As I have explored the history, games, and analysis of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), I have also looked for earlier opening examples that might have inspired Alonzo Wheeler Jerome to create and share his opening. This blog has many examples of possible Jerome Gambit instigators.
In this post I want to share some lines that most likely were not precursors of the Jerome. Purists can move on to the next blog post. Those who like fun chess - well, stick around.
For Christmas, my wife gave me Tim Sawyer's book Queens Knight 1.Nc3 & 1...Nc6 Second Edition Chess Opening Games (2018). I am familiar with Tim's work on the Blackmar Diemer Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.e4) but I see, of late, he has expanded to coverage of a whole range of openings.
Early on in the book, I encountered
The game Laird vs Bullockus began 1.Nc3 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Nxe5. What can Black do? The answer is a bishop sacrifice 3...Bxf2+! 4.Kxf2 Qh4+ and the Black queen will regain the piece on e5.
This was a postal game between two California players. Scott W. Laird was a master in correspondence and in tournament play.
Dr. Theodore Bullockus was an international arbiter and longtime postal chess player. His peak ICCF rating was 2299.
Ted Bolluckus was a teammate of mine in the Correspondence Olympiad. We represented the USA in the 1980s.
The Queens Knight Attack opening line is actually the reverse of an Alekhine Defence variation. Ted Bullockus was an expert in the Alekhine. In fact he influenced me to study it for many years.
The Alekhine line goes 1.e4 Nf6 2.Bc4 Nxe4 3.Bxf7+ Kxf7 4.Qh5+ when White regains the piece on e4 with equal chances. In the Queens Knight Attack White has the added useful move 1.Nc3.
1.Nc3 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Nxe5 Bxf2+ 4.Kxf2 Qh4+ 5.g3 Qd4+ 6.e3 Qxe5 7.Qf3 Nf6 8.d4 Qe7 9.e4 d6 10.h3 0-0 11.Bc4 Nc6 12.Be3 Re8 13.a3 Kh8 14.Bd3 Be6 15.g4 Nd7 16.d5 Black resigned
Enjoyable, if not successful chess - this time.
The May, 20, 1899 issue of The Daily Telegraph, of Sydney, New South Wales, carried what it called "A lively game from the recent tourney".
Presenting the contest gives me an opportunity to share some of the delights of doing Jerome Gambit research. It also gives Readers a number of opportunities to try their analytical skills - playing the Jerome, after all, is very much about taking advantage of opportunities as they arise.
(I have changed the newspaper's descriptive notation to algebraic.)
Dr. Finlay - Elliott, H. E
Dungog, NSW, Australia, 1899
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6
If Dr. Finlay had been looking to play the Jerome Gambit, he got derailed (at least temporarily) by the Two Knights Defense.
This is enough of an issue that it has been discussed a number of times on this blog. For ideas, you could try "Jerome Gambit vs Two Knights Defense" Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4. Follow that up with "Further Explorations" (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5).
4.Nc3
Opening books recommend against this move, as Black has a reasonable response in 4...Nxe4 (temporary piece sacrifice) 5.Nxe4 d5 (recovering the piece), what Hans Kmoch called the "fork trick" in his Pawn Power in Chess (1949).
4...Nxe4 5.Bxf7+
This is may not have been what Black expected.
The Bishop sacrifice goes by different names.
It has been referred to as the Noa Gambit. Charles Thomsas Blanshard, in his Examples of Chess Master-Play (1894) said of 5.Bxf7+ "The text move, a hobby of Dr. Noa, develops Black's game." See Noa,J - Makovetz,G, DSB-07 Kongress, Dresden, 1892 (0-1, 27).
It has also been called the Monck Gambit. In Pollock Memories: A Collection of Chess Games, Problems, &c., &c., Including His Matches with Eugene Delmar, Jackson Showalter, and G.H.D. Gossip (1899), William Henry Krause Pollock gave a crushing 19-move miniature ending in checkmate as "[A] very fine example, known in Dublin years ago as the 'Monck Gambit' ."
More recently, Rev. Tim Sawyer, of Blackmar Diemer Gambit fame, applied the very apt name "Open Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit".
It is worth mentioning some early games by players whose names have not been attached to the line -
Zoltowski, E. - Zukertort, Johannes, Berlin, 1869: 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe4 Be7 7.Nfg5+ Bxg5 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Qxg5 d5 10.Qxd8 Rxd8 11.Ng5+ Kg7 12.d3 Nd4 13.O-O Nxc2 14.Rb1 Re8 15.b3 Bf5 16.Rd1 Nb4 17.Ba3 Nxd3 18.g4 Nxf2 19.Rxd5 Nxg4 20.Rbd1 Ne3 21.Rd7+ Bxd7 22.Rxd7+ Kh6 23.Nf7+ Kh5 24.Bc1 Nf5 25.Ng5 h6 26.Rh7 Rad8 White resigned;
Bird, H.E. - Mills, simultaneous exhibition, British Chess Club, London, 1887: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe4 d5 7.Neg5+ Kg8 8.d3 h6 9.Nh3 Bg4 10.c3 Bc5 11.Be3 d4 12.Bc1 Qd7 13.Nhg1 Kh7 14.h3 Be6 15.Ne2 Rhf8 16.b4 Bd6 17.b5 Ne7 18.c4 a6 19.bxa6 Rxa6 20.Ng3 Ng6 21.Ne4 Be7 22.h4 Bf5 23.h5 Bxe4 24.dxe4 Nf4 25.Nxe5 Bb4+ 26.Kf1 Qe8 27.Bxf4 Rxf4 28.Ng6 Rxe4 29.g3 Re1+ 30.Qxe1 Bxe1 31.Rxe1 Qc6 32.Rh4 Qxc4+ 33.Kg1 Qxa2 34.Re8 Rxg6 35.hxg6+ Kxg6 36.Rf4 c5 Black queened in a few moves and White resigned;
Marshall, Frank James - Pollock, simultaneous exhibition (22 boards) Montreal Chess Club, Montreal 1894: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe4 d5 7.Neg5+ Kg8 8.d3 h6 9.Nh3 Bxh3 10.gxh3 Qd7 11.Qe2 Qxh3 12.Bd2 Bd6 13.Rg1 Kh7 14.Rg3 Qf5 15.O-O-O Rhf8 16.Bxh6 gxh6 17.Ng5+ Kh8 18.Rdg1 e4 19.Qh5 Bxg3 20.Qxh6+ Kg8 21.Rxg3 Rf6 22.Nxe4+ Kf7 23.Rg7+ Ke6 24.Nxf6 Rh8 25.Nh7+ Ke5 26.Rg5 Nd4 27.Qf6+ Kf4 28.Qxd4+ Qe4 and White mates in two moves, Black resigned
5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+
Wow.
"Making a sort of Jerome Gambit; interesting, but of course quite unsound" wrote the chess columnist of The Daily Telegraph, properly focused on the Knight capture/sacrifice as well as the subsequent Queen sally.
The Database has only 11 game examples of this move - usually played is 6.Nxe4 - with White scoring 28%. Don't let that discourage you - the current game quickly develops chaotic elements like the traditional Jerome Gambit.
6...Nxe5 7.Qh5+ Ng6 8.Nxe4
White wants to get his Knight into play. Instead, 8.Qd5+ Ke8 9.Qxe4 might have been a bit stronger, but White might also have wanted to avoid the exchange of Queens that would have followed 9...Qe7.
8...d6
The Daily Telegraph suggested that 8...Be7 followed by 9...d5 was preferrable, but Black could probably have played 8...d5 directly, or even on the next move.
9.O-O Be7 10.f4 Kf8
Suddenly, the game is equal.
How can that be? The Jerome Gambit themes are strong: Black's King is on the same file as White's Rook, and the dangerous "Jerome pawn" at f4 is about to advance.
11.f5 Ne5 12.d4
White could have played 12.f6!? directly, ultimately transposing to the line played.
12...Nd7
Black has protected the f6 square (four times) from an advance of the White pawn - but it is not enough. He would have done best to retreat the Knight to the f-file, where it would provide some shelter from the enemy Rook: 12...Nf7 13.f6 Bxf6 14.Nxf6 gxf6 15.Bh6+ Nxh6 16.Qxh6+ Kf7 17.Rf3!? and the pressure will force Black to give back a piece, e.g. 17...Bg4 18.Rg3 Qg8 19.h3 Qg5 20.Qxg5 fxg5 21.hxg4 Rae8 with an even game.
[to be continued]
I am always looking for something new in the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ and friends) universe. Before I share any discoveries, though, I check to make sure that I haven't already passed the information along. With over 2,200 blog posts, I can't keep everything in my head. Here's a good example.
Let's start with a Jerome-ish line from the Two Knight's Defense (or the Italian Game, or the Four Knights Game): 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ . It, and similar positions, are discussed under the "fork trick" in Pawn Power in Chess, by Hans Kmoch (1949).
For a brief introduction as it relates to the Jerome, see the post "Jerome Gambit vs Two Knights Defense (Part 3)". Follow that up with "Further Explorations" (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5).
A few years ago, Tim Sawyer, a Blackmar Diemer Gambit expert, on his blog, gave the line that we are looking at today the descriptive name the "Open Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit". He was influenced by a game where "jeromed" played the OIFKJG against him.
Tim mentioned that Bill Wall - no stranger to the Jerome Gambit - instead calls the line the "Noa Gambit".
I am guessing that Bill is referring to the following game (there are probably others) by the Hungarian Chess master:
Noa, Josef - Makovetz, Gyula
DSB-07.Kongress, Dresden, 1892
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe4 d5 7.Ng3 e4 8.Ng1 h5 9.d4 h4 10.Nf1 Qf6 11.c3 Ne7 12.Ne3 Kg8 13.Ne2 c6 14.h3 g5 15.Rf1 Bh6 16.f3 exf3 17.Rxf3 Qg6 18.b3 Rh7 19.Ba3 g4 20.hxg4 Bxg4 21.Nxg4 Qxg4 22.Ng3 Rf7 23.Bxe7 Rxe7+ 24.Ne2 Qxg2 25.Rf2 Qg1+ 26.Rf1 Qg3+ 27.Rf2 Rf8 White resigned
I am happy to now add that Examples of Chess Master-Play (1894), by Charles Thomas Blanshard, says of 5.Bxf7+ "The text move, a hobby of Dr. Noa, develops Black's game." (I have not turned up any more examples, however.)
It turned out, however, that I was able to identify a precursor to Noa's play:
Zoltowski, E - Zukertort, Johannes
Berlin, 1869
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe4 Be7 7.Nfg5+ Bxg5 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Qxg5 d5 10.Qxd8 Rxd8 11.Ng5+ Kg7 12.d3 Nd4 13.O-O Nxc2 14.Rb1 Re8 15.b3 Bf5 16.Rd1 Nb4 17.Ba3 Nxd3 18.g4 Nxf2 19.Rxd5 Nxg4 20.Rbd1 Ne3 21.Rd7+ Bxd7 22.Rxd7+ Kh6 23.Nf7+ Kh5 24.Bc1 Nf5 25.Ng5 h6 26.Rh7 Rad8 White resigned
To date, I have not found any references to the "Zoltowski Gambit".
I also shared a game which was about as close as any sort of Jerome Gambit was going to get to a World Champion:
Fischer, Robert James - Ames, D.
USA, 1955
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bc4 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe4 d5 7.Neg5+ Kg8 8.d4 h6 9.Nh3 Bg4 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Nf4 c6 12.h3 Nxf3+ 13.gxf3 Bf5 14.Be3 Bb4+ 15.c3 Ba5 16.Rg1 Qe8 17.Nxd5 Qf7 18.Nf4 Re8 19.Qb3 Bc7 20.Qxf7+ Kxf7 21.Nh5 g6 22.Ng3 Bxh3 23.O-O-O Rd8 24.Rxd8 Bxd8 25.Rh1 Bg2 26.Rxh6 Rxh6 27.Bxh6 Bxf3 28.Be3 drawn
Of course, Bobby wasn't even a teenager when he played that game.
So - what's new?
I recently discovered, in Pollock Memories: A Collection of Chess Games, Problems, &c., &c., Including His Matches with Eugene Delmar, Jackson Showalter, and G.H.D. Gossip (1899), by William Henry Krause Pollock, edited by F. F. Rowland, an undated/unplaced game between Pollock and an Amateur, with the introduction: "The following is a very fine example, known in Dublin years ago as the 'Monck Gambit' ."
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe4 d5 7.Nfg5+ Kg6 8.Qf3 dxe4 9.Qf7+ Kxg5
"White now mates in ten moves."
10.d4+ Kh4 11.h3 Bb4+ 12.Kf1 g6 13.g3+ Kh5 14.g4+ Kh4 15.Qb3 Bc3 16.Qxc3 e3 17.Qxe3 Bxg4 18.hxg4+ Kxg4 19.Qe4 checkmate
I will have more on the Monck Gambit next post. For now, it will suffice to recall Monck's comment about the Jerome Gambit from the Preston Guardian, April 26, 1882, concerning the game Lowe,E - Cudmore,D, correspondence, 1881
Every form of the Jerome Gambit is, I believe, unsound and this is no exception.
[to be continued]
As much as I enjoy the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), I have acknowledged from the beginning (see "But - Is this stuff playable??" Part I and Part II) that it is not really a "good" opening in the sense of the Ruy Lopez or Sicilian Defense.
So, when I ran across the following discussion of "refuted" at Tim Sawyer's "Playing Chess Openings" blog I had to chuckle. Tim was talking about a line in the Blackmar Diemer Gambit - which, when compared to the Jerome, is as solid as the Catalan or the Slav - but he makes good points.
"Refuted" in chess opening terminology has to do with theory or evidence. Basically, a variation is refuted if: when you play it, you lose.
There are three types of "refuted" variations:
1. When computer analysis overwhelmingly favors your opponent's side.
2. When the performance ratings are significantly below expectations.
3. When you lose regularly with this variation against your opponents.
My guess is that most of the members of the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde are satisfied that #3 is not their problem - they either win regularly against their opponents, or they play enjoyable games (and that is enough for them).
As we continue "Further Explorations" (see Part 1 and Part 2), recall that Tim Sawyer chose the name "Open Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit" over the "Noa Gambit" for the line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+.
Most likely "Noa Gambit" refers to the following game by Josef Noa (1856 - 1903)
Noa,J - Makovetz,G
DSB-07 Kongress, Dresden, 1892
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe4 d5 7.Ng3 e4 8.Ng1 h5 9.d4 h4 10.Nf1 Qf6
11.c3 Ne7 12.Ne3 Kg8 13.Ne2 c6 14.h3 g5 15.Rf1 Bh6 16.f3 exf3 17.Rxf3 Qg6
18.b3 Rh7 19.Ba3 g4 20.hxg4 Bxg4 21.Nxg4 Qxg4 22.Ng3 Rf7 23.Bxe7 Rxe7+ 24.Ne2 Qxg2 25.Rf2 Qg1+ 26.Rf1 Qg3+ 27.Rf2 Rf8 0-1
As distinctive as this game is, the opening-namers (whoever they are) over the years missed an earlier game example.
We will look at that game in the next post, and then look at an example of the "Open Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit" played by a future World Champion...
(Yep, I grabbed another graphic from the Cafe Press website. Check them out.)
Tim Sawyer's "Open Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit" game (See "Further Explorations Part 1") on his "Playing Chess Openings" website comes with an introduction
In a recent Internet Chess Club game, my opponent "jeromed" chose to play a form
of Jerome Gambit. Here White gets the piece back. In that way it is more Queen's
Gambit than King's Gambit, but it has an aggressive feel. Bill Wall lists it as
a "Noa Gambit, Four Knights", but it is so Jerome-ish that I am borrowing that
name, especially in view of my opponent's ICC handle.
The game:
jeromed - Sawyer,
blitz 3 0, Internet Chess Club, 2012
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3
Even after Black side-stepped the Giuoco Piano into the Two Knights Defense, White is looking to play an Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit with 4...Bc5 5.Bxf7+.
It is interesting to give Tim Harding's additional perspective on White's move, from his "Kibitzer" column "Open Games Revisited: The Two Knights" at ChessCafe.com, as he sees more than the "fork trick"
4.Nc3 can also be met by 4...Nxe4; this is possible because if 5.Nxe4 d5 forks knight and bishop and so regains the sacrificed material. However, if White is not a beginner then he has probably played 4.Nc3 with the intention of offering the tricky Boden-Kieseritsky Gambit, 4...Nxe4 5.0-0 Nxc3 6. dxc3, when natural moves don’t work for Black... The gambit should be unsound, but the second player must be very careful in the early stages.
4...Nxe4 5.Bxf7+
Tim notes
The Jerome Gambit idea. Usually White plays 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Bd3 dxe4 (6...Nb4!= Kaufman) 7.Bxe4 Bd6= (7...Ne7!? is an interesting alternative.
5...Kxf7 6.Nxe4 d5 7.Ng3!? Bd6 8.d3 Rf8
9.Bg5
Tim, sympathetically:
White can quickly castle kingside: 9.0-0 Kg8 10.h3 h6 11.c4 Fighting for e4 for the Ng3. 11...Be6 12.cxd5 Bxd5 13.Ne4 Nd4 14.Nxd4 exd4 15.Qg4 with a playable game for White, although it seems Black a little stands better.
9...Qe8 10.Qd2 Kg8 11.0-0-0 Bg4 12.h3 Bxf3 13.gxf3 Rxf3 14.Rhg1 Qf7 15.Nh1 Kh8 16.c3 d4 17.c4 Rf8
18.Bh4? e4 19.dxe4? Bf4 White resigned
(Okay, so I grabbed the "Cheszilla" graphic from a the Cafe Press website, after all. Still worth checking them out.)
Not quite a year ago, Rev. Tim Sawyer began his chess blog, initally focusing on the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.e4!?), but quickly expanding to many other openings. With the title "Playing Chess Openings" he offered his readers
Read stories based on 40 years of chess play. I was a rated expert, a
correspondence master, a blitz player rated over 2200 for over 10 years, and an
author of four chess openings books. See how the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit (BDG)
changed my career!
Readers are encouraged to visit Tim's blog, and visit it often!
A recent post kindly mentions the Jerome Gambit and this blog.
Rick Kennedy lists five Jerome Gambit options and writes about them
passionately:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Jerome
Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ Italian Four
Knights Jerome Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.0-0 Bc5 5.Bxf7+
Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.0-0 Nf6 5.Nc3
Bc5 6.Bxf7+ Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+ Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit
Tim adds a sixth option, which he calls "Open Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit". Before examining that, I want to review the first five lines.
The first, of course, is the Jerome Gambit proper, based on the analysis and play of Alonzo Wheeler Jerome, first published in the April 1874 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal.
The name of the second line reflects the fact that adding the Bishop sacrifice to the Italian Four Knights Game has transformed play into one of the "modern" variations (i.e. not containing 5.Nxe5) of the Jerome Gambit, that is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nc3 Nf6.
Likewise, the name of the third line reflects the fact that adding the Bishop sacrifice to the Semi-Italian Opening (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6) produces another transposition to the Jerome Gambit, that is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.0-0 h6.
The fourth line, the Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit is the conglomeration of the second and third lines. Q.E.D.
I admit that the fifth line, the so-called Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit, is named with tongue-in-cheek. There is no evidence that Alonzo Wheeler Jerome ever played the line, but there is also no evidence that Henry Joseph Blackburne played 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4!? either, despite it being named after him. Play, though, and the attitude behind it, resembles the Jerome Gambit, so I have welcomed the line aboard.
Now 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+, the Open Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit (borrowing from the "Open" Ruy Lopez idea with ...Nxe4), knocks and bids to enter...
(The graphic at the top is from a t-shirt at the Cafe Press website. I chose it over their "Cheszilla" graphic. Check them out.)
Eric Jégo has come out with a second, English-language edition of his Blackmar Diemer Gambit, Method of Operating, Accepted - Declined - Avoided.
Today I want to share my review (from Chessville) of his first, French-language edition. Tomorrow, I will address what improvements he has made in the new edition.
Gambit Blackmar-Diemer Modus Operandi
TheBookEdition (2010)
ISBN: 978-2-9536013-0-5
softcover, 188 pages
figurine algebraic notation
http://ericlediemerophile.blogspot.com/
http://gambit-blackmar-diemer.cabanova.fr/
Serious chess players are always looking for an edge. Bobby Fischer learned Russian to keep up with magazines coming out of the U.S.S.R. Later, grandmasters grabbed each issue of Chess Informant as it came out – as they do today with New In Chess.
The advent of computer chess game databases meant getting the largest and the newest – and keeping it up-to-date with games from internet sources such as "The Week in Chess." Internet sources like "Chess Vibes Openings" and "Chess Publishing" keep subscribers up-to-date on the latest opening wrinkles.
Serious followers of the Blackmar Diemer Gambit are no different. As Ken Smith wrote:
For every White initiative a better defense always seems to present itself for Black, and for every refutation the Black side recommends improvements are found for White.
Where do you find those improvements?
While it’s nice to have FM Eric Schiller’s Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, for example, it’s important to have IM Gary Lane’s The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit as well. Have Tim Sawyer’s Blackmar Diemer Gambit Keybook? His The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Keybook II is much bigger! You say you have Tom Purser’s entire run of “BDG World” magazine on CD? What about Tejler’s and Kampars’ “Blackmar Diemer Gambit / Opening Adventures” magazine?
And so it goes.
How far will the members of the Blackmar Diemer Gemeinde go in pursuit of esoteric knowledge? Brush up on their German so they can read Diemer’s original Vom Ersten Zug An Auf Matt! ? Freshen up their French, so they can appreciate Dany Sénéchaud’s, Emil J. Diemer, missionnaire des échecs acrobatiques ?
Actually, if you are a BDG fanatic, that’s not a bad idea. And I have just the place for you to start: Eric Jégo’s new Gambit Blackmar-Diemer. Even if you speak French like a Spanish cow, it’s time to get out your Petite Larousse English-French dictionary (or download a free copy to your iPhone) and start discovering.
Or you can simply bypass the language for now and just play over the 287 games that Jégo presents in figurine algebraic notation. More than half of them were played in 1999 or more recently – check your bookshelf, how many BDG titles do you have from the new millennium?
Eric Jégo is a serious member of the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Gemeinde, as even a few minutes on his web pages (given at the top of this review) will show you. His enthusiasm is contagious.
Several things set Gambit Blackmar-Diemer apart (aside from being the only whole book in French devoted to the opening). For starters, it is one of the most attractive and well-laid out books that I have seen on the BDG, easily bypassing the efforts of Schachverlag Rudi Schmaus, for example, in their Das moderne Blackmar-Diemer-Gambit series. Props must be given to the author and the people at TheBookEdition (a print-on-demand publisher) for their efforts toward perfection.
Inside a glossy cover with a picture of the Black King lying on its side, signifying surrender, the book arranges its games in 28 chapters, by variation. Each chapter starts with the title, the opening moves, and a short strategic description. A “thermometer”-style bar is then given, showing the percentage of wins by White, draws, and wins by Black in the author’s database.
There is a diagram of the starting position for the variation, and then the games follow, with words for annotations, not merely Informant symbols. (Each game “starts” from the diagram, so that the initial moves are not given; this accommodates transpositions from other openings into the BDG, and likely saves space as well.)
At the beginning of Gambit Blackmar-Diemer, after a striking "Preface" by Dany Sénéchaud (it’s not often that you see Jean Paul Sartre referred to in a chess book; my comparison of IM Ilya Odessky’s writing to Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky hardly counts) and a "Preamble" by the author, readers encounter Jégo’s 14 “Elementary Principles” of play in the Blackmar Diemer Gambit.
For example, “After Black castles, the White King Bishop will to to c4 against …g6, or d3 against …e6” and “White’s Queen Bishop will ideally be placed on g5, to pin or eliminate the Black Knight on f6.” Thereafter, the author can simply refer in a discussion in his annotations to the relevant principle, e.g. “PE8.” (BDG enthusiast Rev. Tim Sawyer lists all 14 Elementary Principles in his review on Tom Purser’s blog – another fine BDG resource.)
At the end of the book there is a short list of BDG references (here is a long, albeit incomplete, list) and a very nice list of internet resources.
I have a few, basic, suggestions for a second edition of Gambit Blackmar-Diemer. I know that it was probably done to conserve space, but identifying a game solely by the players’ names and the year it was played – e.g. “Le Goff F. X. – Guinovart J. 2005” – is too spare; at least the location of the match, if not the name or kind of tournament, would be informative additions. A Players’ Index would be nice, as well.
In the meantime, here is one of the 287 games in the book – the only one that doesn’t start from a diagram, but has all of its moves; and given that White was played by Gary Kasparov, no wonder...
Kasparov – Carneiro
2004
(I discovered that this game was played in a simultaneous exhibition in Sao Paolo, Brazil - RK)
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bf4 d5 4.f3 Nf6 5.e4 dxe4 6.Nc3 exf3 7.Nxf3 Bg4
(Via the Trompowsky Attack, Kasparov has made his way to the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, Teichmann Defense – actually, a move up for White.
A little research shows that if instead 7…e6, we would transpose to Jansa – Sosonko, Amsterdam 1975 – a BDG, Euwe Defense, again a move up. For that matter, 6…e3, instead of 6…exf3, would have transposed to Milov – Gelfand, Biel, 1995 – a BDG declined, Langeheinecke Defense, likewise a move up.
Perhaps the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit is just a tempo away from making it big with the Grandmasters? - RK)
8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 c6 10.O-O-O e6 11.Bc4 Nbd7 12.d5 cxd5 13.Nxd5 Nxd5 14.Bxd5 a5 15.Bxb7 Ra7 16.Rxd7 Qf6 17.Rhd1 Be7 18.Rxe7+ Qxe7 19.Qc6+ Kf8 20.Bd6 g6 21.Bxe7+ Kxe7 22.Qc5+ Kf6 23.Qxa7 Rf8 24.Qd4+ e5 25.Qd6+ Kg7 26.Qxe5+ Kg8 27.Qf6 h5 28.Bd5 Kh7 29.Bxf7 1-0
So: if you’ve made the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit your secret weapon, go one more step and make Eric Jégo’s Gambit Blackmar-Diemer your ultra super secret weapon – only your opponents will regret that you did so!
