Lessons From Bregenz III

I HAVE had the following position three times in my games.

In each case it arose after the moves 1.e4 d5 2.d4!? exd4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 Bf5!? 5.g4 Bg6 6.g5 Nd5 7.Nxe4 e6

I first had it at Guernsey in 2005, when I continued 8.Nh3!?, which was apparently a novelty, although ChessBase's 2026 Mega database has two subsequent games with the same continuation.

According to my notes, my opponent, Dutchman Peter Vorstermans (1934), suggested 8.c4, which I noted was also recommended by Gary Lane in his 2003 book Blackmar-Diemer Gambit.

I also noted that my main engines at the time, which I am pretty sure were Hiarcs1.5a and Deep Fritz7, "love 8...Bb4+, but Lane gives a ?, continuing 9.Ke2!"

There is little doubt that Lane, and presumably Vorstermans, were ahead of contemporary engines, as modern engines, eg Stockfish18 and Dragon1, flash red when ...Bb4+ is inputted. agreeing that the best reply is Ke2.

I next had the diagram position in round one at Bregenz, where I again continued 8.Nh3!?, having no recollection of the Guernsey game.

That is understandable, since there are almost 21 years and more than 3,000 games between the two encounters, although I do find it surprising, and a little disappointing, that my calculations came to the same apparently sub-optimal solution in both cases.

The third time I had the diagram position was in round three at Bregenz, where I continued 8.Ne2!?, which is again almost certainly sub-optimal, showing how little I had taken from my experience two rounds earlier.

I probably should have chosen one of the two moves liked by Stockfish18 and Dragon1, namely 8.c4 (known since at least a 1947 game of Emil Diemer's - the game is not in Mega26), and 8.h4 (the earliest encounter in Mega26 being a a 1997 game between two unrateds).

LESSON: it is good to look at your games, but it is so much better to study them.