Playing Conditions (Bregenz)

Tournament hall

Bregenz Seniors Round One

FACED a German.

Spanton (1911) - Kurt Vogel (1643)

Blackmar-Diemer Gambit

1.e4 d5 2.d4!?

This is strongly disliked by Stockfish18 and Dragon1, but they do not like 1...d5 either.

2...dxe4 3.Nc3 Bf5!?

This is third in popularity in ChessBase's 2026 Mega database, behind 3...e5!? and especially 3...Nf6.

How should White respond?

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4.f3

This was Alexander Alekhine's choice in a 1923 simul, but the engines suggest 4.g4 Bg6 and, probably, 5.Nge2 (Emil Diemer played 5,Bg2 in a 1972 game), claiming White has equalised.

4...Nf6

Alekhine - Lynn* Blount, Simul (Providence, Rhode Island) 1923, went 4...exf3 5.Qxf3!? e6 6.Qxb7 Nd7 7.Bb5 Nf6 8.Bg5 Be7?! (the engines suggest 8...Rb8 or 8...Qc8!?) 9.Bxf6?! (White is better after 9.Bxd7+, eg 9...Nxd7 10.Bxe7 Kxe7 11.0-0-0) Bxf6 10.Bxd7+ Kxd7, with equal chances, according to the engines (but 1-0, 46 moves).

After 4...Nf6 the game has reached, via transpositions, a tabiya of the BDG that occurs 846 times in Mega26 

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5.g4

More common is 5.fxe4!? Nxe4 6.Qf3 Nd6 7.Bf4 e6 8.0-0-0, when White has interesting compensation for a pawn, although Dragon1 (but not Stockfish18) reckons Black is still slightly better.

5...Bg6 6.g5 Nd5 7.Nxe4

Kurt Richter - Simon Rotenstein, Berlin Championship 1932, continued 7.fxe4?! Nxc3 8.bxc3 Bxe4 9.Nf3, with the upper hand for Black, according to the engines (but 1-0, 42 moves).

7...e6 8.Nh3!?

The engines prefer 8.h4, 8.c4 or 8.c3.

8...c6

This may be a novelty. Spanton (2018) - Peter Vorstermans (1934), Guernsey 2005, went 8...Be7 9.Bg2 h6 10.gxh6 Bh4+ 11.Ng3 gxh6 12.Bd2?! (White should probably castle, or play 12.Nf4) Nc6, with the upper hand for Black, according to the engines (0-1, 30 moves).

9.Bg2 Nd7 10.Qe2 N7b6 11.Bd2 Qd7 12.a4 a5 13.0-0 Be7 14.b3 0-0

Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position?

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White's kingside looks a mess, but White's pawns give White more space, and White is capable of attacking on the queenside, in the centre and/or on the kingside. The engines reckon White has the upper hand (Stockfish18) or is at least slightly better (Dragon1).

15.Rad1 Qc8?!

Not a great square for the queen, and meanwhile Black is falling behind in development.

16.c4 Nc7?!

This drops a pawn, but 16...Nb4 17.Ne4 is also very good for White, according to the engines.

17.Qe1!? Bxe4?!

This probably makes matter worse.

18.fxe4 Nd7 19.Bxa5  b6 20.Bc3 Ne8 21.Qg3 Rb8 22.e5 g6!?

This is the top choice of the engines, but if 22...g6!? is really the best move in the position, it only goes to show how badly Black stands.

23.Qf3 c5

The engines give 23...b5 24.axb5 axb5 25.c5!?, with what they regard as a positionally won game for White.

24.d5 exd5?!

Natural looking, but it loses a piece, so Black had to try something like 24...Ng7 25.d6 Bd8, but with a horrible position.

25.Qxd5! 1-0
*Given as T Blount in Mega26, but it was probably Lynn Blount, champion of Providence Chess Club.

Chess Tip Of The Day 399

A desire to create complications at an early stage in the game sometimes urges a player into unwarranted experiments.

Alexey Sokolsky, The Modern Openings In Theory And Practice

Impressions

ALTHOUGH I caught two trains to cover the 20 miles from Bregenz to Friedrichshafen, on the way back I used only one train, walking the remaining six or so miles.

It was hot in the sun, but there were a few moments worth stopping for to take photos, including one of a 16th-century church.

Better Late Than Never

I DISCOVERED today, more than three months after the event, there is a new version of the free engine Stockfish.

The creators reckon Stockfish18 is 46 elo better than Stockfish17, although, as far as I can see, they do not claim how much stronger it is than the improved Stockfish17.1.

Nevertheless, it would be churlish to look this gift horse in the mouth, and it can be downloaded free here.

However, be warned, I found I could only get it to work in ChessBase by deleting all previous versions of Stockfish from my computer. Until I had done that, no versions of the engine would work!

Stockfish icon - designed by web developer Klein Maetschke

Hard To Believe ...

... but I may have solved the problem with Blogger's faulty feeder gadget, and without having to be spoonfed the solution by geeks (in a nice way) who are so much more knowledgeable about computer software than I can ever hope to be.

At the moment Chess Tip Of The Day seems to be automatically updating in the top-right corner of the web version of Beau Chess.

The test will be whether it continues working tomorrow.

The High Life

CAUGHT a train from Bregenz, crossing the Austro-German border to Lindau, and from there took another train to Friedrichshafen, home of the Zeppelin.

Monument to Ferdinand von Zeppelin

Zeppelin coming in to land

Touchdown

Taking off

Co-pilot addresses the passengers

Farmland

The cockpit

Lindau Island

Marina

Lake Constance

Insight into how a river delta is formed

The airship's shadow stands out starkly

We were apparently traveling at 35 knots (about 40mph or 65kph) at a height of 1,000ft (305 metres).

Chess Tip Of The Day 398

When you have a dangerous initiative, it is important not to cash it in for material too soon.

John Nunn, Grandmaster Chess Move By Move

Getting There (Bregenz)

CAUGHT British Airways' 11:45 from London City to Zurich, transferring to a train direct to Bregenz, arriving at my hotel at about 17:15 central European time.

Floating opera stage under construction for this year's production of Verdi's La Traviata

Finished stages of past years

Chess Tip Of The Day 397

The fewer pieces there are on the board, the more squares will become available for the heavy pieces, and consequently their strength increases for every exchange.

Jacob Aagaard, Excelling At Positional Chess