Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Relayed Deaction

I was doing a internet search for Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games when I found the following example. I give it mostly for historical reasons, as my guess is that it is a U8 game. Further information is requested.

Karlaevi,N - Basilaia,B
Nana Alexandria Cup
4th International Children's Chess Festival
Poti, Georgia, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+


4...Kxf7 5.Ng5+

Go ahead and laugh, but The Database has 355 games with this move.* (Okay, White scored only 23%, but that still includes 78 wins!)

A few examples can be seen at "Eyeblink Chess: Crash", "Opening Tale", "Death of A Variation" and "Re-Inventing the Flat Tire".

5...Ke8

I don't think that Black was trying to avoid 5...Qxg5 6.d4, with the simultaneous pawn attack on the Bishop at c5 and the uncovered Bishop attack on the Black Queen (it can be easily dealt with by playing 6...Qxg2) – I think that he simply overlooked the possible capture of the Knight.

That would go a long way toward explaining the end of the game.

6.d3 Qf6 7.f3 Black resigned


My guess is at this point Black realized "Wait a minute! I could have had that Knight for free!" and decided that this just wasn't going to be his game... despite the fact that he had an extra piece.

I have to mention that 7.f3 appears to be a "TN", a "theoretical novelty". Of the 5 games in The Database that have the position after 6...Qf6, White scored  60%.


(* One of the strengths of The Database is its inclusiveness: it contains over 24,000 games to draw ideas and inspiration from. One of its weaknesses, as this example illustrates, is its lack of exclusiveness: just about any game – good, bad or ugly  can find its way in there. YMMV. By the way, the title is a Spoonerism.)

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