A new opening book on the fascinating Blackmar Diemer gambit. By Guido De Bouver.
The Blackmar Diemer gambit is an interesting gambit in which white trades his f pawn for development in a closed position.
This new and exciting book covers those lines in the Blackmar Diemer gambit where black chooses to play active and quickly develop his queen's bishop to either g4 ( Teichmann defenses ) or f5 ( Gunderam, O'Kelly and Vienna defenses ). Specific attention is given to the O'Kelly lines, that used to be considered as the gambit's refutation.
Each position is heavily analysed using a silicon assistant based on white's best play. The bottomline is that white gets sufficient dynamic compensation for the pawn. White often gets a crushing attack and decides the game in the first 20 moves. This book brings a detailed overview of some of the sharpest opening strategies and contributes to the growing opening theory of the famous Blackmar Diemer gambit. Packed with 160 pages of razor sharp analysed lines, this book can be ordered by sending a mail to
[email protected] at a cost of 14 € + shipping. Alternatively, an electronic copy can be obtained for 8 € or 10 US$ through the secured Drumlin environment. Following extracts are available for your preview : • Content • Extract from section 1.1 : Overview • Extract from section 1.3 : Isn't this refuted ? • Extract from section 2.3 : Bennett's temptation • Extract from section 5.5 : The power of the Blackmar Diemer
Content 1. Introduction 1.1. The Blackmar Diemer gambit 1.2. About this series and book 1.3. Isn't this refuted ? 1.4. The Teichmann defense 1.5. The Teichmann Exchange defense 1.6. The Gunderam defense 1.7. The O'Kelly defense 1.8. The Vienna defense 1.9. Blackmar Diemer versus Smith Morra 1.10. Does the Blackmar Diemer win by force ? 2. Teichmann defense 2.1. The main line 2.2. Variations from main line on move 9 2.3. Bennett's temptation 2.4. Variations from main line on move 8 3. Teichmann Exchange defense 3.1. 7th move variations 3.2. A delayed Ryder gambit 3.3. The normal development 3.4. Limiting the scope of the g pawn 4. Gunderam defense 4.1. 6th move variations 4.2. Caro Kann reply 4.3. Teichmann transpositions 4.4. 7th move variations 5. O'Kelly defense 5.1. Alternate main line 5.2. Main line 5.3. Critical O'Kelly position 5.4. 7th moves variations 5.5. The power of the Blackmar Diemer 6. Vienna variation 6.1. Capturing with the knight 6.2. Unzicker variation 6.3. Capturing with the bishop 7. Summary
5 5 11 13 20 22 25 27 31 32 34 36 37 51 58 61 67 68 70 72 83 85 86 88 97 112 117 118 131 141 144 146 149 150 151 154
Extract from section 1.1 : Overview The Blackmar gambit was invented by an American player, Armand Edward Blackmar, who was born on May 30th, 1826 in Vermont. From 1852 to 1855 he was professor of music in Jackson, Louisiana. Armand was a very good violinist and pianist, a chess expert, and a member of the Chess, Checkers and Whist Club of New Orleans. Blackmar arranged and/or published a number of famous songs of the Confederacy. One of his own compositions later became a part of the musical score to the famous movie Gone with the Wind1 starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh. In 1882, in the July issue of Brentanos Chess Monthly, he introduced his gambit 1.§d4 §d5 2.§e4 §dxe4 3.§f32 to the chess world. In that issue he commented that he had been playing the gambit for more than a year, that he had never found it in any book or published game, and that white's second and third moves constituted the new gambit. Armand Blackmar died in 1888. However, the counter move 3...§e5 was quickly found by Oskar Cordel ( º 1843 Germany ) and buried the line. In 1889, dr Ryder decided to play 1.§d4 §d5 2.§e4 §dxe4 3.¤c3 ¤f6 4.§f3 §exf3 5.£xf3. This move sequence remained unknown until Diemer discovered it in the 1930's. Ignatz Von Popiel ( º 1863 ) from Lvov ( Poland, now Львів, Ukraine ) published in 1893 some pages on 1.§d4 §d5 2.§e4 §dxe4 3.¤c3. His main line 3...¤f6 4.¥g5 ¥f5 5.§f3 ¤bd7 6.¥xf6 stirred some controversy. Emil Joseph Diemer was born in 1908 in Radolfzell, Germany, and learnt chess at the age of 12. From 1932 onwards, he developed the Ryder sequence into a playable opening in his book Vom Ersten Zug an auf Matt !. Lateron, he switched to the more traditional 5.¤xf33. His efforts and imagination made sure that the Blackmar Diemer gambit is one of the most famous openings in the chess world. Diemer was a great admirer of Morphy4 and credited him as the inspiration for his own love of gambits and the development of his combinational skills. Diemer was no ordinary player. His nazi ideas5 lead him to develop a particular Sturm und Drang system where the direct king attack was glorified, neglecting material and emphasising development. As an ardent admirer of Hitler, Diemer was also a very important anti-Semitic chess player 6 : German chess was said to be romantic and good, while Jewish chess was riskfree, defensive and evil. As a Nazi party member, Diemer however remained on good personal terms with several Jewish masters, such as Nimzovitch.
1 According to the Chess Digest publication Blackmar-Diemer Gambit by K. Smith and J. Jacobs (Dallas, 1977), pages 8-9. 2 The original Blackmar gambit. 3 The Blackmar Diemer stems from the Blackmar gambit when the moves ¤c3 and ¤f6 are included. 4 Morphy lived in New Orleans – the hometown of Armand Blackmar. Morphy died in 1884, so it might be possible that Blackmar played Morphy. 5 He became the chess reporter of the Great German Reich, was present at all important international chess events and sang the praise of Kampfschach - chess as a struggle, in the Nazi newspapers and magazines. 6 Cfr Anti-Semitism in Chess by Jeremy P. Spinrad, published on chesscafe.com.
Extract from section 1.3 : Isn't this refuted ? I guess this is a question that you will hear a lot when you play the Blackmar Diemer on a regular basis. People know about the sacrifice, know that it is dangerous, know that the defender should be better, but very few really know the answer... Throughout history, several refutations have been suggested • the efforts by Gerhard Gunderam • a line in the Euwe defense by world champion GM Max Euwe • a line in the Bogoljubow defense, published in New In Chess • the O'Kelly defense, named after GM Albéric O'Kelly de Galway. Gerhard Gunderam probably played more than 100 postal games with Diemer, playing various lines, trying to find the refutation of the gambit. The line starting with 5...¥f5 were named after him but are no refutation at all of the Blackmar Diemer gambit. Euwe suggested to challenge white's centre immediately with 6...§c5 after 1.§d4 d5 2.§e4 §dxe4 3.¤c3 ¤f6 4.§f3 §exf3 5.¤xf3 §e6 6.¥g5. However, the refutation was quickly refuted as the sequence 6...§c5 7.¥xf6 £xf6 8.¥b5+ is actually winning for white.
New In Chess featured the 1996 correspondence game Borwell-Luers in the Bogoljubow variation. Black easily refutes white's attack and many players around the world saw this as a refutation of the gambit. White has just initiated the Studier attack 1.§d4 d5 2.§e4 §dxe4 3.¤c3 ¤f6 4.§f3 §exf3 5.¤xf3 §g6 6.¥c4 ¥g7 7.00 00 8.£e1 ¤c6 9.£h4 followed by the popular 9...¥f5 10.§h3. Black now grabs a second pawn with 10...¥xc2 followed by the thematic 11.¥h6. With two pawns up, black wins easily after 11...¥xh6 12.£xh6 ¤xd4 ( three pawns up ! ) 13.¤g5 ¤f5 14.¦xf5 ( three pawns and an exchange ) §gxf5 15.¤d5 §f4 µµ However, the splendid move 11.¦f2 makes the whole line playable, as 11...¥f5 12.¥h6 ¥xh6 13.£xh6 ° leaves black no room for any inaccuracies.
Extract from section 2.3 : Bennett's temptation The position after 8...¤c6 could be simple if white were to exchange on c6, saddling black with a double isolated pawn. Or even played 9.¥b5, both with an even game. However, a BDG gambiteer always seeks the most complicated solution and that's how Randy Bennett came up with the great 9.£f3, disregarding 9...¤xd4 and following up with 10.£xb7 with terrible complications.
But it doesn't end there. It seemed that black could get the better play by not taking the second bait ( 10...¤xc2+ ) and continue with the quiet 9...§c6. However, Tim McGrew and Donald Coward came up with a dazling queen sacrifice on chesscafe.com to continue the attack. However, after carefull analysis, it seems to me that the variation is not so good after all, since the simple 10...£c8 forces an exchange of queens after 11.¥b5+ §c6 12.¥xc6+ ¤xc6 13.£xc6+ £xc6 14.¤xc6 ¥xc2, leaving black with a healthy extra pawn. So I guess the simple 9.¥b5 is best after all.
§a6 10.¥xc6+ §bxc6 11.£f3 £d6 12.00 ² £d6 10.£f3 ‚§a6 11.¥xc6+ §bxc6 12.¥f4 ² ‚000 11.¥xc6 §bxc6 12.¤xc6 £e6+ 13.¤e5 ± ‚£e6 11.00 ± ¤d7 10.¤xd7 £xd7 11.§d5 §a6 12.¥a4 ‚§b5 13.¤xb5 §axb5 14.¥xb5 ¦a6 15.£f3 ² ‚§h5 13.§g5 ² ‚§e6 13.§dxc6 £xd1+ 14.¤xd1 §b5 15.¥b3 ±
Extract from section 5.5 : The power of the Blackmar Diemer As indicated above, white's prospects in the Ziegler position occuring after 1.§d4 d5 2.§e4 §dxe4 3.¤c3 ¤f6 4.§f3 §c6 5.¥c4 §exf3 6.¤xf3 ¥f5 7.¤e5 §e6 8.00 are not so good, as black has the simple 8...¥g6 at his disposal. However, if you feel the urge to play this line with the white pieces, there is an important chance that black will see an improvement compared to 8...¥g6 and play the seemingly crushing 8...¥xc2 . Black seems to win yet another pawn, as white looses his knight after 9.£xc2 £xd4+ 10.¢h1 £xe5 ³.
However, black may face the surprise of his life after white's equally crushing reply : 9.¤xf7 !! ¢xf7 ( 9...¥xd1 10.¤xd8 ¢xd8 11.¦xd1 ² ) and now yet another fantastic move 10.¥xe6+ !! ¢xe6 and only now 11.£xc2 .
Black is one full piece ahead, but his king is in the middle of the action. Extremely wild complications occur, but it is unlikely that black will be able to survive white's upcoming attack. Elaborate analysis shows that black can obtain a draw if he avoids taking the d5 pawn. In addition, black has a potentially winning game after playing 11...¢d7, provided he finds the right moves with the clock ticking away. In addition to the suggested move, there is also the old continuation 9.¤xf7 ¢xf7 10.£g4, and the magnificent sequence 9.¤xf7 ¢xf7 10.£xc2 £xd4+ 11.¥e3 .
Black looses his queen after £xc4 12.¦f4 £xf4 13.¥xf4 ² or white gets a very strong attack after £xe3+ 12.¢h1 with the resulting lines analysed below.
¥d6 13.¦ae1 ‚£h6 14.§g4 ‚¢f8 15.¤e4 ² ‚¥f4 15.¦xe6 ² ‚£xh2+ 15.£xh2 ¥xh2 16.§g5 ² ‚¦e8 15.§g5 ² ‚§b5 15.§g5 ± ‚¢e7 15.¦xe6+ ± ‚£d4 14.¤e4 ¥e5 15.¤g5 ¢e7 16.¥xe6 ¦e8 17.¤f3 ± ¥e7 13.¦ae1 ‚£d4 14.£e2 ¢e8 15.£xe6 £d7 16.£f7+ ¢d8 17.¦d1 ² ‚£c5 14.¤e4 ± ¥b4 13.¦ae1 £c5 14.¤e4 £d4 15.¤g5+ ± ¥c5 13.¦ae1 £d4 14.¤e4 ¥e7 15.¤g5+ ± ¤bd7 13.¦ae1 £c5 14.¥xe6+ ¢e7 15.£b3 ± ¢e8 13.¦ae1 ‚£h6 14.£b3 ± ‚£c5 14.¤e4 ¤xe4 15.£xe4 ¢d8 16.¦d1+ ± ‚£b6 14.¦xe6+ ¢d8 15.¦exf6 §gxf6 16.¦d1+ ¥d6 17.¦xd6+ ² ‚£g5 14.£b3 ² ‚£d4 14.¦xe6+ ±
£c5 13.¤e4 ± £h6 13.£b3 ± £b6 13.£f5 ±± £d4 13.£e2 ± Guess this fantastic variation clearly shows the power of the Blackmar Diemer gambit – one slip and the game is over, often in less than 20 moves.
