I was emailing Chessville neighbor JanXena ("Les Femmes des Echecs" – news, games, and witty & urbane commentary) the other day when I got to wondering: did I know how many women were creative enough, courageous enough, carefree enough – or downright foolish, reckless, and bored enough – to play the Jerome Gambit?That turns out to be a difficult question, in no small part due to to the fact that a large percentage of the Jerome Gambit games in my database (about 80%) are internet games, played pseudonymously.
We've already seen ("My Jerome Gambit Database") this brevity:
Brescak - Hefti
EU-ch U10 Girls, 1998
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ draw agreed.
A few years ago Pete Banks ("blackburne") sent me a half dozen games from ChessWorld played by a creative and adventurous woman who explained her chess philosophy
Hello! Oh, I know that I make often the opening with these moves as you mentioned...but unfortunately I NEVER have read a book or any theoretic things about it or even about chess. That's because I'm just learning by doing, I play most of moves very fast and as you can see, I play very often. So with the time I have my favourite openings, but am always open to try new ones or "unconventional" moves.... For me the game is interesting just by doing and I realized that I will get better with many many losses... that takes probably more time than studying the theory, but if I should study it, it wouldn't be fun any more for me.
Here's a game example. White overcomes the disadvantage inherent in the opening, gains the distinctly better game after Black's King wanders too far afield, and had some fascinating checkmates available – before things unravelled.
Plejade - The Cunning Sly
www.ChessWorld.net, 2003
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d3 Ke8 6.Bg5 Nge7 7.Qd2 h6 8.Bxe7 Nxe7 9.d4 exd4 10.Nxd4 d6 11.Nc3 a6 12.0-0-0 Bb6 13.Nd5 Nxd5 14.exd5 c5 15.Ne6 Bxe6 16.dxe6 Ke7 17.Rhe1 Bc7 18.f4 Re8 19.f5 Kf6 20.Rf1 Qe7 21.Qf4 d5 22.Qh4+ g5 23.Qxh6+ Ke5 24.Qh3 Rh8 25.Rfe1+ Kd6 26.Qd3 d4 27.g4 Rxh2 28.c3 Rah8 29.cxd4 Ba5 30.dxc5+ Kxc5 31.Re5+ Kb6 32.Qb3+ Ka7 33.Rxa5 Qc7+ 34.Kb1 Qxa5 35.e7 Re2 36.Rd5 Qxd5 37.Qxd5 Rxe7 38.f6 Rc7 39.f7 Rf8 40.Qf5 Rfxf7 41.Qxg5 Rf1+ 42.Qc1 Rcxc1 checkmate
In another game sent to me I will refer to the players as they were presented.
Yesterday and the day before, I tried to orchestrate some J. Gambits at gameknot's blitz program... I played 15-20 games and was only able to get in one Jerome Gambit, which I won, although I missed a quicker, and nicer, mate which I saw while reviewing the game just now before sending it.
My opponent may have been a stronger player than he appears in this game. His play seemed a little contemptuous at first and it's more likely he underestimated the power of the open lines against his exposed king. Protecting his knight rather than moving it, only to lose it, cost him the game.
Sarah - not Sarah
10 min.blitz http://www.gameknot.com/ 2006
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bxd4 7.Qxd4 d6 8.f4 c5 9.Qc3 Qh4+ 10.g3 Qh6 11.Nd2 b5 12.fxe5 b4 13.0–0+ Ke6 14.Qc4+ Ke7 15.Qf7+ Kd8 16.Qf8+ Kc7 17.Nc4 Qe6 18.Rf7+ Bd7 19.Rxd7+ Qxd7 20.Qxa8 Qb5 21.exd6+ Kd7 22.Qxa7+ Kc6 23.d7 Nf6 24.Ne5+ Kd6 25.Nf7+ Ke7 26.Nxh8 (I missed 26. d8=Q+ Ke6 27. Qde7#) 26...Nxd7 27.Bg5+ Ke6 28.Qa8 Qc4 29.Qe8+ Kd6 30.Rd1+ Kc6 31.Qxd7+ Kb6 32.Bd8+ Ka6 33.Rd6 checkmate
Finally, a game of my own -- my first loss with the Gambit. ("The excuses are all there, waiting to be made" Tartakower could have said.)
perrypawnpusher - MsD
FICS rated blitz game 3 0 2007
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Nf6 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Qe7 10.d3 Be6 11.0–0 b6 12.Nc3 Rae8 13.f4 Ng4 14.Qf3 h5 15.f5 gxf5 16.exf5 Bd7 17.Bd2 Nf6 18.Rae1 Qf8 19.Rxe8 Qxe8 20.Re1 Qd8 21.Bg5 Rg8 22.Bxf6 Qxf6 23.Qd5+ Kg7 24.Qf3 Rf8 25.Qg3+ Kh8 26.Qe3 Qxf5 27.Qd4+ Rf6 White forfeits on time 0–1
Hi Rick,
ReplyDeleteI found this game over at chessgames.com. There's a whole slew of them under C50 - they don't call it Jerome's Gambit though - it's called something about a piano :)
[Event "Ruy Lopez Chess Festival"]
[Site "Merida ESP"]
[Date "2008.04.09"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Zhang Pengxiang"]
[Black "Koneru Humpy"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2640"]
[BlackElo "2612"]
[ECO "C50"]
[EventDate "2008.04.05"]
[PlyCount "33"]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.d3 d6 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bxf6 Qxf6 8.Nd5 Qd8 9.c3 Ne7 10.d4 Nxd5 11.dxc5 Nf4 12.g3 Nh3 13.cxd6 cxd6 14.Qa4+ Bd7 15.Bb5 a6 16.Bxd7+ Qxd7 17.Qxd7+
1/2-1/2
Darling, if it's good enough for Humpy, it's far more complicated than I'll ever understand, that's for sure!
Speaking of complicated - I must have watched "Searching for Bobby Fischer" too many times - looking over your Jerome Gambit game, why oh why did you bring out your Queen so early? Isn't that a big no-no??? And can you explain to me the efficacy of the early check? I may not understand the explanation, but just in looking your game over (and the one above it by the chess femme), those early checks seem rather gratuitous. Is it just a matter of doing it cuz you can (which I would certainly understand but which would shock me to the core because I thought chessplayers aren't supposed to think like that - well, you know, sort of in your face "ha, take that, enemy King!")
JanXena
Hi Jan,
ReplyDeleteI would have to check with WIM Cathy Forbes, but I think a post-modern analysis of the Jerome Gambit would go something like: a typically archaic aggro-leuko-andro system (i.e. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5), experiencing the failure of both its religious (4.Bxf7+ Kxf7) and military (5.Nxe5+ Nxe5) functionaries, relies on the matriarchy (6.Qh5+) for its salvation, only to learn that its inherent violence is turned away by the motherland (6...g6 7.Qxe5) through creative and dynamic play (7...Qe7) – attributed to Whistler, but likely prepared by Whistler's mother.
Rick
Good explanation! It may seem like something of a nonsequitur, but earlier tonight I was doing some study on ancient Georgian goddesses - if you've been reading at the Chess, Goddess and Everything blog you'll realize why. Anyway, I came across a reference to "Leukothenia" who, as far as I can tell, does not exist, but does indicate a sort of blend of "white" and "Athena" - she is supposedly a White Goddess and in Georgia, called the equivalent of "Colchis." Colchis was an ancient center that the Greeks just could not resist; it was to Colchis that Jason and the Argonauts went on their famous journey, for instance, the golden fleece hails from Colchis, and men got into all sorts of trouble with femmes of divine and semi-divine attributes in Colchis.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me Jerome's Gambit is rather like the archaic Greeks going to Colchis - nothing but trouble, particularly for guys who can't keep their hands off their queen.