The O'Kelly Defense Again

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. Botvinnik, possibly for the first time in his career, met the B.D.G. in a simultaneous exhibition in Stockholm, Sweden. The Champion chose the so-called 0'Kelly Defense (4. P-B3, P-B3) in response to the gambit. It is interesting to note that the Champion could only draw against our favorite gambit.

Here are the two games:

	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

Batista, Andre Kemper Unrated - Kubrusly, J. 2226

0-1 (Brazil Open) 2/19/2010

[#] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.f3 e5 6.dxe5 Qxd1+ 7.Kxd1 exf3 8.gxf3

[8.Nxf3 Ng4 9.Ke2 Nd7 10.Bf4 Nb6 11.Bb3 Be6 12.Bxe6 fxe6 13.Ng5 Nd5 14.Nxd5 exd5 15.Rhf1 h6 16.Ne6 Kd7 17.Nxf8+ Rhxf8 18.h3 Nxe5 19.Bxe5 Rfe8 20.Rf7+ Ke6 21.Rxg7 Kxe5 22.Kd3 Rg8 23.Re7+ Kd6 1/2-1/2 T. Dahlen-GM Michail Botvinnik/Stockholm 1962]

8...Nfd7 9.f4 Nb6 10.Be2 Bf5 11.Nf3 N8d7 12.Nd4 Bh3 13.Ke1 O-O-O 14.Nb3 g5 15.Rg1 gxf4 16.Bxf4 Bb4 17.Rg3 Be6 18.Bg5 Rde8 19.Nd4 Rhg8 20.Nxe6 Rxe6 21.Bd2 Rxg3 22.hxg3 Nxe5 23.Kf2 Nbc4 24.Be1 Bc5+ [0-1]

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Still Crazy After All These Years

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 But Gary comes up with several interesting games, including a previously unpublished one by Roald Berthelsen, who has been playing the BDG longer (and better) than I have, and that's quite a long time.

How long? Here's one of Berthelsen's BDGs published by Nick Kampars in the second issue (March 1962) of his Blackmar-Diemer Gambit insert in Chess World.

	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

Berthelsen, R. - Dahl, E.

1-0 (CS of Norway) 1960

[#] 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 e6 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Qd2 b6 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.O-O Bxf3 10.Rxf3 Qxd4+ 11.Kh1 Nbd7 12.Re1 c6 13.Rxe6 Ne5

[13...fxe6 14.Bg6+ ]

14.Re3

[Rybka finds that White traps the Queen with 14.Rf4 Qc5 (14...Qd8 15.Rxe5 ) 15.b4 ]

14...Nc4?

[14...fxe6 15.Bg6+ Nxg6 16.Qxd4 O-O 17.Re1± ]

15.Rxe7+ Kf8

[15...Kd8? 16.Qf2 (16.Qe2 Nxe3 17.Rxe3 Kc7 18.Re7+ Kd6 19.Be3 Qh4 (19...Qb4 20.a3 Qa5 21.Bf4+ ) 20.Bc5+ Kxc5 21.Qe3+ ) 16...Nxe3 17.Rxf7 Nxc2 18.Qg3 Rc8 19.Ne4 Re8 20.Nxf6 Re1+ 21.Qxe1 Nxe1 22.Nxh7+ leads to mate.]

16.Rxf7+ Kxf7 17.Bg6+ Kxg6 18.Qxd4 Nxe3 19.Bxe3 and Black resigned after several moves--some notes by Kampars. [1-0]

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