Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit: Encouraged Aggression

In the following game White adopts a quiet continuation, 4.0-0, but when his opponent plays 4...h6 he decides to shift to an aggressive game - with positive results coming quickly.

Abdulsalamfaraj - MarleyIsTheGame
10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2016

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O h6 5.Bxf7+

White is encouraged by Black's timid pawn move, and transposes to a line in the Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Kf6 7.Qh5

This is an improved response over 7.Nxc6 of perrypawnpusher - gmann, blitz, FICS, 2010, (1-0, 39).

 7...Nxe5

Weird would be 7...g5 8.Qf7+ Kxe5 9.b4 Bd4 10.c3 Nf6 11.cxd4+ Nxd4 12.Bb2.

8.Qf5+ Ke7 9.Qxe5+ Kf7 10.Qd5+ Kf8 11.Qxc5+ d6 12.Qc4 Nf6

White has regained his sacrificed piece, has two extra pawns, and a much safer King. Black fights back, but cannot keep pace with his opponent.

13.Nc3 c6 14.d3 Qe7 15.Bf4 Be6 16.Qd4 d5 

17.exd5 Nxd5 18.Nxd5 cxd5 19.Rae1 Kg8 20.Re5 Qf6
21.Rfe1 Kh7 22.c3 Bd7 23.Rxd5 Qxd4 24.Rxd4 Bc6 

Black has castled-by-hand, placed his Bishop on a strong diagonal and linked his Rooks. His three pawn disadvantage makes the likelihood of transitioning to a "safe" Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame slight.

25.h3 Rhe8 26.Be5 Re7 27.Rg4 Rae8 28.d4 g5 29.Re3 Bd5 30.b3 a5 31.c4 Be6 32.Rgg3 Bf5 

The Black Bishop has shifted to defense. It is not enough. It will try harassing White's Queenside pawns, but that will not be enough, either.

33.Rgf3 Bb1 34.a3 Ba2 35.Rf6 Re6 36.Rf7+ Kg6 

Black's King is now in a checkmating net as well.

37.Rxb7 a4 38.g4 axb3 39.Rg7 checkmate

Ooops, I did it again...

In preparing yesterday's post (see "New, Old, New, Old..."), I discovered that I had neglected to share one of my earlier games against gmann. Here it is now, "better late than never", with a quirky opening line and a tale that might be titled "Pawns Acting Badly".



perrypawnpusher - gmann
blitz, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.O-O Bc5 5.Bxf7+

The Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Kf6

This is a strange move, one that I have not seen before, and if the idea was to confuse me from the start, it worked well enough.

This time.

7.Nxc6

Treating the position as if Black had played ...Ke6 against a regular Jerome Gambit, as in my game against johnde.

There is more in the position for White, if he is willing to attack wildly and sacrifice when necessary, e.g.: 7.Qh5 g5 8.Qf7+ Kxe5 9.b4 Bd4 10.c3 Nf6 11.cxd4+ Nxd4 12.f4+ gxf4 13.Na3 Rf8 14.Qg7 dxe4 15.Nb5 Kd5 16.Bxd4 a6 17.Rxf4 axb5 18.Bxf6 Rxf6 19.Rxf6 when White has recovered his material and still has a strong attack. This line deserves more attention in future posts.

7...dxc6 8.d3 g5

9.Nc3 Kg7 10.Be3 Bb4 11.f4 g4 12.d4

Stronger was 12.f5

12...Bxc3 13.bxc3 Qe8

White should now play 14.Qd3 and be very happy with his "Jerome pawns".

14.e5 Bf5 15.c4 Qe6 16.d5 cxd5 17.cxd5 Qg6 18.c4 Ne7 19.e6 Kh7 20.Qe1 Rhe8 21.Rd1 Bd3

Up to this point Black has done a good job of countering White's center pawns with his pieces. Now, instead of the text, returning the extra piece would allow complete destruction: 21...b5 22.Bc5 bxc4 23.Qb4 Nxd5 24.Rxd5 Qxe6

22.f5 Bxf5 23.Qh4 h5 

This is too loosening.

24.Qg5

Missing the strong 24.Bg5. Suddenly, by exchanging Queens, I unbalance the position in Black's favor.

24...Qxg5 25.Bxg5 Kg6 26.Bxe7 Rxe7

Black is simply better, again, and White needs to keep busy and look for handouts...

27.Rf4 Kg5 28.Rdf1 Bd3 29.Rf7 Rae8 30.Rxe7 Bxf1

Here we go. Shortness of time may have been a factor.

31.Rxe8 Bxc4

32.e7 Kf6 33.Rc8 Kxe7 34.Rxc7+ Kd6 35.Rxc4


The "Jerome pawns" are gone, but it no longer matters.

35...Kxd5 36.Rc7 b5 37.Rxa7 b4 38.Rb7 Kc4 39.Kf2 Black resigned

New, Old, New, Old...

The following game has a funny mix of things that were "new" to me and things that were "old" friends. After yesterday's challenging loss, it was nice to return to winning ways.

perrypawnpusher - gmann
blitz, FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6

The Semi-Italian Opening.

4.Nc3

I've always played 4.0-0 here, as in an earlier game against my opponent, perrypawnpusher - gmann, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 39), but recent posts on this blog got me thinking about trying something new. Nothing came of it this time, however.

4...Nf6 5.0-0 Bc5

The game has transposed to the not-so-new Semi-Italian Four Knights Game, something that I have played over 45 times.

6.Bxf7+

6...Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.d4 Bxd4

An interesting idea was 8...Ng6, which I saw in perrypawnpusher - richardachatz, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 20) and later in perrypawnpusher - gmann, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 21).

9.Qxd4

9...Nc6 10.Qd3

An  old decision. The computers prefer 10.Qc4+, but I have had mixed results with the move: perrypawnpusher - mjmonday, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1,26),  perrypawnpusher - DeDaapse, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 19), and perrypawnpusher - transilvania, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 12).

10...d6 11.f4 g6

This was new to me. It was hard to look at the pawn pair at g6 and h6 and think that at least one of them should have stayed on its original square. This is not a major error, nothing to upset the fact the Black is better; but one way that Black loses in the Jerome Gambit is by the accumulation of small disadvantages.

12.Bd2 Nb4

Ah, yes, an old friend again... I am almost over feeling guilty when my opponents play this kind of move (When in doubt, harass the Queen!).

13.Qc4+ Be6

After the game Houdini showed a preference for 13...d5 14.Qxb4 dxe4 followed by 15.Nb5 a6 16.Qc4+ Be6 17.Qxc7+ Qxc7 18.Nxc7 Rac8 19.Nxe6 Kxe6 when White was a bit better.

14.Qxb4 Rb8 15.e5 Nd5 16.Nxd5 Bxd5 17.Qd4

This centralizing move is okay, but after the game Houdini recommended the more aggressive 17.f5. Now Black should retreat his Bishop.

17...c6 18.c4 Bxc4 19.Qxc4+ d5 20.Qd3 Kg7

Reaching the sanctuary he prepared on move 11, but it is too late.

21.Bc3 Kh7 22.f5 Qg5 23.fxg6+ Qxg6 24.Qxg6+

An old habit: simplify to an ending (missing 24.Rf7+ Kg8 25.Qxg6 checkmate).

24...Kxg6 25.Rf6+ Kg7 26.Raf1

26...Rhf8 27.Rxf8 Rxf8 28.e6+ Kg8 29.e7 Re8 30.Re1 Kf7 31.Bb4 b6 32.Bd6 b5

33.Rf1+ Ke6 34.Rf8 Rxe7 35.Bxe7 Kxe7 36.Ra8 Black resigned

Feeling Lucky

A couple of months ago I faced a defense similar to the one played in today's game. When I annotated that older effort for this blog, I suggested an improvement for White, should anyone ever pass that way again.

The suggestion quickly proved its worth.

perrypawnpusher - gmann
blitz, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6

The Semi-Italian Opening.

4.0-0 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bc5

The Semi-Italian Four Knights Game.

6.Bxf7+

The Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

6...Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.d4 Ng6

This move is a bit unusual, but still keeps Black's advantage. How nice to be two pieces up!

9.dxc5 Re8 10.f4

This is a move that I suggested in my notes to perrypawnpusher - richardachatz, blitz, FICS, 2010, as an alternative to 10.Re1, to be tried if one were "feeling lucky".

10...Nxe4

All right! 

Anyone who plays the Jerome Gambit regularly is familiar with the negative "halo effect" that affects some skeptical opponents. They think: If White blunders so badly in the opening, he is going to blunder throughout the game. So any move that appears bad, must be bad.  

11.Nxe4 Rxe4 12.Qd5+ Re6 13.f5

This should leave White ahead the exchange. Black's next move, hoping to dislodge the pinning Queen, only makes matters worse.

13...c6 14.fxe6+ Kg8 15.e7+

15...cxd5 16.exd8Q+ Kh7 17.b4

Preparing to put the Bishop on b2, when the attack on g7 will become overwhelming.

17...b6 18.cxb6 Bb7 19.Qxd7 Ba6 20.Bb2 Rg8 21.Rf7 Black resigned

I don't know that I will have any future success with 10.f4, but I will play it again – when I am feeling lucky.