Blackmar-Diemer gambit

Hey, I discovered a pretty cool opening a while ago named Blackmar-Diemer gambit. According to Game Explorer white wins 58.3% of the games, while black wins only 30.8%.

I've tried it a few times and I think it is pretty unorthodox and impressive.

So does anyone in here have any thoughts about it? I'm curious to hear.

You're going to get very mixed reviews on it. I played it sometime back and had a huge score with it in CC.

The BDG theoretically is considered somewhat unsound because black can gain a small advantage in a few lines, which is why it is not seen at high level very often. Originally it scored quite well before defences were figured out, which is why the database shows such high results.

Practically it can be quite a powerful weapon because whites initiative can be fairly dangerous to deal with. The flipside of this however, and the reason I stopped playing it is that it requires an immense amount of theoretical knowledge to play well. Often the moves that maintain whites initiative are very counter inituitive and you are unlikely to find them OTB.

So, if you're willing to put som effort into learning a bit of theory, then I believe it could pay off, however, you probably wont find much against players above perhaps the 2100 level. Some famous player once said "the BDG is the quickest way to 2000..in both directions" which I think sums it up nicely.

I've watched a couple of videos about the opening, but I guess that's not what you mean with "immense amount of theoretical knowledge". It is a very very powerful opening, especially at my level, and I'm going to experiment some more.

How did the experimenting go? I am thinking of diving into this opening myself.

I used it once in a blitz game against an opponent not too familiar with the opening and he fell for the Halosar trap to my great enjoyment. Otherwise I haven't had much luck with it. I agree with Godlike that you need an "immense amount of theoretical knowledge" once you get past the first five moves.

The BDG makes muh more sense as part of an King's pawn repertoire than it does as part of a Queen's pawn one. Firstly of all, it is primarily tactical, which fits in better with most King's pawn repertoires. Much more importantly though, when Black choses to transpose into the French or CK you're far better off if you played the 1.e4 move order.

The reasons for this are obvious. Firstly, you were already prepared to play against these defences. Secondly, Black is no longer playing his prefered defence. He obviously wanted to play the Scandinavian. However, through a Queen's pawn move order Black could well simply find himself swapping from his best d4 defence to his best e4 defence. No issue.

As part of an e4 repertoire I think that the BDG makes a lot of sense for a lot of sub-master level players. As part of a d4 repertoire I think it is terrible.

As Black I used to play a bold 2...e5 against the Blackmar-Diemer, but per 365chess and one comment I read, that's unsound, so I probably won't ever try that again. But it's an interesting response to blow the mind of a well-booked White player!

(1. d4 d5 2. e4 e5)

Anatoly Karpov became arguably the greatest player of all time by regularly playing less than optimal moves to avoid complications and/or lines he was unsure about. It's hardly rocket science to work out why somebody might want to transpose here.

I like it how Karpov is assumed to be the greatest of all time in your response. That being said, I don't disagree--I'm just glad AlexandraThessa didn't have to come in here to defend him. While I doubt Karpov played the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, its creator, Emil Joseph Deimer, is certainly worth emulating as an attacking player (Karpov is extremely underrated tactician, by the way; he just chooses to play a prophylactic style). I feel that the latest theory on the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit actually favours White (for one, most of the research is being done by gambiteers--you might be surprised how many societies there are dedicated to the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, as it's literally a way of life!)

While I tent to use the Blackmar-Diemer as a response to the Scandinavian, as I'm normally a king's pawn player, I'll play P-Q4 when I'm in the mood for the gambit. If my opponent responds with Kt-KB3, that just gives me the chance to get into the Gibbens-Weidenhagen gambit with P-QKt4!?