I realise I haven't posted on here for three years. I have still been quite active in the chess community, playing mainly on Chess.com and more recently at Lincoln Chess Club.
I haven't done any blogs over at Chess.com since 2013, but this week I published an extensive blog/article where I revisited the Danish and Göring Gambits, specifically the lines where White's c3 is met with ...dxc3 and then Nxc3.
I decided to combine both gambits, as it tied in well with discussing the various transpositions and independent possibilities arising from the move order 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3. GM Daniel Naroditsky has recommended 4...Bc5 there, with the idea of following up with ...Nbd7 and ...c6 instead of ...Nc6, which takes some of the sting out of White's Bg5/Nd5 plans. I remember noting that possibility a couple of decades ago when it was briefly covered in Danish Dynamite via the move order 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Nf3 Bc5 4.c3 dxc3 5.Nxc3, where Zezulkin-Plachetka continued 5...d6 6.Bc4 Nf6 7.0-0 Nc6, transposing into the Göring, when Black could instead have tried 7...0-0 and then ...Nbd7 and ...c6. But when I looked over these lines, they don't look that bad for White to me. Black might get a tiny edge if both sides play perfectly, but that's also the case in some other lines, and White has the usual practical chances.
I was inspired to revisit those lines by FM William Graif's YouTube channel, where he has advocated the Göring in some of his videos, including the sideline that I have often used myself, 4...d5 5.Bd3. I also found that there have been quite a number of high level games played in these lines since I last examined them extensively around the mid-2010s, including two by Vasly Ivanchuk, who has been having a bit of a renaissance recently, I think he's just short of rating in the world's top 100 at the moment.
I note that my last blog discussed the Euwe Defence in the Blackmar-Diemer. I have had that line in quite a few games recently, often via transposition from the French Defence, and regardless of the theoretical assessment I have been sticking with the line (1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 e6) 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Qd2 and doing rather well.
The BDG is looking rather less sound than the Göring at the moment - when I run Stockfish 17 on my current PC, the Stockfish evaluation of the BDG is around -0.5 whereas the Göring is -0.1 to -0.2 - and if I'm honest I see little reason to doubt Stockfish's assessment - but there are still plenty of practical chances there too. Last week I had a game at the local club which reached the following position via that 7.Qd2 line of the Euwe Defence:
Here Rxh5, gxh5, Qf6# was a nice finish.
