Play Chess Openings: Eric Jégo Blackmar-Diemer Gambit book

Our BDG friend Eric Jego has successfully completed his Blackmar-Diemer Gambit book, which is the 2011 English edition of his 2010 book Gambit Blackmar-Diemer (French edition). Below are some comments about this new edition. For my review of his original French edition, see my posting on Tom Purser's blog.

The things I do like are major and many. Here are 14 of them.
1. The book is 164 pages written in English, which I read much better than French.
2. Jégo did an excellent job selecting interesting examples recent BDG play.
3. Over 50 times the players have been noted with FIDE titles (GM, IM, FM, WFM).
4. The 287 games have just about the right amount of verbal annotations.
5. While English is not Jégo's first language, game notes are very understandable.
6. The games are divided into chapters by variation grouping lines together.
7. A rectangle box is drawn around the key move when games are in a different line.
8. Jégo has provided statistical analysis for each variation as to wins, draws, losses.
9. Jégo weaves throughout his 14 Elementary Principles in notes to every game.
10. The type of play is noted for each game: Classical, Correspondence or Blitz.
11. Most of the games come from actual live tournament play (“Classical”).
12. At the bottom of each page, there is a help to locate which lines are found above.
13. Actual ratings are given for each player when known.
14. There is an index to the players at the back of the book.

The things I don't like are very minor and very few.
1. The font is slightly smaller in the English edition, but that allows the book to save a dozen pages keeping costs down. It is still quite readable for me.
2. The philosophical waxing of Dany Sénéchaud regarding gambit play does not flow well in English, but I think I understand what he is saying. It only takes up three pages.
3. The first initials of the players have been omitted. Instead of “Purser T”, for example, it is just “Purser”.

Like the previous book, I highly recommend this book. I love it. Buy it!

This book has only three of my games; these are not well known. Two were draws vs BDG experts. Today's game was an unrated club game vs Eugene Schrecongost played at Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pennsylvania in 1998. The game starts out as a BDG Accepted Ritter Variation (5.Nxf3 b6) but transposes to a Bogoljubow Variation 5.Nxf3 g6. White's set-up is not the best for the Bogo. "Schreck" played this game very well, except for missing my mate at the end. The notes below are mine.

My Blackmar-Diemer Tactics with 500 combinations and mates.

Sawyer-Schrecongost begins 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e4 dxe4 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 b6 The Ritter Variation. 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.Bd3 g6 Giving the position a Bogoljubow flavor. This line is very unusual. [7...Bb7] 8.Qd2 Bg7 9.0-0-0 Bb7 10.h3 Bxf3 11.gxf3 0-0 12.Bh6 c5 13.d5 Ne5 14.Bxg7 Kxg7

15.Qg5?! [15.Be2 with compensation] 15...Nxd3+ [15...Nxf3 16.Qf4 Nd4=/+] 16.Rxd3 h6 17.Qf4?! Qd6 18.Qe3 Nh5 19.Kb1 Rad8=/+ Black has a good position and the extra pawn. The game is not over, but his position is certainly better. 20.h4 Qf4? 21.Qe1? [21.Qxe7=] 21...Rd7 22.Rg1 Rfd8 23.Ne4? f6!? [23...Rxd5!-+] 24.Rg4 Qf5? [24...Qe5!-+] 25.f4?? Nxf4!? [25...Qxg4-+] 26.Ng5?? Rxd5?? 27.Qxe7+ with mate to follow. I got away with one here. 1-0 Black resigns. 1-0