In my second game in the first round of the "Italian Game Battlegrounds" tournament at Chess.com, I got the chance, again, to play in Jerome Gambit style when it wasn't absolutely necessary. What can I say?
perrypawnpusher - Aborygen
Italian Game Battlegrounds, Chess.com, 2019
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Na5
I have covered this line in many past posts. It doesn't seem to have a name. The idea, apparently, is that Black wants to exchange a Knight for a Bishop, after 4.Bb3 Nxb3, etc.
White's best response to 3...Na5 is to go along with the plan, after grabbing a pawn: 4.Nxe5 Nxc4 5.Nxc4 d5 (Stockfish's suggestion) 6.exd5 Qxd5 7.Ne3, when it is difficult to find Black's compensation for the material, other than whatever psychological discomfort White may have for being pulled out of his opening routine.
4.Bxf7+
The Jerome Gambit treatment. What can I say?
I have played this three times before: perrypawnpusher - metheny, blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 8); perrypawnpusher - sebapvar, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 10 ); and perrypawnpusher - wred, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 35).
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke7
Strange, because it seems to block Black's development, but after the game Stockfish 10 identified this move as best.
6.Nc3 Nf6 7.d4 d6
White has 2 pawns for his sacrificed piece, and Black's King is uneasy, while one of his Knights appears unemployed.
8.Nd5+
The idea here is that Black needs more than 8...Nxd5 9.exd5 dxe5 because of 10.Bg5+, winning the Queen.
8...Ke8 9.Bg5
This seems to be a novelty, according to The Database, but it is a reasonable idea: if, now, 9...dxe5, then 10.dxe5, and Black's Knight at f6 is pinned and will be lost. Still, that might have been the best route for my opponent to take.
9...Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.Qh5+
The idea behind exchanging on f6.
11...g6 12.Nxg6 hxg6 13.Qxg6+
White is down 2 pieces for the moment, but he has 4 extra pawns.
13...Kd7
Black's King seeks safety on the Queenside. It might have been a bit more secure on the Kingside, after 13...Kf8 14.Nxf6 Qe7, but White would still be better, as his 4 pawns would outweigh Black's extra piece.
14.Nxf6+ Kc6
15.b4
Hitting the offside Knight.
15...Nc4 16.b5+
A two-fold move: If Black captures the pawn, White's Rook can come into play, with check, with Rb1+; and if Black does not capture the pawn, White has stopped him from playing ...b7-b5 - I had been looking at a possible Qf7, attacking the Knight and possibly bringing the Queen over to the Queenside, but what if the defender just supported the Knight with the pawn?
16...Kb6
Black does not want the pawn, yet, and now White's 17.Qf7 would be met by 17...Rf8, and things would not be so clear after 18.Qxc4 Qxf6. Time to get White's Knight out of the way.
The position is complicated, but White has to at least gain back material - while threatening checkmate various ways.
17.Nd5+ Ka5
Persistent in resisting the pawn, but this opens up another avenue of attack for me.
18.Qg3
If Black now captures the b-pawn, White gathers in some material: 18...Kxb5 19.Qb3+ Kc6 20.Qxc4+ Kd7 21.Nxc7 and White would simply be 4 pawns up. In the meantime, White threatens to bring his Queen to c3 or b3 - with check.
18...Qh4
Threatening White's pawn at e4, and possibly, after that, White's uncastled King; but it is too late. White keeps moving with check.
19.Qc3+ Kxb5 20.Nxc7+ Kb6 21.Nxa8+ Black resigned
If, now, 21...Kb5, White's Rook would finally enter the fray with 22.Rb1+, and the Knight would be lost.
I have been looking at a Jerome Gambit-related opening line that does not appear to have a name. Although I have covered it a number of times on this blog - "Offside!" "The Other Side" "Bishop in A Hurry", "Watch that last step...", "It Worked -- This Time", "A Line of Play Everyone Should Know About", "The Psychology of Error in Chess", "It Takes More Than Just One Move", "Checking Back", "Huh?", "A Snack", "Betcha Can't Eat Just One", "Entertaining and Educational", "Barely Got His Coffee Sipped", "Crime and Punishment", "Hard to Believe", "Poison", "Puzzling", "A New Mate", "On the Other Hand", "Chess Marches On", "Chess Marches On (Again)", "Always Good To Remember", "Cure Worse Than the Disease", and "Repetition Helps Those Who Pay Attention" - I have only played it twice, and only faced Black's best response once.
I am talking about 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Na5,
which certainly can be met with 4.Nxe5 with an edge for the first player, but which I like to meet with 4.Bxf7+.
After 4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ (there are 1933 games with this position in The Database, and White scores 72%) the strongest reply appears to be 5...Ke7 (although this move is seen only 371 times in The Database, that is less than 1/5 of the time, and White scores 70%).
How should White proceed?
As in "A Discussion Continued" I invited Stockfish 6, Houdini 3, Rybka 3 and The Database to consult with me. There were ideas and disagreements galore.
In my original notes to perrypawnpusher - wred, blitz, FICS, 2011, I pointed out that Rybka 3 preferred 6.Nc3. The move appeared 11 times in The Database. White scored 73%. The most recent game with the line continued 6...d6 7.Nd5+ Ke8 8.Qh5+ Black resigned, Alnischu - Kaliz, blitz, FICS, 2013.
On the other hand, 6.d4 was preferred by Stockfish 6. The move appeared 171 times in The Database. White scored 64%. The most recent game with the line continued 6...Nf6 7.Bg5 d6 8.Bxf6+ Kxf6 9.Ng4+ Kf7 10.Qf3+ Bf5 Black forfeited by disconnection, seinfeldaddict - JDZAAA, standard, FICS, 2014.
However, Houdini 3 preferred 6.Qf3. The move appeared in 27 games in The Database. White scored 70%. The most recent game with the line continued 6...Nh6 7.d3 Qe8 8.Bxh6 gxh6 9.0-0 Bg7 10.d4 d6 11.Nd3 Bxd4 12.c3 Bf6 13.Nd2 Rf8 14.Qe2 h5 15.Nf4 Bg4 16.Nd5+ Kd7 17.Nxf6+ Rxf6 18.f3 Be6 19.Rfe1 Rd8 20.c4 Kc8 21.b3 Qg8 22.Qf2 Nc6 23.Nf1 b6 24.Ng3 Ne5 25.Rad1 Ng4 26.Qd2 Ne5 27.Qd4 h4 28.Qf2 hxg3 29.Qxg3 Rg6 30.Qf2 Bh3 31.g3 Nxf3+ 32.Qxf3 Bg4 33.Qg2 Bxd1 34.Rxd1 Rf8 35.Qh3+ Kb8 36.Qd7 Rgf6 37.e5 Rf2 38.exd6 Rc8 39.dxc7+ Rxc7 40.Qd6 Rxa2 41.Rf1 Qe8 42.Rf8 Qxf8 43.Qxf8+ Rc8 44.Qf4+ Rc7 45.Qe5 Kb7 46.Qd5+ Kb8 47.b4 Re7 48.Qd8+ Black resigned, sadhamlet - whickmeister, blitz, FICS, 2014.
What did I actually play in my game against wred? Why, 6.Qh5. The move appeared in 107 games in The Database. White scored 73%. The most recent game with the line continued 6...Nh6 7.d4 Qe8 8.Bg5+ Kd6 9.Qxe8, Black resigned ffdallagnol - praiseanosyk, FICS, 2014.
The answer to the question of the best continuation for White in this line remains unsettled, although all four moves given have been successful in practice.
Speaking of "Ooops!" (see the previous post) the following game has a couple subtle slips.
Evanfox - Boltonian
standard, FICS, 2012
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Na5
"A Line of Play Everyone Should Know About"
4.Bxf7+
The Jerome treatment.
There is nothing wrong with 4.Nxe5, but if Black's intention with his Knight move was to "force" 4.Bb3, so that after 4...Nxb3 5.axb3 he could achieve the quiet advantage of "the two Bishops", a sharper retort might have a decent surprise effect.
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke7 6.Qh5 g6
6...Qe8 was necessary, with a slight edge for Black, as in perrypawnpusher - wred, blitz, FICS, 2011, (1-0, 35)
7.Nxg6+ Black resigned
If Black's 6th move was a slip, so was his 7th "move". After 7...hxg6 (instead) 8.Qxh8 Kf7 White would have a Rook and three pawns against two extra pieces for Black, something that Houdini 2 evaluates as maybe a 1/2 pawn advantage.
Perhaps the second player did not want to face all of those "Jerome pawns".
I have to take my openings more seriously. That's funny coming from someone who has been blogging here daily for almost three years, but what it means is: I need to be more prepared for opponents who, more and more, are more prepared... suprise alone won't work.
perrypawnpusher - wred
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Na5
I have called this "A Line of Play Everyone Should Know About". In response, White doesn't have to sacrifice his Bishop: 4.Nxe5 is good for a small advantage.
4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke7
As I've suggested,
Black's best chance for advantage... – if only for confusion's sake – is 5...Ke7.
After a lot of thought, Rybka thinks that the game should continue 6.Nc3 Qe8 7.d4 Kd8 8.0-0 Nc6 9.Bf4 d6 10.Nf3 Bd7, which looks about even
6.Qh5
Looking at The Database, I see that about 1/4 of those faced with 5...Ke7 chose the reply 6.Qh5. More popular was 6.d4, played by about 1/2 of those who faced 5...Ke7.
Only 8 players (3%) played the "best" move, 6.Nc3.
As an aside, my opponent faced and defeated 6.b3 in FabricioF - wred, FICS, 2010 (0-1,29); while he has lost twice to 6.d3, in brokenSpoke - wred, FICS 2011 (1-0, 22) and Kuehner - wred, FICS 2011 (1-0, 32).
6...Qe8
The only move, and an improvement over 6...d6 7.Qf7 checkmate, Longandsons - wred, FICS, 2011.
7.Qg5+ Nf6
8.Ng4
After the game Rybka 3 suggested 8.0-0 d6 9.Nc3, when Black had a small advantage.
Lucky for me (see "Another Refutation, Another Win"), it takes more than just one move to completely finish off my game.
8...Nc6 9.e5
A straight-forward idea that has a hole in it, although both wred and I missed it.
9...Qg6
This leads to an even game.
Instead, Black's 9...Kd8 would have uncovered his Queen, attacked White's e-pawn, and made the first player's game difficult, e.g. 10.0-0 h6 11.Nxf6 hxg5 12.Nxe8 Kxe8.
10.exf6+ gxf6 11.Qe3+ Ne5
Black had 11...Kf7 keeping a roughly even game.
12.Nxe5 fxe5 13.Qxe5+ Qe6 14.d4 d6 15.Qxe6+ Bxe6
I have stumbled into a much better game.
16.Bg5+ Kd7 17.Nd2 Re8 18.0-0-0 Bg7 19.Nf3 Bxa2
An error: Black's Bishop will not get out alive. Even worse, he will wind up sending in a Rook on a rescue mission, and that will get stuck, too.
20.b3 Re2 21.Rd2 Rhe8 22.Kb2 Bxb3 23.cxb3 Rxd2+ 24.Bxd2 Re2 25.Kc3 Rxf2 26.Rg1 b5
Black needed to play 26...c5 to free his Rook. Now Black will have to give it up for a piece, falling further behind in material.
27.Kd3 a5 28.Ke3 Rxd2 29.Kxd2 a4 30.bxa4 bxa4 31.Ra1 Bh6+ 32.Kd3 c5 33.dxc5 dxc5 34.Rxa4 Bf4
A final slip.
35.Rxf4 Black resigned
