Blackmar diemer gambit

Hi all, looking for help as a beginner in playing against this gambit please. What I've found on line seems quite one sided only explaining how W can crush their opponents. But yet GMs seem to avoid it 😄 so I'm guessing there is a weakness for Black to exploit?

I saw the Halosar trap, so ok I know not to take the hanging d4 pawn with my queen, but I haven't found any guidance on actually playing against this opening. Except that W will crush me 😄

Thanks

Nikhil

White's "weakness" is that he is a pawn down. It really is as simple as that.

It can be tricky because it's pretty tactical and it can be easy to miss moves if you aren't sure of what White wants to do. White is basically setting up a bunch of "x-ray" tactics and if Black misses them it can be difficult to play. 

The most basic thing you can do is decline the pawn with 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 (3.f3 e5!) 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 e3 and then develop. You can also decline it with 2...e6 or 2...c6 which transpose to other openings. 

If you take the pawn then there are a few ways you can play but they aren't exactly obvious. I like 4...exf3 5.Nxf3 Bf5 with the idea that the bishop can go to g6 at some point and protect f7 from tactics. f7 is the main point of attck so you have to watch out for Ne5/Ng5 ideas that target it. There are other ways to play that have their own ideas but I think it's a good idea to simply look at some games where Black wins and see how they defend those positions.

The best book on the BDG and the most objective is Christopher Scheerer's "The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit."

Scheerer sees the Ziegler Defense (5...c6) as the strongest line for Black. His analysis shows White's initiative fades, leaving Black a pawn up.

However, working that out over the board is another matter.

I can't get insert game position wizard to work so that the final position shows.

Thanks all, thats helps.

Hi all, continuing with this. I faced the below in a game last night as B. It didnt occur to me at the time but I guess the correct move here would have been just 5...f2 correct?

Thanks, Nikhil

5.Bg5 is just a bad move and suggests your opponent doesn't know he is playing the BDG.

Black can play f2+, fxg2 or even h6. My instinct would be f2+.

Great, thanks.

That's the general recommendation- however, it seems that Black can play even better: 6...Qh4+! The main idea is rather simple: