Steinitz stumbles in BDG bog

It happened near the end of the 19th century, a long time ago. The great Wilhelm Steinitz, having lost his "first undisputed" world championship to Emanuel Lasker a couple of years earlier, ran afoul of a Blackmar-Diemer Gambit in a Moscow simultaneous in February 1896. Steinitz failed miserably in a return match against Lasker in Moscow later that year, and died in New York City on 12 August 1900.

This game, which purists might want to call the von Popiel attack in/or rather than the Ryder Gambit has been around the web for years, but it came up again in a note I received recently from Clyde Nakamura, who wrote that he recently retired (from work, not chess) and plans to revive his column at Chessville called The Search for Dragons & Mythical Chess Openings. That's good news for all of us fans of unorthodox openings and enterprising chess.

So here's the game:

Father and son Blackmar-Diemer Gambits

In BDG World 29, December 1987, we printed a BDG from the 1950 Hungarian Championship between two players who would later become international masters.

Honfi Jr, Karoly - Füster, Geza
6th Hungarian Championship, 1950
BDG, Ryder Gambit

1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Qxf3



5...c6 6.Bd3 Bg4 7.Qf2 e6 8.h3 Bh5 9.Nge2 Nbd7 10.0-0 Be7 11.g4 Bg6 12.g5 Qa5 13.gxf6 gxf6 14.Nf4 0-0-0 15.Bd2 Qg5+ 16.Kh1 h6?
 


17.Qh2? [ 17.Nxg6 fxg6+- (17...Qh5 18.Nxe7+ Kb8 19.Qg3+) ] 17...Qh4?
 


[ 17...Bxd3 18.cxd3+/-] 18.Rg1 [ 18.Bxg6 f5+- (18...fxg6 19.Be1! and Black loses his Queen.) ] 18...f5



19.b4 [ 19.Rxg6 Bd6 (19...fxg6 20.Nxe6) 20.Rgg1+-] 19...e5 20.b5 exf4 21.bxc6 Nb6 22.cxb7+ Kxb7 23.Bxf4 



23...Bd6? [Black is lost anyway. 23...Rxd4 24.Qg2+] 24.Bxd6 Rxd6 25.Qxd6 Bh5 26.Qg3 1-0.

This game appeared in a small book by Laszlo Alfoldy, titled in its German edition, Gambit Eröffnungen. According to its author, in Hungary the BDG was advocated by the IM Karoly Honfi and his father.


N. J. Jensen wrote IM Honfi, asking him about his experiences with the BDG, and received a friendly reply. He wrote that his game against Füster was the only BDG he ever played in a tournament, but that his father had played the BDG for several years. Mr. Honfi, Sr., who worked in a post office, achieved the category of a candidate master. His son did not have that many of his father's games, but did enclose several with his letter. Here is one of those games.

Honfi Sr, Karoly – Serfozo
Budapest, 1961
BDG, Ryder Gambit

1.d4 Nf6 2.f3 d5 3.e4 dxe4 4.Nc3 exf3 5.Qxf3 e6 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.Nge2 Bb4 8.Be3 Nd5 9.0-0



9...Qe7?! [9...0-0 10.Qh3 f5 11.Nxd5 exd5 12.Bxf5 Bxf5 13.Rxf5 Rxf5 14.Qxf5 Ne7 15.Qe6+ Kh8 16.c3 Bd6 17.Rf1 Qg8 18.Rf7 Re8 19.Bh6 Nf5 20.Qxf5 Bf8 21.Nf4 gxh6 22.Ne6 Bg7 23.Rxg7 1-0 Dravnieks,O-Dalgleish, Canada 1964.] 10.Bd2 [10.Nxd5 exd5 11.Nf4+/-] 10...Bxc3 11.bxc3 Bd7 12.c4 Nf6 13.Rab1 Rb8 14.Bg5 h6 15.Bh4 0-0



16.Qg3 [16.Bxf6?! Qxf6 17.Qxf6 gxf6 18.Rxf6+/-] 16...Qd6 17.Bxf6 Qxg3 18.Nxg3 gxf6 19.Nh5 Rfd8 20.Nxf6+ Kg7 21.c3 Ne7 22.Rf4 Ng6 23.Nh5+ Kg8 24.Rf6 Be8 25.Rbf1



25...c5?? [>=25...Ne5 26.Be2 Ng6+-] 26.Bxg6+- fxg6 



And White mates in four. 27.Rf8+ Kh7 28.Nf6+ Kg7 29.Nxe8+ Rxe8 30.R1f7# 1-0.

Play through the games and download PGN here.

The Halosar Trap Again

Still restoring the hard drive. Meanwhile, here's a new video on the best-known (at least to BDG players) trap in the Blackmar-Diemer: In case the embedded video isn't showing, you can find it on YouTube here. By the way, for anyone else unaware of the correct pronunciation, Diemer rhymes with dreamer, not dimer.

A Ryder's Gambit in the Wizard's Castle

Today in his blog, The Wizard's Castle, Eric Shoemaker annotates a Blackmar-Diemer he won in the Reno Club Championship Qualifier:

"I knew I would be facing the speculative 'Blackmar-Diemer Gambit' but was more prepared for one variation than the other. This led to me getting into some difficulties early on, in which I should have lost. I did not lose, however, as I went in for really sharp play with 29...Qd8! But it's possible that I'm still lost with best play after this move; however, it was the only feasible possibility in the position. Alternatives did not seem to offer any chances of success."

Here's the game and my take on it, with a little help from Rybka. You can find Eric's notes here. David Cater (2000) - Eric Shoemaker (1850) Reno, Nevada Club Championship Qualifier, 19 Feb 2009 Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, Ryder Gambit 1. d4 d5 2. e4 dxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. f3 exf3 5. Qxf3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. O-O-O c6 8. h3 O-O 9. Bc4 Qa5 10. g4 e6 11. Nge2 Nbd7 12. h4 Nb6 13. Bb3 Nbd5 14. Bg5 Nxc3 15. Nxc3 Nd5 16. Nxd5 exd5 17. h5 Be6 18. h6

18...Bxg4 Black panicked, concerned with his black-square weakness. But better was 18... Bh8 19. Bf6 Bxg4 20. Qf4 Bxd1 21. Rxd1 Rae8 22. Bxh8 Re6 19. Qxg4 f5 20. Qg3 Bh8 21. c3 21. c4 !? 21... Rf7 22. Rhe1 Qc7 23. Bf4 Qd7 24. Re2 Re7 25. Rde1 Rae8 26. Be5 Kf7 27. Qf4 Bf6 28. Bc2 b5 29. Kd2 Qd8 30. Bxf5 Rxe5

31. Bxg6+? 31. Rxe5 Rxe5 (Now 31... Bg5?? is disastrous. 32. Be6+ Ke7 33. Bc8+ Kd6 34. Re6#) 32. Rxe5 Bxe5 (32... Bg5?? 33. Be6+ Ke8 34. Bc8+ and White mates.) 33. dxe5 gxf5 34. Qxf5+ Ke8 and White should win. 31...Kxg6 32. dxe5 Bg5 33. Rg2 Rf8 34. Qe3 Rf2+

35. Kd1? 35. Rxf2 Bxe3+ 36. Rxe3. White has winning chances. 35... Rxg2 36. Qd3+ Kxh6 37. Qh3+ Bh4 38. Qxg2 Bxe1 39. Kxe1 Qh4+ 40. Ke2 Qh5+ 0-1

The Ryder Gambit

In his book, Vom Ersten Zug an auf Matt, Diemer concentrated on the variation 5.Qxf3, which he called the Ryder Gambit, or the "classical double-pawn sacrifice." If the BDG is rare in "serious" chess these days, the Ryder Gambit is almost never seen. Here's an exception from a couple of years ago. BDG / Ryder Gambit Ribicic,M (2204) - Solic,K (2135) Open B Djakovo CRO (5), 03.05.2006 [Purser,Tom] 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Bf5 3.e4 dxe4 4.f3 exf3 5.Qxf3 Arriving at an unusual form of the Ryder Gambit in the BDG. 5...Qc8 6.Bc4 Nf6 [6...e6 7.Nge2 Nf6 8.h3 Bb4 9.0-0 Nbd7 10.g4 Bg6 11.g5 Nh5 12.Ne4 Nb6 13.Bd3 0-0 14.c4 Be7 15.N2g3 Nxg3 16.Qxg3 Bxe4 17.Bxe4 Nxc4 18.Qd3 Nd6 19.Bxh7+ Kh8 20.Bd2 g6 21.Bxg6 fxg6 22.Qxg6 Rxf1+ 23.Rxf1 Nf5 24.Rxf5 exf5 25.Bc3 Bb4 26.Bxb4 Qg8 27.Qxf5 Re8 28.d5 Qh7 29.g6 Black's flag fell 1-0 Mantia,T-Andreas,P/1456 Ohio Congress, Sept 1991/BDG WORLD 56] 7.Bg5 [7.Bf4 c6 8.Nge2 e6 9.0-0 Be7 10.Ng3 Bg6 11.Nce4 Nbd7 12.Nd6+ Bxd6 13.Bxd6 Nb6 14.Bb3 Qd7 15.Be5 0-0-0 16.c4 Ne8 17.Rfd1 f6 18.Bf4 Nc7 19.a4 Rhe8 20.a5 Nba8 21.a6 Nxa6 22.Rxa6 bxa6 23.Ba4 Kb7 24.d5 exd5 25.cxd5 Qe7 26.Bxc6+ Kb6 27.Qb3+ Kc5 28.Rc1+ Kd4 29.Qc4# 1-0 Talbot,R-Pryer,W/0843 England? 1973/BDG WORLD 41] 7...Bg4 8.Qe3 Nbd7 9.h3 Bh5 10.g4 Bg6 11.0-0-0 Nb6 12.Bb3 Qd7 13.d5 0-0-0 14.Nf3 Qe8 Concerned about Ne5, but he doesn't know the half of it. 15.a4 a5 16.Nb5 Nfxd5 17.Bxd5 Rxd5 18.Rxd5 Nxd5 19.Qa7 Qc6?? [Finding the worst possible move. 19...f6 was required.] 20.Qa8+ Kd7 [20...Kd7 21.Ne5+] 1-0