the initiative and in trading away their attackers, they potentially lose that initiative, making the position “safer” for White to play. Simply, inaccuracies and mistakes by White are likely to be less impactful.

A couple of moves later as we transition into the middlegame, the dynamic starts to change. With (10. a3), I start to counterattack Black’s advanced pieces. Black attempts another attack with (11… Qg5+), but the danger just isn’t there anymore. I invite a trade of queens, and that’s pretty much Black’s best option. Black then tries to gain the initiative again with (13… Nxd4), and I had the opportunity to press the attack with (14. b4), but I didn’t see it. I played a more conservative (14. Kc1?!). This is a discovered attack on Black’s d4-knight and moves my king to a safer location. Effectively, it is a manual long castles. However, Stockfish evaluates the position as back to equality, as Black can immediately liquidate with (14… Bxc3 15. bxc3) after which, their knight escapes back into their territory.

But humans aren’t engines, and my opponent didn’t see it either, responding instead with (14… c5?!) aiming to defend their knight. It makes sense, but I had a reasonable intuition that I had was possibly winning and had some good attacks! Stockfish wanted this earlier, but now was still excellent, (16. b4)!

The pawn forks Black’s bishop and c5-pawn, which is the only defender of their d4-knight. I’d calculated that if Black played the intuitive move of capturing my pawn with (16… cxb4??), at the end of the trade sequence, I’d win a piece. This wasn’t easy to see, and my opponent missed it, and so (17. axb4), pushing the bishop to b6, and then after (18. Nxb6!), Black no longer had a defender of their knight! So, (18… axb6 19. Rxd4) and in this middlegame exchange, I’d won a clean piece. Black could have played on, but with relatively few pieces and pawns left on the board, it would have been very difficult for them to regain an advantage. My strategy would have been to simplify and trade down into a winning endgame. GG!

The big takeaway from this game is to give the Heyde Variation a go when playing the Vienna Game Main Line with White! Regardless, you’ll need to learn how to deal with the Main Line with White as you improve.

Game: https://www.chess.com/game/daily/639652461

[Event "Aussies Easter Bilbies 2024 ratings 1001 to 1250 - Round 1"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2024.03.28"]
[Round "-"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "PopularFall"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Tournament "https://www.chess.com/tournament/aussies-easter-bilbies-2024-ratings-1001-to-1250"]
[CurrentPosition "r4rk1/1p4pp/1p2b3/4Pp2/1P1R4/2N5/2P3PP/2K2B1R b - - 0 19"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C29"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Vienna-Game-Main-Line-Paulsen-Bardeleben-Heyde-Variation"]
[UTCDate "2024.03.28"]
[UTCTime "20:36:28"]
[WhiteElo "1226"]
[BlackElo "1037"]
[TimeControl "1/259200"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]
[StartTime "20:36:28"]
[EndDate "2024.04.13"]
[EndTime "21:47:37"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/daily/639652461"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.f52a0759.50x50o.ab18600a8723.png"]
[WhiteCountry "17"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/52749760.51b47ffd.50x50o.3b97fec2e610.png"]
[BlackCountry "17"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. e4 {[%clk 71:05:59]} 1... e5 {[%clk 71:19:40]} 2. Nc3 {[%clk 71:59:39]} 2...
Nf6 {[%clk 25:14:04]} 3. f4 {[%clk 72:00:00]} 3... d5 {[%clk 71:59:51] Vienna
Game: Main Line} 4. fxe5 {[%clk 71:18:44]} 4... Nxe4 {[%clk 39:25:41]} 5. Qf3
{[%clk 71:48:44] Paulsen Attack} 5... f5 {[%clk 6:20:22] Bardeleben Variation}
6. d4 {[%clk 71:59:33] And my favourite response with White, the Heyde
Variation $1 [-0.2]. Black has attacking possibilities and it's important to play
very carefully with White. I like the Heyde Variation over (6. d3), which the
engine considers to be the most accurate move, as it's easier to play (for me).
White often has a very hard time if it loses all control of the centre, which
makes the e5 pawn very important. Immediately supporting it with d4 acts as a
brace.} 6... Bb4 {[%clk 71:51:09]} 7. Ne2 $6 {[%clk 71:52:44][%c_arrow
f1d3;keyPressed;none;from;f1;opacity;0.8;to;d3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d3;persistent;false][%c_effect
e2;square;e2;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] Ne2, defending the c3-knight is
\"okay\", but not as accurate as Be3 [-1]} 7... Nc6 $6 {[%clk 47:57:06][%c_arrow
c7c5;keyPressed;none;from;c7;opacity;0.8;to;c5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c5;persistent;false][%c_effect
c6;square;c6;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] However, for Black to hold onto
the advantage, they needed to find c5, and hit the d4-pawn with a pawn. This is
not obvious. [-0.1]} 8. Bd2 {[%clk 71:57:11]} 8... Nxd2 $6 {[%clk
25:37:16][%c_arrow
e8g8;keyPressed;none;from;e8;opacity;0.8;to;g8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g8;persistent;false][%c_effect
d2;square;d2;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] Surprisingly, this is inaccurate
[+0.6]. Vienna Game Main Line positions are often very tricky. In the game, I'd
actually wondered whether I'd made a mistake, but as long as White is willing to
move their king, it's fine $1} 9. Kxd2 {[%clk 71:58:42]} 9... O-O {[%clk
33:09:50]} 10. a3 {[%clk 71:25:15]} 10... Ba5 {[%clk 15:27:26]} 11. Rd1 {[%clk
71:13:33]} 11... Qg5+ {[%clk 16:35:15][%c_arrow
f5f4;keyPressed;none;from;f5;opacity;0.8;to;f4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f4;keyPressed;shift;opacity;0.8;square;f4;persistent;false] Okay, but this is
about to set of a trade of pieces that is ultimately fine/good for White [+0.8]}
12. Qf4 {[%clk 71:50:51]} 12... Qxf4+ {[%clk 57:52:52]} 13. Nxf4 {[%clk
71:57:57]} 13... Nxd4 {[%clk 71:58:09]} 14. Kc1 $6 {[%clk 71:58:23][%c_effect
c1;square;c1;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
b2b4;keyPressed;none;from;b2;opacity;0.8;to;b4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
b4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b4;persistent;false] This move was overly
conservative [0.00] as I had b4, which immediately wins tempo on Black's
a5-bishop. After Bb6, White has Nxd5, trapping Black's bishop.} 14... c5 $6
{[%clk 71:58:46][%c_effect
c5;square;c5;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
a5c3;keyPressed;none;from;a5;opacity;0.8;to;c3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c3;persistent;false] However, this was an
inaccuracy back [+1.3]} 15. Nfxd5 {[%clk 71:59:19][%c_arrow
c3d5;keyPressed;none;from;c3;opacity;0.8;to;d5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d5;persistent;false] Capturing with the
c3-knight is better, as it's under attack by Black's a5-bishop, and a knight on
f4 prevents Black from pushing their f-pawn, and the knight covers the e6
square. I didn't appreciate this in the game. [+0.3]} 15... Be6 {[%clk
71:59:31]} 16. b4 {[%clk 71:53:14] But it didn't matter, as I had seen this
tactic, b4 $1} 16... cxb4 $4 {[%clk 71:49:46][%c_effect
b4;square;b4;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_highlight
b4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b4;persistent;false,b6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b6;persistent;false][%c_arrow
a5b6;keyPressed;none;from;a5;opacity;0.8;to;b6;persistent;false] This is very
natural, but it's a blunder that results in me winning a piece [+4] $1} 17. axb4
{[%clk 71:59:33]} 17... Bb6 {[%clk 71:57:40]} 18. Nxb6 $1 {[%clk
71:59:34][%c_effect b6;square;b6;type;GreatFind;persistent;true][%c_highlight
b6;keyPressed;alt;opacity;0.8;square;b6;persistent;false] Remove the defender of
Black's d4-knight $1} 18... axb6 {[%clk 71:59:32]} 19. Rxd4 {[%clk
71:59:53][%c_effect c1;square;c1;type;Winner,g8;square;g8;type;ResignBlack] And
Black cleanly loses a piece with no good compensation, and opted to resign in
this position. GG $1} 1-0