Expert Opinion

"I guess we'll get through with them in a day."  --General George Custer, Little Big Horn, 1876.

Chess players, in my humble (but expert!) opinion, tend to put too much faith in expert opinion.

Experts, after all, can be wrong. Consider these. The Chairman of IBM in 1943: "I think there is a world market for about five computers." Or the President of Digital Equipment in 1977: "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home." (Bad English as well as bad opinion).

Grandmasters, too, who after all are super-experts, are not immune from error. Recently I was browsing my dog-eared copy of Grandmaster Ludek Pachman's Modern Chess Strategy (1963), and came across this:

"...the automaton examines all possible variations and selects the best move by rejection. This method can be employed for solving problems in which the number of possible moves is relatively small; for example, an electronic automaton in the Soviet Union (see Chess in the U.S.S.R., page 177) was able to solve the problem in the diagram:

1. e8B! Kxf6 (1. ...Kxd6 2. c8R) 2. g8R Ke6 3.Rg6#

"But the machine took twelve minutes, whereas I was able to do it in one minute. ...It is quite clear that this method cannot be used for playing a game. If the machine had to calculate for only seven moves in advance in a position with thirty alternatives, it would need 10,000 years to select the right move!"

That's incredible! But don't try this on your home computer.

(Originally published in BDG World 65, Oct-Dec 1994)

Short Game, Long Notes

David Gedult had a lot of fun with his notes to his games. This one, played on a train ride between Paris and Grenoble, probably set some sort of wpm (words per move) record.

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H

Gedult David - Deverriere

1-0 (Paris-Grenoble Train)1973

[#] 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 c5 4.Bf4 Qxd4 5.Nd5 [1-0]

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Here I must say that this was my shortest Blackmar-Diemer Gambit — or, in fact, the shortest game I've ever played! The Austrian Freidl, researcher, collector of BDG games, was completely fascinated with this game. For my part, I'm a little less so. In fact, I could box my ears! Also I've called myself all possible names — and for that the German language is especially suited.

Yes, if one just thinks of it, I've played the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit since I960. The answer 4. ... Qxd4 (after 3-... c5 4. Bf4) has been played against me at least a dozen times. Exactly like the worm who sits in the horseradish and believes there's nothing better in the world, I believed that after ...Qxd4 (whether on the third, fourth, or fifth move) that there was nothing better than Queen takes Queen (that our Diemer also believed it is no great consolation for me...) and then Nb5, etc., etc.

But now, I don't know what moved me to play 5. Nd5! — perhaps it was the rattling of the train that induced my gray cells to move faster — this time (it was like a light went on for me). And see: right away (after some consideration) Monsieur Deverriere resigned! (And this demonstrated that Monsieur Deverriere understood something about the game!) It can also be said, after 5. Nd5 Black can play what he wants, a whole, living Rook — the one on a8 — is lost. At any rate, I must express my thanks to Monsieur Deverriere for this 5. Nd5 move — and also to the rattling of the train.

"The BDG, a natural brilliancy"

From the October 1965 issue of Nick Kampars' Opening Adventures:

In the July,1965 issue of "Chess", edited by B.H. Wood, a contest for brilliant games was terminated with the following comment: "Our second great contest for brilliant games of 25 moves or less drew 129 entries from all parts of the world.... we have decided to divide the two cash prizes between three competitors,all from overseas: Dr. R. Cherubim,Saarland, Germany; D. Gedult,Paris,France ; and K. Winterton, Ottawa,Canada" . The following game from this contest was a BDG., a "natural" brilliancy. It was played at the Cercle Cassia, Paris,in March, 1965. Notes are by the winner.

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H

Gedult, David - Mazzoni, Dr. N.

1-0 (Cercle Caissa, Paris) 3/1965

[#] 1.d4 Nf6 2.f3 d5 3.e4 Transposing into the BDG, which I never fail to employ--at least for the first time--when playing against a master; and it has scored at least 90% for me. 3...dxe4 4.Nc3 e3 A master knows when to hand back the pawn--which he does not need for winning a game against an obscure opponent... 5.Bxe3 Now see how the bishop and f-pawn are badly placed, aren't they? 5...Bf5 6.Bd3 Not because I really intended exchanging pieces, but, as in most such games, when I castle queen's side, I didn't want his bishop staring at my c2, which after 0-0-0 becomes a weak point... 6...Bxd3 7.Qxd3 g6 8.O-O-O Bg7 9.Qd2! Just to disquiet him a bit. 9...h6 10.Nge2 Nbd7 11.Kb1 e5 12.d5 g5 After all, he would like to castle. 13.Ng3 O-O 14.Nf5 Nh7 He smells a rat and would be glad to change the bishop for that damned knight, but I'm not in a hurry. 15.h4 f6 16.g4 Nb6 17.Qd3 Qd7 18.hxg5 hxg5 19.Rxh7 Kxh7 20.Ne7+ f5 21.Rh1+ Bh6 22.Nxf5 Resigns. [1-0]

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