Diemer in Transition

This week I celebrated my 72nd birthday. You can't blame me for thinking that was a good year, the year of my birth, 1936 Coincidentally, Diemer wrote that 1936 was the year he played his first Blackmar-Diemer Gambit on the international stage, at a tourney in Czechoslovakia. (Diemer-Fux, Game 1162 in BDG World). However, he had not yet deserted his old favorite, the Colle. Witness this game from the same event: Diemer,EJ - Florian,Tibor [A47] Podiebrady, 1936 Colle System (Game 2176 in BDG World ) 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 b6 3.e3 Bb7 4.Nbd2 e6 5.Bd3 d5 6.Ne5 Be7 7.f4 0-0 8.Qf3 c5 9.c3 Nc6 10.0-0 Re8 11.g4 g6 12.h4 Bf8 13.f5 exf5 14.gxf5 Rxe5 15.fxg6 Re6 16.gxh7+ Kh8 17.Qg3

17...Bd6 Here Diemer wrote: Why didn't I play my Queen directly to g2? I don't know anymore. 18.Qg2 Rxe3 19.Nf3 Rxd3 20.Bh6 Bf8 21.Ng5 Qc7

22.Rxf6 Diemer gave 22.Nxf7+ Kxh7! (22...Qxf7 23.Rxf6! Qxh7 24.Bxf8!) 22...Rg3 23.Nxf7+ Kxh7 24.Ng5+ Kh8 25.Nf7+ Qxf7 26.Rxf7 Rxg2+ 27.Kxg2 Bxh6 28.Rxb7 Rg8+ 29.Kf2 Rg7 30.Rxg7 Kxg7 31.dxc5 bxc5 32.Rd1 d4 33.Kf3 Kf6 34.Ke4 Ke6 35.Rg1 Be3 36.Rg6+ Kd7 37.h5 Ne7 38.Rf6 Bg5 39.Ra6 Nc6 40.cxd4 cxd4 41.a3 Be3 42.b4 Kc7 43.h6!

43...Bxh6 44.b5 Kb7 45.Rxc6 Be3 46.a4 Bg1 47.a5 Bf2 48.Rf6 Be3 49.Rf7+ Kb8 50.Rd7 Bd2 51.a6 Be3 52.Kd5 Bf4 53.Kc6 Ka8 54.Rd8+ Bb8 55.b6 1-0 Not a BDG, but representative of Diemer's burn-all-bridges style. His young opponent went on to become an international master.