Comments on the DDG

DDG players

Richard Comley: "It's my favourite opening and one which I've been playing since the mid 80's... it became known as the Comley Gambit in South Wales. I even had some good players stop playing the French against me because of it."

Cliff Dwyer: "I played the gambit back in the early 70's without ever knowing that it had been done before. I refered to it, somewhat humorously, as the Reverse-Greco-Counter Gambit. (It sounded like a 'catchy' name.)"

Steffen A. Jakob: "Very interesting and strange gambit."

Kevin O'Connell (East Anglian Daily Times): "That position, which arises after three very natural moves, can scarcely be discovered in any of the published works on the opening, yet it is great fun and, for the average player at least, quite playable. That just goes to show how fashion-conscious most books (and players) are."

Tomas Segerberg: "I'm a bit concerned that it might be difficult to pull the DDG off in a long game, i.e., 2 hours / 40 moves time control..."

Warren D. Smith: "I did not think the DDG was sound last time I examined it, and hence in postal it should be killed, but it will be interesting to see if that actually happens in practice."

Stewart Sutton: "Gambit-Odds Game/10 and Game/15 tournaments were run in Boise, Idaho 1986-1991. The opening depended on the rating difference between the players. Less than 50 points might be a Smith-Morra Gambit, 150 points a BDG, 500 points the Fred Opening (1. e4 f5 2. exf5 Kf7) and > 700 points the Amar Gambit (1. Nh3 d5 2. g3 e5 3. f4 Bxh3 4. Bxh3 exf4 5. O-O fxg3 6. e4 gxh2+ 7. Kh1). I think the DDG was a 300-350 point gambit."

Others

David Flude: "This is an even more controversial line than the Alapin-Diemer Gambit. It is only dealt with in relatively obscure periodicals."

Tim Harding (Time To Gamble On A Gambit, Chess Cafe): "[Tennison, Englund, DDG etc.] are truly eccentric and almost certainly unsound gambits which however may have their place in pub games, five-minute tournaments and other forms of casual play."

Rick Kennedy: "It is quite often the case in the world of Diemer that white wins the game, but black wins the analysis. I'll continue to take white, anytime!"

Mike McDonald: "This may be worth a try. Better than the usual French lines... better in the sense of being fun."

Tom Purser: "There's really not much theory on this line. At best we find only a mention, a brief line or two, almost as an afterthought. Like the Blackmar-Diemer, it is widely condemned. Still, ..."

Eric Schiller: "Seems to me that just 5... Bb4 handles [3... dxe4 4. Nc3 Nf6] 5. f3, and I don't see any reason not to take the pawn. 5... Nc6 also looks good."

Andreas Walkenhorst: "I must admit that I would never play this in a tournament game. But it looks entertaining."

John Watson: "What kind of opening is it where White not only doesn't have some advantage after 8 moves, but can't even get equality? There are many better gambits to play."

Your comments...