Thursday, January 29, 2009

A Reminder: Why we play this stuff...

Playing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) – or, in the case of the game below, the Abrahams Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+) – can always seem to be a bunch of silliness, but every once in a while even a trivial game can have its moments.

hennybogan1954 - jesse220
www.gameknot.com 2006

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+


3...Kxf7 4.Qh5+ Kf8 5.Qxe5 d6

A position similar to the "real" Jerome Gambit, only White's King Knight and Black's Queen Knight are still on the board.

6.Qf4+ Nf6 7.Nf3 Ke7

Black does not like the pin on his Knight, and rightly worries about a well-timed e4-e5 by White, but he would have done much better to have simply brought out his Queen's Knight with 7...Nc6.

8.d4

Surprisingly, White can already break with advantage: 8.e5 Nd5 9.Qe4 dxe5 10.d4.

8...Bb6 9.Nc3
Although not as strong now, 9.e5 was the move to keep the pressure on and keep the game in balance.

9...c6 10.0-0 Bg4

As can often be said in the Jerome Gambit: a good move, if it worked...

Given 5 minutes to "blundercheck" the position, Rybka 3 gives this prosaic end to the game: 10...h6 11.e5 dxe5 12.dxe5 Nd5 13.Qg3 Kf8 14.Rd1 Qe8 15.Ne4 Qe6 16.Nd6 Kg8 17.Nxc8 Qxc8 18.Nh4 Qe6 19.Ng6 Rh7 20.c4 Nb4 21.Rd6 Qxc4 22.Ne7+ Kf8 23.Ng6+ Kg8 24.Ne7+ Kf8 25.Ng6+ Kg8 draw.

11.e5 dxe5 12.dxe5 Bxf3

Not wanting to leave the Bishop hanging after the Knight on f6 disappears, but, if so, this was better accomplished by 12...Nbd7 13.exf6+ Nxf6, when White is winning any way due to Black's unsafe King.

13.Qxf3

Taking the Knight first with 13.exf6+ was a bit stronger. Now Black and his game fall apart.


13...Nd5 14.Bg5+ Nf6 15.exf6+ Ke8 Black resigns

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