Remembering Nikolajs Kampars

Today is the 40th anniversary of Nikolajs Kampars' death on 5 August 1972. Blackmar-Diemer Gambit fans of a certain age know (or certainly should know) that he did more than any other player to popularize the gambit in the United States.

This year also marked the 50th anniversary of another significant event for Kampars and the BDG. In February 1962 Kampars began his magazine Blackmar-Diemer Gambit. It originally appeared as a four page insert in the Latvian magazine, Chess World, and concentrated on the BDG (and closely related openings) almost exclusively. With the January 1964 issue, Kampars began to publish independently of Chess World. At the same time he expanded his magazine to include openings other than the BDG, and renamed it Opening Adventures. From then until failing health forced him to discontinue publication with the May 1967 issue, Kampars insured that this modest little magazine was true to its name. There were indeed delightful adventures in its pages: gambits of all sorts and sizes, and still plenty of BDGs, of course.

Four years ago I reprinted a short article on Kampars' life. You can see it here, and also play through a few of his games.

And lest you think Kampars was not a "serious" chess player, here is his draw with a young Bobby Fischer.

More about Kampars (and Fischer)

In 1957 Nick Kampars played a young Bobby Fischer in the New Western Open in Milwaukee. The luck of the draw gave Kampars the black pieces--otherwise we might have had a game with the future world champion defending against the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit.

Fischer,RJ - Kampars,N [B11] 1034 Milwaukee, New Western Open, 1957

1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 Bg4

Kampars plays sharply against the Caro Kann Two Knights. Within a couple of years after this game his opponent was facing the likes of Keres, Petrosian, Smyslov, and Larsen in the same line.

4.h3 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 e6 6.d4 Nd7 7.Bd3 dxe4 8.Nxe4 Ngf6 9.0-0 Nxe4 10.Qxe4 Nf6 11.Qe3 Nd5 12.Qf3 Qf6 13.Qxf6 Nxf6 14.Rd1 0-0-0 15.Be3 Nd5 16.Bg5 Be7 17.Bxe7 Nxe7 18.Be4 Nd5 19.g3 Nf6 20.Bf3 Kc7 21.Kf1 Rhe8 22.Be2 e5 23.dxe5 Rxe5 24.Bc4 Rxd1+ 25.Rxd1 Re7 26.Bb3 Ne4 27.Rd4 Nd6 28.c3 f6 29.Bc2 h6 30.Bd3 Nf7 31.f4 Rd7 32.Rxd7+ Kxd7 33.Kf2 Nd6 34.Kf3 f5 35.Ke3 c5 36.Be2 Ke6 37.Bd3 Drawn.

Fischer finished with 6 of a possible 8 points in a strong field. Larry Evans and Donald Byrne shared first with 7, and another Latvian, Paul (Povilas) Tautvaisas came in with 6.5 points. Yes, this is the same Tautvaisas who turned back Diemer's BDG at Esslingen, Germany in 1948 (Game 70a in Diemer's book). Fischer's only loss was to Mel Otteson (who was on the losing side of a BDG we previously published--Game 702 in BDG World).

The next year Fischer was a grandmaster. As for Kampars, I don't know how he finished in the tournament. But a draw with Black against Bobby Fischer, yes, even a young Bobby Fischer, is good enough for me.