I play the Vienna Gambit now (on the rare occasion that 1. e4 isn't met with c5), and I've seen a little bit of "book" theory on how it "should" go. But at my level, lots of people get out of book early. So I've got a question on how to handle a particular line that seems like it could end up being common if black doesn't know how to play this opening. I think I handled it correctly in the game I just played, but I figured I'd ask for opinions on whether there's anything better.

After 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4, black isn't supposed to play 3. exf4 because of 4. e5, forcing the f6 knight to retreat to its starting square. The game I just played went

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 exf4 4. e5 Qe7 5. Qe2 Ng8 6. d4

I considered 6. Nf3, just to prevent the possibility of a queen check at h4, but it didn't seem like that check would really hurt anything. So I went with 6. d4 to protect the e5 pawn, dominate the center, and attack the f4 pawn with my bishop. My opponent went for the cheap check.

6. ... Qh4+ 7. Qf2 Qxf2+ 8. Kxf2

At this point, white has a strong center and is still attacking f4 to regain the gambit pawn. I made mistakes later on in the game, but ended up winning anyway, because my opponent made bigger mistakes. But since this seems like it might be a common response by patzers at my level who don't know this gambit, I thought I'd ask if anyone has any suggestions for how I can play this better. Do you think I should go with 6. Nf3 to prevent the queen check and keep the queens on the board? Any other suggestions?

--Fromper

The key consideration in this position is that while the queen check is doesn't hurt anything it is probably the only way for black to untangle his difficult position and get his pieces developed. After 6.Nf3 you have three pieces developed against the lone queen developed for black and it is quite unclear how black can untangle himself. White should probably play 7. d4 and now you are threatening to recapture your gambited pawn. If black tries to suicidally hang on to the pawn with 6...g4 8.Nd5 seems killing. Nd5 attacking the queen and threatening a fork on c7 is always in the air.

Here are some variations which I didn't look at carefully but white seems to be having fun in every line and it seems quite easy to find forcing moves for white which black doesn't have satisfactory answers to. Black is just busted after 6.Nf3 it seems to me.

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Fromper"]
[Black "Other Player"]
[Result "*"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 exf4 4.e5 Qe7 5.Qe2 Ng8 6.d4
( 6.Nf3 g5 ?!
( 6...Nc6 7.d4 )
7.d4
( 7.Nd5 Qc5 8.Qc4
( 8.Qe4 )
( 8.c4 Na6
( 8...Nc6 9.Nxc7+ Kd8 10.Nxa8 )
9.a3
( 9.d4 Qa5+ 10.Bd2 Bb4 11.a3 Bxd2+ 12.Qxd2 Qxd2+ 13.Kxd2 )
9...Bg7 10.b4 Qf8 11.Nxg5 c6 12.Nxf4 )
( 8.Qe4 {This move seems a bit clumsy but probably still works.} 8...Na6 9.d4 Qc6 10.c3
)
8...Na6 9.d4
( 9.Qxc5 Nxc5 10.Nxc7+ )
9...Qxc4 10.Bxc4 )
7...Nc6
( 7...c6 8.Ne4 d5 9.exd6 Qe6 10.Nfxg5 Qd5 11.Nf6+ Kd8 12.Qe8# )
8.Nd5 Qd8 9.Nf6+ Ke7 10.Nd5+
( 10.d5 Nb8 11.Nxg5
( 11.d6+ cxd6 12.Nd5+ Ke6 13.exd6+ Kxd5 14.Qe5+ Kc6 15.Nd4+
Kb6 16.Qb5# )
11...Nxf6 12.exf6+ Kxf6 13.Bxf4
( 13.Ne4+ Ke7 14.Bxf4
( 14.d6+ Ke6
( 14...Ke8 15.Nf6# )
( 14...cxd6 15.Bxf4 Qa5+ 16.b4 Qxb4+
( 16...Qf5 17.Nxd6+ Qe6 18.Nxc8+ )
17.c3 )
15.Bxf4
( 15.Ng5+
( 15.Qg4+
( 15.Bxf4 )
)
)
( 15.Qc4+ Ke5 16.Qc5+ Kxe4 17.Bd3# )
)
)
)
( 10.Nd5+ Ke8 11.c3 )
( 10.d5
( 10.c3 )
)
( 10.Nxg5 Nxd4 11.Qc4 )
10...Ke8 11.c3 )
6...Qh4+ 7.Qf2 Qxf2+ 8.Kxf2 *

Crash

Thanks for the analysis, Crash.

--Fromper

You're welcome. The thing to remember is that when the opening books say that something is really bad, sometimes they're right.

Crash

The problem is that many opening books don't bother saying what's really bad. They just say what's good. So we have to figure out why other moves aren't good on our own. Sometimes the other moves are playable, but not necessarily the best, while other times, they're just awful.

In this case, I got a decent positional advantage from trading queens, because I controlled the center, had better development, got my gambit pawn back right away, and even had an active king position in preparation for an early queenless endgame. That's pretty good already, but you're right - Stopping the queen check does look even better.

--Fromper

When playing the Vienna, or the Gambit see an old Chess book such as
Fine's PCO.
Games:
Spielmann playing Vienna Gambit (C29) as White
(The above Spielmann playing C29).

Chess openings: Vienna Gambit (C29)
A complete set by Steinitz and others.

Names of Vienna Gambit lines including traps:
http://www.chessarch.com/library/0000_eco/c29.shtml

39 Games on C29:
Chess-Ref.org Opening
See also the book on Steinitz's Games (Pickard) which have notes.