Here I am again, playing a 3 0 blitz quickie with Black. No way my opponent – rated higher than me – is going to play the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), right?
Right??
Sigh.
Having forgotten the lesson of "I don't have time for this stuff..." I get to learn it all over again.
Serves me right.
madmadmal - perrypawnpusher
blitz 3 0, FICS, 2009
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.d3 Nf6 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7
Transposing to a modern variation of the Jerome Gambit. I have 77 examples of this position in my database, including bushytail - perrypawnpusher, blitz FICS 2008 (1/2-1/2, 50); drewbear - perrypawnpusher, chessworld 2008 (0-1, 22); and Mika76 - perrypawnpusher, GameKnot.com 2008 (1-0, 32).
Transposing to a modern variation of the Jerome Gambit. I have 77 examples of this position in my database, including bushytail - perrypawnpusher, blitz FICS 2008 (1/2-1/2, 50); drewbear - perrypawnpusher, chessworld 2008 (0-1, 22); and Mika76 - perrypawnpusher, GameKnot.com 2008 (1-0, 32). 6.Ng5+ Ke8 7.Nc3 d6 8.Nd5
A bit unusual, but it's shown up four times before, including NMTIGER - blackburne, Chessworld 2007: 8...Nxd5 9.exd5 Ne7 10.c4 Ng6 11.Qf3 Qf6 12.Ne6 Bxe6 13.dxe6 Rf8 14.0-0 Qxf3 15.gxf3 Rxf3 16.Be3 Bxe3 17.fxe3 Rf6 18.Rxf6 gxf6 19.Rf1 Ke7 20.d4 Kxe6 21.d5+ Ke7 22.e4 Rg8 23.b4 Nf4+ 24.Kh1 Rg2 25.Rxf4 Rxa2 26.Rh4 Re2 27.Rxh7+ Kd8 28.Rf7 b6 29.Rxf6 Kc8 30.Rf8+ Kb7 31.b5 Rxe4 32.Kg2 Rxc4 33.Kg3 Rc1 34.h4 Rh1 35.Rh8 e4 36.Kg2 Rd1 37.Re8 Rxd5 38.Rxe4 Rxb5 39.Rg4 Rh5 40.Kg3 b5 41.Rg5 Rh8 42.Rxb5+ Kc6 43.Rb1 a5 44.Rc1+ Kb6 45.Rb1+ Ka6 46.Kg4 a4 47.h5 Ka5 48.Kg5 a3 49.h6 Ka4 50.Kg6 a2 51.Ra1 Ka3 52.Kg7 Rxh6 53.Kxh6 Kb2 54.Rh1 a1Q 55.Rxa1 Kxa1 56.Kg5 c5 57.Kf4 c4 58.Ke3 c3 59.Kd3 Kb2 60.Kd4 c2 61.Kd5 c1R 62.Kxd6 Rc4 63.Kd5 Kc3 64.Ke5 Rd4 65.Kf5 Kc4 66.Ke5 Kc5 67.Kf5 Kd6 White resigned
A bit unusual, but it's shown up four times before, including NMTIGER - blackburne, Chessworld 2007: 8...Nxd5 9.exd5 Ne7 10.c4 Ng6 11.Qf3 Qf6 12.Ne6 Bxe6 13.dxe6 Rf8 14.0-0 Qxf3 15.gxf3 Rxf3 16.Be3 Bxe3 17.fxe3 Rf6 18.Rxf6 gxf6 19.Rf1 Ke7 20.d4 Kxe6 21.d5+ Ke7 22.e4 Rg8 23.b4 Nf4+ 24.Kh1 Rg2 25.Rxf4 Rxa2 26.Rh4 Re2 27.Rxh7+ Kd8 28.Rf7 b6 29.Rxf6 Kc8 30.Rf8+ Kb7 31.b5 Rxe4 32.Kg2 Rxc4 33.Kg3 Rc1 34.h4 Rh1 35.Rh8 e4 36.Kg2 Rd1 37.Re8 Rxd5 38.Rxe4 Rxb5 39.Rg4 Rh5 40.Kg3 b5 41.Rg5 Rh8 42.Rxb5+ Kc6 43.Rb1 a5 44.Rc1+ Kb6 45.Rb1+ Ka6 46.Kg4 a4 47.h5 Ka5 48.Kg5 a3 49.h6 Ka4 50.Kg6 a2 51.Ra1 Ka3 52.Kg7 Rxh6 53.Kxh6 Kb2 54.Rh1 a1Q 55.Rxa1 Kxa1 56.Kg5 c5 57.Kf4 c4 58.Ke3 c3 59.Kd3 Kb2 60.Kd4 c2 61.Kd5 c1R 62.Kxd6 Rc4 63.Kd5 Kc3 64.Ke5 Rd4 65.Kf5 Kc4 66.Ke5 Kc5 67.Kf5 Kd6 White resigned
8...h6 9.Nf3 Kf7 10.0-0 Rf8
Black is up a piece for a pawn, and is soon to castle-by-hand. What's the problem?
My opponent begins to feel the clock, too.
Black is up a piece for a pawn, and is soon to castle-by-hand. What's the problem?
Tick, tick, tick...
11.Nh4 Kg8 12.Ng6 Rf7 13.a3
My opponent begins to feel the clock, too. 13...Be6 14.c4 Bxd5
Chopping wood, a good idea when a piece up – but this game is going to end with either a flag or a mate, so perhaps not the best.
15.cxd5 Ne7 16.Nh4 Qd7 17.b4 Bd4 18.Rb1 Qg4
See the above note.
See the above note. 19.Qxg4 Nxg4 20.Kh1
Simply returning the Knight to f3 was best. Now Black can win the exchange with 20...Nxf2+ 21.Rxf2 ( if 21.Kg1 Nh3+ 22.Kh1 Rxf1#) 21...Rxf2 and then go for more, as in 22.g4 Rf1+ 23.Kg2 Rg1+ 24.Kh3 Be3 winning a piece.
Simply returning the Knight to f3 was best. Now Black can win the exchange with 20...Nxf2+ 21.Rxf2 ( if 21.Kg1 Nh3+ 22.Kh1 Rxf1#) 21...Rxf2 and then go for more, as in 22.g4 Rf1+ 23.Kg2 Rg1+ 24.Kh3 Be3 winning a piece. 20...Rxf2 21.Rxf2 Nxf2+ 22.Kg1 Nxd3+ 23.Kf1 Nxc1 24.Rxc1 Rf8+
It's all clickin', but the clock's still tickin'.
It's all clickin', but the clock's still tickin'. 25.Ke2 g5 26.Nf3 Bb6 27.a4 a6 28.a5 Ba7 29.h4
We're pretty much just throwing moves at each other now.
We're pretty much just throwing moves at each other now. 29...Bb8 30.hxg5 hxg5 31.g4 Kg7 32.Nxg5 Kg6 33.Ne6 Rh8
34.Kd3 Rh3+ 35.Kc2 Rg3 36.Kb2 Rxg4 37.Nxc7 Rxe4 38.Ne6 Rxb4+
39.Ka3 Rb5 40.Nf8+ Kf7 41.Nh7 Rxa5+ 42.Kb3 Rxd5 43.Ng5+ Kf6 44.Ne4+ Ke6 45.Ng5+ Kf5 46.Nf3 Kf4 47.Rf1 Ke3
48.Ng5 Rb5+ 49.Kc2 d5 50.Rf3+ Kd4 51.Ne6+ Kc4 52.Rc3+ Kb4 53.Rb3+ Black forfeits on time
34.Kd3 Rh3+ 35.Kc2 Rg3 36.Kb2 Rxg4 37.Nxc7 Rxe4 38.Ne6 Rxb4+
39.Ka3 Rb5 40.Nf8+ Kf7 41.Nh7 Rxa5+ 42.Kb3 Rxd5 43.Ng5+ Kf6 44.Ne4+ Ke6 45.Ng5+ Kf5 46.Nf3 Kf4 47.Rf1 Ke3
48.Ng5 Rb5+ 49.Kc2 d5 50.Rf3+ Kd4 51.Ne6+ Kc4 52.Rc3+ Kb4 53.Rb3+ Black forfeits on time
Oh, well.
Three cheers for madmadmal and the Jerome Gambit!!!
2 comments:
Rick,
Can you update us on the stats for the Jerome Gambit? You must have well over a thousand games by now. What is the success rate? If even you can still lose against it (admittedly on time), I suspect that White's percentage must be a lot better than all the experts say, with their "totally unsound" comments. I haven't worked it out in detail, but i reckon my own percentage must be over 70%, which is pretty amazing for any opening.
Pete (blackburne)
Hi Pete,
I'll run the stats and post them this weekend.
Please be aware that they come from my database, which likely suffers from extreme "sampling bias" -- it has a lot of published games in it, for example, and a Jerome Gambit win is far more likely to be deemed publish-worthy than a routine and expected loss.
It's kind of like collecting games played by a Grandmaster at a simultaneous exhibition. The GM may go something like 49-0-1, but the game most likely to be submitted for publication will be the draw that the local player eked out...
I have to agree with your optimism about the practical value of the opening - it's worked well for me, too.
I'd love to hear from others about how successful the Jerome Gambit has been for them.Rick
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