tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52387642875625519952011-10-13T22:59:59.774-05:00About the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit and other chess foolishness...Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comBlogger2121100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-50392450264615674892011-10-13T22:59:00.001-05:002011-10-13T22:59:59.795-05:00

Since first becoming interested in the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit—almost forty years ago now—I’ve collected just about anything I could find on the opening, on Blackmar, on Diemer. Books, magazine articles, photos. correspondence, whatever. Scoresheets—here’s one I scanned from the original. This is Diemer's scoresheet of one of a series of BDGs he played with Manfred Kloss in August 1959. On the

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-32650157637545274932011-10-09T20:02:00.001-05:002011-10-09T20:02:03.356-05:00

The winning of a pawn among good players of even strength often means the winning of the game.--Jose Capablanca. But stay away from poisoned pawns!—Jose Capablanca’s momma.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-79628893708931221462011-10-06T20:34:00.001-05:002011-10-06T20:34:25.630-05:00

Recently I posted a photo of the contestants taken during the game Motta-Greer from the 1988 Montana Open and asked readers to identify the move pending on the board. Among the first to correctly do so were Günter Brunold, Richard Westbrook, and Matt Lasley. The clock in that photo indicates Black is on the move. Black’s queen is clearly on f7  and is only there for one move during the game. The

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-83056225793950224762011-10-02T19:29:00.001-05:002011-10-02T19:29:26.741-05:00

Back in the 1980s Austria’s Klaus Nickl was a formidable opponent in Blackmar-Diemer thematic correspondence tournaments. After I included several of his Lemberger Countergambits in my last post I decided to see what sort of chess he’d been up to recently. No straight BDGs turned up, although Nickl seems to still be quite active over the board. As he approaches his 70th birthday (he was born in

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-60715649072500690132011-09-27T21:34:00.001-05:002011-09-27T21:36:33.195-05:00

“Not for a few chess friends,” wrote Diemer in Vom Ersten Zug ..., “is the move 3...e5 problem number 1 of the BDG.” That draws no argument from me. The Lemberger Countergambit, so christened by no less a personage than the great Savielly Tartakower, is a tough nut to crack. From this week’s TWIC comes the latest example. White tries Edgar Sneiders’ optimistic 4.Qh5 and ends up struggling for a

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-61650029342047609482011-09-26T22:35:00.001-05:002011-09-26T22:35:52.719-05:00

I’ve always credited Andy Tejler for my introduction to the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, but never blamed him for my addiction to it. We were correspondence friends for a third of a century. In his later years he lived in northern Virginia and played chess at the Arlington Senior Citizens Club. This is a photo taken there in April 1994. Andy enjoyed gambits. The BDG, of course, but just about any

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-60893178369647169332011-09-22T19:46:00.001-05:002011-09-22T19:46:20.613-05:00

Black gives up his for a knight, but White gets a rook for his. We’ve seen this movie before. See Tom's BDG Pages: Black Square Anemia. 

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-46143337837388847442011-09-18T22:21:00.001-05:002011-09-18T22:22:29.856-05:00

E. J. Diemer wrote that although he learned chess at the age of nine from a schoolmate, he was in his twenties before he experienced the two events which most shaped his chess development. The first was his discovery (in 1931) of the games of Paul Morphy. The second was his introduction to Alekhine at Baden-Baden in 1934, and their association while Diemer was assisting with the organization for

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-84471221949718743232011-09-13T17:42:00.001-05:002011-09-13T17:49:45.635-05:00

Okay, going back one more time to the old swimming hole at f6 that I wrote about here and here. The square f6 is so often a target in the Blackmar-Diemer. In my dreams it beckons as a clear dark hole for my knights to jump into. Of course, that square and that tactic are still on the board in other openings. I’m drawn back to this well-known game where our late friend Hugh Myers watered his horse

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-35725994272051698052011-09-09T19:29:00.001-05:002011-09-09T19:29:38.159-05:00

Paul Motta has played many Blackmar-Diemer Gambits, and I published quite a few of them over the years in BDG WORLD. Today I was prowling through some old photos and came across this one. Fortunately, there are some identifying notes on the back of the photo. It was taken at the Montana Open in Missoula, in May 1988. Paul has the white pieces, and his opponent is Bill Greer. A quick check in my

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-19538804118967735712011-09-06T21:26:00.001-05:002011-09-06T21:26:33.437-05:00

It was in the spring of 1980. I was being reassigned back to the states, so I drove down to Fussbach, probably on a Saturday morning, to pay one last visit. As usual, we met at a small table in his “office” in the gasthaus across the street from his quarters. After some conversation over the chessboard (more listening than talking on my part), Diemer suggested we go outside for some air, and then

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-29468191974105082312011-08-26T20:28:00.001-05:002011-08-26T20:28:29.993-05:00

In the last post I talked about the fun of jumping into the hole Black often leaves at f6. Usually (and appropriately) a knight jumps in, but I mentioned a game in which Kurt Richter sent in a rook. Here’s that game, which chess friend Günter Brunold of Kempten (Allgäu), Germany called to my attention, from the November 1923 issue of the Deutsche Schachzeitung. Since it’s a game by Richter

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-73376935143677787902011-08-22T20:50:00.001-05:002011-08-22T20:50:06.189-05:00

We know about the fishing pole, dangling a piece on the g-file, tempting your opponent to capture it with his h-pawn, and thereby opening a line to his castled king. But how about diving into the old swimming hole, that deep, dark space at f6? What a special joy to jump into that clean, clear, unoccupied pool, as smooth as glass. Horses love to jump in there, and even elephants do it now and

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-27274687002946582192011-08-15T19:19:00.001-05:002011-08-15T19:19:34.403-05:00

After I posted several new games without notes last week, not seeing much to stir my interest, I heard from Matt Lasley on the Le Diouron-Bugalski game. He suggested that the knight fork played at move 20 should have come at move 18. So we took a look at it.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-18120706446415741092011-08-11T22:22:00.001-05:002011-08-11T22:22:31.913-05:00

“The only good rook is a working rook!” —Samuel Reshevsky. Did you ever notice how many BDG games are decided by rook action down the open f-file?

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-24850612118480919252011-08-08T19:44:00.001-05:002011-08-08T19:44:35.115-05:00

Mondays are fun days here. I look forward to the crop of games from The Week in Chess. Today’s issue brought forth more BDGs and close relatives than usual, but a mixed bag of wins, losses, and draws (how chess-like). I didn’t find anything especially of interest: no theoretical innovations, no spectacular combinations, not even an entertaining blunder of note. See if you agree.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-41985514768256030622011-08-07T20:31:00.001-05:002011-08-07T20:31:30.514-05:00

While we’re on the subject... In the mid-1980s Walter Schneider invited me to play in a BDG thematic with a dozen or so old BDG hands. Several had been finalists or semi-finalists in the large BDG World Correspondence Tournament organized by Nick Kampars. It was a great opportunity to meet and compare notes with other longtime BDG fans. One of my opponents was Karl Hanisch from Germany. Playing

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-31228063011486752812011-08-04T11:55:00.001-05:002011-08-04T11:55:26.009-05:00

Yes, now people leave cards, flowers, sympathy notes at the intersection, but maybe the authorities should post a warning.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-45524572713091138172011-08-01T21:08:00.001-05:002011-08-01T21:08:30.984-05:00

How do you explain it? A player has a great tournament one month, a dismal one a month or two later. Nakamura triumphs spectacularly at Wijk aan Zee and a few months later struggles to avoid last place at Dortmund. What is it? What’s the difference? Concentration? Confidence? Fate? Luck? It happens everywhere. Teams go on winning streaks (and losing streaks). Batters go on hitting streaks.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-1019502503052240912011-07-27T17:59:00.001-05:002011-07-27T17:59:37.854-05:00

There’s something distasteful about the Vienna Defense. Not that I’ve got anything against Vienna, or Austria, or even Hans Müller, the guy Diemer always blamed credited with dreaming the defense up. But when somebody offers you a pawn, take it! If you don’t want to play into a Blackmar-Diemer, step up and fight like a man with something like the Lemberger (my personal favorite) or, if the

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-48689316085523063722011-07-25T20:10:00.002-05:002011-07-25T20:18:58.485-05:00

Old photos again... I was rummaging through back issues of BDG WORLD and in Vol III, No 5, Oct-Dec 1985 I came across this photo and caption:  Bob Fleuriot was in Europe a few months ago,and stopped by to pay his respects to E. J. Diemer, who lives now in the little village of Fussbach in the Black Forest. Bob sent us this photo of himself with EJD. If they’re considering a position on the

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-25939554872570181002011-07-24T17:55:00.001-05:002011-07-24T17:55:40.016-05:00

The photo of old BDG friends which I posted recently induced me to review the battle between Diemer and Gunter Müller, Biel 1975, which Gunter annotated for BDG WORLD 25 in December 1986. I’ve retained Gunter’s original notes and augmented them with a few of my own (indicated with ***), assisted by computer analysis and tablebases which were of course not readily available almost a quarter

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-38154488341603631432011-07-20T18:49:00.000-05:002011-07-21T17:39:32.160-05:00

You get more that way the older you get. You’re looking for something, a missing key, say, and you open a drawer and there's an old box. You open the box, and look, there’s an envelope, and inside, why, some old pictures. And now the key is forgotten. Now it’s the pictures...   The pictures, like this one, about a quarter of a century old now, taken somewhere in Germany in the late 1980s. I

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-20902567286935661182011-07-19T15:03:00.000-05:002011-07-19T15:03:31.492-05:00

I freely give you one pawn, and you turn right around and snatch another?

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-25530043575509378472011-07-17T18:39:00.000-05:002011-07-17T18:40:03.487-05:00

In Atzerpay's last game he played 15.Ng5, hoping to provoke 15...h6, weakening Black's kingside, while at the same time opening the f-file to give his rook a shot at a sac on f6--which only works, symbiotically enough, because Black did weaken his kingside with h6--a comforting relationship. In Bird Defense Fishing Pole, Michael Goeller presents a recent game...   "...employing my favorite 

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-5431672328846245842011-07-12T19:14:00.000-05:002011-07-12T19:14:35.015-05:00

My old friend Peter Atzerpay, the private investigator and strong amateur chessplayer, often tells me that chessplayers can learn from other sports (games, arts, sciences, whatever). Even boxing.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-3337462514571760112011-07-05T18:34:00.000-05:002011-07-05T18:34:18.059-05:00

Or, Why Did You Stray So Far From Home, Little Bishop? What do you call the opening 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 Bb4? The ECO classification is A45, unusual Indian openings. Tim Sawyer did me the honor of including one of my games in this line as Game 1 in his Keybook II, and called it the Nimzo-Indian variation. "Sometimes I wonder," he wrote, "if Black realizes there's a pawn on e4 instead of c4."

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-24071441784375053852011-06-26T22:16:00.000-05:002011-06-26T22:16:14.844-05:00

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-92199721049554140612011-06-21T21:54:00.000-05:002011-06-21T21:54:03.429-05:00

Sometimes I enjoy opening a book or magazine article on the Blackmar-Diemer, choosing a diagram of a middlegame position, again at random, and seeing if I can guess what variation it evolved from. Take a look at this diagram, for example. After 16...Nb4 A routine BDG position, I'd say, and a BDG accepted at that. There's the open f-file, the White queen already at her standard attack position

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-30027727741494420532011-06-12T20:24:00.000-05:002011-06-12T20:24:29.077-05:00

The Knight and the f-pawn should be friends. "I don't know what got into me," the Knight said. "I was just sitting there at e5, hanging out, minding my own business, and then..." "And then?" The Bishop prompted. "And then I look up and this little guy on f7 is eyeing me. He just sits there eyeing me, saying nothing, just eyeing me." "So?" "So he just kept eyeing me and finally I said 'You looking

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-17589343633570186202011-06-09T18:04:00.000-05:002011-06-09T18:04:33.263-05:00

My buddy Peter Atzerpay, the well-known private investigator and strong amateur chessplayer (and a better alter ego than I ever deserved), dropped by the Blackmar Mansion beach shack last weekend, between planes. Thinking we might knock off a game or two, I hauled a couple of Becks out of the cooler, but no. "Nope. No time," he said. "Consulting on a hot case in DC." He chugged down his beer,

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-35578162845461690702011-06-06T17:34:00.000-05:002011-06-06T17:34:52.075-05:00

The Langeheinecke Defense to the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit is named after a German doctor who lost a 47-move correspondence game to Diemer in 1940. In fact it is not so much a defense to the gambit — if that name is reserved for lines where the gambit is accepted—as it is a declination. In the line's most direct form, after 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3, Black passes on the gambit pawn with 4...

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-48240201324021761962011-05-23T10:37:00.000-05:002011-05-23T10:37:29.183-05:00

Last week ChessBase celebrated its 25th anniversary by offering a 25% discount on its products for one day. I've used ChessBase from its earliest days, but have been getting by with version 9 for several years. Rather than risk waiting another 25 years for 50% off, I decided to go ahead and pick up version 11. I'm glad I did. One nice feature in 11 is something the CB folks call "novelty

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-22758521322186109352011-05-19T14:24:00.000-05:002011-05-19T14:24:30.096-05:00

It's refreshing to see an author actually play an opening he writes about--especially when the opening is the Blackmar-Diemer. In the just completed Luebeck club tournament, Christoph Scheerer, author of the recently published the Blackmar-Diemer gambit, a modern guide to a fascinating chess opening, tried for a BDG in two games. In one game Black evaded the BDG by going into a Hübsch Gambit; in

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-70772305635886415262011-05-07T10:27:00.000-05:002011-05-07T10:27:48.091-05:00

Thanks to Matt Lasley for alerting me to this game from the Jan-Mar 2011 issue of The Chess Correspondent, the newsletter of the Correspondence Chess League of America (CCLA).  The game was published as a best game contest winner for the Master-Expert category, and was probably played in 2010. The players' ratings are from the current CCLA rating list. The game slips into a BDG where Black tries

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-22051039802874618602011-04-18T17:51:00.000-05:002011-04-18T17:51:40.111-05:00

A couple of new blogs on the Blackmar-Diemer have emerged recently. Guido De Bouver has one called, appropriately enough, Blackmar Diemer Gambit. It has been up since March. Johnny Owens, an old correspondence chess friend, has one which he calls Enter the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, also up since last month. It's Spring, time for new growth. Check them out.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-5771066985313022362011-04-12T16:27:00.000-05:002011-04-12T16:27:31.176-05:00

This week's TWIC yielded several Blackmar-Diemers, the first crop of the season, I suppose. No great surprises here--in each game the higher rated player won. In two of the three games that was black. (Pull down the player names to select the other games).

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-14067970251725803302011-04-07T21:15:00.000-05:002011-04-07T21:15:43.008-05:00

Last year I heard about a big book called The Final Theory of Chess. It worried me a little. At my age, any mention of "final" tends to do that. But more than that, the idea that anything as complicated as chess could have a final theory didn't seem to make much sense to me. For a long time my own working theory of chess has been covered by one of Tartakower’s many witticisms: "Chess is a fairy

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-46836440785681732622011-03-12T15:20:00.000-06:002011-03-12T15:20:46.732-06:00

Well, it was a long time coming, but it appears to have been worth the wait. Tim Sawyer thinks so, and I'm inclined to agree with him. Here's Tim's take on Christoph Scheerer's take on the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit. A Review By Tim Sawyer One month ago “The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit: A Modern Guide to a Fascinating Chess Opening” book by Christoph Scheerer was released. (He took the last name of his

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-2404810128493926392011-02-18T19:24:00.000-06:002011-02-18T19:24:30.641-06:00

I received a note from Guido De Bouver today, informing me that Amazon.co.uk had shipped his copy of the long-awaited BDG book by Christoph Scheerer, The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit: A Modern Guide to a Fascinating Chess Opening. So, it seems the footsteps that we hear down the hall are real. The page at Amazon.co.uk shows the book is indeed available, and provides the capability to "click to look

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-10431934547387039382011-02-07T20:23:00.000-06:002011-02-07T20:23:34.941-06:00

Here's a pleasant little knockout of the Euwe Defense from the Gibraltar Masters. Black wastes time with pawn-snatching by his queen and bishop, and then fails to guard f7 sufficiently. I'm fond of this Rxf7 sac when Black is locked in by a wall of his own pieces--a rook on e8, bishop on e7, and pawn on e6, having played it myself in many skittles and blitz games. The PGN for this game is here.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-38757416374292452172011-01-30T19:23:00.001-06:002011-02-03T17:50:19.421-06:00

 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

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-23076293666050044412011-01-30T10:05:00.002-06:002011-01-30T19:26:33.363-06:00

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,

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-70652764956415786762011-01-15T12:43:00.000-06:002011-01-15T12:43:20.545-06:00

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.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-92163716602144499992011-01-09T19:53:00.000-06:002011-01-09T19:53:13.344-06:00

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:

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-65331796950701861422011-01-05T18:40:00.000-06:002011-01-05T18:40:17.525-06:00

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.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-88452089483859770752010-12-06T19:57:00.000-06:002010-12-06T19:57:49.437-06:00

This week's TWIC yielded an Alapin-Diemer Gambit that reminded me of an old question. Here's the article I mentioned, a PDF extracted from BDG World 46, June 1991.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-30664059387971397902010-11-17T00:00:00.000-06:002010-11-17T00:00:35.461-06:00

Old ideas got that way because they proved useful. Who said that? I just found it on the web. But I like it. The Blackmar-Diemer is an old idea, certainly old enough to be out of fashion. Yet old ideas, especially in the hands of old chessplayers, can still prove useful. Take this BDG, Teichmann Defense, from the World Seniors:

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-2841354895156773462010-11-09T17:17:00.001-06:002010-11-09T17:18:19.550-06:00

A couple of Blackmar-Diemers turned up in this week's TWIC. White wins an Euwe Defense transposition from the Caro Kann, but loses a Teichmann. Oh, well... (Use the pull-down menu to get to the second game)

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-6046906927847420772010-10-04T20:51:00.000-05:002010-10-04T20:51:29.116-05:00

Each year I look forward to the games from the Olympiad since a few Blackmar-Diemers usually turn up there. Today's TWIC crop, however, produced only one, this uninspiring Lemberger Countergambit.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-77182735702201818572010-09-28T19:55:00.000-05:002010-09-28T19:55:36.279-05:00

If you're a Blackmar-Diemer Gambit fan and can get to Port Townsend, Washington, some 40 miles or so northwest of Seattle, on October 23rd, you should. It's a rare opportunity to enjoy the company of chess friends playing the BDG, one and all, in celebration of the 85th birthday of an old BDG fox and an all-around nice guy, Ernst Rasmussen. Here are the particulars: Oct 23 Ernst Rasmussen

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-23843264601382191232010-09-20T17:25:00.000-05:002010-09-20T17:25:07.322-05:00

Years ago I enjoyed searching for games where masters who probably would never intentionally play a Blackmar-Diemer in a "serious" game nevertheless sometimes found themselves playing a typical Blackmar-Diemer position. Such a case can develop in the Trompowsky, after 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bf4 d5 4.f3 Nf6 5.e4 dxe4 6.Nc3 exf3 7.Nxf3. White is up a tempo over the BDG, having the move Bf4 in hand. (

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-6229733860609555092010-08-29T17:04:00.000-05:002010-08-29T17:04:01.619-05:00

Tim Sawyer continues to look for improvements in the Blackmar-Diemer. Here he annotates a different line in the Hübsch Gambit, taking on a couple of book recommendations.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-15612662805773629262010-08-25T10:28:00.000-05:002010-08-25T10:28:22.177-05:00

A BDG friend asked a question about the status of the long-announced Scheerer BDG book on the everymanchess.com forum and received this response:  "This book is unfortunately very, very delayed. I don't have a date of publication yet but I'm hoping it will publish before the end of the year." Oh. That may be the problem. They're waiting on the book to self-publish. You can read the forum

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-59903703806539086142010-08-23T18:49:00.000-05:002010-08-23T18:49:12.990-05:00

Here's another win with the Blackmar-Diemer from the recent U.S. Open. White plays up a class and wins against a Teichmann Defense. When Black castles kingside White usually stacks his rooks on the open f-file, but in this game Black lingers long in the center and White goes for the uncommon Rae1.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-88953113160373886012010-08-06T19:28:00.000-05:002010-08-06T19:28:01.613-05:00

My scouts are always working, on the lookout for someone saying something nice about the Blackmar-Diemer. It's hard work, but hard work has its occasional rewards. Such was the case yesterday. In a post called "The chess gods love the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit," Frisco Del Rosario tells the story of a sweet little BDG played a couple of days ago in the U. S. Open. Here's the game, with my notes.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-65749296706636227592010-08-02T21:39:00.000-05:002010-08-02T21:39:00.929-05:00

Yeah, I know, most BDGs are strange games. But this one... Black survives two mates in one, gets close to equal (although still under pressure) and then ... resigns. Or did the game end from some other cause? Time? A bad stomach? Or am I missing something? This one is fresh off today's TWIC release.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-9242774669640599852010-07-26T12:39:00.000-05:002010-07-26T12:39:51.185-05:00

By Tim Sawyer GM Lev Alburt has written that one of the best ways to improve in chess is to find a typical thematic position and try to learn everything you can about that one position. One approach is to practice chess by playing your favorite opening vs the same computer over and over again. CM Dan Heisman recommends that after every game, you look up where you could have improved. Using these

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-62782594203869373522010-07-09T13:16:00.000-05:002010-07-09T13:16:07.030-05:00

"Gambit Blackmar-Diemer" by Eric Jégo Published June 2010 by Modus Operandi  Review by Tim Sawyer Many people talk about writing books, but only a few actually do it. When Eric Jégo first contacted me a year or two ago about his new BDG project, I was very hopeful. Now I hold his book in my hand and it brings a smile to my face. The author is from France, so naturally his 188 page

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-46225961482790301222010-07-01T17:57:00.000-05:002010-07-01T17:57:14.641-05:00

In the 1950s Diemer flooded the chess world with letters extolling the virtues of his gambit, making a bit of a pest of himself, no doubt. Max Euwe indulged him a bit, to be rewarded (some might say cursed) by having the 5...e6 defense to the BDG named after himself. When Diemer persisted in debating some variation, Euwe declined in a 5 May 1956 letter. The pertinent paragraphs, loosely

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-11427336176282757302010-06-17T19:37:00.001-05:002010-06-17T19:37:24.069-05:00

I've about given up hope for the long promised new book on the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit from Everyman Chess. Since I first wrote about it here almost a year and a half ago  it's been delayed again and again. Some time ago I wrote the publishers, asking about the status, but received no reply. So much for imagined. Now for the real. Guido De Bouver, from Belgium, has produced Attack with the

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-3244936889569999112010-06-02T13:59:00.001-05:002010-06-02T14:01:52.873-05:00

Now and then it's good to look back. Browsing through old issues of BDG World I replay a game now and then that I found entertaining. So, why not reprint one now and then here. This one, for example, with the winner's notes. (By the way, I'm trying out a Silverlight game viewer; if you don't have Silverlight installed on your system, you should see a link to download it below).

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-85639628013796818192010-05-30T19:39:00.001-05:002010-05-30T19:39:49.695-05:00

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

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-24664830990364671162010-05-02T14:43:00.000-05:002010-05-02T14:43:34.308-05:00

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

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-77276396513402466532010-04-28T19:00:00.001-05:002010-04-28T19:00:17.936-05:00

It's hard to spot a master a couple of hundred rating points AND the f-pawn and still get the point. Hard, hard times. /* General */ .ahb { font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt; } .ahb img { border: 0px; margin: 0px; } /* END General */ /* Game header & board panel */ a#flipiconWUWBVA { } #flipiconWUWBVA img {

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-65218435828574949982010-04-20T19:33:00.001-05:002010-04-20T19:33:27.196-05:00

These days it's rare to hear from my old friend Peter Atzerpay, the well-known private investigator and strong amateur chessplayer. Pete's pretty much retired from active investigations since his glory days on the trail in Little Rock, and from active tournament play as well. The last I heard from him he was hustling five dollar games at knight odds in a little coffee shop in a dead-end alley

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-41344340657122054602010-04-05T19:25:00.001-05:002010-04-05T19:25:36.636-05:00

I hate to say it, but it seems our BDG has fallen on hard times. So what else is new? The whole country has fallen on hard times (but I digress). Anyway, today's example isn't domestic fare. Courtesy of TWIC, it's from the Four Nations Chess League (the most prestigious team chess event held in the United Kingdom, according to the 4NCL). /* General */ .ahb { font-family: Tahoma;

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-59694859612554036232010-03-29T16:11:00.001-05:002010-03-29T16:11:33.419-05:00

"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

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-54734006012894101042010-03-13T18:52:00.001-06:002010-03-13T18:52:06.756-06:00

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. /* General */ .ahb { font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt; } .ahb img { border: 0px; margin: 0px; } /* END General */ /* Game header & board panel */ a#flipiconJDJEGK { }

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-53088647923209202352010-03-12T16:22:00.000-06:002010-03-12T16:23:18.910-06:00

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

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-59444356829047982352010-03-03T19:38:00.000-06:002010-03-03T19:38:37.507-06:00

According to TWIC (what a great resource), "The 18th Fajr International Chess Open Tournament took place February 19th-28th 2010 in Mashhad - Iran. 11 rounds Swiss System 90 minutes for the whole game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1." And what turns up there? An Iranian FM playing (and winning) a BDG. See for yourself: /* General */ .ahb { font-family:

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-90770982938182645882010-02-28T19:01:00.000-06:002010-02-28T19:01:15.315-06:00

A BDG declined was played at the Karnevalsopen in Solingen, Germany a couple of weekends ago. I first noticed it in Mark Crowther's TWIC, and was encouraged to find that Black was listed as a reasonably strong player with an Elo of 2286. There was no rating listed for White, so I checked the tournament site and found there had evidently been a transcription error, as Black's rating was actually

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-85823784710727693382010-02-27T17:02:00.000-06:002010-02-27T17:02:55.064-06:00

A recent game from the Brazil Open in Rio de Janeiro transformed into a line in the O'Kelly Defense to the BDG (1. d4 d5 2. e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4. f3 c6), reaching a position from a game well known to BDG players. Nick Kampars introduced that game, Dahlen-Botvinnik, in the October 1965 issue of his Opening Adventures: BOTVINNIK MEETS THE B.D.G. On January 26, 1962 the World Champion, M.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-62458803976445465772010-02-22T18:41:00.000-06:002010-02-22T18:41:57.173-06:00

Gary Lane, in his current Opening Lanes column, observes: "It is always very hard to track down Blackmar-Diemer Gambit games because the vast majority are played by casual players at weekend tournaments and those score sheets rarely make an appearance on a computer database" True. But Gary comes up with several interesting games, including a previously unpublished one by Roald Berthelsen, who

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-74097737913685478202010-02-01T16:46:00.001-06:002010-02-01T16:48:44.559-06:00

The 2010 Gibtelecom Masters is underway in Gibraltar, a spectacular site even if you do play inside. Here's a BDG that crashed on the rock there. /* General */ .ahb { font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt; } .ahb img { border: 0px; margin: 0px; } /* END General */ /* Game header & board panel */ a#flipiconACIHMO { } #

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-16642610994666469842010-01-15T19:23:00.000-06:002010-01-15T19:23:01.807-06:00

How about something different? Here a game from the March-April 1996 issue of BDG World, in which our hero Tim McGrew takes on IM Anna Gulko in an ICC game. The opening is the Winckelmann Gambit in the French--it's okay, the f-pawn gets offered. Elaborate notes by Tim: /* General */ .ahb { font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt; } .ahb img { border: 0px;

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-49305490159714945912009-12-31T17:34:00.000-06:002009-12-31T17:34:56.390-06:00

As I write this the new year has arrived in London, and as far as I know, the promised new book, "The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit: A Modern Guide to a Fascinating Chess Opening," from Everyman Chess, has not. The Everyman website still has the book due in the USA in December. However, a reader recently informed me that he had heard from Everyman that "This title is now looking like a March publication

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comLaguna Beach, FL, USA30.249651384354863 -85.9467315673828130.240383384354864 -85.96132256738281 30.25891938435486 -85.93214056738282tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-37311660112865333652009-11-23T18:30:00.000-06:002009-11-23T18:30:06.473-06:00

An Alapin-Diemer Gambit turned up in today's TWIC. White's offer of the f-pawn is met by its old nemesis, e7-e5. Two draws in this line for you: /* General */ .ahb { font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt; } .ahb img { border: 0px; margin: 0px; } /* END General */ /* Game header & board panel */ a#flipiconJGKQGP { } #

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-78661133238612661722009-11-19T17:42:00.000-06:002009-11-19T17:42:53.606-06:00

Here's a BDG that showed up in this week's TWIC. It's a line that you don't see that often--although Alekhine once played it in a simultaneous exhibition (see the second game). /* General */ .ahb { font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt; } .ahb img { border: 0px; margin: 0px; } /* END General */ /* Game header & board panel */ a#flipiconMSUOEK {

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-74729158050290416292009-11-13T10:35:00.000-06:002009-11-13T10:35:39.222-06:00

While looking over Euwe Defense games I once again came across this well-known one of Diemer's: /* General */ .ahb { font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt; } .ahb img { border: 0px; margin: 0px; } /* END General */ /* Game header & board panel */ a#flipiconIGBUDE { } #flipiconIGBUDE img { border: 0px;

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-15679434029650807302009-11-12T20:00:00.000-06:002009-11-12T20:00:19.124-06:00

I'm talking about The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit: A modern guide to a fascinating chess opening, by Christoph Scheerer (previously Wisnewski). Back in September I noted that the publisher, Everyman Chess, had announced that the book would be out in October in the U.S., the following month in the E.U. Today the Everyman site has the months slipped to December and January. For a while Amazon U.S. said

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-66429751385611417072009-11-10T18:37:00.002-06:002009-11-10T18:38:08.096-06:00

In his book, Vom Ersten Zug an auf Matt, Diemer included a short essay on correctness (a propos -- KORREKTHEIT!, p. 129), in which he insisted that if the BDG were a "correct gambit" then it would be no gambit at all. Tonight I read an interesting piece by Dutch grandmaster Jan Hein Donner, (who once wrote a separate devastating article on Diemer called The Prophet von Muggensturm). He didn’t

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-27374891329495652882009-11-06T09:07:00.000-06:002009-11-06T09:07:49.593-06:00

It's been a while, but I've been struggling with a few health problems. Anyway, here's a recent Blackmar-Diemer in the venerable Euwe Defense. I've always enjoyed playing against the Euwe. Maybe it's time to show a few more games with this variation. /* General */ .ahb { font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt; } .ahb img { border: 0px; margin: 0px; } /* END

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-32798424475364534292009-11-05T18:03:00.000-06:002009-11-05T18:03:23.951-06:00

I had this post ready for the anniversary of Blackmar's death last month, but have been having a few health problems and let the date slip by.  From The British Chess Magazine,Volume 8, this report of Armand Edward Blackmar's death on 28 Oct 1888: OBITUARY. News reaches us from America of the death of another strong and, by his original work, widely-known chessplayer—Ormand [sic] Edward

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-54862687502885375822009-10-06T20:44:00.002-05:002009-10-07T00:17:31.870-05:00

The 25th European Club Cup with 57 teams is underway from October 3-11 in Ohrid, Macedonia, about 190 km south of the capital Skopje. The Blackmar-Diemer showed up for an early round and was promptly sent packing. /* General */ .ahb { font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt; } .ahb img { border: 0px; margin: 0px; } /* END General */ /* Game header & board panel

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-68313145399629570222009-10-01T09:28:00.000-05:002009-10-01T09:28:46.076-05:00

I was looking through Lev Zilbermints' book on his line against the Euwe Defense and came across an old game of mine he had included. To think, I played this game when I didn't even know it was the Zilbermints Gambit! Or maybe I did, since Lev and I were corresponding around this time. Anyway, this gives me the opportunity to try a new game posting format introduced by the Chess OK folks with

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-66661729319392096422009-09-28T22:44:00.001-05:002009-09-29T07:38:55.660-05:00

The Yahoo Group "Chess Unorthodox UON" has released UON 25, a special edition which is devoted solely to Lev Zilbermints' line in the Euwe Defense, which Lev calls, well, the Zilbermints Gambit, not to be confused with the Zilbermints Gambit in other openings. The line goes 1 d4 d5 2 e4 de4 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 f3 ef3 5 Nxf3 e6 6 Bg5 Be7 7 Bd3 Nc6 8 00! Nxd4 9 Kh1, resulting in the diagram on the cover.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-89430468898439488322009-09-12T19:00:00.000-05:002009-09-12T19:00:45.388-05:00

We posted an earlier game by W. S. Fazan, a nice little win with the Blackmar Gambit, but here he discovers the trouble with the Blackmar: 3...e5. Fazan,W. S. - Ryan,L. A. South of Thames vs North of Thames London, 1896 Blackmar Gambit Declined Played at the Cannon Street Hotel, London, on Saturday, May 9, 1896, and published in The British Chess Magazine, Vol XVI, 1896, p.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-38472494781091918442009-09-10T18:44:00.001-05:002009-09-10T18:44:58.058-05:00

I'm probably too much of a traditionalist or whatever to have developed much interest in Fischer random chess, or Chess960, as I understand the idea is known these days. However, a reader sent this game which I found interesting. A BDG in Chess960? Sure looks a lot like one. White: friscodelrosario (2110) Black: pkramam (1520) Event: Online Chess, Chess.com Date: 2009-08-30   1. d4

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-59065825834549351452009-09-01T21:39:00.000-05:002009-09-01T21:39:51.874-05:00

The new book on the BDG from Everyman Chess is now due out in the United States in October, in Europe in November, according to this announcement on Everyman's website: The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit: A modern guide to a fascinating chess opening Christoph Scheerer (previously Wisnewski) Do you wish to set your opponents problems from the very start of the game? Are you happy to roll the dice and

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-1140164509600575192009-09-01T21:37:00.000-05:002009-09-01T21:37:43.932-05:00

Last week I celebrated my 73rd birthday with a short stay in the hospital. The food was good, but posting anything on this blog was out of the question. I hope to resume now with regular postings, although they may be a bit less frequent. For a hospital the food was really good.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-17351079616207742892009-08-20T11:06:00.000-05:002009-08-20T11:06:39.364-05:00

Chess Sparks, the 1895 book by J. H. Ellis, included one game by A. E. Blackmar among its 400 miniatures, but it was not a Blackmar Gambit (see Blackmar Yes, His Gambit No). However, the book did include one:    Fazan,W. S. - M. Played at Oliphant's about 1891 Blackmar Gambit Accepted 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.f3 exf3 [The Blackmar Gambit accepted. In a later game Mr. Fazan was instructed

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-21171331886331825442009-08-16T21:00:00.000-05:002009-08-16T21:00:47.919-05:00

Tropical Storm Claudette is coming in this evening. The track is to the east of us, so only a few gusts and light rain are here so far. I walked over to the beach around 5:30 this afternoon and took a few pictures. Almost as lovely as a Blackmar-Diemer.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-82436813167045697142009-08-16T15:50:00.000-05:002009-08-16T15:50:45.123-05:00

The January 1896 issue of British Chess Magazine reviewed a book called Chess Sparks by the Rev. J. H. Ellis (London: Longman's, Green, & Co., 1895). It was a collection of 400 miniatures (the sparks), none longer than twenty moves. The review stood in good company, as on the same page Emanuel Lasker’s Common Sense in Chess (London: Bellairs & Co., 1896) was also reviewed. Of interest here is

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-1200271016198668232009-08-14T19:55:00.000-05:002009-08-14T19:55:21.817-05:00

In a recent post I mentioned that after 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e4 dxe4 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bh5 7.g4 Bg6 8.Ne5 e6 9.Qf3 c6 10.g5 Nd5 11.Bd3, Black’s best move is 11...Nd7, and promised a game in this line played by the subject of recent posts, FM Theo Hommeles. Here it is. Hommeles,Theo - Van Bohemen,Cees NED-ch op Netherlands (1), 1992 BDG, Teichmann Defense 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e4

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-82004958473787845822009-08-09T16:19:00.000-05:002009-08-09T16:19:12.821-05:00

Newton Grant and the BDG go back a long time. He was one of the finalists in the first World BDG Correspondence Championship in the 1970s. Today I was sorting through some old papers and came across this photo Newton sent me almost 20 years ago, of himself in front of Blackmar’s tomb in New Orleans.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-53368945105762679522009-08-04T18:39:00.001-05:002009-08-04T18:44:15.519-05:00

Here’s the second Blackmar-Diemer played last month at the 6th South Wales International Open: Fletcher,J (2027) - Owens,M (1731) 6th South Wales International Open (4), 13.07.2009 BDG, Teichmann Defense 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e4 dxe4 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bh5 7.g4 Bg6 8.Ne5 e6 9.Qf3 c6 10.g5 Nd5 11.Bd3 11...Qe7? [This renders f7 indefensible. Best is 11...Nd7. As it happens I have a

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-83919030842259371462009-07-29T21:51:00.000-05:002009-07-29T21:51:43.802-05:00

There were a couple of nice Blackmar-Diemers played this month at the 6th South Wales International Open. Here’s one of them: Fletcher,J (2027) - Bridges,P (1884) 6th South Wales International Open (2), 12.07.2009 BDG, Zeller Defense 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Bf5 4.g4 Bg6 5.Bg2 5...c6 [5...e5 6.Nge2 exd4 7.Nxd4 Bb4 8.0-0 Bxc3 9.bxc3 Ne7 10.Rb1 b6 11.f4 exf3 12.Qxf3 c6 13.Ba3 0-0 14.

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-57917555273351900102009-07-23T22:11:00.000-05:002009-07-23T22:11:19.026-05:00

As promised, more on Theo Hommeles and the Blackmar-Diemer. Here is a game with his notes from BDG WORLD 76 (Jan-Feb 1997). Notice that once again h7-h6 gets Black in trouble in the Euwe Defense. Theo Hommeles - IM Vladimir Chuchelov (2490) Dieren, 1992 BDG, Euwe Defense Nowadays Chuchelov is a grandmaster. For me it was the first time to test the BDG on a player with a title. For him it

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238764287562551995.post-17822353338455118692009-07-21T18:28:00.000-05:002009-07-21T18:28:46.576-05:00

Back in the 1990s in BDG World I published a number of Blackmar-Diemers played by the Dutch FM Theo Hommeles. Last year I posted a couple of those old games here. I think it’s time to reprint a few more. Hommeles is in the chess news these days due to a great performance in the just-concluded Canadian Open in Edmonton. The Open was a nine-round Swiss with very strong IM and GM participation (

Tom Purserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280364557655195625noreply@blogger.com