Thanks for the nice opening complement Ethan (not your real name). You forgot to mention I can also play far _below_ my rating as well. Knowing you, the complements will turn to sarcasm sooner or later..... 

Games where i face this gambit always have the same pattern; i accept the gambit, i then neutralise the gambits advantages for about 15 moves, and then out of nowhere white begins to build an advantage and i edventually get overwhelmed. I reckon i just suffer from sheer bad luck...

My thinking was to protect the e pawn when white moved d4. In the future I might try e7 for the bishop, but it seemed like retreating, and when Ethan smells fear it gets nasty....... Plus, I "thought" a less popular move might throw off whatever horrid plan he had in mind. Stupid, stupid Grader!!

The move 6.d4 is thematic - one of the aims of the gambit is to establish a big pawn centre. There doesn't seem to be anything in 5...Bd6 to prevent this...

The only reason i can imagine Bd6 to be played is so black doesn't have to play exd4... but that's the best move anyway, so Bd6 is a bit of a stinker. Poor Grader doesn't have a lot of experience against this type of opening, so he's obviously going to be prone to a few shockers.

I agree. 7.Ng5 looks much too crude.

After 7...Nxe4 Black would come under tremendous attack after 8.Re1.

Interesting move from Black here.

Well said diesel! Excellent analysis! Grader doesn't have much choice; the white bishop will never get developed otherwise.

_NOW_ I see why 5....Be7 is more popular. That fianchetto'd WS Bishop will prove as valuable as teats on a boar. My Queen is stuck badly too. I was feeling a little hemmed at this point, but thought I would have time to recover and get my pieces freed up for action. Silly Grader!

Why would white continue with 10. Bb5?! when everything he's after is on the kingside? If he's hoping to play Bxc6 and then dxe5, surely he realizes how easily that can be defended by black playing Re8; white cannot then play Nd4 because there's a white pawn on d4...

Looks alright to me, Re1 is usually played for white at some point in evans gambit games...

"9.Re1!? is interesting but probably too risky for correspondence play according to CC-GM Maurice Johnson, citing 9...Bb7; 10.Bb5, ed4; 11.e5!? or 10...Re8; 11.Nc4, ed4 but not 10...Qe7; 11.Nc4" Play the Evans Gambit, Harding&Cafferty, 1997. Edit: ethansiegel was right - I didn't write the correct move (I wrote 11.Nd4 instead of 11.Nc4). Anyway, 10.Bb5 is a move that is fighting for the centre so it is pretty logical here. Since the book is from 1997. Mr. Johnson probably didn't have the luxury of high-end computer analysis that we have now - the variation looks sound.

Please note that Ethan was commenting on how "this broke my own rule on moving a piece twice in the opening" during the game. I smelled a rat right away. Sadly, the rat turned into a cobra....

It is a good plan. I never play the Italian, and consequently will neer be found in an evans gambit, but the idea of getting that knight to g3 is also quite thematic in the Ruy Lopez whichis a big favourite of mine.

Your right Ethan. I would have suggested for black 10. exd4, than after 11. cxd4 Bb4 black will start to gain some tempo.

I thought it was clever to _force_ the bishop to move. About as clever as the kid licking the window on the back of the short bus. RT4's suggestion looks much better. Honestly, at the time I was so worried about all those pieces crammed into the corner away from my king, all I wanted was a way to move them out. I hoped to advance the c pawn and clear some space.

One of the things I learned from reading Yasser Seirawan's annotations on a few games is this general rule: "forced moves are good moves" -- i.e., if you force me to play Bd3, then Bd3 is a good move for me to play! Don't make it easy for your opponent; give him/her the opportunity to mess up!

Nd2 does not defend c4 and e4 because it is overloaded, black just plays ...Nxc4 and when white retakes e4 is still unprotected, so Bd3 is absolutely forced, but of course, as everyone agrees, it is white's best move anyway.

It is the right idea from Grader, the trouble is it simply takes up so much time, otherwise putting the d4 pawn under pressure would be alright... and obviously white can win a piece with dxe5, which doesn't help Grader that much.

Well done Ethan, good clear vision there... unfortunately your so engrossed in trying to think complex stuff (waffling about pins, your superior tactical play etc.) that your not thinking about the simple stuff. I'm obviously fantastic at this game, but i occasionly i have that problem trying to find the right balance...

The move does defend against the threat to win a piece by 13.dxe5, though. The only alternative seems to be 12...h6 13.Bh4 and then ... what? 12...Nc6 was probably the best Black could do in the circumstances - which is of course a measure of how strong White's game is here.

Strong? He failed to see dxe5 last move...

Now this has been good play from Ethan, Nd2 followed by Nf1 and Ng3 is often good tactical play in certain games, and it certainly is in this one with the options of Nf5 and Nh5. I am capable of positive commentary sometimes...