Gambit wrote on 01/28/08 at 17:28:21:

5..Bf5

tracke wrote on 01/27/08 at 12:17:30:


Really? I don't see 5 Bf4 mentioned here.

Every day I open the forum site I see the blinking light - "How to beat the BDG" - I cant stand it any longer, I have to make some ultimate comments on it 

How about some statistics?

Playing the BDG OTB (no corr.): 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e4 de4 4.f3 (source www.chesslive.de)

White over 2600 playing BDG: 0
White over 2500 playing BDG: 1
White over 2400 playing BDG: 3
White over 2300 playing BDG: 10

Black over 2600 facing BDG: 1 (1 win)
Black over 2500 facing BDG: 5 (4 wins - 1 draw)
Black over 2400 facing BDG: 10 (7 wins - 1 draw - 1 loss)

Conclusion:
The BDG is used OTB mainly on woodpusher level. If strong players meet the BDG with black the statistics is desastrous for white. I think the most desastrous statistics of all openings 

Of course you can trick your opponent, hope for bad moves ... 

I hope all BDG addicts use all of their time to study the gambit over and over, keep on arguing in millions of forums and show all their emotions. What a life! 

Please you BDGs out there keep peace with me - Now that my heart has opened  and I finally outed myself I promise never to post in this thread again 

alumbrado wrote on 01/27/08 at 22:13:51:

Promised, you are right. I am just rather tired of getting called "c*n" while he continuously avoids ... etc. But somebody has to stop, it will be me.
Usually I find him very amusing though and I usually also find it a challenge to find out if there is a core of truth in his logic. I would appreciate it if he thought of something else but the infamous c-word.

MNb wrote on 01/27/08 at 21:03:05:



You really ought to ease up goading Lev like that.  He may be a giant pain in the butt but he's harmless enough!   

Bonsai wrote on 01/27/08 at 09:17:00:


What would be the point in playing Lev?  While I have some passing interest in the BDG, I don't see it nearly often enough to feel like I need to practice against it.  I have other and better things to do, thank you very much, both in terms of my chess study and the rest of my life.

Nor would playing Lev do any good.  Even if you won out of the opening, do you really think he would admit there's a problem with it or that he'd stop his postings about it.  Doubt it.  He'd be back in an hour with some sort of new "improvement," and the whole thing would just start over.  Bottom line is that one game isn't going to be enough to reach a final conclusion and these silly challenges are just a complete waste of time (not to mention an exhibition of bad manners).

I, for one, do not agree with Lev's assertion that his openings are good for OTB play, even if they don't stand up to rigorous analysis.  If you are consistently playing at a high enough level, you won't do well with this approach, even if you manage a swindle every once in a while.  (If the chance of doing that is what floats your boat in chess, then fine, continue as is and I won't argue it further.)   

Look, the proof is in the pudding and Lev's US OTB rating is, afaik, in the 1900s.  I don't mean to be rude about it, but that suggests to me that, contrary to what he says, his openings really aren't that much good in OTB chess.  Indeed, what would really be interesting to me would be to see what would happen if Lev jettisoned his current repertoire, booked up and then played a steady diet of main lines.  I bet he'd make 2200 in no time.    

Gambit wrote on 01/24/08 at 17:00:59:

Really? His March 2004 update and his analysis in the ChessPub Guide and games doesn't look too promising for White!

Gambit wrote on 01/26/08 at 21:53:03:

You see, that is the thing that nobody doubts. I think everyone agrees that in an otb game you have your chances with completely unsound openings and most certainly with something that is just a little bit dubious like the BDG.