The numerical results here are delightfully deceiving.  Anyone who bothers to do the work here will find something for Black that sets White difficult problems.  If asked, I think I could come up with at least five problem lines for White on the top of my head.  Sevenviolets is even willing to admit there are lines where White has difficulty maintaining the balance.  Later when I have a break from school, I might post a summary of what I believe are the most challenging lines.

On a side note about the Lemburger, it seems like Sevenviolets (!) is the only person that has acknowledge ubiyca's analysis on 4...Nc6 in the Schoupal-Prie thread.  There is some good stuff here, and 6...f5 looks dangerous for White.  I still believe Black has favorable ways to play for a win in the Lemburger, and ubiyca's comments seem to be a good guide for 4...Nc6 against 4.Nge2.

1 d4 d5 2 e4 dxe4 3 Nc3 e5 4 Nge2 Bb4 5 dxe5  Qxd1+ 6 Kxd1 and I prefer white, e.g., 

6 ... Bf5 7 Nd5 Ba5 8 Nd4 Bg4+ 9 f3 exf3 10 gxf3 Bh5 11 Nf4  when the bishop pair should give white a slight plus.

6 ... Bf5 7 Nd5 Ba5 8 Nd4 Bg6! 9 h4 h6 (Bh5+ is similar to above) 10 Nf4 Bh7 11 e6 fxe6 12 Ndxe6   

6 ... Nc6 7 Nxe4 Nxe5 8 Bf4 Nc4 9 c3! Bd6 10 Nxd6+ (Ba5 b3!)

Other moves?  Perhaps I missed something, but it still looks good enough to me.  (Lacking comp checks as I'm busy with all sorts of work right now).

BTW, GM Prie, I don't accept your "refutation" as you claimed Nc6 was the move, and then quickly retracted that.  I have not seen any of your analysis of Bb4, but would be interested.  Until then, I still think e5 is not the way to play against the BDG.   

And to the others, no, I don't think these forums or the games here have shown the BDG is bad.  By my count it scored 66% in the games against strong players. 

NeX iRae

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I said that it was the basic plan, but I didn't say I would play it blindly! My plan was mostly to fight 9.Be3 e6 10.Bd3 Bb4 because it was the favourite choice of Black in the few practice, where the plan I gave can beat Black's strategy in somes variations. But if the Bishop doesn't come on b4, I don't fear a weakening of my Queenside with Bxc3, so I can castle long if I want.

I have found only one game with your interesting suggestion : 10..Nbd7 where White played 11.0-0 Qc7 12.Ne4 (it is clar that the h4-g5 plan is totally bad and not useful here)12..0-0-0 13.c4 and draw in 27 moves. More practice is needed, your defense deserve attention! 

Now let's see the somes analysis of the "main lines" 8..e6 and 8..Qxd4 :

8..e6 9.g5 Nd5 10.Bd3

10..Nb4 11.0-0 Qxd4+ 12.Be3 Qd7 13.Rad1 and now you gave 13..Qe7!? (N) and now I don't know if your proposition : 14.Bxh7 (spectacular, but does not seems good enough) but a possibly good variation and practically forced : 14.g6!? f6 15.Qh5 h6 16.a3 Nxd3 17.Rxd3 f5 18.Bf2 Qg5+ 19.Qxg5 hxg5 20.Re1 Ke7 21.Rde3 Kd7 22.Rxe6 Bd6 23.Bd4 seems to give enough compensation for the pawn, or unclear/equal maybe. 

10..Bb4 (it seems playable but I don't understand the point of that move) 11.0-0 0-0 (or 11..Qe7)and I quite prefer White's prospects. 12.Ne4 Be7 have been played a few times. And what was the aim of Bb4 then? 

10..Nxc3 11.bxc3 and I agree with you Scholar.

10..Bd6 11.0-0 0-0 12.Ne4! f5! 13.gxf6 Nxf6 14.Ng5 Qd7 15.Bc4 Nd5 16.Qe4 Rxf1+ 17.Kxf1 g6 18.Qxe6+ Qxe6 19.Nxe6 Nd7 20.Bh6 Nxf8 Bxf8 +/= (Leisebein's analysis)

10..Be7 11.0-0 0-0 12.Ne4 Nb4 13.Nf6+! gxf6 (..Bxf6 14.gxf6 with nice pressure in the Black's square, but maybe playable)14.Bxh7+!! +- 

of course 12..Nd7 is maybe playable, and now 13.c4 Nb6 14.Bb1 (12..Qb6 has also been played ), and the position is not clear.

Now the other main move : 8..Qxd4 9.Be3

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11.Bd2 to try to castle long or 11.Qf2!? seems to be the best moves.
9..Qd8 10.g5 Nd5 11.0-0-0 e6 12.Bb5(!) Nd7 13.Rf1 looks equal!

after 11.Bd2, Qe6+ is possible, 12.Be2 and I wait to see your ideas for Black here.

8..Qe5 and 8..Qb4 are quite common, but I believe White have a strong attack for the pawns. 8..Qe5 9.0-0-0 e6 10.g5 Nd7 11.Bc4! and 8..Qb4 9.0-0-0 e6 and here White have somes good options, like 11.Nb5!?, 11.Rd4, or 11.Bd4. I don't know which is best but when I faced 8..Qb4 in a CC game I have played 11.Bd4 and won.

to Eric :

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after 5.Bd2, with accurate play, I agree, that there is equality (but no more). But is it the best choice for Black to have no more than equality when the challenge is to win with a pawn up? If you are unprepared to face the BDG accepted, then the line you give is good enough. But I don't know if we can consider (=) as a refutation of the BDG. But the Lemberger is not so easy to play, because you have to know how to play against every variations you have cited, even if they are little worse than the Rasmussen theorically.

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After 4..exd4 5.Nf3, what is your recommandation?

I agree fully that the Lemberger Defense (it is not a Countergambit, that is a trick of BDG aficionados to make an unattractive line look more attractive) is a good reason for White not to play the BDG. It is similar to the reason I gave up the Danish: 3...d5! and White can forget about his attacking play.
After playing a variety of gambits myself on my modest level for a long time I have noticed this. Amateurs seem to have a more "principled" than "practical" attitude. They desire to prove gambit play dead wrong and thus accept the pawn with all the risks. This attitude is a great joy for all amateur gambit players.
So I don't have any doubt, that the heated debate on the refutation of the BDG will continue forever, despite of GM Prié's laudable efforts to teach us a more sensible and practicle attitude!
as I have already produced too much of the BS Nexirae was complaining about.

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What, have you no eyes to read the other threads on this subject here?  Plenty of specific lines have been discussed at length there, and three exhibition games have been played, two of which are still in progress.

It really is either most ignorant, or most insincere, to come here with the suggestion that the criticism of this gambit, which offers about a half-pawn's worth of compensation for the pawn, has been based here on words alone.

1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 c6 8.g4 h6 9.Be3 e6 10.Bd3 Nbd7 11.0-0 Qc7 12.h4 0-0-0 13.g5? hxg5 -+

OK, that is a bit of a joke, but still.

1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 c6 8.g4

I didn't really mean for this to become a game, more a discussion between or among friends.  I was out of theory by move 6, so it's not really meaningful for me to play a game here, unless I spend a week preparing.  Rather than do that, I figured I'd get us started.

So in my view, Black has three interesting choices here, 8...h6, e6, Qxd4.  Of course, I imagine that you have looked at all of these in some depth, but here are some of my initial thoughts:

8...h6 Black can continue with e6, Nbd7, Qc7, 0-0-0 etc. and seems quite solid.  This is more or less what I had in mind before I started thinking about specific variations.  I don't see anything at all for White here, but I admit to not trying very hard.  This would be my choice if I had to play against this line right now.  (And so if you prefer to play a game rather than analyze cooperatively, consider this my move.)

8...Qxd4 9.Be3 Qd6 10.g5 Nd7 11.Bf5 Ne5 12.Qg3 Nbd7 is one cute line.  Taking on d4 is not particularly to my taste, but this is obviously the critical move for the variation, so I assume White is packing some tactics here that I don't immediately see.

8...Qxd4 9.Be3 Qd8 10.g5 Nd5 11.Bc4 e6 12.0-0 Qd7 (instead, Qc7 13.Bxd5 cxd5 14.Rae1 Kd8 15.Nb5 and White starts to look like he might get something going).  Of course, I am sure that these are not even close to the best lines for White here.  Like I suggested before, I see little reason to try and find them now if you can just look them up, and we can continue from there.

For reasons unbeknownst to me the lines after 
8...e6 9.g5 Nd5 10.Bd3 seem to be the most popular in practice.  I think White almost has compensation in some of these lines:

10...Nxc3 11.bxc3 Bd6 and not 12.Rb1 is unplayed but seems annoying.  Black will have a hard time developing because of the weakness of b7 and f7.  (White usually prefers some random weaker alternative and then loses.)

instead, 11...Qd5 12.Be4 Qd7 13.Rb1 Bd6 14.0-0 which is similar to the above.  I'm unimpressed with Black's position.

10...Bb4 11.0-0 0-0 is an option I haven't had time to explore; this invites White's kingside attack, but probably Black can defend.  At any rate, something for future exploration.

10...Nb4 a computer strategy: take out the light-squared bishop.  Fritz has a good chuckle and then vomits out: 11.0-0 Qxd4+ 12.Be3 Qd7 13.Rad1 Qe7 14.Bxh7 Nd7 15.g6 f6.  Good stuff.

At any rate, hopefully that is some food for thought; I think most of the lines I flagged as favoring Black will stand up to scruntiny, though I guess I only really need one.

nexirae - dvigorito  (a.k.a. Fluffy)
GCS GCS, 13.07.2003

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e4 dxe4 4.f3 e3 5.Bxe3 Bf5 6.g4 Bg6 7.Nge2 h6 8.Bg2 e6 9.Ne4 Bxe4 10.fxe4 Nxg4 11.Bf4 c6 12.h3 Nf6 13.Qd3 Nbd7 14.0-0-0 Be7 15.Qg3 Nh5 16.Qf3 Nxf4 17.Nxf4 Bg5 18.h4 Bxf4+ 19.Qxf4 Qe7 20.d5 e5 21.Qe3 cxd5 22.exd5 Qd6 23.Rhe1 0-0 24.Bh3 f5 25.Rg1 Kh8 26.Qg3 Qf6 27.Bxf5 Nb6 28.d6 Rad8 29.Rdf1 Rg8 30.Bh7 Qxd6 31.Bxg8 Rxg8 32.Rf7 1-0


You had 13 mins left on the clock at the end.  Don't blame the flag.

Terrible, patzerous play by myself too.  Two years ago though    

NeX iRae