Duras Gambit aka The Fred

     I have posted on the two players of a bygone era involved in the following game before. Oldrich Duras was a leading Czech player of the early 20th century and Ossip Bernstein was one of the world’s best players in the early 1900s. 
     1.e4 f5 is known bt a number of names: Duras Gambit, the Fred, Reversed From and the Tiers Counter-Gambit. Whatever name you call it, it is a discredited defense. White gets a clear advantage, but that does not necessarily mean he wins the game. 2.f4 transposes into the Bird Opening Swiss Gambit normally reached by 1.f4 f5 2.e4, while 2.d4 transposes into the Dutch Defense Staunton Gambit. 
     Occasionally this defense is discussed on forums with some players even insisting it should be perfectly sound, even 1.e4 f5 2.exf5 Ke7 which is known as the Southern Fred. 

     The idea is to sacrifice 1 or 2 Ps and castle by hand. Logic says that simply cannot be true! One witty poster observed, “Anyone who would play it should probably be placed on suicide watch.” And, “If stupid were chocolate, this opening would be a Godiva boutique. We only see this defense when someone goes off their medications against medical advice.” 
     One must be aware that these unusual openings often have a hidden trap, but if the opponent avoids them with careful play he will have a superior position. 
     In his course, Unsound Openings and How to Exploit Them, GM Roman Dzindzichashvili shows how to tackle this gambit. His method is about as straightforward as you can get. After 1.e4 f5 2.exf5 Nf6 3.Nf3 d5 he recommend simply defending the P with 4.Nh4. Black gets advantage in development but white quickly catches up. 
     In the following game Bernstein took a different approach to defending the P by playing 4.Bd3. A cursory glance at the position seems to show that white’s pieces were gummed up and Duras had successfully occupied the center. But white’s pieces had a lot of latent energy and were aimed at black’s weakened King. It didn’t help that Duras ignored white’s P on e6. 
     After a seesaw middlegane Bernstein blundered and had to give up his Q leaving him with a R and B against Duras’ Q, yet he somehow managed to draw.
     As with many inferior openings there is no immediate crushing refutation and often the superior side only gets positional compensation. Most club players have little concept of positional niceties and so are often unable to exploit them. Thus, the game hinges on who makes the last blunder. If it’s the gambiteer’s opponent the win is chalked up to the soundness of the gambit. 

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[Event "Prague Bohemians"]
[Site "Prague Bohemians"]
[Date "1938.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Ossip Bernstein"]
[Black "Oldrich Duras"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{B00: The Fred} 1. e4 f5 2. exf5 Nf6 {This developing move is best as 2...d5
3. Qh5+ Kd7 has no merit.} 3. Nc3 {Dzindzichashvili's solution is 3.Nf3 d5
4.Nh4.} 3... d5 {White now has several interesting moves. He can try 4.g4?! d4
5.g5 dxc3 6. gxf6 Bxf5, but that leaves his own K-side weakened. He can return
the P immediately with 4.d4 Bxf5 with a positional advantage. Or, he can play
as Bernstein does.} 4. Bd3 c5 5. b3 Nc6 6. Nf3 e5 7. fxe6 Bd6 {Leaving white's
P on e6 is not a good idea and so 7... Bxe6 was better,} 8. O-O O-O 9. Re1
{Now if black goes after the e-Pawn with 9. ..Re8 and if white defends it with
10. Ng5 then 10...Bf5 11.h4. White is better and black's position is none too
promising.} 9... Qc7 {If 9...d4 10. Nb5 Be7 11.Ng5 is good for white.} 10. h3
{ Maybe he should have grabbed the two Bs with 10. Nb5.} 10... a6 11. Bb2
{While black has what appears to be a strong center white's pieces have latent
energy and are aimed at black's K. There's also that pesky P on e6 which black
has been ignoring.} 11... Nd4 {Black would probably have done better with
11...d4 shutting out white's B on b2, capturing the P on e6 and initiating the
exchange of some pieces after 12.Ne4 Bxe6 13. Nxf6+ Rxf6 14. Rxe6! Rxe6 15.Bc4
regains the exchange and black is only a P down.} 12. e7 {White had a two good
choices: 12. Ng5 and 12.Nxd4 were good. Instead Bernstein chooses a tactical
solution that fritters away most of his advantage.} 12... Bxe7 13. Nxd5 Nxd5
14. Nxd4 {Now, by simply playing 14...cxd4 black would be one step closer to
equalizing. Instead we see a curious double blunder!} 14... Nf4 {White should
now play 15.Bc4+ and 16. Nf3 with the advantage.} 15. Ne2 Nxd3 16. cxd3 {Black
has now equalized and is even a little better. But with his next move he
missed an interesting tactical shot in 16...Bxh3! If white plays 17.gxf3 then
17...Rxf2!! The R is immune because if 18.Kxf2 Qh2+ mates in 6 moves. So,
after 16...Bxh3! white has nothing better than refusing to take the B which
leaves black slightly better. Amazing!} 16... Bh4 {White should now play
17.Ng3 so he can meet 17...Bxh3 with either 18.Re3 or 18.Qh5.} 17. Rf1 Bf5
{Not bad, but 17...Bxh3 was also still playable though not so good as it would
have been last move.} 18. Qc2 b5 {18... Bxh3 has lost its sting because of
19.Qc4+} 19. Qc3 Bf6 20. d4 Rae8 21. Qf3 { Forgetting about what has
transpired before, at this point the chances are about equal.} 21... Be4 22.
Qg3 Qc6 23. d5 Qxd5 24. Bxf6 Rxf6 25. Nc3 Qc6 {Now by eliminating black's B
with 26. Nxe4 white remains a P ahead, but it may not be enough to win.} 26.
Rae1 {A horrible oversight.} 26... Rg6 {He could also have played 26...Bxg2}
27. Rxe4 Rxg3 28. Rxe8+ Qxe8 29. fxg3 {Obviously black must eventually win
from this position. Or can he? The answer is yes, black should win as
demonstrated by Stockfish winning five Shootouts at 7-19 plies from this
position. The procedure is to play 29...Qd8 forcing white to give up the
d-Pawn or tie his R up defending it then advance the Q-side Ps.} 29... b4 30.
Na4 Qe5 31. Kh2 h5 32. h4 Qe2 33. Rf5 Qxd2 34. Nxc5 Qxa2 35. Rxh5 {Bernstein
has gotten his pieces into their optimal positions and the win has become
impossible. In Shootouts Stockfish was unable to win a single game when the
endings were reduced to a Q vs R and P ending which according to the six man
Nalimov ending tablebase is a draw.} 35... a5 36. Rg5 Kh7 37. Kh3 a4 38. bxa4
b3 39. Nxb3 Qxb3 40. a5 Qa4 41. g4 Qa3+ 42. Kh2 Kg8 43. Rf5 g6 44. Rg5 Kf7
45. h5 Qd6+ 46. Kh3 gxh5 47. Rxh5 {This position is unwinnable. White simply
abandons all but the P on g2 and places his K on h2 and R on f3 and there is
no way black can win.} 1/2-1/2