Greetings to all chess fans and the Midnight Letters community! The oddly named Dracula-Frankenstein variation of the Vienna Game was coined by Tim Harding in his 1976 book on the Vienna Game, in which he said that the bloodthirstiness of the character of play was such that "a game between Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster would not seem out of place."
Both colors attack each other and can lead to a wild game. Just take a look at the game between Ost Hansen and John Nunn
Game link: https://lichess.org/UFYu3QFJ#76
Incidentally, the 1934 movie, The Black Cat played by popular horror actors Bela Lugosi (best-known as Dracula) and Boris Karloff (best-known as Frankenstein) featured a chess game. In the film "The Black Cat", Lugosi and Karloff played a sinister game of chess against each other for the life and the liberty of a young woman.
Link to article: https://en.chessbase.com/post/dracula-and-frankenstein-play-chess
They played a different opening in their game but how cool it would have been if they played the Dracula-Frankenstein variation instead.
I wrote this post because I saw the opening played between Danil Dubov and George Meier in their tie break match in the Fide World Cup.
After the moves 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bc4 Nxe4 4. Qh5 Nd6
White has given up the e pawn but has the attack. If Black sacrifices the exchange, he can launch his own vicious attack like in the Hansen-Nunn game. 5. Bb3 Nc6 6. Nb5 g6 7. Qf3 Nf5 8. Qd5 Nh6 9. d4 d6
White is threatening to take Black's Knight on h6 which is defending the pawn on f7. But Black has an in between move to defend. 10. Bxh6 Be6 11. Qf3 Bxb3 12. Bxf8 Bc4
The position looks complicated but here Dubov enjoys a five minute advantage on the clock. 13. Bg7 Bxb5 14. dxe5 Rg8
Capturing the rook with 14. Bxh8 Nxd4 will be worse for White. 15. Bf6 Nxe5 16. Bxe5 Qe7 17. O-O-O Bc6 18. Qc3 dxe5 19. Nf3 f6 20. Rhe1 Kf8
Removing the King from the e file. There was a Knight sacrifice on e5 that could win Black's Queen. Dubov gives up the Knight anyway! 21. Nxe5 fxe5 22. Rxe5 Qf6
Black blundered in this position (Qh4 will keep the position even) and Dubov found the winning continuation. 23. Re8+ Kf7 24. Qc4+ { White wins. } 1-0
Game link: https://lichess.org/broadcast/fide-world-cup-2025--round-3/tiebreak-2-rapid-1/9wuDCaIo/eh6tDnYp