Arthur Stobbe Flips the Bird to King's Gambit

Named chess openings can rapidly change from one to another with each new move. Arthur J. Stobbe (1916-2008) was a librarian who conferred on me the honorary title of "Doctor" because I got my Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Keybook published in 1992. Arthur thought that anyone who got a book published ought to be given an honorary PhD. As I recall, we had an enjoyable year of conversation on our weekly postcards. Arthur Stobbe was a veteran postal chess player who preferred gambits or offbeat openings.

Here Arthur started with a Bird's Opening. After I offered the From Gambit, Mr. Stobbe settled on the King's Gambit. I countered with the Falkbeer Counter Gambit. Thus in the matter of two moves, we flipped openings four times. In our contest the opening and middlegame were roughly equal, but I had the better chances in the endgame. Eventually, White blundered on move 42 and ran out of steam by move 50.

Stobbe - Sawyer, corr USCF 1992 begins 1.f4 e5 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 e4 4.Nc3 [The main line of the Falkbeer is 4.d3 Nf6 5.dxe4 Nxe4 6.Nf3 Bc5 7.Qe2 Bf5 8.Nc3 Qe7 9.Be3+/=] 4...Nf6 5.d3 Bb4 6.Bd2 e3 7.Bxe3 0-0 8.Be2 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Nxd5 10.Bd2 Qf6 11.c4 Nxf4 12.Bxf4 Qxf4 13.Nf3 Re8 14.Qd2 Qxd2+ [Black may wish to keep the queens on the board with 14...Qd6 ] 15.Kxd2 Nc6 16.Rab1 b6 17.d4 Ba6 18.Bd3 g6 19.Rhe1 Kf8 20.d5 Na5 21.c5 Bxd3 22.cxd3 Nb7 23.c6 Nd6 24.Ne5 f6 25.Ng4 Kg7 26.Ne3 Kf7 27.Nc2 Rxe1 28.Rxe1 Re8 29.a4 [29.Rxe8 Nxe8 30.Kc3=] 29...Rxe1 30.Kxe1 Ke7 31.Ke2 Ne8 [31...Nc8 32.Ne3 Kd6 33.Ng4 f5 34.Nf6 Ne7 35.Nxh7 Kxd5-/+] 32.Ke3 f5 33.Kd4 Kd6 34.Na3 a6 35.h4 h6 36.Nc4+ Ke7 37.g3 Nf6 38.d6+ cxd6 39.Nxb6 Kd8 40.Na8 Kc8 41.Nb6+ Kc7 42.Nd5+? [Better to keep the knights on with 42.Nc4 Kxc6-/+] 42...Nxd5 43.Kxd5 g5 44.a5 gxh4 45.gxh4 f4 46.Ke4 Kxc6 47.Kxf4 Kb5 48.Ke3 Kxa5 49.Kd2 Kb4 50.Kc2 a5 0-1

Copyright 2013 Tim Sawyer. Click here for my latest blog post. sawyerte@yahoo.com

Gardner Johnson in Blackmar-Diemer Gunderam

The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Gunderam is a foundational variation that is less popular than its cousins the BDG Ziegler and BDG Teichmann, however some Gunderam variations like 7...Nxe4 and 7...Bxe4 are very sharp with unique tactics in their own right. In my game vs Gardner Johnson from the United States Postal Chess Championship in 1990, we played a line that is parallel to the BDG Teichmann Retreat (5.Nxf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bh5 7.g4 Bg6 8.Ne5) where the only difference between the two lines is the location of White's h-pawn and move numbers. Here when the Nf6 is attacked by 9.g5, Johnson plays the in between move 9...Bh5 which is less common than 9...Nh5 or 9...Nd5.

Sawyer (2023) - Johnson (1900), corr USCCC 10P05, 26.12.1990 begins 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 Bf5 6.Ne5 e6 7.g4 Bg6 8.Qf3 c6 9.g5 Bh5 10.Qf4 Nd5 11.Qh4 g6 12.Qf2 Qe7 [12...f5 13.gxf6 Qxf6 14.Qxf6 Nxf6 15.Bh3=] 13.Ne4 Qc7 [13...Nd7=] 14.c4 Bb4+ 15.Bd2 Bxd2+ 16.Kxd2 f5 17.gxf6 Qa5+ [This is not enough compensation for the sacrificed piece. If 17...Nd7 18.Nxd7+-] 18.Kc2 Nb4+ 19.Kb3 N4a6 20.f7+ Kf8 21.Qf6 1-0

Copyright 2013 Tim Sawyer. Click here for my latest blog post. sawyerte@yahoo.com