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Last night in northern Germany children were polishing boots and setting them outside their front doors, expecting gifts from St. Nicholas. As a northern German company we want to participate in this tradition: today we offer a wonderful 60 Minutes course by IM Robert Ris, The Vienna Game with 3.d4. Just go to the ChessBase Shop and download the course. Today it is fully free of charge!
If you already have a ChessBase account, log in there. If you don't have a ChessBase account yet, create one. In both cases you will receive a 60-minute video course on a sharp attacking variation in the Vienna Game as a present.
Recently, the move 3.d4!? gave new impulses to the Vienna Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6) After 3...exd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Qd3 White aims to unleash a promising attack by initiating a massive pawn storm on the kingside. However, Black should also pay attention to threats in the centre.
This relatively new idea has been used by top players like Dubov and Mamedyarov, and by several other strong Azeri GMs like Safarli, Durarbayli and Abasov. Many strong players have fallen victim to White's aggressive idea of play. The position after 5.Qd3 is the starting point of this video course.
St. Nicholas
The St. Nicholas tradition goes back to St. Nicholas of Myra, who worked there as a bishop in the first half of the 4th century. Myra (today: Demre) is a town 100 km south of Antalya in ancient Lycia, then still part of the Roman Empire. As legend has it, St. Nicholas distributed his inherited wealth among the poor. There are many legends surrounding the person of St. Nicholas, some of which are interwoven with the life stories of other saints.
6 December is celebrated as St. Nicholas Day, but actually refers to the Julian calendar. The St. Nicholas custom already existed in the 6th century in the Byzantine Empire. From there it spread throughout Christian Europe.
