Keres, Diemer, and the BDG

Thinking about the Lemberger Countergambit in the last post reminded me of the only game I know where Paul Keres played a Blackmar-Diemer—or more exactly, a BDG avoided. I no longer have any record of where I originally came across this game, but I notice that it’s included in ChessBase’s large database. Keres would have been 17 years old when this was played. 

Keres,Paul – Luhmann
Correspondence , 1933
Lemberger Countergambit

1.e4 e5 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 A Lemberger by other means. 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Nxf6+ Nxf6 



7.Nxe5 [A couple of grandmasters continued here with 7.Bd3 c5 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.0-0 h6 10.Qe2 0-0 11.Bf4 Bd6 12.Nxe5 Qc7 13.Rad1 b6 14.Bg3 Rd8 15.c3 Bb7 16.Bb1 Ba6 17.Qxa6 Bxe5 18.Bxe5 Qxe5 19.h3 Qc7 1/2-1/2 Tiviakov,S (2608)-Hodgson,J (2640)/Istanbul 2000] 7...c6 8.Bd3 Qc7 9.Bg5 Be7 10.0-0 0-0 11.Re1 b6 



12.Re3 [12.Qf3 Bd7 (12...Bb7? 13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.Qf5) 13.Be4+-] 12...h6?? Usually a mistake, as it is here. [12...Nd5 13.Bxe7 Nxe3 14.Bxh7+ Kxh7 15.Qh5+ Kg8 16.Bxf8 Nf5+-] 13.Bxh6!+- gxh6 [13...Re8 14.Rg3 Bf8 15.Qf3+-] 14.Qf3



14...Ne8? [14...Nd5 is better. 15.Qg3+ Bg5+/=] 15.Qh5+- Bg5 16.Rg3 f6



17.Ng4 [17.Rxg5+! fxg5 18.Bc4+ wins easily.] 17...Ng7?? [Black was still in the game with 17...Bxg4 18.Rxg4 f5] 18.Nxh6++- Bxh6 19.Qxh6 f5



20.Re1 [I've read that Keres played as many as 150 correspondence games at once during this time, which may account for his overlooking 20.Bc4+ Be6 21.Bxe6+ Rf7 22.Qxg7#] 20...Qf7 [20...Ba6 21.Bxa6 b5 22.Qe6+ Rf7+-] 21.Ree3 1-0



[21.Ree3 b5 22.Rg6+-; but 21.Bc4 still mates quickly: 21...Be6 22.Bxe6 Qxe6 23.Qxg7#]

In his book, Vom Ersten Zug an auf Matt!, Diemer included this fragment of a game with Keres as game 167:

Diemer,EJ - Keres,Paul
Correspondence, 1935
Blackmar-Diemer Avoided

1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 g6




4.Nxe4 Bg7 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Bd3 Nbd7 7.Neg5 0-0 8.h4 h6 9.Ne4 Nxe4 10.Bxe4 Nf6 11.Bd3 Bf5 12.Bxf5 gxf5 13.Qd3 Qd5 14.Be3 Qe4 15.Qe2 Nd5 16.c3 a5 17.Nd2 broken off.



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