New ideas in the Euwe

 hello Blackmar Diemer fanatics.

Resuming my posts here after a long pause :-(

Working now with the latest Stockfish 17 engine which brings clarity in so many old lines. Today I am starting off with a basic position in the Euwe after 6...Be7 7.Bd3 Nbd7 (diagram)

I used to consider the old 8.0-0 as the strongest move ( cfr my earlier post ), but now, Stockfish 17 immediately indicates that 8.Qe2 is much stronger.\, followed by castling queenside.

Likewise, I automatically replied 8.0-0 against the main line 7...0-0, only to learn today that 8.Qe2 ( diagram) is much stronger.

The Zilbermints line after 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Bd3 Nc6 8.0-0 is immediately refuted after 8...Nxd4 9.Kh1 c5 and Stockfish thinks white has less than nothing. Instead, the simple 8.a3 0-0 9.Qd2 is suggested with equal game.

For another annoying line 6.Bg5 Nc6, i suggested 7.Bb5 but the silicon monster clearly prefers 7.Qd2

Seems like we have to review lots of new theory here :-(

What a great day

hello all, long time no see 😧

I got a new PC which seems to be a bit stronger than my previous - maybe this will help to develop Blackmar Diemer theory further...

In any case, I was looking at a strong black line in the Euwe defense : 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 c5 (diagram)

I have always struggled with this move, just because it is so simple and thematic in the French defense. And also because I never found a good white continuation. Scheerer suggests 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.Kh1 which is obvioulsy not bad for white. But I never found a good white continuation after b;lack's most challenging line 9.dxc5 h6 .

So today, with the help of my new silicon assistant, I got to 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.Ne4 (diagram)

Black try it safely and play 11...Be7, but gets no advantage after 12.Kh1, removing the white king from any future annoying checks.

Also, 11...Bd4+12.Nxd4 Qxd4+ 13.Kh1 brings nothing aftre 13...f5 14.c3 Qd5 15.Bc4 and white will soon regain the pawn.

Which leaves 11...Bxb2 12.Rb1 (diagram) when black makes an awfull lot of moves with the blackcolored bishop.

a/ 12...Be5 13.Nxe5 Qd4+ 14.Kh1 Qxe5 15.Nd6 =+ ( Black cant capture the c5 pawn as this would result in a forced draw - try it yourself )

b/ 12...Bd4+ 13.Kh1 doesnt bring black anything more than line c

c/  12...Bf6 13.Bb5 =+ and white can damage the black pawn structure if black exchanges queens

d/ 12...Ba3 13.Rb3 += brings the black rook into the action

So, it seems that white has a decent answer to the 8...c5 9.dxc5 h6 line. True, it doesnt bring equality, but it sure is no refutation as I believed before.

A tough nut to crack

Just looking at "Long Bogo" Bogoljubow position with my new Stockfish 8 toy boy 👰  : 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf4 g6 6.Bf4 Bg7 7.Qd2 0-0 8.0-0-0 Bf5 (diagram)

I always believed 9.h3 was the key move here, but now I am not so sure anymore since white cannot avoid black swapping some pieces ; 9.h3 Ne4!! 10.Nxe4 Bxe5

Stockfish 8 now gives 11.Ng5 (diagram) as best and follows up 11...Bd5 (diagram)

I think everyone will agree with me that this is not a good position for the attacker - white has nothing for the pawn, maybe some distant development advantage, but certainly not worth a pawn. Stockfish suggests 12.Be3 as best now, which is certainly not a killer move 😞

Going back one move, at depth 26/46, my silicon assistant finds nothing better. Also at move 10, there is nothing better, so any improvement must come at move 9, when white played 9.h3.

The alternative is 9.Bh6 (diagram) which has the benefit of not exchanging any pieces needlessly as 9...Bxh6 10.Qxh6 Ng4 11.Qd2 is equal.

What did we learn today ? 8...Bf5 9.Bh6 is to be preferred over 8...Bf5 9.h3 in the Long Bogo. We will look at possible black moves in my next post.

Major improvement in GiveAway Declined variation

Just loaded Stockfish 8 and I have to admit, results are spectacular.

I was still glancing through the positions resulting after the GiveAway variation 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 c6 6.Bc4 Bf5 7.g4 Bg6 when Stockfish 8 quickly found an improvement to 8.h4 and 8.g5, namely 8.Qe2 (diagram)

The order of the moves is key here - white delays h5 or g5 and plays first a waiting move. Only when black commits to a move, white then moves its kingside pawns.

Let's look at a few lines.

A. 8...e6 9.h4
...A1. 9...h6 10.Ne5 (+)
...A2. 9...b5 10.Bb3 (=)
...A3. 9...h5 10.Ne5 (+)
...A4. 9...Bb4 10.h5 (=)
...A5. 9...Nxg4 10.Bg5 (diagram)

......A5a. 10...Be7 11.0-0-0 (=)
......A5b. 10...f6 11.Bxe6 (++)
......A5c. 10...Qc7 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.Qxe6+ (+=)
......A5d. 10...Qb6 11.Bxe6 (++)
......A5e. 10...Qa5 11.Bxe6 (++)
......A5f. 10...Qd7 11.0-0-0 (++)
......A5g. 10...Qd6 11.0-0-0 (+)

B. 8...b5 9.Bb3
...B1. 9...a5 10.a3 (=)
...B2. 9...b4 10.Na4 (=)
...B3. 9...e6 10.h4 (+=)
...B4. 9...Nbd7 10.h4 (+=)

C. 8...Nxg4 9.Rg1 (+=)

D. 8...Nbd7 9.g5
...D1. 9...b5 10.Bb3 (=)
...D2. 9...Nh5 10.Rf1 (=)
...D3. 9...Nd5 10.0-0 (=+)
...D4. 9...Ng8 10.Bf4 (+)
...D5. 9...Ng4 10.h3 (++)

So it seems Stockfish 8 is much stronger then its previous version - it unearthed a simple improved to the GiveAway Declined variation in a matter of minutes.

Now fix the GiveAway Accepted !!!

Dispair in the GiveAway variation

hello Blackmar Diemer fans,

Yesterday evening I played a few blitz games in my local chess club, several of them were based on the Ziegler/O'Kelly defense

1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 c6 6.Bc4 Bf5 when I venture the surprising 7.g4 !!
Because of obvious reasons, I called this the GiveAway variation.

Black should of course accept the gift and capture 7...Nxg4, but yesterday evening, most of my opponents choose to play it carefully with 7...Bg6

What can now complicate things again with yet another sacrifice 8.h4!!  Nxg4 9.Ng5 (diagram)

Black has two moves 9...h5 and 9...Nh6

After the seemingly robust 9...Nh6, white gets great attacking chances with 10.Qe2 (diagram)

A. 10...Qxd4 11.Be3 Qg4 12.Qxg4 Nxg4 13.h5 (=)
B. 10...Qc7 11.Be3 (=)
C. 10...e6 11.d5 (=)
D. 10...b5 11.Bb3 (=)
E. 10...Nd7 11.Bf4 (=)

So the robust 9...Nh6 does not offer any advantages, let's look at the more aggressive 9...h5 10.Bf4 (diagram)

White is risking all here and black can remian on top in various ways
F. 10...b5 11.Bb3 e6 12.Qe2 Bb4 13.Bxe6 (=+)
G. 10...e6 11.Qe2 Bb4 12.0-0-0 0-0 13.Bd3 (=+)
H. 10...Nd7 11.Qe2 Nb6 12.Bb3 (=+)

So it seems the ultra aggressive 8.h4 is not so good if black decline sthe pawn in the GiveAway variation. The problem is that 8.g5 might not offer better prospects 😓 aftre 8.g5 Nd5 (diagram)

Castling on both sides

hi Blackmar Diemer fans !

Today I'd like to share a game when both players rushed out to attack the enemy kings - bust as usual, the Blackmar Diemer side prevails.

Guido De Bouver - NN

1.d4 Nf6 2.f3 d5 3.e4 dxe4 4.Nc3 exf3 5.Nxf3 e6
The Euwe defense

6.Bg5 Be7 7.Bd3 c5
One of the better defensive moves. I had played many times against this opponent, so I realized he had prepared this line. I needed to get something differently.

8.Qe2
New, but bad :-(

8...0-0 9.0-0-0 Nbd7 (diagram)

10.h4 a6 11.h5 h6 12.Bd2 b5 13.g4 c4 (diagram)

The pawn storm on both side of the board has appeared

14.Be4 Rb8 15.g5 hxg5 16.Rdg1 b4 (diagram)

It seems like black's pawn storm has more stamina ?!
But now comes the killer move ( I thought 1 hr to find and confirm it )

17.Bxg5 !! bxc3 18.Bh6
Here my opponent made a crucial mistake in this complicated position

18...Rxb2
Black thinks to see the victory - the idea of Rb1+ Kxb1 Qb6+ Kc1 Qb2+ Kd1 Qb1 is appealing

19.Qg2 (diagram)
Opening an escape field on d2 aftre black's mate attack
And victory was soon mine !!!

Aftrethoughts,
After 7...c5, white should play the simple 8.dxc5 (diagram) and obtain equality.

A New Morning

Looking at the date of my latest post - it is really time to post again. So, with the Bob Dylan album "New Morning" from 1970 playing in the background, I choose to write again on a game I played last weekend.

Guido De Bouver - NN
1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 c6 6.Bc4 e6
A superdefensive Caro Kan French !

7.Bg5 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Qe1 Nbd7 10.Rd1
I knew this was not the best move, but I realised my opponent ( who choose not to be named ) has prepared against the Blackmar Diemer, so I wanted to deviate from the normal paths.

10....Nb6 11.Bd3 Nbd5 12.Qh4 (diagram)

Let's have a closer look at the position. White has wasted 2 moves to get to the ideal Euwe defense position ( Bc4 and Rd1 ), whilst black has played the suboptimal c6. Is this still playable for white ?

12...g6
The only move for black

13.Ne5
Seems like a natural move, but 13.Nxd5 Nxd5 14.c4 is much stronger

13...Nh5
Again the only move (diagram)

14.Ne4
Probably not the bets move, but both Bxe7 and Bxg6 lead to a difficult endgame ahead for white

14...f6 15.Nxf6 (diagram)

Here black played 15...Ndxf6, which was punished by the unexpected 16.Nxg6 and I won quickly.

Seems like black's only move an advantage is 15...Rxf6 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Qe4 with black having two white pieces for the rook.

Bottomline : dont deviate from the established path by wasting time with silly moves like 10.Rd1. But even then, black's path to success is far from easy.

Doesn't that sound like a new morning ?