How many times?

Tonight, while I had the Olympics telecast on in the background, I played a short BDG on the Internet. When it was over, I thought, "how many times?" How many times have I played this mating pattern at the end of a Blackmar-Diemer Gambit? The answer seems to be in the hundreds, although in actual fact it must be only in the tens. But I can't believe that anyone who plays the BDG with any regularity has not encountered this mating pattern time and time again. Have you?

That h7-h6 thing in the Euwe again

When our friend Sveinung Økland from Byrne, Norway sent us this sharp little Blackmar-Diemer the other day, he wrote, almost apologetically that " It's blitz chess, I know, and you might have seen these attacks lots of times, but anyway..." Well, yes, that's true. So? Blitz chess is chess, too. And what was that they played the other day to decide the World Championship? What kind of chess was that? To each his own. We can enjoy both, or either, or none, for that matter.

Sure we've seen the mating pattern before. So? The old movies are quite often better than the new ones.

Now I think I'll load up the late great Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard again. Get the popcorn.

A favorite move of the weaker amateur

Bad idea: h7-h6 in the Euwe Defense

No, no, no! I absolutely do not mean 4.f3!

Over at his entertaining blog on the Jerome Gambit, which I often read while enjoying my first cup of morning coffee, Rick Kennedy discusses an interesting observation from Max Euwe on an early h7-h6. (JeromeGambit: A Jerome Look At The Semi-Italian Opening (Part 1)):

"On this blog I refer to 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 as the Semi-Italian Opening, a name given to it in Chess Master Vs Chess Amateur(1963), by Max Euwe and Walter Meiden. Here is what the authors say about Black's third move (I have changed the notation from English descriptive to algebraic.)

This is a favorite move of the weaker amateur. He fears some future attack by the White QB (Bg5, for instance) or by the White KN (Ng5), and, before the White QB is even able to move, he plays the precautionary 3...h6. In certain positions, such a precautionary move is occasionally necessary, but in this position, not only is it not necessary, but it consumes valuable time. This puts Black one move behind White in the type of opening where tempi are of greatest importance. Instead of meeting the enemy's rapidly mobilizing forces with armed soldiers (i.e., by bringing out his pieces), Black only loses time and force, and, without realizing it, even weakens his defensive wall..."

This reminded me that in the first year of BDG World (1983) I wrote an article on this general theme, in which I quoted Diemer (from the 2 January 1956 issue of Schach) on the move h7-h6:

"All instruction books warn of too many pawn moves in the opening. In this category is the move h6--enthusiastically played mostly by beginners, but often enough also by experienced players."

After noting that h6 is not "of itself" bad, Diemer goes on to enumerate its drawbacks:

1) It loses time and neglects development.

2) It weakens (often decisively) the field g6.

3) After Black castles Kingside, it offers White the opportunity to tear open the position through a g2-g5 pawn storm, or through a sacrifice on h6.

In the article I noted that h7-h6 appears frequently in the Euwe Defense to the BDG, a natural reaction to White’s placing his Bishop on g5.

I previously put up a couple of posts based on that article. You can see them here:

• The Euwe Defense and the move h7-h6
• More on the Euwe Defense and h7-h6

These posts also have links to a few illustrative games with javascript replay.

You made me do it...

Actually, I was kinda hoping for a good old-fashioned Evans Gambit, but you forced me into a Blackmar-Diemer.

Of course, there are exceptions...

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.

Back to back

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. Golfers, racing car drivers, best selling novelists, all succeed or fail in streaks.

Yes, simple woodpushers, too. By the time I took up chess I had a family and work that allowed little time for weekend tournaments. They were usually so few and far apart that I came to consider two games won in row a winning streak. Here’s an example from thirty years ago, when my work involved so much travel that I probably got in no more than a couple of tournaments a year. The games were played back to back, one with white, one with black. And each was blessed with a rook sac down the beloved f-file.

There's just something about f7

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 at me, little man? You looking at me?' and he still didn't say nothing. He just sat there and stared at me with those little round eyes in that little round head and didn't say nothing."
"Pawns are like that sometimes," the Bishop said.
"Yeah, I know," the Knight said. "I know, I know... but then something just snapped, and I ... I just fell on him like a ton of bricks."
"It's over now," said the Bishop, "How do you feel about it now?"
"Terrible. I don't know what got into me. I got nothing against f-pawns. Some of my best friends are f-pawns." The Knight looked away. "You know me. I abhor violence."

"Don't think this is enough"

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 a queenside attack beginning with 9...a6. White, a veteran BDG player, has other plans.

Bad Day at the Rock

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. And what's a cockle?

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.

Win One, Lose One

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)

Swatting Another Mosquito

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 translated:

Any opinion on my part, right or wrong, could be answered with ten other possibilities, which would again raise new problems. And these ten bring on another hundred, etc. Gambit play is just complicated, and it is often a matter of taste whether one prefers the extra pawn or the attack.

Now the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit is an interesting way of playing, but I cannot possibly spend the rest of my chess career on it. Forgive my reservations, therefore, but you must not interpret this as fear. It is rather that, if thousands of mosquitoes are attacking, it makes no sense to kill ten or a hundred.

Recently another mosquito showed up in Russia and stung the Euwe Defense.

From the Archives

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).

Hard Times?

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).

	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

McCarthy, Kevin C Unrated - Smallbone, K. 2218

0-1 (4NCL 2009-10) 3/28/2010

[#] 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 e6 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Bd3 c5 8.Qd2 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Nc6

[An old game from the finals of the first BDG world corresponence tournament went 9...Bd7 10.O-O-O Nc6 11.Nf3 Qa5 12.Bc4 O-O-O 13.Qe2 h6 14.Bd2 Bb4 15.a3 Bxc3 16.Bxc3 Qc7 17.Ne5 Nxe5 18.Bxe5 Qa5 19.Rd3 Bc6 20.b4 Qb6 21.Rc3 a6 22.Rf1 Rhf8 23.g4 Rd7 24.Rf4 Nd5 25.Bxd5 Rxd5 26.Bxg7 Rfd8 27.Rxf7 a5 28.Bf8 Rd1+ 29.Kb2 axb4 30.Bxb4 Kb8 31.Qxe6 Re8 32.Qxh6 Ree1 33.Qf4+ Ka7 34.Rc5 Re4 35.Ra5+ Qxa5 36.Bxa5 Rxf4 37.Rxf4 Rh1 38.Bc7! Rxh2? 39.Rf5 1-0 Roos,B-Soller,K/cr-1BDGwt fnl 1973]

10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.O-O-O Qa5 12.Rhf1 Rb8 13.Qf4 Qb4 14.Qxb4 Rxb4 15.Be3 Nd5 16.Nxd5 exd5 17.a3 Rg4 18.Bxa7 Rxg2 19.Bb8 Bh4 20.Bd6 Be6 21.a4 Kd7 22.Be5 f6 23.Bf4 Rg4 24.Kb1 g5 25.Be3 Rxa4 26.Rxf6 Rha8 27.c3 d4 28.Bc1? -156.50

[With a little help from Rybka White might have held with 28.Kc2 dxe3 29.Bf5+ Kc7 30.Rxe6 Rf4 31.Be4 Rf2+ 32.Kb1 Ra6 33.Re7+ Kb6 34.Rd6 Kc5 35.Rd4 e2 36.Bd3 Rf1+ 37.Kc2 e1=Q 38.Rxe1 Rxe1 39.Bxa6 ]

28...Bb3 29.Bf5+ Ke7 30.Re6+ Kf7 [0-1]

Generated by Aquarium

Oh, well. I have to get set up to watch Butler-Duke (the final round of the most prestigious team roundball event held in the United States, according to me).