Originally Posted by Fromper
Anyway, I'd rather play the white side of the BDG than the Rubenstein French, so I'll vote for 4. f3 here. If we transpose into that main line, I promise to pull out my BDG book to look up the details of the theory and lead the charge.
--Fromper
|
4 f3 c5! is why they play 3 Be3 first. Anyway, you can't play theoretically dubious (I won't go so far as to say the Blackmar Diemer is unsound, but I will say it is not sound) openings during correspondence games even if they score well during over the board play. I remember that in one of the Gambit Cartel issues on the Alaphin-Diemer gambit, Tim Mcgrew (that was his name, wasn't it?) explained that an important point about 3 Be3 is that it helps cut out a later ...c5 by Black.
I vote for 4 Nxe4:
4. Nxe4 (4): ketchuplover, planetchess.org, Perseus, Octal
4. f3 (1): Fromper