Rough Weather

Pete Banks ("blackburne"), likely the top contemporary across-the-board Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) player this blog is aware of, will finish the current 15-player ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic Chess Tournament tied for 10th place, a bit of a disappointment. Some of his games show a bit of rust – just enough that, barring a few unfortunate slips, he could have actually finished 5 or 6 places higher. The following is an example of things suddenly going haywire.

blackburne - Piratepaul
JGTourney4 ChessWorld, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6

A very reasonable defense, considered one of the refutations of the Jerome Gambit.

7.Qxc5 d6 8.Qe3 Nf6

9.0-0 Rf8 10.d4 Kg8

Black has castled-by-hand. White's task is to use his center pawns (d-, e- and f-pawns) to begin an attack on the enemy King. Black will strike back in the center.

11.Nc3 c6 12.f4 Ng4 13.Qg3 Nf6 14.f5

14...Ne7 15.Bh6 Nh5

Protecting the g7 pawn and attacking the White Queen, although the more "boring" 15...Rf7 might have been a better move.

16.Qg4

This is one of the moves that I referred to as "rusty." The Queen moves to a square which is on the same diagonal as Black's Bishop. One step further would have gotten White the attack he wanted: 16.Qg5. Now 16...Qe8 allows White a smashing attack, for example: 17.f6 Ng6 18.fxg7 Nxg7 19.h4 Rxf1+ 20.Rxf1 Qe7 21.Rf6 Nf8 22.d5 Bd7 23.e5 +-;






analysis diagram






Leading to a bit of an edge for White would have been 16. Qg5 Rf7 17.Qxh5 gxh6 18.Qxh6 +/=.

Best for Black would have been to give back his piece to achieve a drawish endgame: 16...Nxf5 17.exf5 Qxg5 18.Bxg5 Bxf5.

analysis diagram






Returning the piece is a theme in Jerome Gambits that does not get attended to enough; doing it correctly, even moreso.

16...Qe8 17.Rf3 Rf6

Stronger was the thematic 17...d5

18.Rh3

White needed to mix it up with 18.Bg5 when one possible line is 18...d5 19.Qh4 dxe4 20.Bxf6 exf3 21.Bxe7 fxg2 (Hungry, hungry pawn!) and then 22.f6 gives White the edge because of his initiative.







analysis diagram





18...Rxh6 19.f6

Ouch. Rusty.

19...Bxg4 20.fxg7 Bxh3 21.gxh3 Nxg7 22.Rf1 Rxh3 White resigns

This game hardly shows blackburne at his best.