Vienna Game

Vienna Game
abcdefgh
8
a8 black rook
b8 black knight
c8 black bishop
d8 black queen
e8 black king
f8 black bishop
g8 black knight
h8 black rook
a7 black pawn
b7 black pawn
c7 black pawn
d7 black pawn
f7 black pawn
g7 black pawn
h7 black pawn
e5 black pawn
e4 white pawn
c3 white knight
a2 white pawn
b2 white pawn
c2 white pawn
d2 white pawn
f2 white pawn
g2 white pawn
h2 white pawn
a1 white rook
c1 white bishop
d1 white queen
e1 white king
f1 white bishop
g1 white knight
h1 white rook
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Moves1.e4 e5 2.Nc3
ECOC25–C29
Named afterVienna, Austria
ParentOpen Game

The Vienna Game is an opening in chess that begins with the moves:

1. e4 e5
2. Nc3

White's second move is less common than 2.Nf3, and is also more recent.

The original idea behind the Vienna Game was to play a delayed King's Gambit with f4 (the Vienna Gambit), but in modern play White often plays more quietly (for example, by fianchettoing his king's bishop with g3 and Bg2). Black most often continues with 2...Nf6. The opening can also lead to the Frankenstein–Dracula Variation.

Weaver W. Adams famously claimed that the Vienna Game led to a forced win for White.[1] Nick de Firmian concludes in the 15th edition of Modern Chess Openings, however, that the opening leads to equality with best play by both sides.[2]

  1. ^ "Mr. Adams and his cronies may be linked to the radical right wing of chess. For all their faulty analysis, they must be given credit for introducing healthy controversy into the staid annals of opening theory. ... Weaver is not content with such halfway measures as equality. All or nothing – right-wing logic, true to form." Evans, Larry (1970). Chess Catechism. Simon and Schuster. pp. 146–47, 153. ISBN 0-671-21531-0.
  2. ^ de Firmian, Nick (2008). Modern Chess Openings: MCO-15. Random House Puzzles & Games. pp. 114–20. ISBN 978-0-8129-3682-7.