Monday, January 16, 2012

The difficult Hubsch gambit

Most Blackmar Diemer gambiteers hate it when the defender chooses the Hubsch. And so do I ( I had to face the Hubsch 8 times in my over-the-board career and only got a 37.5% result - I always played 5.Bc4... ). I got a Hubsch defense yesterday against a FIDE master and misplayed it completely, far overvalueing development.

De Bouver Guido - FM Peter De Jonghe, 15-JAN-2012.

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e4 Nxe4 4.Nxe4 dxe4 5.Bc4 e6 6.Nh3 Be7 7.Qe2

7...Qxd4
Winning a second pawn

8.Be3 ?!

Now black could have settled matters already by taking a third pawn 8...Qxb2 9.00 and white has less than nothing for his three pawns. But my opponent was kind to me and allowed me to castle.

8...Qe5 9.000 Nc6 10.Bf4 Qf5

Now I screw up completely with 11.g4, after which the remainder of the game was only a formality for my opponent, but 11.Bxc7 would have given me some decent chances.

So where did I go wrong ? Obvioulsy 11.g4. Also 8.Be3. Maybe 6.Nh3 is not optimal and 6.c3 is better. But 6.Bc4 is also not that strong and 6.Be3 or 6.Bf4 are to be recommended. Maybe even 3.f3, but this seems to allow 3...c5 ?

Too many worries, too few answers...

2 comments:

  1. 6 Nh3 isn't nearly as strong as the simple c3, preparing to attack the pawn on e4

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  2. 5. Bf4 looks superior to Bc4.

    Put your silicon friend on the case. Hubsch is something every BDG player will encounter.

    I am confident that it is actually better for White than a regular Blackmar-Diemer. Black betrays the "move a piece once" rule and removes a kingside defender voluntarily, making White's mating puzzle a little bit easier to solve.

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