Lessons From Bad Bertrich: On Our Own

MY round eight game, in which I had Black against Horst Prüsse (2017), began 1.f4 c5 2.e4 d5!?

I suspect my opponent was already out of his book-knowledge, as I was when he continued 3.e5.

By move five we had reached this unusual position, which does not appear in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database

Position after 10 moves

The game was looking, if anything, even more peculiar after 15 moves

Position after 20 moves

LESSON: when players are thrown on their own resources at an early stage, odd things are liable to happen.