An Oktoberfest toast to a German chess breakthrough

Appropriately for this Oktoberfest season, German chess is having a moment.

German GM Mathias Bluebaum’s surprise second-place finish in last month’s FIDE Grand Swiss tournament earned him a highly coveted spot in next year’s eight-player Candidates Tournament. The winner of that event earns the right to take on Indian GM Dommaraju Gukesh for the world chess title.

It’s been a long dry spell at the chessboard for a country that dominated the early modern phase of the game in the late 19th and early 20th century. Bluebaum, 28, will be the first German to qualify for the Candidates cycle since the late, great West German GM Robert Huebner did it 36 years ago.

And Bluebaum may not be alone: Twenty-year-old German GM Vincent Keymer, an emerging superstar now ranked ninth in the world, is given a good chance to snag one of the three candidates’ berths on offer at the FIDE World Cup knockout tournament that kicks off October 30 in Goa, India.

Bluebaum’s result in Uzbekistan was one of the most surprising of the year — he entered the powerful field seeded just 32nd and faced a string of top-rated grandmasters in the tense final rounds, upsetting Indian superstars GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Artun Erigaisi, the tournament’s top two seeds, and holding a tough draw against France’s GM Alireza Firouzja to ensure his qualification.

He displayed the better nerves in his upset Round 7 win over Erigaisi, equalizing easily from the Black side of a Closed Catalan and pouncing when White makes an ill-advised pawn snatch: 25. h4 Rd7 26. Qxa7? (a more modest move such as 26. Bc1 was in order; it’s not clear what Erigaisi missed, but he must lose material after Black’s next move) Ba8!, when 27. Qa4 Nb6, 27. Qa6 Nc7 and 27. Qd4 Nf6 all win a piece of Black.

White tries to complicate matters with 27. Nxe6!? fxe6 28. Qa4 Nb6 29. Qc2 Kf7! (not falling for 29…Rxd2?? 30. Qg6+ Kf8 31. Qh6+, when White gets drawing counterplay in lines such as 31…Kf7 32. Bxa8 Nxa8 33. Qh7+ Ke8 34. Qxh5+ Kd7 35. Qb5+ Kc8 36. Rc1+ Nc7 37. Qa6+ Kb8 38. Qb6+ Kc8 39. Qa6+ Kd7 40. Qc6+) 30. Bh6 Bxg2 31. Kxg2 Qa8+ 32 Kg1 Qxa2, but emerges with a just a pawn for the lost piece and no real counterplay.

Bluebaum keeps matters well in hand as he methodically trades down pieces. After 51. Kh3 Qf4, White finally calls it quits, facing such grim lines as 52. Qd3 Qf1+ 53. Kh2 Kg4 54. b3 Qf2+ 55. Kh1 Bg3 36. Qf3+ Qxf3+ 57. exf3+ Kxf3 and Black wins easily.

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Germany’s spotty results in modern times are all the more surprising as Europe’s German-speaking heartland produced some of the game’s greatest early players, including world champs Adolf Anderssen, Wilhelm Steinitz and Emmanuel Lasker. The prevalence of such concepts as “zugzwang,” “zwischenzug” and “zeitnot” — just to take words beginning with “Z” — is only one sign of the pervasive influence of German players and theorists enjoyed back in the day.

Since he already has “beer” in his name, we offer for this Oktoberfest column a fun game by Ernst Falkbeer (1819-1885), a Czech-born Austrian player and columnist who achieved a small slice of immortality for his eponymous counter-gambit for Black in the King’s Gambit (2…d5!?). Here Falkbeer gets the best of Anderssen in a swashbuckling game typical of the game’s Romantic Era, when offering (and accepting) gambits was considered by many to be a point of honor.

Modern computers of course disdain the speculative sacrifices in this  Vienna Gambit, with Anderssen as Black offering a full piece on Move 5 to accelerate his hoped-for mating attack on the f-file, and Falkbeer returning the favor with 11. f6?! (simply 11. Ng3 Qh4 12. 0-0-0 leaves White comfortably in charge) Qc7 12. 0-0-0!? (White does have to be careful; 12. Ng5?! Rxf6 13. Qh5 Bxf2+ 14. Kd1 g6 15. Qh6 Bc5 leads to a double-edged position) dxe4 13. dxe4 Rxf6 14. Bc4+, giving White attacking lines of his own against the Black king position.

In a fiendishly complex position, Black’s defense falters on 18. Qh4 Bg4? (Nxe4 19. Nxe5 Bf5 20. Bd3 Rad8 is still very much a game) 19. Nxe5 (with the small threat of 20. Ng6 mate) Bh5 20. Bc3 Be3+ 21. Kb1 Bxf4 (see diagram) 22. Qxf4!, with White apparently walking into Anderssen’s trap.

But Falkbeer flips the script with 22…Nd5 23. Rxd5!! (to be objective here, the boring 23. Qg3 also likely wins, but what fun is that?) Rxf4 24. Rd7, when Black had to try something like 24…Qb6 25. Ng6+ hxg6 26. Rxg7 Rf3 27. Be5 Qc5 28. Rxe7+ Qxe5 29. Rxe5 and hope to survive.

Instead, Black obliges his opponent with one last defensive lapse, setting up the sparkling finale: 24…Qc8? 25. Ng6+!! hxg6 (Bxg6 26. Bxg7 is mate) 26. Rxg7 Rf3 (Qh3 27. Rg8+ Kh7 28. Rxa8 g5 29. Rd1!, and Black’s king is toast) 27. Be5 Qf8 (Qg4 28. Rc7+ Rf6 29. Bxf6 mate) 28. Rf7+ Kg8 29. Rxf3+ Kh7 30.Rxf8, and Black resigned as there are no more tricks after 30…Rxf8 31. Bd6 Re8 32. e5 Bg4 33. Rf1.

(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)

Erigaisi-Bluebaum, FIDE Grand Swiss 2025, Samarkand, Uzbekistan, September 2025

1. c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. d4 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 c6 8. Qxc4 b5 9. Qd3 Nbd7 10. Be3 Nd5 11. Bd2 Bb7 12. Nc3 b4 13. Ne4 Qb6 14. Qc2 c5 15. Nfg5 g6 16. dxc5 Nxc5 17. Nxc5 Qxc5 18. Qb3 Rac8 19. Rac1 Qb5 20. Rxc8 Rxc8 21. Qf3 Qe8 22. Qe4 Rc7 23. Qh4 h5 24. Qd4 Qd8 25. h4 Rd7 26. Qxa7 Ba8 27. Nxe6 fxe6 28. Qa4 Nb6 29. Qc2 Kf7 30. Bh6 Bxg2 31. Kxg2 Qa8+ 32. Kg1 Qxa2 33. Qc6 Qa5 34. Bg5 Qc5 35. Qf3+ Qf5 36. Qc6 Qc5 37. Qf3+ Kg7 38. Be3 Qd6 39. g4 Nc4 40. gxh5 Nxe3 41. fxe3 Bxh4 42. Kg2 Qd5 43. e4 Qxh5 44. Qf8+ Kh7 45. Rf7+ Rxf7 46. Qxf7+ Kh6 47. Qf8+ Kg5 48. Qc5+ Kg4 49. Qe3 Qe5 50. Qf3+ Kg5 51. Kh3 Qf4 White resigns.

Falkbeer-Anderssen, Casual game, Berlin, 1851

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 f5 3. exf5 Nf6 4. g4 Bc5 5. g5 O-O 6. gxf6 Qxf6 7. Qf3 Bb6 8. d3 c6 9. Ne4 Qe7 10. Bd2 d5 11. f6 Qc7 12. O-O-O dxe4 13. dxe4 Rxf6 14. Bc4+ Kh8 15. Qh5 Nd7 16. f4 Rf8 17. Nf3 Nf6 18. Qh4 Bg4 19. Nxe5 Bh5 20. Bc3 Be3+ 21. Kb1 Bxf4 22. Qxf4 Nd5 23. Rxd5 Rxf4 24. Rd7 Qc8 25. Ng6+ hxg6 26. Rxg7 Rf3 27. Be5 Qf8 28. Rf7+ Kg8 29. Rxf3+ Kh7 30. Rxf8 Black resigns

• Got a hot chess tip or a cool game to share? David R. Sands can be reached at davidrsands18@gmail.com.