Winning with the Blackmar-Diemer SEMTEX Attack!

Of all the "unsound" and "refuted" openings we regularly shun, none is as maligned as the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit. Typically, my OTB opponent will roll his eyes when I play it, as though I was venturing the Grob; which in my view, really is unsound. But the SEMTEX Attack offers a more stable BDG that is easy to master and will put the most experienced chessplayer into zoned-out stress.

Here's the opening:

1.d4 d5

2.e4  offering the gambit pawn. If Black accepts the gambit, the following is the usual continuation...

2...dxe

3. N-c3 N-f6

4. a4 a6 (the Shadow Government Defense)

and after

5. R-b1 c6

6. N-h3 K-d7...we arrive at a Mexican standoff and a very drawish position.

But in my view, the SEMTEX Attack provides White with a solid pawn foundation, more than adequate King safety and a comfortable endgame:

Black's position is hopeless already! If he responds

5...f6 and crawls through the slums of Baltic Avenue

to support the weak dark square e5, White will simply play

6. B-g5! in a gorgeous bishop sacrifice, weakening the dark square to a fatal degree! Otherwise, if Black declines the gambit bishop with

5...e5?! attempting a hasty and ill-conceived plan of overprotection...

White will play the nasty Rotterdam Response with

6. c4!!! and a won game.

The rest is simply a matter of technique.