FIDE Master Eric Schiller Tribute

I heard Eric Schiller passed away this week. The FIDE Master and USCF Life Master was a much-loved chess teacher and a prolific author. His "Blackmar-Diemer Gambit" monograph in 1986 motivated me to play the gambit and write my first BDG Keybook!
Eric and I wrote debated lines, expressed our opinions and encouraged each other. He emailed me and contacted me online from time to time. We mentioned each other in our books. I respected his willingness to teach the game we love. He will be missed. Eric Schiller won this game against Christine Flear at the Lloyds Bank Open in London.

Schiller (2205) - Flear, Lloyds Bank op London 1985 begins 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Bg4 [Eric Schiller knew the main lines but he usually chose lesser known variations.]

3.Qd3 [White unpins the e-pawn and threatens check on b5. Another idea is 3.f3+/=] 3...Qd7 [3...e6! 4.Qb5+ Nc6 5.Bf4 Rb8=] 4.f3 [4.e4 dxe4 5.Qxe4+/=] 4...Bh5 5.Nh3 [5.e4+/=] 5...Bg6 6.e4 Nc6 7.Be3 h6 [7...Nf6 8.0-0-0+/=] 8.0-0-0 e6 9.Bf4 [9.Nf4+/=] 9...dxe4 [9...0-0-0=] 10.fxe4 Bh7 [10...0-0-0 11.Qe3+/=] 11.Qb5 g5 12.d5 gxf4 [12...Nd8 13.Bxc7+-] 13.dxc6 Qxc6 14.Qe5 Bd6 15.Qxh8 0-0-0 16.Qxh7 1-0

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BDG 3...Bf5 Zeller Gambit 5.Qe2

Richard Torning sent me a Blackmar-Diemer Gambit in his pet Zeller Torning 5.Qe2 line. I'm sure he was having fun. You know your opponent plays poorly when you can make 12 queen moves in a row and still win. Rick writes: "I was pleased playing this game at such a fast rate - 60 seconds each on the clock. I managed to steal 4 pawns from Black."

My Blackmar-Diemer Tactics with 500 combinations and mates.

Torning - NN, Casual Bullet game, 13.07.2018 begins 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Bf5 D00 Blackmar-Diemer Gambit: Zeller Defense 4.g4 Bg6 5.Qe2 Torning Variation 5...f5 6.Qb5+ c6 7.Qxb7 Nd7 8.Qxc6 Rc8 9.Qb5?! [9.Qa6] 9...Rb8 10.Qd5 Bf7 11.Qxf5 Bg6 12.Qd5 [12.Qe6 to inhibit development] 12...e6 13.Qg5?+/= [13.Qxe6+ +-] 13...Be7 14.Qd2 e3? Typical bullet move hoping White misses it! [14...Ngf6] 15.Qxe3 Bb4

16.Qxe6+ Ne7 17.Bg5 Bxc3+ 18.bxc3 Bf7 19.Qxe7+ Qxe7+ 20.Bxe7 Kxe7 21.Bd3 Rbe8 22.Ne2 Kd8 23.0-0 Bd5 24.Nf4 Bf7 25.f3 g5 26.Ng2 White remains 4 pawns up White wins on time. 1-0 [Game notes by Torning]

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Trompowsky BDG by Kasparov

I got this: "Dear Tim: Kasparov transposes from a Trompovsky to a Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Teichmann, a move up during a simul. in 2014. Sincerely, Gary Zintgraff"

Eric Jego included this in his Blackmar-Diemer Gambit book. The extra White move in the Trompowsky Attack reaches a BDG with the wrong color to move, so I did not put it in my BDG books. As expected, Kasparov played well against Marco Paulo Carneiro.

Kasparov (2817) - Carneiro, Simul Sao Paolo BRA, 21.08.2004 begins 1.d4 Nf6 [The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 Bg4 6.Bf4?! reaches the move 7 diagram below, but the Trompowsky works better since it's White's move, not Black's.] 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bf4 d5 4.f3 Nf6 5.e4 dxe4 6.Nc3 exf3 7.Nxf3 Bg4

8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 c6 10.0-0-0 e6 11.Bc4 Nbd7 [11...Be7=] 12.d5! cxd5 13.Nxd5 [Or 13.Bxd5+/- ] 13...Nxd5 14.Bxd5 a5 15.Bxb7 Ra7 16.Rxd7 Qf6 17.Rhd1 [17.Rc7+-] 17...Be7 [17...Bb4 18.Be3+-] 18.Rxe7+ Qxe7 19.Qc6+ Kf8 20.Bd6 [20.Qc8+ Qe8 21.Bd6+ Kg8 22.Qxe8 mate - Zintgraff] 20...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

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Caro-Kann Rasa-Studier Gambit

Rick Torning writes about the BDG Caro-Kann version of the Rasa-Studier Gambit:
"The Rasa-Studier Gambit game has a nice trap that baits Black's queen to win a pawn with check and then a bishop - which if accepted leads to a forced checkmate! The e6 pawn shields, nay interferes with, Black's queen from defending the weak f7 square. A nice brevity. I have not found this trap in any of my books on traps or database files (including Chessbase Mega Database 2018). Do you know if it has been played before?"

Yes, Rick. It was played in Vandenbroucke-gron, ICS 1995 (BDGKII Game 85 page 345), a game that was repeated via a different move order in Sawyer-guest, ICC 1997.

Torning - NN, Casual Bullet lichess, 01.03.2018 begins 1.d4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.f3 [Caro-Kann Rasa-Studier Gambit] 4...exf3 5.Nxf3 Bg4 6.Bc4 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 Nf6 8.Ne4 e6 9.Nxf6+ Qxf6 10.0-0! [baiting the queen to capture the bishop.] 10...Qxd4+ 11.Kh1 Qxc4?? 12.Qxf7+ [White has a forced mate 12.Qxf7+ Kd8 13.Bg5+ Be7 14.Qxe7+ Kc8 15.Rf8+ Rxf8 16.Qxf8+ Kc7 17.Qd8#] 12...Kd8 13.Bg5+ Kc8

14.Qe8+ [White wins on time before...] 14...Kc7 15.Qd8# 1-0 [Game notes by Torning]

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Caro-Kann Delayed Panov

This wild Caro-Kann Defence ended up in favor of Ray Haines who played Black. This delayed Panov became some type of Queens Gambit Accepted. Moves 18 to 21 were full of blunders on both sides. The most important rule is, "Don't make the last blunder!"

You may like the Chess Games of Ray Haines.

mohamed395 (1647) - rrhaines33 (1684), Live Chess Chess.com, 03.04.2018 begins 1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 Nc6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 Bg4 8.Be3 e6 9.h3 Bh5 10.Be2 Be7 11.Qb3 0-0 12.Qxb7 Nb4 13.0-0 Nc2 14.Rad1 Nxe3 15.fxe3 Rb8 16.Qxa7 Rxb2 17.g4 [17.Rb1=] 17...Bg6 18.Ne5? [18.Bd3 Bb4=/+] 18...Bd6? [18...Bb4-+] 19.h4? [19.Nxg6=] 19...Be4? [19...Ne4!-+] 20.Nxe4 [20.g5!=] 20...Nxe4 [20...Rxe2=/+] 21.Nxf7? [21.Rxf7!+-] 21...Rxe2 22.Rf2 Rxf2 23.Nxd8 [Black has a mate in two.]

23...Bh2+ 24.Kh1 Ng3# 0-1

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Queen Pawn Stonewall Attack

Ray Haines wins a Stonewall Attack which transposes to a Bird's Opening. White hid in his castle behind a stonewall with 6.f4 until his forces were ready. He could have lowered the drawbridge faster and attacked with 6.e4. By the time he played 15.e4, his stonewall had cracks in it that Black failed to find. Then White attacked and had two ways to mate.

You may like Chess Games of Ray Haines.

Haines - pavel135 (1634), Live Chess.com, 23.04.2018 begins 1.d4 d5 2.e3 e6 3.Bd3 c5 4.c3 c4 5.Bc2 Nc6 6.f4 [6.e4 is objectively stronger.] 6...f5 7.Nf3 Nf6 8.0-0 Be7 9.b3 b5 10.bxc4 dxc4 [10...bxc4 11.Ba4 Bd7=] 11.Nbd2 [11.Qe2!?=] 11...0-0 12.Ne5? [12.Qe1=] 12...Nxe5 13.fxe5 Nd5 14.Qf3?! Bb7 15.e4

15...fxe4 [Black could try 15...Nb4! 16.cxb4 Qxd4+ 17.Qf2 Qxa1-+] 16.Qxe4 Rxf1+ 17.Nxf1 g6 18.Bd2 Rb8 [18...Bg5=/+] 19.Qg4 Nc7 [19...Qd7=] 20.Ng3 Qf8 [20...Kh8 21.Rf1+/-] 21.Rf1 Qg7 22.h4 Rf8 23.Rxf8+ Bxf8 24.h5 Bc8 [24...gxh5 25.Qxh5+/-] 25.hxg6 hxg6 26.Bxg6 Bd7 27.Nh5 Qh8 28.Nf6+ Kg7 [29.Bh5 mate; 29.Be8 mate] 1-0

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