Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Jerome Gambit: Rooked

Image result for free clip art rook



There are many parts to the Jerome Gambit attack. An important one is the power of a White Rook along the f-file, where Black's King often resides. In the following bullet game - one minute, no increment - Black forgets this, to his demise. White has his choice of checkmates, soon after that.

angelcamina - Hamidi1986
1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ 

The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Neg4 



Saving the Knight. In the regular Jerome Gambit line, a Black response (to d2-d4) of ...Bd6 would be suspect, but with the addition of his Knight on f6, as in this game, he is protected from a White Queen check on d5, so 7...Bd6, saving the Bishop, was probably best.  

8.dxc5 d5

Opening things up.

9.exd5

Stockfish 10 prefers 9.cxd6 e.p. Qxd6 10.Qxd6 cxd6, with the position better for Black. Even worse, it would lead to a tedious game, not idea for 1-minute chess.

9...c6 10.d6 Qd7 11.O-O Qf5 



12.f3 

A slip, but Black, in turn, misses 12...Qxc5+. He should have at least asked himself, why did White choose the text over 12.h3.

12...Ne5 13.Ne4 Nxe4 14.fxe4 



Oops.

14...Qxf1+ 15.Qxf1+ Ke6 16.Be3 

White already sees his checkmate; and, in doing so, bypasses 16.Qf5#.

16...Bd7 17.Qe2 

As above.

17...Raf8 18.Bd4 Nf7 19.Rf1 

Or 19.Qc4# or 19.Qg4#, but the game was already over in White's plans.

19...Ng5 20.h4 

Almost there.

20...Rxf1+ 21.Kxf1 Nf7 22.Qc4 checkmate



Gotcha.

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