The
defenses 6…Kf8 and 6…Ng6 have had their supporters and detractors, depending on
how each evaluated the alternatives – was it better to hold onto a little
material and avoid complications, or to enter them confidently, knowing that
they would turn the game even more in your favor?
Jerome (DCJ
7/1874) first suggested 6…Kf8. He followed it with 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qf4+ Nf6
9.c3 Kf7 10.d4 Bb6 11.e5 dxe5 12.dxe5 Re8 13.0-0 Kg8 14.exf6 Qxf6 15.Qxf6 gxf6
16.Bh6 “and White has a pawn ahead.” (Actually, the game is even; but Jerome
missed that earlier his 11.e5 was premature, as after the pawn exchange 12…Qd3
would be crushing – Paul Keiser, personal communication. The alternative 8…Ke8 was seen in 5 games in the Yetman –
Farmer 2008 match.)
As Sorensen (NS 5/1877) did
not mention 6…Kf8, it was not touched upon by other writers until Freeborough
and Rankin (COAM, 1889) suggested that it led to a safe game for Black,
giving the line 7.Qxe5 Qe7 8.Qf5+ Ke8 9.Nc3 d6 10.Qf3 Qf7 (or 10...Nf6!) 11.Qe2
Nh6 (or 11...Ne7 or 11...Nf6) with “a superior position or game” to Black.
A hundred years after Jerome,
Harding, in his Counter Gambits (1974), varied, after 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qf4+
Nf6 with 9.d3 Kg8 10.Nc3 Qe8 11.Be3 Bb4 12.0-0 Be6 13.Ne2 Qh5 14.Nd4 Bd7 15.c3
Bc5, advantage to Black. His comment in The
Italian Game (1977) was that after 7…d6, White was left “without genuine
compensation for his piece.” He sagely recommended the 6…Kf8 line as “other
lines would allow White to attack the exposed black king or to win back the
sacrificed material.”
The first mention of the 6…Ng6
defense can be found in Jerome – Brownson 1875 (DCJ 3/1875) where Jerome
won in 28 moves: 7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qc3 Nf6 10.d3 c6 11.0-0 Kd7 12.f4 Qb6+
13.Kh1 Kc7 14.Qe1 Re8 15.b3 Nd5 16.Qg3 Nb4 17.Na3 Bd7 18.c3 Nxa2 19.f5 Ne5
20.d4 Qxb3 21.dxe5 dxe5 22.Rb1 Qxc3 23.Be3 a6 24.Qxg7 b5 25.Rf3 Kc8 26.Rd1 Rd8
27.Bb6 Kb7 28.Bxd8 and wins.
The second mention of 6…Ng6 was by
Sorensen (NS 5/1877) who gave Jerome’s 7.Qd5+ a "!"
After Jerome’s 10.d3, Gossip (Theory,
1879), evaluated the position, “…White has still some attack to compensate
him for his lost piece; besides which, Black has lost the privilege of
castling, and is moreover a pawn minus…” This was echoed by Charles (Brentano,
10/1881) - “White still has some attack” - and by Cook (Synopsis, 1882)
–“White has some attack to compensate for his lost piece" - but this seems
optimistic. (Lanning – Zim , Utah
Gossip said Brownson’s 10…c6 11.0-0
Kd7 was
a line of play
which we venture to think objectionable for
Black, to say the least, inasmuch
as it blocks the Queen's Bishop,
and unnecessarily retards the
development of Black's game. We
should prefer the sortie of the
Bishop to King's third at once.”
Later, he evaluated the position
after 10.d3 c6 11.0-0 Be6 as equal (Vade
Mecum, 1891).
Freeborough and Rankin’s (COAM,
1889) alternative 10…Kf7, seems simple and good for Black.
It is clear that after 6…Kf8 or
6…Ng6, if White is going to have any chance for success, he is again going to
have to rely on what use he can get out of his extra pawns, against Black’s
extra piece. Jerome – Brownson 1874 is one (flawed) example. In the match game Vazquez – Carrington, 1876, and the
correspondence game Charlick- Mann, Australia, 1881 the White Queen retreated
to e3 instead of c3, on move nine, and the first players able to do that,
winning in 34 and 72 moves, respectively.
7.Qf5+
This was
Jerome’s first suggestion (DCJ, 4/1874) in this position. He also played
7.f4 and 7.O-O, and suggested 7.b4 “for analysis” (Brentano, 10/1881).
After 7.f4
d6 Jerome lost an 1881correspondence game to Charles with 8.f5 Kd7 (8…Ke7 was
likewise better for Black in Jerome –Zimmerman, correspondence 1880, but 1-0,
21 when Black blundered); 9.d3 Nf6 10.Qd1 Nxe4, and another with 8.Qh3+ Ke7
9.f5 (although Charles returned a piece prematurely with 9…Bxf5) (Brentano,
10/1881).
Winning
back one of White’s two sacrificed pieces after 7.f4 d6 with 8.fe de seems more
logical for the first player, but he remains too undeveloped to claim an
attack. The optimistic 7.f4 d6 8.d4 was played in an 1878 game in Italy , and led
to an amusing miniature: 8…Bxd4 (8…Nf6!
Turns the tables, from blackburne – Wilmy, a Banks internet game, 2004) 9.c3
Bb6 10.fxe5 dxe5 11.Na3 Nf6 12.Qf5+ Kd6? 13.Nc4+! Kc5 14.Qxe5+ Kxc4 15.b3+ Kd3
16.Bf4 Kc2 17.Rc1+ Kb2 18.c4+ Ka3 19.Rc2 Re8 and White announced mate (Nuova Rivista, 1878).
A recent
suggestion by Schiller (UCO, 1998) after 7.f4 is 7…Qf6, which
looks good for Black as well. His assessment of the position after 7.f4 is
worth noting
White
will win back one of the sacrificed pieces. Black
should react calmly be developing and
protecting the king. It is
useful to keep in mind that for an
attack to succeed the attacker
usually requires greater force than
that which defends the king.
Here the Black king is surrounded
by pieces, and White has only
the queen and a pair of pawns. The Black king
can retreat to e7,
but this would confine the black
queen. Therefore the correct
move [7…Qf6] suggests itself.
After 7.O-O Charles (Brentano,
10/1881) gave 7...d6 as best (7…g6 8.Qh3+ followed by 9.Qc3; or 7…Qf6
8.b4 Qg6 9.Qh3+ Kd6 10.bc+ Kc6 11.d4) noting that after 8.Nc3 Nf6 9.Qd1
the move 9…Nc6 could be safely played. He gave the alternative 9…Kf7 10.d4 Bg4
11.f3 (or 11.Qd2 Bb6 12.de de) Nxf3 12.gf Bh3 with a better game. The
correspondence game Jerome – Charles 1881 continued with Black returning pieces
for pawns and positional advantage: 9…Nd3 10.cd Kf7 11.Ne2 Bb6 12.Kh1 Ng4 13.d4
Nxh2 14.Kxh2 Qh4+ 15.Kg1 Qxe4 16.d3 Qg4 17.Be3 d5 18.f3 Qe6 19.Bf2 c6.
No one else except the Gambit’s
originator seems to have hazarded 7.O-O, and, as it simply leaves White two
pieces down, there is no reason for anyone to follow closely in his footsteps.
7…Kd6 8.f4
Again, this is Jerome’s first
suggestion (DCJ, 4/1874).
Jerome (DCJ, 1/1875) also
looked at 8.d4, a move about which Sorensen (NS, 1877) said
breezily, “It is impossible to decide whether this attacking move is stronger
than a multitude of others which offer themselves in this interesting position,
and of which we especially like 8.f4 and 8.Na3, but it seems clear every case
into what abysses Black is plunging.”
After 8.d4 Bxd4 9.Na3 two of
the three defenses that Jerome (DCJ, 1/1875) presented (9…Ne7, 9...Ke7)
were sufficient for Black’s advantage, as they left the second player two
pieces up. The third (9…Qf6) led to White’s advantage.
Sorensen (NS, 5/1877) repaired for White the line 9…Ne7 10.Qh3
Qf8 by replacing Jerome’s 11.O-O with the consistent 11.Nb5+ which brings
danger to Black’s King.
He copied Jerome’s line 9…Qf6
10.Nb5+ Kc5 11.Nxd4 Qxf5 12.Nxf5 g6 13.Be3+ Kc6 14.Nd4+ Kd6 15.O-O-O Ke7 16.Nb5
and said “White has the best position” – but this would not be the case after
the correct 13…Kb5.
Finally, Sorensen replaced Jerome’s
9…Ke7 10.Qh3 (10.Nb5 is better, but it comes to naught) d6 11.Qh4+ Ke8 with
9…c6 noting “with this move Black escapes.” The
recommended 9.c6 showed up in 4 of the Yetman – Farmer games, which finished 1-2-1 .
Sorensen also suggested the direct 8.Na3
which “appears to offer favorable chances for White” according to Gossip (Theory,
1879), although it is hard to see anything but misery for White after the
straightforward 8…Bxa3.
8…Qf6
Jack Young, in a Randspringer
article (#6, 1990-1991), reported facing 8…Nf3+ (“Foreseeing the loss of a
piece, Black gives one back for some ferocious counterplay”) 8…Qe7 and 8…Qh4+
9.g3 Qf6 in this position, in games against dedicated chess computers (e.g.
Chess Challenger 10, Super Constellation). His successes were more due to the
weaknesses of the play of the machines, not the strengths of his positions with
the white pieces.
The
active 8…Nf3+ had actually occurred over 100 years
earlier in an 1876 correspondence game between
Jerome and D.P. Norton (0-1, 42). Then 9.gf seems best, leading to an unclear
position with mutually-unsafe Kings after 9…Qh4+ 10.Kd1. Jerome played 9.Kf1,
escaped danger with some tactical tricks and Norton oversights, but was
out-played in the ending.
Also,
8…Qh4+ 9.g3 Nf3+ had appeared in a silly game, “R.F.” vs “Nibs” in the June
1899 issue of the American Chess Magazine, which had made fun of the new
craze – chess by telephone! The game ended 10.Kd1 Ne7 11.e5+ Kd5 12.Qd3, but of
course 11…Kc6 was better for Black, e.g.
12.Qe4+ d5 13.exd6+ Nd5 14.gh Bg4 as in the internet game abhailey
–peonconorejas, 2008 (0-1,20).
9.fe+
Qxe5 10.Qf3 Nf6
10…Ne7
was seen in Jerome – Jaeger, Correspondence, 1878, when Black quickly returned
a piece for a balanced game with 11.c3 Ng6 12.d4 Bxd4 13.cd Qxd4 14.Nc3 c6. He
then proceeded to outplay his opponent in 68 moves 0-1.
11.d3
Kc6
This King move (attributed to
B.K. Neufville) “gives Black an opportunity
for a counter attack and makes an exciting contest” according to Jerome (ACJ,
4/1878).
In
Jerome- Shinkman, 1874, Black instead retreated his King to e7, played …g5, …c6 and …d5,
developed his pieces and at the 21st move “Mr. Shinkman
announced loss of the Queen or mate in six moves.” (DCJ, 7/1874). In
Jerome – Brownson, 1875, Black retreated his King in the same manner, played …d6, and
focused on exchanging pieces, although he blundered on move 40 and resigned a
few moves later (DCJ, 6/1875). (Jerome
hung on doggedly in an 1878 correspondence game against Pane after 11…Ke7
12.Nc3 d5, until his opponent likewise put together too many weak moves, and
the gambiteer prevailed in 41 moves)
In an
1876 off-hand game against Jerome, an Amateur borrowed the King retreat and
c-pawn push from Shinkman, the weak play from
Pane, and the blunders from Brownson, and was
checkmated in 20 moves!
12.Nc3
c6
13.h3
Qh5 14.Qg3 Be6 15.Ne2 Raf8
Black is
developed, and his extra piece puts White’s King in more danger than his own,
in one of the Jerome – Charles correspondence games (Brentano, 10/1881).
[to be continued]
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