Footsteps that you hear down the hall ...

 You know the feeling of something half remembered
Of something that never happened, yet you recall it well...


I hesitate to bring it up again, but...it's back.

The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit: A modern guide to a fascinating chess opening

"The book went to the printers this very week." So posted the author, IM Christoph Scheerer (previously Wisnewski) on the ChessPub forum on 20 January 2011.

It looks to be real this time. Go to this page at Everyman Chess. There you can download  a PDF with an introduction, a table of contents, and an extract of part of a chapter on the Bogoljubow Defense. It looks good!

Promised in February. Again.

For real this time?

Or just a face in the misty light?


(With help from Johnny Mercer)

Nakamura wins Wijk aan Zee

This morning I got up too late to watch GM Nakamura win the 2011 Tata Steel Chess Tournament. It's probably just as well since his final game was a 22-move draw with Wang Hao. But last week I watched some exciting, fighting chess from Nakamura (on Chessbomb, a great place to watch). Winning this venerable tournament was a significant accomplishment, as Nakamura finished ahead of Anand, Carlsen, Kramnik, and Aronian, among others.

I've long been attracted to this tournament, played on the coast at Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands, since 1968, and before that, since 1938, just inland at Beverwijk. Diemer played there, in the lower levels, several times, and in 1956, he won his section--without playing a single Blackmar-Diemer Gambit. For an account of Diemer's adventure there that year, see these previous posts.


The Beginning of His Best Year (Part 1)

The Beginning of His Best Year (Part 2)

The Beginning of His Best Year (Part 3)

The Beginning of His Best Year (Part 4)

And here's another post on Diemer's game with Durao from the tournament.

Teichmann Defense, Oz Edition

Here's a recent BDG from the Australian Open. Black gets his queen in a bad way, and White just simplifies down.

You can get a PGN copy of the game here.

Diemer Yes, Blackmar No

Diemer wrote that he played his first BDG "on the international stage" at a tourney in Czechoslovakia in 1936 (Diemer—Fux). However, he had not completely abandoned his old favorite, the Colle. From the same event:

New Year, Old Opening

Well, let's get 2011 underway with a game played a couple of months ago in a team match. It's our old friend, the Euwe Defense (it can't be right). The notes are by the winner, except for my insertion of the Diemer-Rauch game.