An opening course for White (ECO C27)
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3, the opening Carl Hamppe played so often in Vienna that it carried his name first. The knight comes out before the bishop, and the setup that follows is Bc4 against f7, d3 to hold the centre and f2-f4 when the moment arrives, which is a King's Gambit that never has to be a gambit. White dictates from move two and there is far less to remember than in the Ruy Lopez. Its showpiece is the Frankenstein-Dracula: Black takes on e4, White answers with the queen on move four, a rook goes missing on a8 by move ten, and from there both sides play for the king rather than for the material.
This course is part of your daily work.
Bc4 puts the bishop on the one square where it looks at f7, which only the king defends in the opening. Behind it comes d3 to hold e4, and then f2-f4 at the moment Black cannot exploit the open king. If Black answers f4 with ...exf4, recapture with the bishop: the f-file opens for a rook and the bishop lands on a diagonal pointing at c7 and d6.
4.Qh5 breaks the first rule every beginner learns, and it works because the reply is nearly forced: the knight on e4 has to move, and d6 is the retreat that covers f7 on the way. That knight then blocks Black's own d-pawn, so the c8 bishop and the a8 rook stay at home for another five moves. Everything White does afterwards is aimed at that undeveloped queenside.
In the sharp lines White ends up an exchange or a rook ahead with a queen wandering and a king still on e1. Holding on to all of it loses. The pattern that works is to complete development, castle queenside, and hand back a piece or the exchange the moment it buys the initiative or a safe king.
5...Nc6 keeps the extra pawn and leads to a position where a rook is buried on a8 and neither king is safe. 5...Be7 gives the pawn back at once and heads for a slower game where White's chances come from castling long and running the h-pawn rather than from any advantage. White has to be ready for both, and they need opposite temperaments.
Learning order, one scoresheet per chapter. The coach serves review one line a day; enter any line directly when you want it now.
Bishop to c4 against f7, pawn to d3 to hold e4, and f2-f4 when Black cannot punish it. It is a King's Gambit played three moves later, with the e4 pawn already defended and the bishop already out, and it is the position most of your games will actually reach.
The moment White plays f4 with the bishop already on c5, Black gets the idea of ...Ng4 hitting f2 with a queen check on h4 behind it. It looks like it wins material. The answer is not to defend.
Black takes on e4, White answers with the queen on move four, and by move ten there is a white knight buried on a8 and a black king on d8. The name came from a chess author who wrote that a game between Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster would not look out of place here.
Not everyone wants a rook sacrifice. Against 5...Be7 Black hands the pawn straight back and the game becomes slow, and there is a version of that where White takes the pawn on move five instead. Neither promises an advantage, which is worth saying before you learn them: they are the lines you play when the complications are not on offer.
Club games that started in the Vienna Game produced these tactics, and you solve every one from White's side, the seat you actually sit in. Difficulty follows your solving, the same as the puzzle room.
The Vienna Game is the chess opening that begins 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nc6, and it is filed under ECO C27. This course teaches it from White's side in 15 drills across 4 chapters, with a coach note on the moves that need one, every position checked with Stockfish at depth 20, and every plan credited to the author who wrote it down.
Lines you will drill
Theory credited to
8 branches are deliberately not drilled here, and the course records which and why rather than leaving the gap silent.
Questions
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