Down in Flames!

In an earlier post I gave a game where GM Susan Polgar defended successfully against a BDG. Here she plays white, gets up a tempo after three moves, and ... loses. This is from BDG World 45, May 1991. The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Goes Down in Flames By Walter H. Wood My preference as Black against the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit is 1. d4 d5 2. e4 dxe4 3. Nc3 e5!, the Lemberger Countergambit. If white avoids this with 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 then Black can play the Hübsch Gambit (2. .... Nf6 3. e4 Nxe4!) or even 3... e6 with a classical French Defense. But what if you forget this and accidentally get snookered into a Blackmar-Diemer Gambit accepted? Try the ideas in the following game which I found unannotated in Inside Chess, vol. 4, issue 3, p. 3. In this game, which transposes into the Bogoljubov Defense (normally 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 dxe4 4. 13 exf3 5. Nxf3 g6), Black actually loses a tempo in the opening by moving his Queen pawn twice, and still wins! Polgar,Zsuzsa (2510) - Anand,Viswanathan (2600) New Delhi, 1990 (Game 0941 in BDG World) 1.d4 d6 2.e4 Nf6 3.f3 d5 4.Nc3 dxe4

White is a tempo ahead of the normal BDG and could equalize material and have a mobile pawn center by playing 5.fxe4. Perhaps fearing the reply 5...e5! (suggested by Doug Decker) she continues in gambit style. 5.Bg5 exf3 6.Nxf3 g6 7.Bc4 Bg7 8.Ne5 With this move White commits herself to an attack on f7 and "moves the same piece twice" without sufficient provocation. I think 8.0-0 "reserves the greater option" for the N and should be stronger. 8...0-0 9.0-0 Nbd7

10.Kh1 If 10. Qe1 Nxe5 11.dxe5 Qd4 + is very annoying. Hence White takes time to remove her King from the g1-a7 diagonal. The need to relinquish this tempo is evidence that White has strayed. 10...c6 Black proceeds to control d5 which is vital to the defense. White frequently wins when Black fails to stop the advance d4-d5. Notice that 10. e6? would weaken f6 and obstruct the QB. Black's KP belongs right where it is — on e7 11.Qf3 I would have tried 11.Qe1 with the idea Qh4 as in the Studier Attack. 11...Nb6 12.Bb3 If the white Q were now on h4, white would be able to play 12. Bd3 (I once asked Richard Shorman where the B should go in this type of position and he said "d3"). 12...Bf5 [Anand avoids 12...Qxd4 13.Nxf7 Rxf7 14.Rad1 Qe5 15.Rd8+ Bf8 16.Bxf6 exf6 17.Qxf6 Qxf6 18.Rxf6] 13.Rad1 Nfd5 Preventing d4-d5 and threatening ...f6. Dual purpose moves! 14.Qg3 Be6 Responds to White's threat of Rf5, protects 17, reinforces d5, and renews the threat of ...f6. How often strong moves have multiple simultaneous functions! White's attack has fizzled and Black now begins to take the initiative. The remaining moves were: 15.Bd2 Nc7 16.Ne2 Bxb3 17.axb3 Ne6 18.Nf3 Nd5 19.c4 Nf6 20.Qh4 Qb6 21.b4 Rad8 22.Ra1 Ra8 23.Bc3 a6 24.Ne5 Qc7 25.Rf3 Rad8 26.Raf1 h6 27.Re3 Ng5 28.Ng3 Qc8 29.Rfe1 Rd6 30.Qf4 Ne6 31.Qh4 Nxd4 32.Bxd4 g5 33.Qh3 Qxh3 34.gxh3 Rxd4 35.Nf5 Rf4 36.Nxe7+ Kh7 37.b3 Rd8 38.Nd3 Re4 39.Nc5 Rxe3 40.Rxe3 Bf8 41.Nf5 a5 42.Nxb7 Rd1+ 43.Kg2 Bxb4 44.c5 Nd5 45.Re8 Rd2+ 46.Kf3 Rd3+ 47.Ke4 Rxb3 48.Rc8 Bc3 49.Nd8 Ba1 50.Rxc6 Nf6+ 51.Rxf6 Bxf6 52.Nxf7 a4 53.c6 Rc3 0-1 An instructive performance by the rising Indian star.