Besting a WGM

Chessfriend and regular contributor to this blog, Yury V. Bukayev, sent the following online 5 10 game against a Women's International Master - actually she has made three Women's Grandmaster norms.

Yury plays a steady game, and at the end is clearly better.

I have included comments from the site's Stockfish analysis engine, some of my own comments, and some diagrams.

Event "WIM Ruchess27 simul

Site "https://lichess.org/li5olZOJ 

Date "2026.04.03"  

White "Ruchess27" 

Black "Yury_V_Bukayev" 

Result "1-0" 

UTCDate "2026.04.03" 

UTCTime "18:01:13" 

WhiteElo "2509" 

BlackElo "2040" 

WhiteTitle "WIM" 

Variant "Standard" 

TimeControl "300+10" 

ECO "D37"

Opening "Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation" 

Termination "Time forfeit" 

Annotator "lichess.org" 

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 

D37 Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation

4...h6 5. Bf4 Bd6 6. Bg3 c5 

7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.e3 O-O 9.Qc2 dxc4 10.Bxc4 Bb4 11.O-O Bxc3 12.bxc3 Qa5 

13.Rab1 a6 14.Rfd1 b5 15.Bb3?! 

(0.80 → 0.10) Inaccuracy. Bf1 was best.  15.Bf1 Bb7 16.Nd2 Nbd7 17.c4 Rfc8 18.Qb2 Bc6 19.f3 Nc5 20.e4 Na4 

15...Bb7 16.Nd4?? 

{ (0.00 → -2.32) Blunder. Rbc1 was best. 16.Rbc1 Nbd7 17.Ne5 Rfd8 18.Nxd7 Rxd7 19.Be5 Rxd1+ 20.Rxd1 Qb6 21.Qe2 Rc8 

Stockfish is rather harsh, here. Giving up the exchange is a mistake, but it should not be enough to counter a 470 point rating advantage.

However, against Yury's solid play it proves decisive.

16...Be4 17.Qb2 Bxb1 18.Rxb1?! 

(-1.86 → -2.78) Inaccuracy. Qxb1 was best.  18.Qxb1 Qb6 19.e4 Nc6 20.e5 Nxd4 21.Rxd4 Nd5 22.Qd3 Rac8 23.Bc2 g6 

18...Nbd7 19.c4 bxc4 20.Bxc4 

Black is clearly better, as White's slight lead in development is not sufficient compensation for the exchange.

As legendary football coach Vince Lombardi once said, "We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time."

Jerome Gambit: Blindfold

 

For a calm, thoughtful video, from a player who has also experimented with blindfold play, check out "Refute the Jerome Gambit Easily" by Mayday_Watson MR.

The video features "Blindfold chess game review and short overview of facing Jerome Gambit."

You can play the Jerome best, when you know what your opponent is preparing against you.

Jerome Gambit: Out-Stranged? Post Script

                                                        

                                                            

As I noted in the previous blog post, one of my ongoing games in the "The Italian Game" tournament at Chess.com has started 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 g5!?         

                                                        

There is a similarity with the Brentano Defense to the Ruy Lopez - 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g5!?

It is fun to quote from the July/August/September 1949 issue of  CHESS,  H.G. Schenk's explanation of the idea of 3...g5 in the Ruy Lopez - which could also apply to the move in the intended Giuoco Piano (or Jerome Gambit)

...By playing 3...g5, Black is hoping to wrest the initiative from his opponent; for in answer to 4.0-0, or 4.d3, or again 4.Nc3, Black intends to push on 4...g4, after which exciting complications may arise. It is true that after 4.d4 Black must be prepared to allow an early exchange of queens; but it is only fair to add that White need not exchange queens at all; thus in a recent game played between C. Duffield and myself, the following variation was played... In choosing Brentano's paradoxical defence in the Ruy Lopez, Black must be prepared for the wildest complications, or, as the case may be, a quiet endgame

Indeed, the game already features "the wildest complications", as I will share when the game has concluded.

Jerome Gambit: Out-Stranged?

One of my games in the "The Italian Game" tournament at Chess.com has started 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 g5!?

Wow.

I guess that's one way to avoid the Jerome Gambit - 3...Bc5 4.Bxf7+.

I have never seen that move before.

Since it is similar to the Brentano Defense to the Ruy Lopez - 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g5!? - (Franz Brentano, "Neue Vertheidigung der spanischen Partie", Wiener Schachzeitung, April-May 1900; February 1901; and January 1903) I am inclined to call it "the Brentano Defense to the Giuoco Piano", except that the earliest game example that I have found is from a game played in Detroit in 1990.

Needless to say, it was not played by Franz Brentano (1838–1917).

As always, more research is needed.

Jerome Gambit: Panikin_Skywalker, Again (Part 2)

                                       

[continued from the previous post]

Panikin_Skywalker - nyanners, casual bullet game, lichess.org, 2026

The battle continues.

26...g5 

Perhaps due to the clock, missing 26...Nxd3 27.cxd3 Rxe5, maintaining an advantage. 

27.Bxf4 gxf4 28.Rxf4 Kf7 29.Kg3 Rg8 

White's extra pawns - two of them passed, connected, and protected - now give him the advantage.

30.Kf3

Improving the position of his King.

With all the time in the world, and a leisurely cup of coffee at hand, I can suggest the dissolution of the position: 30.Rh1 Rh8 31.Rh6 Rad8 32.g5 Rdg8 33.Rg4 Rg7 34.g6+ Kg8 35.Rgh4 Be8 36.Kg4 Bxg6 37.fxg6 Rxg6+ 38.Rxg6+ hxg6 39.Rxh8+ Kxh8 40.Kg6 and White wins.

Now the Rooks and pawns fly, and I won't comment...

30...Rg7 31.Rg1 Rag8 32.Ke3 h5 33.e5 Rxg4 34.Rgxg4 Rxg4 35.Rxg4 hxg4 

Things continue to happen quickly. In fact, had each player used a couple of seconds' thinking time per move, both flags would have fallen by now.

But - they are thinking faster than that!

White strikes first.

36.e6+ Bxe6 37.fxe6+ Kxe6 38.Kf4 Kd5 39.c3 b5 

40.Kxg4

It turns out that the other enemy Knight pawn needed to be attended to, first, with 40.b4, when White's Queenside pawn majority will win the game.  

40...b4 41.c4+ Kd4 42.Kf5 Kxd3 43.Ke5 Kc3 44.Kd5 Kb2 45.Kc5 a5 

Cleaning up the pawns at eyeblink speed.

46.Kb5  

It is maddening to realize that play could have gone 46.Kc6 Kxa2 47.Kxc7 Kxb3 48.c5 a4 49.c6 a3 50.Kb6 a2 51.c7 a1Q 52.c8Q with a Queen vs Queen-plus-pawn endgame that could be drawn.

Remember, Readers, this is a 1-minute game.

46...Kxa2 47.Ka4 Kb2 48.c5 c6 49.Kxa5 Kxb3 50.Kb6 Kc4 51.Kxc6 b3 52.Kd6 b2 53.c6 b1=Q 

International Master William Hartson has pointed out that in the endgame, Black pawns move faster?!

54.c7 Qd3+ 55.Kc6 Qf5 

Wait a minute! 

With more time, there was 55...Qd5+ 56.Kb6 Qa8 57.c8Q+ Qxc8 58.Ka7 Qd7+ 59.Kb6 Kb4 60.Ka6 Kc5 61.Ka5 Qa7# 

Now the game enters the odd Queen-versus-an-advanced-Bishop- pawn (would also work with the Rook pawn) and an advanced King - known to be a draw. (Thank you, Reuben Fine.)

56.Kb7 Qb5+ 57.Ka8 Qc6+ 58.Kb8 Qb6+ 59.Ka8 Qc6+ 60.Kb8 

Here, White offered a draw.

60...Qb6+ 61.Ka8 Qa6+ 62.Kb8 Kb5 63.c8=Q Qd6+ 64.Qc7 Qxc7+ 65.Kxc7 draw

An up-and-down battle that averaged less than one second per move thinking time, ending in lone King versus lone King.

Wow!

Jerome Gambit: Panikin_Skywalker, Again (Part 1)

We have met Panikin_Skywalker previously.

As I wrote, then

One more note: Depending on how Black defends, the Jerome Gambit can present as a Bashi-Bazouk attack, sweeping all before it; or it can become a slow-and-steady game, with White advancing toward the full point with all deliberate speed - as in the following game.

What follows is a game full of excitement - with one minute per side.

Panikin_Skywalker - nyanners, casual bullet game, lichess.org, 2026

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

(Unlike the previous Panikin_Skywalker game, I have left out a lot of the computer kvetching about move after move.)

7.Qd5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+ d6 9.Qe3 Nf6 10.d3 Qe7 

Standard Jerome Gambit themes appear: Black has a piece for two pawns, but an uneasy King, and a strongly-placed-but-attackable Queen; White places his hopes in the "Jerome pawns", supported by his own active Queen, using his Rook along the f-file that targets the enemy monarch.

11.b3 

Preparing to develop his dark square Bishop without disturbing his Queen. 

11...Kf7 

Or 11...Qe5 as in chessriddler - Okierete01m lichess.org, 2023 (1-0, 22); or 11...Bd7 12.O-O Re8 as in chessriddler - Let_It_Rip, lichess.org, 2025 (0-1, 42) 

12.O-O 

Instead, chessriddler - meisam1993, lichess.org, 2023 (1-0, 41) saw 12.h3 Re8 13.O-O etc.

12...Re8 

Or 12...Rf8 as in chessriddler - CarlsenNepo21, lichess.org, 2024 (0-1, 61). That's a lot of moves in one minute.

13.Bb2 Kg8 

White has his plan. Does Black?

14.Nd2 Ne5

I see this often in defenses to the Jerome Gambit. It mostly serves as a target for White to play f2-f4.

15.h3 Qf7 16.f4 Nc6 17.Nf3 Qg6 

At this point, Stockfish 16.1 optimistically assessed the position as about even.

White starts something on the Kingside, while Black reacts.

18.Qf2 Qh6 19.f5 Ne5 

This Knight has gone from b8 to c6 to e5 to g6 to e5 to c6 to e5!

20.Nxe5 

And now, off of the board.

20...dxe5 21.Rae1 Bd7 

22.Qg3 Nh5 23.Qh2 Nf4 24.g4

The kind of aggression that sometimes works in bullet, sometimes not. 

 24...Qxh3 25.Bxe5 Qxh2+ 26.Kxh2 

After some tactics, Black will now have to surrender his Knight, leaving White a pawn up - with Bishops-of-opposite-colors on the board.

[to be continued]

Jerome Gambit: Chasing Opportunities

 

Chasing opportunities to play more Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games, I have joined the new "The Italian Game" tournament at Chess.com.

So far, I have one Jerome, with the possibility of up to three more.

Readers will see what I come up with, in due time.