Jerome Gambit Tournament: Chapter IX

Having shown blackburne Whistler's Defense as one of my own plans for meeting the Jerome Gambit – see "Jerome Gambit Tournament: Chapter VIII" – I was very interested in what he had prepared for me.

perrypawnpusher - blackburne
JG3 thematic
http://www.chessworld.net/, 2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6


For 8...c6 see perrypawnpusher - Gary_Seven, "Jerome Gambit Tournament: Chapter VII".

9.Qe3
Jerome - Brownson, Iowa 1875 continued: 9.Qc3 Nf6 10.d3 c6 11.0–0 Kd7 12.f4 Qb6+ 13.Kh1 Kc7 14.Qe1 Re8 15.b3 Nd5 16.Qg3 Nb4 17.Na3 Bd7 18.c3 Nxa2 19.f5 Ne5 20.d4 Qxb3 21.dxe5 dxe5 22.Rb1 Qxc3 23.Be3 a6 24.Qxg7 b5 25.Rf3 Kc8 26.Rd1 Rd8 27.Bb6 Kb7 28.Bxd8 1–0
9...Nf6 10.f4

10.d4 was seen in the correspondence game Charlick - Mann, Australia 1881 which will be detailed in a later post.

10...Rf8 TN 11.0–0 Kd7


Wow! I had expected something like 11...Kf7 followed by 12...Kg8

12.Nc3 b6 13.d4 c6
Provocative – but Black does have the extra piece. I can get my pawns moving, but my opponent always has the option of returning a Knight or Bishop for 2 or 3 of them, if need be.
14.f5 Ne7 15.e5 dxe5 16.dxe5 Nfd5 17.e6+
So far the pawns are just annoying little mosquitoes that can be swatted away.

17...Kc7
After the game I was shocked to see that Rybka considered 17...Ke8 to be a safer move for the Black King. Certainly that looks more like "the kind of move a computer would make" than the choice of a human being.
18.Qe5+ Kb7 19.Qxg7


The "mosquitoes" are beginning to look threatening, but Black has the draw well in hand: 19...Bxe6 20.fxe6 Rxf1+ 21.Kxf1 Nxc3 22.bxc3 Qd1+ 23.Kf2 Qxc2+, forcing repetition.

This is not surprising, as White is attacking with only one piece – and Black has castled by hand.
19...Nf6
This perfectly reasonable-looking move ("restrain, blockade, destroy" anyone?) allows White time to develop his Bishop, and suddenly Black's game is tumbling downhill.
20.Bg5 Nfg8 21.f6
This is all good fun, but stronger was more development: 21.Rad1

21...Qd4+ 22.Kh1 Rxf6
Looks like a miscalculation.
23.Bxf6 Nxf6 24.Qxe7+ Nd7 25.exd7 Qxd7 26.Qxd7+ Bxd7


The smoke has cleared, and White is a Rook and a pawn up. My chessfriend blackburne knows me well enough to hang around for a convenient blunder on my part, but this day I disappoint him.
27.Rf7 Kc7 28.Rd1 Rd8 29.Ne4 Kc8 30.Nf6 Be6 31.Rxd8+ Kxd8 32.Rxa7 Bf5 33.Nxh7 Bxc2 34.h4 Ke8 35.h5 Bxh7 36.Rxh7 Kf8 37.h6 Kg8 38.Rb7 1–0