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.