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.