It's great to see you back and posting again Stefan!

Thanks for sharing the poem!

Stefan Buecker wrote on 12/19/15 at 08:46:46:


OK, since it's soon Christmas I'll remove the poll for you!  

Surprised that this thread has more than 40 000 views, so obviously there is more interest in the topic than I thought three years ago...

Wind wrote on 11/07/12 at 15:58:31:



hello Mr Wind.
Have you seen my analysis I posted here ?

Hello Stefan, thank you for your positive and amicable reaction. I agree with you that [instead of the premature advance 6.f5?] white should play 6.Nf3!. Then it is far from obvious how black should deal with white's initiative. 

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.d4 Nxd4 4.f4 d6 5.Be3 Nc6 6.Nf3

(A) 6... Nf6 7.f5! Recommended by Stefan Buecker. Here the advance is entirely appropriate. White gains space on the kingside, while restricting black's play. Note that black can not take advantage with 7... g6, since white plays 8.Bc4 targetting f7. 7... Be7 8.h3 (perhaps other moves can be considered). Here I examined two responses for black:
 
(A1) 8... O-O 9.a3 (preventing ... d5, exd5, Nb4; and preparing Bc4, so that Na5 is met by Ba2) 9... Nh5!? (after other moves white plays either g4 or Bc4 with good compensation) 10.g4 (10.Bf2 may also be okay) 10... Ng3 11.Rg1 Nxf1 12.Rxf1 with fine compensation.
 
(A2) 8... d5!? This attempt to refute white's play leads to messy complications. 9.exd5 Nb4 10.Bb5+ Bd7 11.Bxd7 (11.Bc4?! favours black; 11.Qe2!?) 11... Qxd7 12.O-O e4 13.Ne5 Qd6 14.Nb5 Qxe5 15.Bf4 with enormous complications. According to Houdini the correct result is a draw (0.00).
 
(B) 6... exf4 7.Bxf4 Nf6 (or 7... Nge7 8.Qd2 Ng6 9.Bg3 Be7 10.O-O-O O-O with mutual chances) 8.Qe2! This is the key move: white is going to castle queenside. This will offer him plenty of middle-game chances. 8... Be7 9.O-O-O O-O 10.h3 Be6 11.Kb1 Re8 12.g4 a6 13.Bg2. Although white is a pawn down, the position is certainly of interest and offers chances to both sides. At least in OTB games this line may well be playable for white.   

Hello chess friends, I am a new member at this splendid forum. I am a great fan of the creative and original theoretician FM Stefan Buecker and I am eagerly awaiting the publication of Kaissiber issue 38 ! 

In the everlasting Fyfe gambit, Stefan Buecker's latest proposal is: 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.d4 Nxd4 4.f4 d6 5.Be3 Nc6 6.f5 g6 7.g4 with the assessment "looks fine for white". 

The obvious reaction is 7... h5!, immediately attacking white's imposing -yet still vulnerable- kingside pawns, before white has had time to support the structure. After 8.fxg6 (what else?) 8... fxg6 white has two possibilities.

(A) 8.g5 Closing the position, and attempting to keep Bf8 out off play for a long time. 8... Nge7 10.Bc4 Bg7. Black is a healthy pawn up and doing fine. After a continuation like 11.a3, black frees himself with 11... Bg4, followed by Qd7, O-O-O, Be6 etc. On the other hand 11.Qd3 is well met by 11... Na5!, followed by the exchange of knight for bishop. 

(B) 8.gxh5!? Further opening the position, in order to create fighting chances. Though in fact it is black who appears to benefit more. Here are a few ideas. (i) A simple and good respons is 8... Qh4+ 9.Bf2 Qxh5. (ii) Sharp and interesting is 8... Nf6!? 10.hxg6 Ng4! and black has otained the initiative. (iii) Probably best is 8... Bh6(!) 9.Bf2 In this position black has several interesting and appealing options: 9... Be6, 9... g5, 9... Nf6 and 9... Nd4!?. It seems to me that each of these choices yields black the initiative and a good game.

I look forward to all your reactions!

Considering the history of this thread, I can't understand why no one wants to take up his cudgel on this latest subject. Ah well.

Onto 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.d4 Nxd4 4.f4 d6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Be2 Nxe2 7.Qxe2 c6 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 Nf6 (this suggestion of Markovich looks logical to me). 

10.Be3 Qa5 11.0-0-0 Be7 12.fxe5 (12.Qg3?! Nh5) 12...Qxe5 (one of the points of 10...Qa5; instead 12...dxe5 13.Qg3 (13.g4!?) 13...0-0 14.Bh6 gives White promising play on the kingside) 13.Bd4 Qg5+ 14.Kb1 0-0.


Actually I would be quite happy to take White in this position.

Instead Black (after 9...Nf6 10.Be3) could consider 10...exf4 11.Bxf4 Be7 12.0-0-0 Qc7 which seems rather more solid as Black retains the option of castling queenside:


However White can also recapture with the queen in order to keep the e3-bishop pointing at a7 and discouraging ...0-0-0: 11.Qxf4!?, although 11...Be7 12.0-0-0 Qa5, intending ...Qe5, again looks pretty solid, e.g. 13.Kb1 Qe5 14.Qf2 0-0.  White probably falls just short of full compensation.

Regarding some of Stefan's earlier comments, even if (as I suspect) the Fyfe Gambit is slightly better for Black with best play, the fact that such a line can be playable below master level highlights how rich in possibilities chess really is.  I agree, btw, that in the 3...exd4 lines I gave, the continuation (4.Nd5 Bc5 5.Nf3 (5.a3!?, indeed, is better than it looks) Nge7 6.Bc4 Nxd5 7.exd5 Qe7+) 8.Be2 looks good enough for equality, although it's not the kind of position that I'd want to get out of the opening.