Sunday, May 30, 2010

I coulda had a BDG

A recent issue of TWIC included a game that began with

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. e4 Bb4 4. e5

I've always liked this position. You can get to it now and then if you play the Blackmar-Diemer. In fact, Tim Sawyer was kind enough to include one of my games with this line as Game 1 in the second edition of his Keybook.

Black can respond with 4...Nd5 or 4...Ne4, but either way after 5.Qg4 his future is not bright.

Pos5qg4

You can play through the new game with this line here.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Back on Track

Sometimes we gradually drift away from chess. Work, family, other responsibilities seem to conspire to remove the time or opportunities for the game. Life happens.

However, John Crompton got back to tournament play a few days ago in a one-day event near Charleston, South Carolina. Happily, he also got back to the Blackmar-Diemer, against an opponent who had recently won the state senior's championship.

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
Crompton, John 1667 - Reeve, C. 1952
1-0 (Aiken 25 Quick Chess) 4/17/2010
[#] 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 Bg4 6.Bc4 e6 7.O-O Bd6 8.Bg5 Nbd7 9.Qe1 Bxf3 10.Rxf3 O-O 11.Qh4 h5 12.Bd3 g6?
[12...Be7 ]
13.Raf1
[13.Ne4 wins a piece at once.]
13...Be7 14.Rxf6 Nxf6 15.Rxf6 Bxf6? Abandon all hope...
[Rybka, with just enough time for a quick blunder check, suggests 15...c5 here as the lesser of evils, but White stays ahead in any variation I could see.]
16.Bxf6 Qe8 17.Qg5 Kh7?? 18.Qxh5+ Always a satisfying end to a game. [1-0]