The Vienna Game: Good, inferior or bad? I have been taking a look at 1.e4 2.e5 2.Nc3, which is known as the Vienna Game. At this point I have become familiarized with a substantial amount of variations and main lines. The principal bifurcation comes on 2...Nf6 or 2...Nc6 by Black, which provides two quite different &quot;systems&quot;, since 2...Nf6 allows a strong 3.f4. Apart from this, I have studied quite a number of master games. My overall conclusion is that the Vienna Game is a sound, promising line for the 1.e4 player. It offers positional, strategical struggle in some lines, and sharp aggressive play on others, so players of all styles may find it enjoyable. Of course, Black has the chance to equalize if he knows what he's doing, but in what opening is this not the case?
I then want to ask the opinion of more experienced players than myself: do you consider the Vienna Game to be equally good to other 1.e4 lines, such as the Ruy Lopez or the Scotch? Inferior to them, but still god? Or not even good at all? My question comes from the fact that this opening is hardly ever seen in master play, and it is usually only played on blitz/rapid games as a surprise weapon.
The International Master Gary Lane in his book about the Vienna game wrote in 2000 that this opening &quot;has a long history and a bright future&quot;. He added

&quot;in these days of computer databases [already 20 years ago!], opening
theory has become so intense that some variations have been analyzed
to move 30. It is hardly surprising that some 'forgotten' opening
variations have been revived by players to looking into unknown
territory, and the Vienna is a perfect arena for this.&quot;

So, if Vienna suits you, if you like the obtained positions, if you know the main theme (e.g. which pieces to swap, which promising pawn structure to get, ...) go ahead!
Here are some stats about the Vienna game compared to others openings in a Big and a Masters database. In the Big one, the Vienna game is the second choice and compared to 2.Nf3 it offers a higher risk (more losses) but also a premium (more gains). The Vienna is the 3rd choice in the Masters database with also a higher variance.

In the Big database

In the Masters database