The Vienna Opening

Important variations are animated at the bottom of the page.

This is a rare opening that can end up a boring game or a very short one.  This is a great trap for beginners and maybe some intermediate players.  The first 2 moves are what make it the Vienna Game.  The rest is for the main line.  It goes 1. e4, e5  2. Nc3.  This generally leads to closed games.  People who have seen it before will probably know how to defend it.  

The Vienna Game   A B C D E F G H 8     7     6             5           4             3             2     1

The reasoning behind this is to catch people who like to castle.  Instructors say to castle early, castle often, but you should only castle when you see a threat or even have the slightest worry, for instance if the e file was open.  Castling early will be black's downfall.  Most players play 3. Nf6 to this.  That is probably a good move.  However, black, like many beginners or intermediate players, will make some major mistakes.  3. Bc4, Bc5  4. d3, d6  5. Bg5, 0-0.  Like I said, castling will be black's downfall.  This can be done in many different orders, but it will eventually lead to checkmate.  You can see what it looks like on the left.  You can also see the animated game at the bottom of this page if you can't process that many moves in your head.  Because of the last move, castling, he will die.  He could have done almost anything else and still survive.

The Vienna Game after white's move 9.   A B C D E F G H 8     7         6           5           4             3               2     1

White has a very good move here: 6. Nd5.  What can black do?  The knight is pinned.  Many players decide that it is a great idea to push the h pawn to get you to take with the bishop.  However, when you take with the knight, It's check!  So 6... h6  7. NxN+ and the pawn must take the knight or he loses a whole piece.  Then, 7... pxN  8. Bxh6.  It is all downhill from there.  The queen will come into play and start wreaking havoc.  He thinks that it is a good idea to move his rook out of danger. 8...Re8.  Well, 9. Qh5 is a great move then.  No matter what he does, it will be checkmate.  If he moves 9... Nc6  10. Qg6, (the pawn is pinned) Kh7  11. Qg7#.  If he moves 9... Kh7  10. Bf8+, Kg8.  Then either Qg6 or Qxpf7 leads to checkmate next move.  Finally, there is 9... Be6.  Variation 1: 10. BxB, pxB 11. Qg6+, Kh8 12. Qg7#.  Variation2: 10. BxB, RxB  11. Qg4+, Kh7  12. Qg7#.