Elephant in the hole

In the last post I talked about the fun of jumping into the hole Black often leaves at f6. Usually (and appropriately) a knight jumps in, but I mentioned a game in which Kurt Richter sent in a rook. Here’s that game, which chess friend Günter Brunold of Kempten (Allgäu), Germany called to my attention, from the November 1923 issue of the Deutsche Schachzeitung. Since it’s a game by Richter himself, I’ve retained the Richter (Veresov) Attack label, but as Günter noted, the opening actually transposes into a Weinspach Declination to the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit.

An earlier related post: IM Kurt Richter and the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit.

IM Kurt Richter and the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit

For several years in the mid-1960s I had the pleasure of living in Berlin. Chess was not a part of my life at that time. Had it been I believe I would have attempted to meet International Master Kurt Richter (1900-1969), who was born and died in that city.

Anders Tejler, writing in Kampars’ Opening Adventures, took note of a Richter comment:

In Kurt Richter and Rudolf Teschner's "Schacheröffnungen", 2nd edition, 1957, the authors have the following to say about the BDG: ". . .and if many theoreticians say 'Its soundness must first be demonstrated ', then one can counter-reply: 'Demonstrate its unsoundness!! Both might be impossible.”

At one time I had a copy of Richter’s 666 Kurzpartien, which was a little book of miniatures. I may have sold it, as I can’t find it around the house. I’m sure the book contained several of Diemer’s games; perhaps that’s where I turned up this game:

Richter,Kurt - Dietze
Karlsbad-Berlin, 1940
BDG, Weinspach Declination

1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f3 e6 4.e4 dxe4 5.fxe4
 


5...Be7 6.Nf3 0-0 7.e5 Nd5 8.Bd3 c5 9.Nxd5
 


9...Qxd5 [9...exd5 would have been better. Taking with the Queen allows Whites mobile central pawn to push Black against the wall.] 10.c4 Qd8 11.d5 exd5 12.cxd5 Re8 13.0-0 Qb6 14.Kh1 Nd7 15.d6 Bd8 16.Bxh7+
 


16...Kh8 [16...Kxh7 17.Ng5+ Bxg5 18.Qh5+ Bh6 19.Bxh6 Nxe5 (19...Rxe5 20.Bg5+ Kg8 21.Qxf7+ Kh7 22.Rf4+-) 20.Bf4+ Kg8 21.Bxe5 Rxe5 22.Qxe5+-] 17.Bc2 g6 18.Qd2 Kg8 19.Qh6 Nf8 20.Ng5 Be6 21.Bxg6
 


Mate cannot be avoided. 1-0

This variation is known by most BDG partisans as the Weinspach Declination, after a 1949 Diemer game with an opponent by that name (game 274 in Diemer’s Vom ersten Zug…), although it is often spelled as Weinsbach.

Playable game and PGN download.

More on Master BDGs

Encouraged by Knut Jarle Hjørnevik's list of BDGs played by masters, I was browsing old issues of BDG WORLD looking for more and came across a game by the late IM William Martz. Some younger players may not have heard of Martz, since he died in 1983, at much too young an age, just short of his 38th birthday. Martz was an endgame artist, and in the mid-1970s I had the pleasure (in Oklahoma City, I believe), of watching a demonstration of his talent. It was that much more interesting to me then to come across the following game in the July 1963 issue of Kampars' BDG magazine: Martz,William - Roubik,D North Central Open, Milwaukee, 1962 BDG, Weinspach Declination 1.d4 Nf6 2.f3 d5 3.e4 dxe4 4.Nc3 e6 5.fxe4 Bb4 6.Bd3 0-0 7.Nf3 c5 8.e5 Nd5 9.0-0 [9.Bxh7+ Kh8 10.Ng5 Nxc3 11.Qh5 1-0 Diemer,EJ-Weinspach, Bischweier 1949.] 9...Nxc3 10.bxc3 Bxc3 11.Ng5 Bxd4+ 12.Kh1 g6 13.Nxh7 13...Bxe5 [13...Kxh7? 14.Qh5+ Kg8 15.Bxg6 fxg6 16.Qxg6+ Kh8 17.Bg5 Bxa1 18.Rxf8+ Qxf8 19.Bf6+ Qxf6 20.exf6 Bxf6 21.Qxf6+ Kh7 22.Qf7+ Kh8 23.Qf8+ Kh7 24.Qxc8+-] 14.Bg5 f6 15.Nxf8 [>=15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Qg4+-] 15...Kxf8 16.Bh6+ Ke7 17.Rb1 Qh8 18.Bf4 Nd7 19.Qf3 [19.Bxg6?! Bxf4 20.Rxf4 Qh6=] 19...Bxf4 20.Qxf4 f5 21.Rbe1 21...Kf6? [21...Qf6+/-] 22.Qd6 Nf8?? [22...Qf8 23.Rxe6+ Kf7 24.Rxg6 Qxd6 25.Rxd6 Ke7+-; 22...Qe8 23.g4] 23.Qe5+ 1-0. Martz would have been no older than 17 when this game was played. The North Central Open later was renamed the William Martz Memorial North Central Open, and now is called simply the Martz Memorial. Play through the game and download PGN here.