Repairing the Blackmar-Diemer?

Now and then a line suffers a theoretical blow, made known in a new book, and then the BDG player has to do his best to find a novelty that repairs the damage. This is true for any opening, but when a BDG player ignores such a gap, he risks a lot more than a Queen’s Indian player. A case study: how to mend a critical BDG variation.

So writes Stefan Bücker in his latest column at ChessCafe.com. The line he sets out to rehabilitate is this: 1 d4 d5 2 e4 dxe4 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 f3 c6! 5 Bc4 exf3 6 Nxf3 Bf5! in the O'Kelly Defense, but which also transposes from the Gunderam and Ziegler.

This has always been a tough nut to crack. Stefan gives it a heroic try, and at the very least provides White some ideas, Black a lot to think about. See what you think. The column is here. Highly recommended.