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Today’s game is from my mate @benhunt72 of the Chess Boot Camp club and channel who has recently been playing the rather tricky Diemer-Duhm Gambit with the white pieces against the French Defense (1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. c4). Stockfish doesn’t like it [-0.8] but as we shall see, it’s a gambit where we smash open the closed nature of the French Defense, and thus, potentially take the French Defense player out of their comfort zone!

Indeed, the centre opens immediately (3… dxe4 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5)! It’s very interesting comparing the evaluation with the win ratios on the Lichess community database of lower-rated games of blitz and rapid. White with (4. d5), the provocative push that opens everything up is rated as a bad mistake by Stockfish [-2]. However, the win ratio is even at 48% vs 48%.

At the end of the trade sequence, Black delivers a check and White blocks the check with knight development (5… Bb4+ 6. Nc3) and although the evaluation is still clearly in Black’s favour [-1.2], the win ratio is an astonishing 59% vs 38% (White vs Black)!

In essence, the position is practically a cognitive trap. Black plays the most natural (and most frequent) next move with (6… Nf6). This looks very reasonable. Black adds a second attacker to White’s d-pawn on d5, and White’s knight, which looks like a defender isn’t one as it’s pinned. However, this is a blunder [+3.6] as White now has the killer move which isn’t necessary expected with (7. Qa4+), an absolute fork of Black’s king and bishop on b4!

Consider why this works. Black, playing the French, will not be thinking about an open centre in the opening. From this point, Black is playing with a damaged position and down a full piece. On move 13, with White about to force a series of trades to simplify, Black resigns having suffered emotional damage. GG!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/92977862635

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2023.11.06"]
[Round "-"]
[White "benhunt72"]
[Black "rcrain"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C00"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/French-Defense-Diemer-Duhm-Gambit-3...dxe4"]
[UTCDate "2023.11.06"]
[UTCTime "02:45:51"]
[WhiteElo "1541"]
[BlackElo "1604"]
[TimeControl "600"]
[Termination "benhunt72 won by resignation"]
[StartTime "02:45:51"]
[EndDate "2023.11.06"]
[EndTime "02:49:18"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/92977862635"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/37392096.ee41e75f.50x50o.d2f92453760f.png"]
[WhiteCountry "164"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://www.chess.com/bundles/web/images/noavatar_l.84a92436.gif"]
[BlackCountry "2"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. e4 {[%clk 0:10:00]} 1... e6 {[%clk 0:10:00]} 2. d4 {[%clk 0:09:57.8]} 2... d5
{[%clk 0:09:59.2]} 3. c4 $5 {[%clk 0:09:57.4][%c_effect
c4;square;c4;type;Interesting;persistent;true][%c_arrow
b1c3;keyPressed;none;from;b1;opacity;0.8;to;c3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c3;keyPressed;shift;opacity;0.8;square;c3;persistent;false] French Defense:
Diemer-Duhm Gambit. Stockfish doesn't like it [+0.4 $37 -0.8] but it's very
tricky $1} 3... dxe4 {[%clk 0:09:56.4]} 4. d5 $2 {[%clk 0:09:57.3][%c_effect
d5;square;d5;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
b1c3;keyPressed;none;from;b1;opacity;0.8;to;c3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c3;persistent;false] Stockfish rates this
as a mistake [-2] but interestingly enough, in the Lichess community database of
lower rated games of blitz and rapid, this is the single best move in terms of
win ratio for White (48\% vs 48\%)} 4... exd5 {[%clk 0:09:53.2]} 5. cxd5 {[%clk
0:09:57.2]} 5... Bb4+ {[%clk 0:09:47.7]} 6. Nc3 {[%clk 0:09:56.3] Black is
technically better in evaluation [-1.2] but in the Lichess community database
White has a dominant win ratio 59\% vs 38\% $1} 6... Nf6 $4 {[%clk
0:09:41.5][%c_effect f6;square;f6;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_arrow
b4c3;keyPressed;none;from;b4;opacity;0.8;to;c3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c3;persistent;false] A blunder [+3.6] (can
you see it $2)} 7. Qa4+ $1 {[%clk 0:09:54.6][%c_effect
a4;square;a4;type;GreatFind;persistent;true][%c_arrow
a4e8;keyPressed;none;from;a4;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false,a4b4;keyPressed;none;from;a4;opacity;0.8;to;b4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e8;persistent;false,b4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b4;persistent;false]}
7... Nc6 {[%clk 0:09:10]} 8. dxc6 {[%clk 0:09:52]} 8... Bxc3+ {[%clk 0:09:05.8]}
9. bxc3 {[%clk 0:09:51.9]} 9... b6 $6 {[%clk 0:08:45][%c_effect
b6;square;b6;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
e8g8;keyPressed;none;from;e8;opacity;0.8;to;g8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g8;persistent;false]} 10. Ba3 {[%clk
0:09:36.7][%c_arrow
a3f8;keyPressed;none;from;a3;opacity;0.8;to;f8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f8;persistent;false] Blocks short castles}
10... Ng4 {[%clk 0:08:18.7]} 11. Rd1 {[%clk 0:09:32.8]} 11... Qf6 {[%clk
0:07:57.3]} 12. Qxe4+ {[%clk 0:09:13.1]} 12... Ne5 {[%clk 0:07:52.2]} 13. Nf3
{[%clk 0:09:05.9][%c_effect
e1;square;e1;type;Winner,e8;square;e8;type;ResignBlack][%c_arrow
e4e5;keyPressed;none;from;e4;opacity;0.8;to;e5;persistent;false,e5e8;keyPressed;none;from;e5;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false,f3e5;keyPressed;none;from;f3;opacity;0.8;to;e5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e5;persistent;false] Emotional damage
[+8.8], GG $1} 1-0