Mysterious Ending

In the following key game, between the tournament's second place finisher and the champion, Black's slip allowed White to equalize in a 5.c3 Jerome Gambit - only to see the favor returned at the end. 


CheckmateKingTwo - Daves111
ChessWorld, Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.c3 d5 6.d4 

This is a more energetic reply to 5...d5.

6...exd4 7.cxd4 Bb4+ 8.Nc3 dxe4 

Black stays active, not bothered by his King's supposedly exposed position.

9.Ng5+ Kf8 10.Be3 Bf5 11.d5 

A bit better might be 11.0-0.

11...Bxc3+ 12.bxc3 

Black is doing very well, but for some reason he now decides to return a piece, pretty much leveling the game.

12...Nf6 13.dxc6 bxc6 14.f3 Qxd1+ 15.Rxd1 exf3 

In this tricky position, if White now castles (pinning the Black f-pawn), he keeps things in balance.

16.Nxf3 Re8 

This is the problem with White's 16th move.

17.Kd2 Ne4+ 18.Kc1 Nxc3 19.Bc5+ Kf7 Black won on time, in a somewhat better position (if he can make something out of his two isolated, passed c-pawns).

Daves111 Tops ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic

Dominating the field like What's-His-Name in the picture on the left, Daves111 left his twelve opponents in the dust as he stormed to the top in the just-completed (or "just about" completed: the remaining game is a mate-in-two) double round robin ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament.

Daves111 scored 21 points out of 24 games, taking 10 out of 12 points available with the White pieces and 11 out of 12 points with the Black pieces.

He was followed by CheckmateKingTwo and Jerome Gambit veteran DREWBEAR 63, each with 17.5 points. My guess is that the tie break will go to CheckmateKingTwo, as he beat DREWBEAR 63 in their two games.

In fourth place, with 16 out of 24 points, was blackburne, the tournament organizer and long-time member of the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde.

TWODOGS and Crusader Rabbit achieved plus scores, with 13.5 and 13 points respectively.

shm19cs broke even with 12 points and eddie43 just missed that mark with 11.5 points.

There followed LukeWarm with 10 points, stampyshortlegs with 9 points, calchess10 with 8 points and Baron wd von Blanc, heart pirate with 7 points. anbeks finished with 0 points.

The top scorers with the Jerome Gambit were Daves111 (10 points), CheckmateKingTwo (8.5) and DREWBEAR 63 (7.5).

The top scorers against the Jerome Gambit were Daves111 (11 points), DREWBEAR 63 (10 points) and CheckmateKingTwo (9 points).

The greatest upset was calchess10 winning a game against an opponent with a rating 350 points higher.

The Jerome Gambit itself scored 46%, which is consistent with how well it has done in past thematic tournaments.

Closing the Door

Thanks to a difficult loss for CheckmateKingTwo to eddie43, Daves111 was able to close the door on the one remaining rival for first place in the current ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament.

A dozen games remain unfinished in the 156-game tournament.

Daves111 leads with 21 points out of 24 games and cannot now be caught.

Second place remains a battle between DREWBEAR 63 with 17.5 points out of 22 games and CheckmateKingTwo with 12 points out of 16 games.

Next are blackburne with 15 points out of 23 games and TWODOGS with 13.5 points out of 21 games.

Theory From the Thematic Tourney (6)

In the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), the Jerome Variation or Defense (4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8) was analyzed by Alonzo Wheeler Jerome in 1874, and played (successfully) by him with the black pieces in two correspondence games against Daniel Jaeger in 1880.

Two games in the ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament tested the utility of f2-f3 in White's attacking formation.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8

Luke Warm - CheckmateKingTwo, Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, ChessWorld, 2010, continued 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qd5 Qf6 9.f3

with the plan of protecting the e-pawn and safe-guarding the f2 square. 9...Qh4+ 10.g3 Qh3 11.d3 Qg2

Instead, Black has found a way into White's castle, and nothing but ruin follows: 12.Rf1 Bh3 13.Nd2 Qxh2 14.b4 Bxf1 15.Nxf1 Qf2+ 16.Kd1 Qxf1+ 17.Kd2 Qf2+ 18.Kd1 Qxf3+ 19.Kd2 Bxb4+ 20.c3 Qf2+ 21.Kd1 Bxc3 22.Rb1 Ne7 23.Qb3 Qe1+ 24.Kc2 Ba5 25.a3 Nc6 26.Qc4 Qe2+ 27.Kb3 Ne5 28.Qd4 Qxd3+ 29.Qxd3 Nxd3 White resigned


White was more successful in using f2-f3 to establish his pawn center in blackburne - DREWBEAR 63 Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, ChessWorld, 2010: (he actually reached the Jerome Defense via the Banks Variation: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8 6.Qh5 Nxe5) 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qf4+ Nf6 9.c3 Qe7 10.f3 Kg8 11.d4 Bb6

12.Be3 c5 13.dxc5 Bxc5 14.Nd2 h6 15.0-0-0

Unfortunately, the White f-pawn now limits its Queen, and Black is able to gain a decisive material advantage: 15...Nh5 16.Nc4 Nxf4 17.Bxf4 g5 18.Bxd6 Bxd6 19.Rxd6 Be6 20.Rd4 Bxc4 21.Rxc4 b5 22.Rd4 Rd8 23.Rhd1 Rxd4 24.cxd4 Kf7 25.Kd2 Qb4+ 26.Kc1 Rc8+ 27.Kb1 Qc4 28.d5 Qc2+ White resigned

Theory From the Thematic Tourney (5)

The Blackburne Defense to the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 B5 4.Bxf7+) is probably the best known way for the second player to respond to the opening sacrifices – by offering a sacrifice himself, Black hopes to bring the game to a quick tactical end in his favor.

The current ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament features three Blackburne Defenses, and, fittingly, the player "blackburne" is involved in all of them.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 d6

This is Black's offer of a Rook. Although in theory White can take the Rook and live – there is a complicated draw that Black can put together, found by Chandler and Dimitrov – over-the-board the capture can be filled with dangers for the unwary.

We've already seen the game Luke Warm - blackburne, Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, ChessWorld, 2010, where one mis-step by White was all it took to give Black the win (0-1, 10).

On the other hand, stampyshortlegs - blackburne, Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, ChessWorld, 2010 (1-0, 29), showed that Black needs to be precise in bringing home his win after the Rook sacrifice: about his 10th move I commented

The problem with this move is that White has 32 possible responses: 31 lead to an advantage (most of them mate) for Black. However, 1 leads to a win for White.

The third Blackburne Defense game features blackburne with the White pieces: blackburne - CheckmateKingTwo, Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, ChessWorld, 2010. It is not yet completed, but it can be noted that in the opening blackburne refused the Rook, playing 8.Qf4+ instead. After 8...Qf6 9.Qg3 Nh6 (an oversight) 10.d3 Bxd4 11.c3 Bb6 12.Bxh6 Re8

White was better, but the game continued (and continues) in a very complicated fashion.

Thus, while the theoretical chances favor White in the Blackburne Defense, the practical chances favor Black.

  

Tortise vs Hare

The finish of the current ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament is a bit of a "tortise vs hare" race.

Daves111, playing the role of the hare, raced out to the lead with a score of 21 points out of 24 games and has finished play (the only player to do so to date).

Of the remaining field, only CheckmateKingTwo, with 7 points in 9 games (and 15 games remaining to be completed, the most of any competitor), has a chance of overtaking him.

Interestingly, CheckmateKingTwo's only two losses have been to Daves111 – on time.

King Daves111 ?

The Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament taking place at Chess.com looks like it is close to crowning its winner.

Daves111 leads with 21 points, having finished all 24 of his games.

If TWODOGS, at 8 points from 11 games, wins all of his remaining games (13) he could catch Daves111 and tie for first.

Of course, if dark horse CheckmateKingTwo, at 2 points from 4 games, wins his final 20 games, he could leapfrog over both Daves111 and TWODOGs...

Not in the battle for top honors, but fighting for second place, are DREWBEAR (17 points out of 21 games) and stampyshortlegs (9 points out of 16 games).

Blackburne (12 points out of 21 games) and Crusader Rabbit (10 points out of 18 games) are on their heels.

Tournament Numbers

In the current Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament at ChessWorld, Daves111 continues to lead the pack with 17 wins out of 18 games, with 6 more games to finish.

In second place is DREWBEAR 63 with 14 wins in 16 games, followed by blackburne with 12 wins in 19 games.

Off the pace, but only because they have completed fewer games, are stampyshortlegs at 7 wins in 10 games and Crusader Rabbit with 6 wins in 10 games.

TWODOGS, at 4 wins in 4 games, and CheckmateKingTwo, with 2 wins in 2 games, continue as dark horses.

So far in this tournament the Jerome Gambit has scored 40% in 89 completed games.

This can be compared with data drawn from the updated New Year's Database, where 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ has scored 44% in 5,628 games. For the record, in the same database the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+, has scored 56% in 2,472 games; and the Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 and 5.Bxf7+ has scored 57% in 3,106 games. 

A Blistering Pace

As the current Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament at ChessWorld nears the half-way point (in terms of games completed) the race for first place continues to be red hot.

Top-rated player Daves111 has scored 17 wins in 18 games, with only 6 more for him to complete. 

He is followed by long-time Jerome Gambit tournament player DREWBEAR 63 who has 11 wins in 12 games.

Not surprisingly, Daves111's only loss is to DREWBEAR 63, and DREWBEAR 63's only loss is to DAVES111.

In third place is blackburne with 10 wins in 16 games.

It is interesting to note that not all of the players have been completing their games so quickly (in fact, the thoughtful CheckmateKingTwo has completed none yet). TWODOGS has 2 wins in 2 games, with 22 left to complete.

Certainly Crusader Rabbit, with 5 wins in 7 games, and stampyshortlegs, with 4 wins in 7 games, can keep in contention by winning and winning some more.

Of the 71 finished games, White has won 28, and Black 43 (with 0 draws), giving the Jerome Gambit a 39% score, somewhat lower than usual for a thematic tournament. But – there is plenty of play left!