Showing posts with label Pandolfini. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pandolfini. Show all posts

Saturday, June 28, 2014

The Best Jerome Gambit Game of the Year (Part 2)


We continue from the previous post, considering a game that has lept to the top of the heap for Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games this year.


As indicated, Readers are encouraged to dispute my assessment by sending in other great Jerome Gambit games...


Wall, Bill - Guest871838

PlayChess.com, 2014



8.Qxh8 


Of the offer of the Rook with 7...d6, Blackburne wrote in Mr. Blackburne's Games at Chess (1899), "Not to be outdone in generosity." The cost to White of taking the Rook is to have his Queen locked out of the action, at a time when Black's pieces begin to swarm the Kingside.


Blackburne's book also contained the following: "NOTE. I used to call this the Kentucky opening. For a while after its introduction it was greatly favoured by certain players, but they soon grew tired of it."


A resonable explanation of the reference to the "Kentucky opening" has appeared previously in this blog (see "A New Abrahams Jerome Gambit" for a summary). 


As for the "certain players" who "greatly favoured" the Jerome Gambit, it is difficult to identify them by games played, as I have discovered the games of only a dozen or so players (other than Jerome, himself) who played the opening between when it was introduced in 1874 and the publication of Blackburne's book in 1899. Andres Clemente Vazquez, of Mexico, has four games in The Database, while E.B. Lowe, of Great Britain, has three.


Blackburne might well have been referring to authors who included analysis of the Jerome Gambit in their opening books, in which case George H.D. Gossip, of Theory of the Chess Openings (1879) and The Chess Player's Vade Mecum (1891) ; William Cook, of Synopsis of Chess Openings (1882, 1888); E. Freeborough and C. E. Rankin of  Chess Openings Ancient and Modern (1889, 1893, 1896);and Mortimer of The Chess Player's Pocket book And Manual of the Openings (1888 - 1906); are all likely suspects. Certainly, more research is still needed.


8...Qh4


This is Blackburne's counter attack, threatening 9...Qxf2+ 10.Kd1 Bg4 mate.


9.O-O


Munoz and Munoz, in their notes to Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1885, in the Brooklyn Chess Chronicle, suggested "He should have attempted to free his pieces by P to Q4 [d4] before castling." 


The move 9.d4 received a good look in "Updating the Jerome Gambit (Part 1)", including references to L. Elliot Fletcher’s energetic Gambit’s Accepted (1954), an internet article on Amateur - Blackburne (not currently available) by Brazil's Hindemburg Melao, and some musings and analysis from Bruce Pandolfini, in his 1989 Chess Openings: Traps & Zaps !


9...Nf6


The door closes on White's Queen.


10.Qd8


Melao mentioned that Idel Becker, in his Manual de xadrez (1974), attributed the move 10.d4 to Euwe (source not mentioned). Melao was skeptical about the move, giving Black’s counter-attack 10…Bh3 11.gxh3 Rxh8 12.dxc4 Qxh3 13.f3 g5 14.Rf2 g4 15. Bf4 gxf3 16.Bg3 h5 17.Nd2 h4 18.Nf3 Qg4 with advantage for Black. He preferred 10.Qd8 - another suggestion (without further analysis) by Munoz and Munoz in the Brooklyn Chess Chronicle, August 1885, who opined "The only hope he had was 10.Q to Q8 [10.Qd8], thus preventing the deadly  move of Kt to Kt5 [...Ng4]."


Bill Wall mentioned that 10.d3 loses to 10...Bh3 11.Qxa8 Qg4 12.g3 Qf3 as was brutally demonstrated in RevvedUp - Hiarcs 8, 2 12 blitz, 2006 (0-1, 12).


10...Bd7


Most consistent for Black is 10...Bb6, covering the c7 pawn and enforcing the embargo on the Queen. White should return a pawn to free Her Majesty with 11.e5 dxe5 12.Qd3 as in Wall,Bill - Foo,Nathan, Palm Bay, FL, 2010 (1-0, 33). 



[to be continued]

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Traps and Zaps


It's always fun to see where the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) turns up. Most recently, it was in IM Gary Lane's latest book (see "The extraordinary and forgotten Jerome Gambit"), but 20 years ago it was in Bruce Pandolfini's Chess Openings: Traps and Zaps.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 d6

A defense made famous by Joseph Henry Blackburne (see "Nobody expects the Jerome Gambit!" and "Flaws (Part II)") and most recently explored on this blog in "Jerome Gambit: Drilling Down" (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9) and (10).

8.Qxh8 Qh4 9.d4


An improvement suggested by Munoz and Munoz in the August 1885 Brooklyn Chess Chronicle, repeated by Fletcher in Gambits Accepted (1954) and Druke in the November 1987 Gambit Revue, to give some early citations. (Actually, the move is rarely mentioned, but see "A Closer Look (Part V)".)

9...Nf6

Druke gave this move as an alternative to Fletcher's 9...Qxe4+ 10.Be3, saying that it came from analysis by Fritz 5. Of course, the two lines can transpose; in either case, as Hindemburg Melao, Jr., wrote in an intenet article (2003) on Amateur - Blackburne, London 1885 (not currently available), White's proper response is Nd2.

10.dxc5


Pandolfini appears to be the first to explore this move, and he uses it in a bit of a morality tale (after a few more moves) about grabbing material in his Chess Openings Traps and Zaps.


10...Qxe4+ 11.Be3 Qxg2 12.Rf1




Scenario: Don't be misled by White's extra Rook. It's a meaningless ornament. White is in serious trouble. His King is exposed and his cornered Queen is in danger of being trapped. The cruncher is 12...Bh3 which wins White's Queen by discovery form the a8-Rook. If White tries to save the Queen by capturing the Rook, 13.Qxa8 then 13...Qxf1+ 14.Kd2 Ne4 is mate.

Interpretation:
White began with a very aggressive, sacrificial line of play which, because of Black's cavalier pawn move (6...g6), led to the gain of material. The price White had to pay was the removal of his Queen from the center of the board. Without his Queen being available for defense, White has to play carefully, and every move becomes critical. Instead of his h1-Rook, he should be more concerned with the potential trap of his Queen. The correct response to 11...Qxg2 is 12.Nc3 which later prevents Black's Knight from moving to e4 and giving mate. After 12...Qxh1+ 13.Kd2 Qxa1?(13...Qxh2 keeps Black's Queen in play), White turns the tables with 14.Bd4!. Black's extra Rook then means little in the face of White's strong counterattack.



Melao's analysis 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+? Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 (!!?) 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qxh8 Qh4 9.d4 Nf6! ( 9...Qxe4+ 10.Be3 Nf6 11.Nd2 Qxg2 [11...Qxc2 12.0-0+-] 12.0-0-0+-) 10.Nd2!
a)10.dxc5 Qxe4+ 11.Be3 (11.Kd1 Bg4+ -+; 11.Kf1 Bh3 12.Qxa8 Bxg2+ 13.Kg1 Bh3 -+) 11...Qxg2 12.Rf1 Bh3 -+;
b)10.Be3 Bxd4! 11.Bxd4 Qxe4+ 12.Kd2 (12.Be3 Qxg2 -+) 12...Qxd4+ 13.Kc1 Qc5 14.b4 (14.Na3 b5 15.Re1 Bb7 -+) 14...Qc4 15.c3 (15.Na3 Qf4+ 16.Kb1 Qxb4+ -+) 15...b5 -+;
c)10.e5 dxe5! 11.0-0! Bd6! (11...Bxd4 12.Nd2 e4! 13.Qd8 Be5 14.g3 [14.f4 Bf5! 15.Qxa8 Bd4+ 16.Kh1 Ng4 17.h3 Qg3 18.hxg4 Qh4#] 14...Qh3 [14...Qg4 15.Nc4] 15.Nxe4! Qxf1+ [15...Nxe4 16.Qd5+] 16.Kxf1 Bh3+ 17.Ke1 Rxd8 18.Ng5+ Kg7 19.Nxh3 unclear) 12.f4 (12.Nd2 e4 13.g3 [13.f4 b6 -+] 13...Qh3 14.f3 e3 15.Ne4 Nxe4! 16.fxe4+ Qxf1+! 17.Kxf1 Bh3+ 18.Ke2 Rxh8 -+) 12...e4! 13.g3 Qh5 14.f5 gxf5 15.Bf4 Bxf4 16.Rxf4 [16.gxf4 e3 -+] 16...Qd1+ 17.Kg2 [17.Rf1 Qxd4+ 18.Kg2 f4 -+] 17...e3! 18.Qd8 Bd7! [18...e2! 19.Qxc7+ Kg6 20.Nc3! e1N+ 21.Kh1 Qxa1 22.Rf1! Be6 23.g4! fxg4 (23...Nxg4 24.d5) 24.h4! (24.Qe5 Nf3)] 19.Qxc7 (19.Qxa8 Bc6+ 20.Kh3 Qh5+ 21.Rh4 Bg2+! 22.Kxg2 Qe2+ 23.Kg1 [23.Kh3 Qf1#] 23...Qf2+ 24.Kh1 Qf1#) 19...Rc8 20.Qxb7 Rxc2+ 21.Kh3 Qh5+ 22.Rh4 Qe2 23.Qh1 f4+ 24.g4 Bxg4+ 25.Rxg4 Qxg4#;
10...Bxd4 11.0-0! (11.g3 Qh5 12.Qd8 Bxf2+! 13.Kxf2 Qc5+;11.Rf1 b5 [11...Bh3! 12.Qxa8 Bxg2 13.Qxb7! Bxf1 14.Qb3+! d5 15.Qg3] 12.Qd8 Bb6 13.e5 dxe5 14.Qd3 Qxh2 [14...e4 15.Qg3 +/=] 15.Qf3 Rb8 16.Ne4 Qh4 17.Nxf6 Qxf6 18.Qxf6+ Kxf6 unclear)