The defender becomes the attacker.

The immediate 7.g4 is a rude answer to black's trustowrthy O'Kelly defense. But is it correct ? Probably not, but that wont keep me from winning with it.

1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 c6 6.Bc4 Bf5
The O'kelly, which can lead to the Ziegler defense, but white has other plans.

7.g4 !!! (diagram)

7...Nxg4 8.Nh4 g6 9.Nxf5 gxf5 10.h3 Nf6 11.Bg5 e6 12.d5
A key move for the attacker

12...cxd5 13.Bxd5 (diagram)

13...Nbd7 14.Bxb7 Rb8
probably not the best move. 14...Be7 15.Qf3 Rb8 16.Rd1 would give black a small advantage, but it very unlikely any defender would have been able to get this far without mistakes.

15.Bc6 Qb6 (diagram)
best

let's look at the situation : white is a pawn down and his king is defenseless. Black on the other hand has whaethered the storm and is now starting to deploy his forces. So it seems white can safely resign here, isnt it ?

16.Qf3 Be7 17.Rd1 Rd8 18.Ke2

White is desperately trying to get some space as to centralize his pieces

18...h6 19.Bxf6 Bxf6 20.Rxd7 Rxd7 21.Rd1 0-0 22.Rxd7 23.Qxb2 Kd2

White is a piece ahead for two pawns, but it is black who has the safer king and the king. White may be able to survive but it wont be easy. But then again, chances are low that black will be able to get this far against a well prepared white berserker.

An interesting novelty

Today I faced an interesting novelty, something I never encountered before in my 15-year Blackmar_Diemer experience ( ok, maybe I forgot a few less memorable games, but it wont be a many ). In any case, black tried to exchange a few pieces but quickly lost the way in the labyrith of moves.

1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 e6 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 Ng4 (diagram)

This is the novelty, black tries to exchange a few pieces as to use his pawn majority in the endgame.

9.Ne4
My silicon assistant indicate sthat both 9.Bxe7 and 9.Qd2 might be slightly better, but 9Ne4 is good enough.

9...Bxg5 10.Nfxg5
I gave this a 30 minutes thought, but I could not find a good move after 10.Nexg5 h6. I was hoping somehow that black would try 10...Ne3 ??, but I guess the white refutation 11.Qh5 was too obvious.

10...Qxd4+ (diagram)
And now I played a great move... can you find it ?

11.Nf2
Creating three different threats :
> the attack of h7
> the knight on g4
> the queen is undefended after Bxh7+
My opponent noticed the chances were turning and hoose the only reasonable defense

11...f5 12.Bxf5 Qxd1 13.Bxh7+ Kh8 (diagram)

Here I choose 14.Raxd1, resulting in an equal game, but 14.Nxd1 would have been better after 14...Rxf1 15.Kxf1 Nxh2+ 16.Ke2 Ng4 17.Ne3 (diagram) with nasty threats along the h file.

Black has no other option than 17...Nf6 18.Bg6 and white is leading the dance, despite being a pawn down.

One too many mistakes

I got the name of this post from the Dylan song "One too many mornings" from his "The Times They Are a-Changin'" album in 1964. I wonder if Diemer ever heard of Bob Dylan and what he thought of this new kind of music.

In any case, yesrreday evening I was humiliated in a speed game in my local chess club - too many mistakes in a mere 16 moves costs me dearly.

1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 c6 8.g4 Nd5 (diagram)

The correct move here is 9.Bd3, with a nice white lead. However, without thinking at all, I played the inferior 9.Bc4 ( mistake #1 ).

9.Bc4 e6 10.Rf1 f6
Despite my first mistake, white still has the edge.


11.Bd2
Not optimal, but wont classify as a mistake.

11...Bb4 12.000 Nxc3 (diagram)

I now played 13.bxc3 -bad idea. the simple 13.Bxc3 would have brought a great lead due to black's fragile pawn structure ( mistake #2 )

13.bxc3 Ba3 14.Kb1 Qb6 15.Bb3 a5 (diagram)

After a (short) thought, I moved 16.d5?? now, as I was planning for Be3 on the next move, chasing away the queen and thus saving my bishop from entrapment. However, the simple c5 will block the bishop.... I should have played 16.g5 here, opening many lines with favourable complications.

I wont give the remainder of the game after my third horrible  mistake 16.d5 - there might be children reading this blog...

Lesson learned - take your time to think and play the best moves, even when playing at a speedy tempo. Otherwise, you risk being slaughtered after three mistakes in only 16 moves.

Further madness

The yearly speed championship started yesterday evening in my local chessclub - each player is alloted 25 minutes of time with a 10 seconds move increment. Ideal for a Blackmar Diemer. But unfortunately, my first opponent refrained from playing d5, so I had to revert to some other madness.

1.d4 Nf6 2.f3 g6
What player is so unreasonable as to refuse to enter the Blackmar Diemer ? He should be punished immediately with ...

3.g4
That got him thinking !

3...Bg7 4.h4 (diagram)
You cant say I am not consistent in my moves :-)

4...d6 5.h5 gxh5 6.g5

6...Nfd7
The other option is 6...Nd5 7.e4 Nb6 8.Ne2, which is probably better for white.

7.e4
Here my opponent choose the inferior 7...e5 and I could easily get the advantage with 8.d5.

The obvious critical line is 7...c5 and we reach the standard Paleface setup after 8.d5 (diagram)

My silicon assistant gives following line as best : 8...h6 9.gxh6 Bxh6 10.Bxh6 Rxh6 11.Qd2 with a slight advantage for white.

I cant find any games on this line in nay database, but the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.f3 g6 3.g4 certainly seem playable. Please let me know if you had any experience with this.

10.Qf2 or 10.Qf4 in Gunderam's line

As a follow up from last post on Gerhart Gunderam's line 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 Bf5 6.Ne5 e6 7.g4 Bg6 8.Qf3 c6 9.g5 Bh5 (diagram), I am checking now whether 10.Qf2 or 10.Qf4 is the better choice.

Previoulsy, I believed 10.Qf2 was the better move  - it leads to a forced game after 10...Ng4 11.Nxg4 Bxg4 12.Bd3. But now, after analysis, I believe black is better after the simple 12...Be7 13.0-0 Bf5 14.d5 g6 and white has less than nothing for the sacrificed pawn.

So let's have a look to 10.Qf4, when black has two responses : 10...Nd5 and 10...Nd7. Let's first check out 10.Qf4 Nd5 11.Qh4 (diagram)

a/ 11...g6 12.Qf2
...a1/ 12...Qe7 13.Ne4 Nd7 14.Nxd7 Qxd7 15.c4 (+=)
...a2/ 12...Qc7 13.Nxd5 (+)
...a3/ 12...f5 13.gxf6 Qxf6 14.Qxf6 Nxf6 15.Bh3 (+=)

b/ 11...Bg6 12.Nxg6 fxg6 13.Qe4 

...b1/ 13...Be7 14.Bh3 (=)

...b2/ 13...Nxc3 14.Qxe6+ Qe7 15.Qxe7 Bxe7 16.bxc3 (+=)

...b3/ 13...Bb4 14.Qxe6+ Qe7 15.Qxe7+ (+=)

...b4/ 13...Nc7 14.Bh3 (+=)

...b5/ 13...Qd7 14.Bh3 (+=)

c/ 11...Nxc3 12.bxc3 

...c1/ 12...g6 13.Qf2 (+=)

...c2/ 12...Bg6 13.Nxg6 fxg6 14.Bh3 (+)

The second line 10.Qf4 Nfd7 11.Be2 Nxe5 12.Bxh5 Ng6 13.Qf2 (diagram) is far more complicated for the attacker ( to be noted is that white also has 13.Bxg6 hxg6 14.Rf1 with equal play )

Black's most promising defense is 13...Bb4 14.Bxg6 Bxc3+ 15.bxc3 hxg6 16.0-0 Qe7 17.Rab1 and white has to prove he has some compensation.

Summary. Both 10.Qf2 or 10.Qf4 do not win by force, but then again, didn't Gunderam predict that already ?

Hauptrecept

I have been working through Gerhart Gunderam's "Neue Eroffungswege" this week, and I have to admit, there are some great lines in it. Of course, this has to been seen in the context of the time of writing this book - 1961 - when there was no silicon assistent available...

Let's have a look at a line presneted on page 26 - Gunderam labels this as "Stammanalysen meiner Verteitigung, Hauprezept", roughly translated as the main line of his defense against the Blackmar Diemer.

Analysis Gerhart Gunderam, 1961.
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3
Gunderam does not cover the move 2.f3 - so it is obvious he has to deal with the Gubsch defense a lot.
2...d5 3.e4 dxe4 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 Bf5 6.Ne5 e6 7.g4 Bg6 (diagram)

The main position in the Gunderam defense.

In addition to to tsandard move 8.Qf3, Gunderam now also considers 8.Bg2 c6 9.h4 butblack's reply 9...Bb4 is quite strong.

8.Qf3 c6 9.g5 Bh5 ! (diagram)

The author correctly indicates 9...Nd5 as inferior and suggests 9...Bh5 as the best defense, but now Gerhart misses the best white move.

10.Qh3 ??
We all know that 10.Qf2 or Qf4 is needed here. I will come back on that difficult choice in my next post. The text move is logical, it attacks a piece whose defender is attacked. But unfortunately black is to move first.

10...Qxd4 (diagram)

Gunderam still suggests 11.Nd3 Bg4 12.Qh4 but it is obvious that black is winning.
My computer finds 11.Nxf7 Kxf7 12.gxf6 Bg4 13.Qg3 but black is ahead.

So we can only applaude the work performed by Gunderam. His analysis proved to be invaluable for the development of the Blackmar Diemer. Obvuiously he misses some moves, but the ideas in his work on defending against the Blackmar Diemer ( eg 9...Bh5 ) have contributed a lot to modern theory.

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.