I started a new job recently, and I am firmly convinced that my hiring was helped by my discussion of this blog as an "ongoing study of errors in thinking". The following game is an excellent example: White disturbs the Black King, keeps it in the middle of the board, pins a piece to it, and then wins the piece. All that shaking leaves Black quite rattled, so the game suddenly ends...
Victus - Bennysah,
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.d4
One of the "modern" Jerome Gambit (not-5.Nxe5) variations, offering a pawn for more open lines.
5...exd4 6.Ng5+ Ke8
Black decides that his King will be safer in the center at e8 than if blocking development at f8. This could be true, but it will take due dilligence.
7.Qf3 Nf6 8.0-0 d5 9.e5 Nxe5
An unprotected piece on an open file, shielding the King? Not a problem.
Yet.
10.Re1 Bd6 11.Bf4 Bg4
Chases the Queen to where she wants to go. Now Black will have to return a piece.
12.Qg3 h5
13.Bxe5 Bxe5 14.Qxe5+ Kf8 15.Ne6+
Fearing the loss of his Queen from the Knight fork, Black resigned
Utterly fascinating.
Blackmar-Diemer Gambit
Method of Operating
by Eric Jégo
TheBookEdition (2011)
ISBN: 978-2-9536013-1-2
softcover, 164 pages
figurine algebraic notation
http://ericlediemerophile.blogspot.com/
http://gambit-blackmar-diemer.cabanova.fr/
The English-language version of Eric Jégo's French-language Gambit Blackmar-Diemer Modus Operandi has a number of changes and improvements.
In addition to "Acknowledgements", "Dany Sénéchaud’s [of Emil J. Diemer, missionnaire des échecs acrobatiques] Preface" and "Eric Jégo's Preamble" there is a selection of "Reviews of the French edition".
As readers of the first edition requested, games now have the ratings of the players given, as well as the time control (i.e. correspondence, classical, blitz, etc.)
To save some space, each chapter starts with a main line (say, "Bolgoljubow Defense 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 g6") and then the games are given, each "starting" from that point on. The author has "boxed" the first moves of the games (say 6.Bf4) to make them stand out a bit more visually, and allow the readers' eyes to better pick up on the continuity.
It is easier to keep track as to what line the game is following, as additional data (e.g. "6.Bc4 Bc7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Qe1 Nc6 9.Qh4 Ng4 Kloss Variation") is given at the bottom of the page.
There is a player index at the back of the book.
The print is somewhat smaller, allowing for the above additions, but producing 164 pages instead of the original 188 pages.
Of course, the book still has 287 annotated Blackmar-Diemer Gambit games, many of which you have probably not seen before (even if you have several BDG books). It still has the 14 "Elementary Principles" of BDG play outlined at the front, and referred to in the notes of each game.
Yesterday on this blog I asked
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.
If they do so, they will have games and analysis unavailable to others who are unwilling to work that hard to improve their game. They will also experience more of the joy that is the Blackmar Diemer Gambit.
In making his second edition an English translation, Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Method of Operating author Jégo has gone a step further than Diemer and Sénéchaud, making the steps that an adventurous English-speaking reader needs to take a little less burdensome. Meeting him in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, as it were (at least for American readers).
Yet, this boldest move is also the riskiest, for the result is often something akin to the "Frenglish" that automated translation services such as Babelfish can produce. Sometimes the going is easy, as with phrases such as "e6 allows White to arrange the Kingside" and "the sole interest of such a development is to accelerate the protection of the Black King." Sometimes the going is shaky, such as "the White Knight may well not stand the offensive in the Kingside but self removes a useful piece for defense, does not develop the Black play and enhances the White play." (Reading Sénéchaud’s references to J.P. Sartre in his "Preface" are extraordinarily painful.)
As I wrote to the author,
In my Chessville review of your book's French language edition, I told readers that if they really wanted an edge in the BDG, they would have to do some work.
Do I speak German? No. Do I have a German - English dictionary, and have I bought Diemer's classic work? Of course! Playing over his games, even the Ryder Gambits, is pure magic. I learned a bit of German, too.
Do I speak French? Sure -- like a Spanish cow! But -- I am willing to work to improve my BDG game. So I have your book, and Dany Sénéchaud’s, Emil J. Diemer, missionnaire des échecs acrobatiques as well. Is it work the effor to struggle to understand? Sure it is!
The true English-speaking BDG-phile is not afraid of a German language or French language book. There are treasures to uncover!
In my mind, it is very much worth the effort to pick up Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Method of Operating and work with it, even if you decide that the games are the most important content of all; and they are in simple figurine algebraic notation.
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!
As the 2011 edition of the ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament comes to a close, it seems fitting that the first full game looked at in any depth be one between the tournament's top-rated & top-finishing player, and the current top over-the-board Jerome Gambiteer.
The game quickly becomes as sharp and as theoretical as any modern opening line.
AsceticKingK9 - blackburne
ChessWorld, JG6 tournament, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 d6
The Blackburne Defense, harking back to Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1885. See "Nobody Expects the Jerome Gambit!"
Not surprisingly, the modern "blackburne" has played this sacrificial line as well. See "blackburne as Blackburne with black".
8.Qxh8 Qh4 9.0-0
An alternative, but still complicated, line of play (see "Update: Blackburne Defense") is preferred by Houdini (who prefers White): 9.d4 Nf6 10.Nd2 Bxd4 11.0-0 Ng4 12.Nf3 Qxf2+ 13.Rxf2 Bxh8 14.Ne5+ Kg8 15.Nxg4 Bxg4 16.c3 Bg7 17.Be3 Re8 18.Re1 Rxe4 19.Rf4 Rxf4 20.Bxf4 Kf7 where Black has the two Bishops and a pawn for the exchange.
9...Nf6 10.Qd8 Bh3
Having sacrificed one Rook, Black now offers the other.
Not quite as strong is 10...Bb6 as with 11.e5 White frees his Queen: 11...dxe5 12.Qd3 e4 13.Qc3 Nd5 14.Qg3 Qf6 15.Nc3 Nxc3 16.dxc3 Be6 17.a4 Rc8 18.Re1 Bf5 19.a5 Bc5 20.Bg5 Qc6 21.Be3 Bd6 22.Bf4 Bxf4 23.Qxf4 h5 24.h3 Qf6 25.g4 hxg4 26.hxg4 Be6 27.Rxe4 g5 28.Qg3 Bd5 29.Re5 Be6 30.Rae1 Re8 31.Qd3 Kg7 32.Rxe6 Rxe6 33.Qd7+ Black resigned, Wall,B - Foo,N, Palm Bay, FL, 2010.
11.Qxc7+
Of course, 11.Qxa8? would have led quickly to mate after 11...Qg4.
Equally disastrous was the related 11.g3 Qxe4 12.Qxc7+ Kf8 White resigned, Siggus - toe, FICS, 2007.
11...Kf8
The proper retreat square, not 11...Kg8 12.Qxb7 Qg4 (12...Re8 13.d4 d5 14.gxh3 Qxh3 15.Qb3 Qg4+ 16.Qg3 Qxe4 17.dxc5 Black resigned, Hiarcs 8 - RevvedUp, blitz 2 12, 2006) 13.Qb3+ and White won, Chandler,G - Dimitrov,T, 5 minute special game, 2004.
12.Qxb7
The critical position.
White is ahead the exchange and four pawns, and threatens to grab a Rook – with check. Still, he should realize that he is on the defensive.
Black's pieces are very active, but the best he can do now is to force White to sue for peace with checks and repetitions.
12...Re8
Instead, 12...Qg4, threatening mate, seems essential.
White's only viable response is to grab the Rook, and then check like crazy, for example, 13.Qxa8+ Kf7 14.Qb7+ (14.e5 d5 and Black will mate) 14...Kf8 15.Qa8+ draws by repetition.
13.gxh3 Qxh3
Black probably figured that with mating threats like ...Nf6-g4 and drawing threats like ...Qh3-g4+-f3+ he would be okay.
White does not give him a chance, however.
14.e5 Rxe5 15.Qg2
Dumping cold water on the attack. When White gets his pieces developed, his extra Rook will tell.
15...Qf5 16.d3 Re2 17.Bh6+ Kf7 18.Nd2 Rxd2 19.Bxd2 Ke6 20.Qb7 Ng4 21.Rae1+ Kf6 22.Qe7 checkmate
It is so much easier in a scary movie: you know that you are moving into danger when the background music becomes ominous, perhaps the screeching of violins...
In a chess game, especially when playing a dubious opening like the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) it is important to be aware of dangerous themes.
Darthnik - spenjch
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Bc5
Already we have some foreshadowing with 3...h6 4.d4 exd4 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.e5 Qe8 7.Qd3 Nxe5 8.Qxd4 Nxf3+ 9.Kf1 Nxd4 White resigned, Benschatko - Lakritzl, FICS, 2006; and
3...Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Bxd4 8.Qxd4 d6 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.Nd5 Nf3+ White resigned, gjtlsdnr - silvalgo, FICS 2011.
4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bxd4 7.Qxd4 Qf6
Even here, the danger begins to appear: 7...d6 8.f4 Qh4+ 9.g3 Nf3+ White resigned, Cradle - Foom, FICS, 2008 and Bevs - LordLucika, FICS, 2009.
8.f4 Qh4+
Or simply 8...Nf3+ White resigned, as in ainafets - Papaflesas, FICS, 2007 and stemplarv - KIAUA, FICS, 2007; or further 9.gxf3 Qxd4 White resigned, yorgos - Kompete, FICS, 2009.
9.g3 Nf3+ White resigned
Danger is everywhere, and we must learn to recognize it.
Elvis has left the building.
After rocketing to the top of the chart with a score of 25 points in 25 games in the Chess World Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, AsceticKingK9 has lost his first game – on time – to Haroldlee123. His remaining two games, against martind1991, are over the time limit as well, but have not yet been claimed.
Not that it matters. 25 points is enough to win the tournament. (Oddly enough, early on I predicted that the winner would score 24 points. AsceticKingK9 exceeded that number, but 24 would have been enough to put him ahead of the second place finisher. Lucky guess!?)
Second place has been wrapped up by mckenna215, with a score of 23.5 out of 28 games.
Third, fourth and fifth places remain a tangle. Knight32 has 18.5 points out of 28 games. Braken has the same score, with one game remaining. Rikiki00 has 15.5 points in 23 games.
It should be pointed out that Haroldlee123, currently in 10th place with 8 points out of 22 games, nonetheless now has upset wins over both AsceticKingK9 and mckenna215.
As they say, "A fool and his money are soon parted."
And so, as someone interested in unorthodox openings and supportive of independent book publishing (self-, print-on-demand, small press), despite previously-given well-founded concerns, I took the leap and bought James Alan Riechel's Chess Openings: New Theory.
The good news is, there is a lot of creativity in those 30 pages. Well, there actually are only 25 pages of Introductions and analysis, as the author starts numbering at the title page. And most of the 10 chapter Introductions are a half-page of print and a half-page of white space. Did I mention that there is adequate white space in the layout?
First off is the York Opening, 1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nd5!? Riechel give no indication as to where the name comes from – player, location, literary allusion – and for a few pages I thought that he might have been recalling the English children's nursery rhyme, since White's advance Knight soon gets booted
Oh, The grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men;
He marched them up to the top of the hill,
And he marched them down again.
And when they were up, they were up,
And when they were down, they were down,
And when they were only half-way up,
They were neither up nor down.
But, no. There are chapters on the York Benko, the York-Sandnes MacCutcheon variation in the French Defense. Since the last chapter, on the American Opening, 1.Nc3 c5 2.Nd5!? contains the Riechel Variation, perhaps the nomenclature is person-based after all. (I have not checked my complete run of Randspringer, Myers Openings Bulletin, and Kaissiber magazines, so perhaps the truth is somewhere in there.)
A few general comments.
Using a very-accessible online games database, ChessLab, I tested the "newness" of all of the lines, including the named "theoretical novelties". The "Ts" were usually "N", but most of the openings generally had been trod before (although not by masters, and not necessarily the complete lines the author gives).
The "Danish Gambit" line, as the author calls it (others might think: Center Game), 1.e4 e5 2.d4 Nf6!? is given the name the Alekhine Variation ("Black attacks e4 in the style of Alekhine"). I think the move dates back to Greco.
Brashly, 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 c5!? ("An unrecognized move in an old, well-established line") is given the name "The French Gambit" by the author. At least a few people (i.e. those who bought The Marshall Gambit in the French and Sicilian Defenses, by Kennedy and Sheffield) attribute the line to Frank Marshall.
As a reviewer, I find myself in a peculiar dilemma: if I quote as much analysis as I usually did in past reviews at Chessville, I will wind up quoting whole chapters of Chess Openings: New Theory. Where does "fair use" cross over into "copyright infringement"? (The whole book would have made a decent contribution to an issue of Gary Gifford's Unorthodox Opening Newsletter.)
Plus, it probably will not matter. If you are a great fan of junk openings, you will probably want the book, even if it mostly sits on your shelf after one reading. If you are not a fan, you probably have not gotten this far in the review, anyhow.
Is it a measure of my "unorthodoxy" that, all told, I am still wondering when the author's next book will come out??
