New Opening Lanes

Yesterday evening all old books in my local chess club were auctioned. I was able to get some bargains, as one of the books was written by Gerhart Gunderam, a name that is familiar to many Blackmar Diemer gambiteers. I bought the book for 1 euro and indeed - the book is loaded with lots of games and analysis on the Blackmar Diemer. The is dated 1961 and is signed, unfortunately not by the author. It is like holding history in my hands as I was still like that one.

I will start looking into it and report any interesting stuff back to you asap.

Picking up old loves again

Sometimes it is good to pick up old loves again. Okay, maybe not in real life, but in chess for sure. I got bored of the drawish French defense and have decided to pick up good old Latvian again. Despite the horrible beatings I had to endure... And the first serious game got me nearly into a win against a much stronger opponent.

Simic - De Bouver, Antwerpen,
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.Bc4 fxe4 4.Nxe5 Qg5

A horribly complicated position for white - white can emerge with an advantage, but it is not easy...

5.d4 Qxg2 6.Qxh5+ g6 7.Bf7+

White seems to know the theory... bad luck for me...

7...Kd8 8.Qg5+
No good, much better is 8.Bxg6, when white sacrifices his h1 room in a search to strangle the black king.

8...Qxg5 9.Bxg5+ Be7 10.Bd5

The remainder of the game was quite simple for me after 10...Bxg5 11.Nf7+ Ke7 12.Nxg5 Nf6 13.Nc3 and a draw was quickly agreed.

So my old love did not turn me down after dating someone else !!

Back on the Viking study after a short break

Last post, I looked at a Viking-French-Blackmar-Diemer attack when black decided to capture the offered pawn on e4 : 1.d4 Nf6 2.f3 d5 3.e4 e6 4.Be3 dxe4 5.fxe4 Nxe4 6.Nd2 Nxd2 7.Qxd2.

From the resulting massacre, we can conclude that blacks 6th move is certainly not optimal : it does exchange a piece, but brings the white queen into the game and allows for white castling queenside quickly. So 6...Nxd2 is certainly no good. A quick look at my silicon assistant tells me that 6...Nf6 is far better.

let's look at the lines after 6...Nf6 7.Ngf3 and compare this to the normal Euwe defense`( black to move )

It is obvious the Viking attack differs in two ways from the regular Euwe defense
- the bishop is on e3 instead of g5. On e3, it discourages the typical French c5 break, but obvioulsy, it does little to attack the black defense - if white wants to attack lateron, an additional move will be needed to redloy it to g5.
- the knight is on d2 instead of c3. This should not make much difference, since it goed most of the time to e4 anyway. Also, black can defend d4 with a pawn on c3, which allows for the white queen to go to c2.

So based on these two observations, it seems the Viking attack is an inferior version of the Euwe defense - silicon analysis seems to confirm this.

But is sure is a decent surprise weapon against a french defender that refuses to head into the Blackmar Diemer.

The Viking-French-Blackmar-Diemer-... attack

I already played my opponent from yesterday evening a year or so ago. At that time, he accepted the f3 pawn and was swept away by a berserk attack. Have you ever seen the series "Vikings" ? Well, I looked like Ragnar Lothbrok and England was there to conquer.

Yesterday evening, my opponent choose the more cautious path - he initially declined the offered pawn but could not resist lateron.

Guido De Bouver - Robert De Hert
Antwerpen 2015.

1.d4 Nf6 2.f3 d5 3.e4 e6
Black steers into a French-like defense

4.Be3 (diagram)
Vikings on the horizon !

4...dxe4 5.fxe4 Nxe4 6.Nd2 (diagram)
Vikings have set ashore and immediately set camp.

6...Nxd2 7.Qxd2
King Aelle of Northumberland believes he won the first battle, but Ragnar sees it differently.


7...Bd6 8.Nf3 Nc6 9.Bd3 e5 ?
It is strange what the sight of a berserk viking does to man. King Aelle should have tried to reduce the viking forces by 9...Nb4, and if this fails, set up an outpost with Nd5.

10.000 exd4 11.Nxd4 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 0-0 (diagram)

Now Ragnar makes a premature attack, but king Aelle doesnt really benefit from this mistake.
13.Qc3 c5 14.Bf2 Qg5 15.Kb1 Be5 16.Qxc5 Qf6 (diagram)

17.Rf1 ! Bxb2 18.Bxh7+ Kxh7 19.Qxf8 Bf5 20.Qb4 (diagram)

The remainder of the game is of no interest to us - we dont want to witness the massacre that Ragnar imposes on the poor English defenders. But the suggested Viking attack certainly has some potency in it - especially as the defender is likely to make mistakes when faces with this unusual attack.

Editors note : This story is historically correct - vikings got into contact with chess when they travelled the seven seas, Ragnar did invade England, king Aelle suffered a terrible blow, and yes, the vikings would have played the Blackmar-Diemer if it had already been invented...

Oh horror, black develops faster in this Vienna sideline

We all know that the Vienna defense is annoying as black refuses the free f3. The result is a difficult choice for white, as he has the choice between the berserker attack with g4, sometimes followed up by the even more-than-hara-kiri h4. The other choice is the quiet fxe4, but also here, white is not without problems.

1.d4 Nf6 2.f3 d5 3.e4 dxe4 4.Nc3 Bf5 5.fxe4 Nxe4 6.Qf3 Nxc3
The other option is 6...Nd6, protecting both the b6 pawn and f5 bishop.

7.bxc3 e6 (diagram)

In my book, I had given 8.Qxb7 Nd7 9.Nf3 as equality, but I am not so sure anymore now. Let's have a closer look.

8.Qxb7 Nd7

The alternative line 8...Qh4+ offers no winning chances for black, eg 8...Qh4+ 9.Kd1 Be4 and white has the luxury of choice between 10.Qc8+, 10.Qxc7 and 10.Bb5+. So back to our main line after 8...Nd7 9.Nf3 (diagram)

It is now black who has the luxury of choice. Let's consider today black's most challenging continuation 9...Rb8. The white majesty can go to c6 or capture on a7 - my silicon assistant prefers the capture after a long thought.

9...Rb8 10.Qxa7 (diagram)

The problem is that black now has 10...Bxc2 and white has no more development moves. Ideally, the white bishop wants to be developed to d3, but this is one of the few lines where this is not possible. Also, 11.Bg5 is not so good as black simply replies 11...Be7 and it is black who can castle first.

So, are we facing a simple, yet effective antidote against our beloved gambit ? It surely seems so.

Knights only move forward

I played a Vienna defense yesterday evening against a very young, but equally promising player who had to be pushed a bit to accept the f3 pawn. I deviated from my normal lines, but found myself without attacking moves and lost the game.

Guido De Bouver - Deon Lee
Mechelen, 2014.


1.d4 Nf6 2.f3 d5 3.e4 dxe4 4.Nc3 Bf5 5.g5
The main alternative is 5.fxe4

5...Bg6 6.g5
another possibility is 6.h4 here, but 6...h6 seems to give b;lack the upper hand.

6...Nd5 7.Bg2 (diagram)
deviating from the normal 7.Nxe4

7...exf3 8.Nxf3 e6 9.Nh4 c6 10.0-0 (diagram)
Guess this is equal play. White's knight is misplaced on h4, but it can be exchanged any time.

10...Bd6
Choosing again the best line

11.Ne4 Bc7 (diagram)
11...Bxe4 would have been better, leaving the knight on h4 looking at nothing.

12.c4
12.Qf3 would have been equal

12...Ne7
Again the best move, 12...Nb6 places the knight away from the action.

13.Be3 0-0 14.Qb3 Nbd7 15.Rf2 (diagram)

The remainder of the game is of no interest to us - especially since my young opponent make by look like a fool by sacrificing his queen and mating me when I was a queen up :-(

But what we noticed during post mortem analysis is that all of my horsemen only moved foreward during the whole game - guess that is a typical behaviour for a gambiteer..

Shelter from the storm

I said it before and will continue to say it - expert knwoledge is required to play the Blackmar Diemer successfully. Yesterday I managed to play the line halfways, and, as a result, had to content with a draw.

Guido De Bouver - Stijn Van Vlaenderen

1.d4 Nf6 2.f3 d5 3.e4 dxe4 4.Nc3 exf3 5.Nxf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bh5 7.g4 Bg6 8.Ne5 Nbd7
I believe both e6 and c6 are better

9.Qf3 (diagram)

9...c6 is no good here, as white recaptures the pawn with an advantage : 9...c6 10.Nxg6 hxg6 11.g5 (+=) So my opponent choose the best line.

9...e6 10.Qxb7 Nxe5 11.dxe5 Nd7 12.Bb5 (diagram)

Until this move, i was playing on automatic pilot. But now I starting wondering on how to convert my obvious advantage into a win.

12...Rb8
only move.

13.Qxa7
I was a bit hesitant about this, because I vaguely remembered that black could equalize by removing the pin on knight with a sacrfice 13...Rxb5 14.Nxb5 and black overtakes the initiative ( even if Houdini still gives a white advanatge )

13...Bb4 (diagram)
I remembered a great sacrifice here if black was to play the natural 13...Be7 14.Bxd7 Kxd7 and now the killer move 15.Bg5 (++). but alas, my opponent went for a simple pin on my knight.

Ubntill now, I had been able to play bookmoves - they were lingering somewhere far away, but I was able to retrieve them correctly. But this move got me into thinking.

The correct move is 14.Bxd7 Kxd7 15.Be3 and the black king will have diffciculties to find shelter from the storm. Alas, I played 14.Qa4 and the game ended in a hardfought draw.

Coming back to best line 14.Bxd7 Kxd7 15.Be3 (diagram)

a/ 15...Qh4+ 16.Bf2 Qg5 17.Rd1+ Kc8 18.Qa6+ Rb7 19.0-0 Qxe5 20.Rfe1 Qa5 21.Qc6 (+)

b/ 15...Bxc3+ 16.bxc3 (++)

c/ 15...Bxc2 16.0-0 (++)

d/ 15...Ke8 16.Rd1 Qc8 17.Bg5 (+)

e/ 15...Kc8 16.0-0 (++)

So it is fair to conclude that the above line does not offer any hope for black - a reality check for those that have not yet embraced the joys of the Blackmar Diemer gambit.