French Defence Winawer WR Gambit vs Zephyr

The venerable French Defence Winawer appears in my games via many move orders. Here I begin with 1.Nc3 d5 2.e4. Other times I start 1.d4 d5 2.e4, but either case we transpose to the position normally reached by 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4. The French Winawer has proven to be an excellent defence for Black and always popular. White has many opening options, but nothing wins by force. The Winkelmann-Reimer Gambit is similar to the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit. Piece set-up resembles the Euwe Varation. In that line Black may play ...Bf8-Bb4-Bxc3 which strengthens White's d4. Sometimes White plays an early 6.a3 to keep Black from playing a piece to b4. In other games both players snatch off their opponent's h-pawns leaving the kings open to checks.

This week I got a win with the WRG gambit vs Zephyr in a recent Internet Chess Club three minute blitz game. Black put a reasonable defence at first. Our 13th moves were unlucky. I just kept aiming for his king. Both players are trying to move quickly due to the short time limit. "Zephyr" implies something that moves like the wind and my opponent was fast. Black spent a total of five seconds on moves 18 and 19. Suddenly it was over. Zephyr was a good sport and kindly sent the following: "thx gg".

Sawyer (1961) - Zephyr (1810), ICC 3 0 Internet Chess Club, 10.04.2014 begins 1.Nc3 d5 2.e4 e6 3.d4 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 dxe4 6.f3 exf3 7.Nxf3 b6 [7...Nf6 8.Bd3=] 8.Bd3 [8.Bb5+!? might be the best move, but I preferred to just focus on kingside targets in a 3 minute game.] 8...Bb7 9.0-0 Nd7 10.Bg5 [10.Qe1 Ngf6 11.Qg3 0-0 12.Bg5 Be4 13.Rae1+/=] 10...Ngf6 11.Qe1 [Or 11.Qe2=] 11...h6 12.Bd2 0-0 13.Qh4? [13.Qg3=] 13...Nd5? [Right idea, but wrong square. White's plans are foiled by 13...Ne4!-/+] 14.Qg3 Kh8 15.Rae1 [15.Qh3!+/-] 15...N7f6 16.Ne5 Qd6 17.Qh3 h5 18.c4 [Black is losing and behind on the clock. Here he played obvious logical moves and spent a total of 5 seconds on his next two moves. There was no good defence.] 18...Ne7 19.Rxf6 gxf6 [19...Qxd4+ 20.Kh1 Kg8 21.Qxh5 g6 22.Qg5+- leaves Black way ahead in material with an overwhelming position.] 20.Qxh5+ Kg7 21.Qh7# Black is checkmated. 1-0

Copyright 2014 Tim Sawyer. Click here for my HOME PAGE. sawyerte@yahoo.com

Quinones vs Schutzbach Blackmar-Diemer Euwe

On Tuesdays I plan to look at Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Accepted games. Today we have one from Jorge Victor Quinones Borda vs Gerd Schuetzbach.

"Good morning Mr. Sawyer,
Maybe you would like some of the games.
The game against Gerd uses an idea by David Flude that appeared in the Scheerer´s book... Jorge Quiñones Borda"

The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Euwe is a very popular variation which is sometimes recommended by theoreticians. In practice White tends to score very well. In theory after 5.Nxf3 e6 6.Bg5 Be7, the line 7.Bd3 Nc6 can be somewhat challenging, although in practice White often wins. Author Christoph Scheerer notes that David Flude has the idea to hold off playing Bd3 and first develop and castle queenside with 7.Qd2 0-0 8.0-0-0. Jorge tests it out by playing a line that looks promising. The last half of the game proved to be difficult to win.

Quiñones - Schuetzbach, frei www.remoteschach.de, 31.05.2013 begins 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 e6 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Qd2 0-0 8.0-0-0 c5 9.Qf4!? [9.dxc5 Qxd2+ 10.Nxd2 Bxc5 11.Nde4 Nxe4 12.Nxe4 Bb6 13.Be7 Re8 14.Bh4=] 9...cxd4 10.Rxd4 Qb6 11.Qg3 Nc6 [11...Rd8 12.Bh6 Ne8=/+] 12.Rh4 g6 13.Bd3 Bd7 14.Rf1 Rae8 15.Rh6 Qb4 16.Kb1 Qg4 [If 16...a6 then 17.h3!+-] 17.Qf2 Ne5 18.Rh4 Nxd3 19.cxd3 Qf5 20.Rf4 Qxd3+ 21.Ka1 Nd5 22.Ne5 Qxf1+ 23.Qxf1 Bxg5 24.Rxf7 Be7 25.Ne4 a6 26.a3 Rc8 27.Qf3 Bb5 28.h4 [28.g3!?+/-] 28...Rc1+ 29.Ka2 Rf1 30.Rxf8+ Bxf8 31.Nf2 Be8 32.Qg4 Rxf2 33.Qxe6+ Bf7 34.Nxf7 Nb4+ 35.Kb3 Rxf7 36.axb4 Bh6 37.g3 1/2-1/2

Copyright 2014 Tim Sawyer. Click here for my HOME PAGE. sawyerte@yahoo.com