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One of the things that I love about the Vienna Gambit is the chance for romanticism! Every now and then, you get a game that is just about perfect, as was the case with this unrated game of 10-min rapid against a random opponent:

• Two brilliant moves!
• Two piece sacrifices – a bishop and a knight!
• A double check!

In the romantic style, we sacrifice material for activity and the opportunity to attack, and indeed, often forgo the opportunity to recapture material! Because winning doesn’t require having the most material at the end of the game, but rather, checkmate is checkmate!

The game starts with the Vienna Gambit in the Max Lange Defense (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4) and Black made the mistake by declining through developing their second knight (3… Nf6). And thus demonstrates the majesty of the Vienna Gambit! In most e4 e5 openings, a Two Knights approach is usually perfectly good for Black.

And yet, this is a serious mistake in the Vienna Gambit! By move 6, we have both our knights developed, full control of the centre with our pawns, and Black is massively behind in development! In fact, I so far ahead that when Black attempts to challenge the centre with the slightly tepid (7… d6) and then capture (8… dxe5), and then double down to capture again (9… Nxd4), we can completely ignore the material loss (at +2 for Black) and focus on building an unstoppable force against Black’s weak f7-pawn!

We uncork a beautiful sacrificial dance on move 10, starting with the beautiful sacrifice, (10. Bxf7+!!). After the king captures (10… Kxf7), when then have (11. Nxe5+) double check! Black’s king retreats to their starting square but now the queen leaps onto that exposed light square diagonal (12. Qh5+) and Black plays the only move that makes sense (12… g6), blocking the check and seemingly stopping the attack. But no, we now have our second brilliant move, the only move that is good by sacrificing our knight (13. Nxg6!!). After (13… hxg6), it looks like we win Black’s rook on h8, but no, we press on with the attack (14. Qxg6+) as Black’s h8 rook is irrelevant!

At this point, Black is up 4 points of material, but apart from their knight, gormlessly sitting on d4, every single one of Black’s remaining pieces are undeveloped! 😲 And so, we hunt the black king, bringing every single piece into the attack and overwhelming their position! Two moves later, Black recalls their knight to bolter their defence (16… Ne6??), but it’s a game ending blunder [+M14] as (17. Rd1+), my final piece joining the frenzy and skewering Black’s king on their queen along the fully open d-file.

Black is a good sport and plays on, but the end is nigh. My pieces corral Black’s king forward and out of the limited defence of his pieces, dragging him to the middle of the board on the a-file. Exposed and surrounded by enemies, my queen ends his misery with (23. Qa4#). Good game, GG! 🤩

Game: https://www.chess.com/analysis/library/5KRVKLqNPQ

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2024.07.06"]
[Round "?"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "Random Noob"]
[Result "1-0"]
[TimeControl "600"]
[WhiteElo ""]
[BlackElo ""]
[Termination "Guest3174788042 won by checkmate"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.f52a0759.50x50o.ab18600a8723@2x.png"]
[WhiteCountry "17"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl ""]
[BlackCountry "225"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. e4 {[%clk 0:09:59.9][%timestamp 1]} 1... e5 {[%clk 0:09:57.5][%timestamp 25]}
2. Nc3 {[%clk 0:09:59.1][%timestamp 8]} 2... Nc6 {[%clk 0:09:57][%timestamp 5]}
3. f4 {[%clk 0:09:58.2][%timestamp 9] Vienna Gambit (Max Lange) $1} 3... Nf6 $2 
{[%clk 0:09:56.6][%timestamp 4][%c_effect
f6;square;f6;type;Mistake;path;null;size;100%2525;animated;false;persistent;true]
Declining the gambit with Nf6 is a mistake, and this transposes to the the
regular Vienna Gambit (Falkbeer), Declined with 3... Nc6 $1} 4. fxe5 {[%clk
0:09:55.4][%timestamp 28]} 4... Nxe5 {[%clk 0:09:53.6][%timestamp 30]} 5. d4 $1
{[%clk 0:09:54.9][%timestamp 5][%c_effect
d4;square;d4;type;GreatFind;persistent;true][%c_highlight
d4;keyPressed;alt;opacity;0.8;square;d4;persistent;false]} 5... Nc6 {[%clk
0:09:49.8][%timestamp 38]} 6. e5 $1 {[%clk 0:09:54.1][%timestamp 8][%c_highlight
e5;keyPressed;alt;opacity;0.8;square;e5;persistent;false][%c_effect
e5;square;e5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 6... Ng8 {[%clk
0:09:29.7][%timestamp 201]} 7. Nf3 {[%clk 0:09:52.3][%timestamp 18]} 7... d6
{[%clk 0:09:25.5][%timestamp 42]} 8. Bc4 {[%clk 0:09:43.7][%timestamp 86]} 8...
dxe5 {[%clk 0:09:22.5][%timestamp 30]} 9. O-O {[%clk 0:09:27.9][%timestamp 158]}
9... Nxd4 $2 {[%clk 0:09:01.3][%timestamp 212][%c_effect
d4;square;d4;type;Mistake;path;null;size;100%25;animated;false;persistent;true][%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] A mistake... and the
beginner of a crushing victory $1 [+2.3 $37 +5.2]} 10. Bxf7+ $3 {[%clk
0:09:00.6][%timestamp 273][%c_effect
f7;square;f7;type;Brilliant;path;null;size;100%25;animated;false;persistent;true][%c_highlight
f7;keyPressed;alt;opacity;0.8;square;f7;persistent;false] Brilliant move $1 Bishop
sacrifice $1} 10... Kxf7 {[%clk 0:08:45.2][%timestamp 161]} 11. Nxe5+ {[%clk
0:08:59][%timestamp 16][%c_arrow
e5f7;keyPressed;none;from;e5;opacity;0.8;to;f7;persistent;false,f1f7;keyPressed;none;from;f1;opacity;0.8;to;f7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f7;persistent;false] Double check $1} 11...
Ke8 {[%clk 0:08:38][%timestamp 72]} 12. Qh5+ {[%clk 0:08:53.4][%timestamp 56]}
12... g6 {[%clk 0:08:16.2][%timestamp 218]} 13. Nxg6 $3 {[%clk
0:08:48.3][%timestamp 51][%c_effect
g6;square;g6;type;Brilliant;path;null;size;100%25;animated;false;persistent;true][%c_highlight
g6;keyPressed;alt;opacity;0.8;square;g6;persistent;false] Brilliant move $1 Knight
sacrifice $1 This is the only good move in the position $1} 13... hxg6 {[%clk
0:08:04.5][%timestamp 117]} 14. Qxg6+ {[%clk 0:08:29.5][%timestamp 188]} 14...
Kd7 {[%clk 0:07:42.4][%timestamp 221]} 15. Rf7+ {[%clk 0:08:10.8][%timestamp
187]} 15... Be7 {[%clk 0:07:28.8][%timestamp 136]} 16. Bg5 {[%clk
0:07:51][%timestamp 198]} 16... Ne6 $4 {[%clk 0:06:52.1][%timestamp
367][%c_effect e6;square;e6;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_arrow
a7a5;keyPressed;none;from;a7;opacity;0.8;to;a5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
a5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;a5;persistent;false,e6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e6;persistent;false]
Despite being up 4 points of material, this is a blunder [+M14]. Surprisingly,
a5, which looks random, is the best move $1} 17. Rd1+ {[%clk 0:07:43.5][%timestamp
75][%c_arrow
d1d7;keyPressed;none;from;d1;opacity;0.8;to;d7;persistent;false,d7d8;keyPressed;none;from;d7;opacity;0.8;to;d8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d7;persistent;false,d8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d8;persistent;false]
Skewer $1} 17... Kc6 {[%clk 0:06:43.2][%timestamp 89]} 18. Rxd8 {[%clk
0:07:27.1][%timestamp 164]} 18... Bc5+ {[%clk 0:06:15][%timestamp 282]} 19. Kh1
{[%clk 0:07:24][%timestamp 31]} 19... Bd6 {[%clk 0:06:13.5][%timestamp 15]} 20.
Qe4+ {[%clk 0:07:12.9][%timestamp 111]} 20... Kb6 {[%clk 0:06:10.7][%timestamp
28]} 21. Be3+ {[%clk 0:07:00.3][%timestamp 126]} 21... c5 {[%clk
0:06:03][%timestamp 77]} 22. Rxd6+ {[%clk 0:06:49.9][%timestamp 104]} 22... Ka5
{[%clk 0:06:00.6][%timestamp 24]} 23. Qa4# {[%clk 0:06:46.6][%timestamp
33][%c_effect
h1;square;h1;type;Winner,a5;square;a5;type;CheckmateBlack][%c_arrow
d6a6;keyPressed;none;from;d6;opacity;0.8;to;a6;persistent;false,c3a4;keyPressed;none;from;c3;opacity;0.8;to;a4;persistent;false,a4b5;keyPressed;none;from;a4;opacity;0.8;to;b5;persistent;false,a4b4;keyPressed;none;from;a4;opacity;0.8;to;b4;persistent;false,a4a5;keyPressed;none;from;a4;opacity;0.8;to;a5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
a6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;a6;persistent;false,b6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b6;persistent;false,a4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;a4;persistent;false,b5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b5;persistent;false,b4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b4;persistent;false,a5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;a5;persistent;false]
Good game, GG $1} 1-0