Thursday, August 20, 2009

Eyes Wide Open


Remember that line from Spiderman? With great power comes great responsibility. Right?


When it comes to playing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), however, the story is different: With great foolishness comes even greater risks.

Or, as I put it in "Rx: Jerome Gambit":

WARNING: The Jerome Gambit is quite disreputable and has quite a few refutations. Its use should be restricted to "fun" games or as a manner of offering "odds" to weaker opponents. The author is not responsible for any disasters that might come from using the Jerome Gambit (although he remains interested in learning about and staring at the wreckage).


So today I'm at FICS (Free Internet Chess Server) playing some light-hearted 3 0 blitz chess with the Black pieces, listening to the B-52s, and as "Eyes Wide Open" starts to play, the following game unfolds...


sammakkon - perrypawnpusher
blitz 3 0, FICS, 2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 Nf6 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.Bxf7+


Wow. For three moves we had a Ponziani, and at move four we had a Giuoco Piano – but now at move five we've got a Jerome Gambit, Modern variation: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.c3 Nf6.

Gutsy. The guy's rated 300 points below me. Maybe he's never heard of perrypawnpusher or the Jerome Gambit.

I hope he went into it all with his eyes wide open.

Crazy planet, no alignment
Rise above
Hit the jet stream
Rocky road, got my assignment
Rise above, ride my dreams...

5... Kxf7 6.Qb3+ d5
7.Ng5+

...I don't wanna clash
I don't want to rehash the past...

7.d3 Bb6 8.Nbd2 Rf8 9.h3 Kg8 10.c4 dxc4 11.Qxc4+ Kh8 12.Nb3 Be6 13.Qxe6 Qxd3 14.Nxe5 Qxe4+ 15.Be3 Qxe5 16.Qxe5 Nxe5 17.0-0 Bxe3 18.fxe3 Nc4 19.Rfc1 Nxe3 20.Rxc7 Rab8 21.Re1 Ned5 22.Rc5 Rfc8 23.Ra5 a6 24.Re5 Nb4 25.Nd4 Nc6 26.Nf5 Nxe5 27.Rxe5 Re8 28.Rc5 Rbc8 29.Rxc8 Rxc8 30.Nd6 Rc7 31.Kh2 Kg8 32.Kg3 Kf8 33.Kf3 Ke7 34.Nf5+ Ke6 35.Nd4+ Ke5 36.Ke3 Nd5+ 37.Kd3 Nb4+ 38.Ke3 Nxa2 39.Nf3+ Kf6 White resigned, Kevin the fruitbat - perrypawnpusher, JG3 thematic, chessworld, 2008

7...Kg8 8.exd5 Qxd5
9.0-0 Qxb3 10.axb3 h6 11.Nf3 Bg4

I'm tossing out moves, racing Cindy, Fred, Kate and Keith to the end. (Advantage: me – I think the song is 5:30; I have only 3 minutes for my game.)

12.Ne1 Kh7

Ok, so my King's living on the periphery. Sharper was 12...Be2, winning the exchange.

13.Nd3 Bb6 14.Nb4 Nxb4 15.cxb4 Rad8

16.Nc3 Rhe8 17.Nb5 a6 18.Nc3 e4 White lost on time.



Ah, the Jerome Gambit:
It's so bad,
So bad it's... good.

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