...or should they?

I once wrote that "perhaps not every opening should be Jerome-ized..." I've been re-thinking that: recently an opponent in a 3 0 blitz game found a piece sacrifice that turned that respectable opening into something remarkably Jerome-ish, a trick that gave me quite a headache.

Pigjuice - perrypawnpusher
blitz 3 0, FICS, 2011

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5

The Ruy Lopez, I know. Just wait a few moves.

4...a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.Nxe5

A slip. I think that it was unintentional.

5...Qd4 6.Nxf7

Making things interesting.

6...Kxf7

The resemblance to a Jerome Gambit variation (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8 6.Nxc6 dxc6) is remarkable.

Ruy Lopez

 


Jerome Gambit

 

In the Ruy Lopez White's Bishop was exchanged on c6 and his Knight was sacrificed on f7. In the Jerome Gambit, the Knight was exchanged on c6 and the Bishop was sacrificed on f7. You can not see the difference.

I do not think that having his Queen developed instead of his Bishop is an improvement for Black over the Jerome line. Having the King on f7 instead of f8 is probably helpful in terms of castling-by-hand.

The facts were clear, though: I was now defending a Jerome Gambit (I'll think about calling it a "Ruy Lopez Jerome Gambit" later) – and my clock was ticking.

7.Qf3+ Qf6

An endgame – without White's attacking Queen – appealed to me, but 7... Nf6 was probably better. My opponent was not interested.

8.Qb3+ Qe6 9.Qf3+ Nf6

10.Nc3 Bb4 11.d3 Rf8 12.Bd2 Kg8

13.O-O Qg4 14.Qe3 Bd7 15.a3 Bd6 16. Ne2 Rae8

I was holding my own, although after the game Fritz10 suggested 16...Nd5 17.Qg5 (if 17.exd5 Rae8) 17...Qxe2 18.Rae1 Qg4 19.exd5 Qxg5 20.Bxg5 cxd5 as a way to a comfortable Queenless middlegame.

The next move I had a similar idea, but it did not work out as well.

17.Ng3 Nd5 18.Qa7 Bc8

Overlooking a couple of things.

19.exd5

That was one of them: dropping a piece. Now I was down a pawn with less than a minute to play, no increment.

The other thing? The pawn that I protected was not worth it, as 18...Nb6 would have shown: 19.Qxb7 Rb8 20.Qxa6 Ra8 21.Qb7 Rfb7 and the Queen is lost.

19...cxd5 20.f3 Qg6 21.Qf2 Bxg3 22.Qxg3 Qxg3 23.hxg3 c6

I callously planned on reaching a Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame that I could shuffle pieces in quickly – important, as I not only had little time left, I had less than my opponent.

24.Rae1 Rxe1 25.Rxe1 Kf7 26.f4 Re8 27.Rxe8 Kxe8

If time were not an issue, we probably would have split the point here, and I would have congratulated my opponent – rated 200 points below me – on his opening play creativity.

I was ready to very quickly do "nothing". My opponent's downfall was that he was trying to quickly do "something."

28.Bc3 g6 29.Bg7 h5 30.Bh6 Kf7 31.Bg5 Ke6 32.Kf2 Kf5 33.Ke3 Be6 34.c3 a5 35.d4 a4 36.Kd3 b5

Don't go away quite yet. There are some interesting positions to come.

37.Kc2 Kg4 38.b3

I was pleased to see my opponent "thinking" instead of "shuffling". Thinking takes more time.

38...axb3+ 39.Kxb3 Kxg3 40.a4 bxa4+ 41.Kxa4 Kxg2 42.Kb4 Kg3

In Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgames the blockade of enemy pawns by both Bishop and King is essential. I realized that White's King excursion gave me a chance to un-blockade my Kingside pawns and I squeezed a few thoughts out of my brain...

43.Kc5 Bd7

More straight-forward, winning White's Bishop, was 43...h4, although it needed some precision: 44.Bxh4+ Kxh4 45.Kxc6 Kg4 46.Kd6 Kf5! Instead, if Black abandons his Bishop to go directly to Queening a pawn he gets his wish, but after 46...Kxf4 47.Kxe6 g5 48.c4 dxc4 49.d5 c3 50.d6 c2 51.d7 c1=Q 52.d8=Q the Q + K + P vs Q + K endgame takes a whole lot of moves – and time – to win.

44.Kd6 Be8

I was ahead of my opponent in time (what was left of it) here, but thinking was still a precious commodity. It seemed like time to abandon my Bishop and win Pigjuice's.

45.Ke7 h4 46.Kxe8

Giving up the Bishop first with 46.Bxh4+ leads to the kind of endgame that I was familiar with and had won on several occasions: 46...Kxh4 47.Kxe8 Kg3 48.Kd7 Kxf4 49.Kxc6 g5 50.Kxd5 g4 51.Kc6 g3 52.d5 g2 53.d6 g1=Q 54.d7 Qg5 – Black's Queen holds the advanced pawn and when Black's King joins the fight, the pawns will be won and then the enemy King checkmated.

Still, that would take moves, thinking, and time – more by Black than White, it seems – so it was probably White's more practical chance. Now, Black's pawn can promote.

46...h3

47.f5

The same idea, without giving up the f-pawn, would arise after 47.Bd8 h2 48.Bc7 h1=Q 49.f5+ Kg4 50.fxg6 although, like in the note to White's 46th move, Black's Queen and King can control White's passer:  50...Qh6 51.Kf7 Kf5 52.g7 Qe6+ 53.Kf8 Qc8+ 54.Kf7 Qxc7+ 55.Kf8 Qd8+ 56.Kf7 Qf6+ 57.Kg8 Kg6.

The cooperation between Black's Queen and King is worth knowing about for this kind of ending.

47... gxf5 48.Bf6 h2 49.Be5+ f4 White forfeited on time

Whew!

Hats off and a deep bow of respect to my opponent.