Monday, November 23, 2009

Tied Up, or How Much Is A Queen Worth?

There's nothing like receiving the gift of your opponent's Queen in the first twelve moves of a game, especially when you are in a critical line of one of the Jerome Gambit's (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) refutations.

Why, it only took me 32 more moves to end the game!

Huh?

perrypawnpusher  - elyza
blitz FICS, 2009

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6


This is one of the classical refutations of the Jerome Gambit.

Modern players unfamiliar with the Jerome may prefer 6...Ng6, 6...Kf8 or 6...g6 because this line feels more dangerous, but the King is actually safe in the middle of the board – and Black has two extra pieces, as well.

My first conclusion about my opponent, who was playing without much hesitation: he either doesn't like to return material, or he knows what he is doing.

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qh4+


Ah, yes, the "Nibs" defense – or counter-attack, if you will. It's beginning to look like my opponent elyza has stopped by this blog a time or two.

9.g3 Nf3+

Wow! Seriously cutting-edge play. For some background, check out "Repairing a Variation (Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3) and (Part 4)".

10.Kd1
If you are going to battle the Queen-sac line, I think 10.Kd1 is the right move. If you are looking toward the endgame, 10.Kf1 is to be preferred – "Repairing a Variation (Part 4)"
The alternative: 10.Kf1 Qh6 (10...Qf6 11.Qd5+ Ke7 12.Qxc5+ Kd8 13.Kg2 d6 14.Qd5 Ne7 15.Qd3 Nd4 16.e5 dxe5 17.c3 Bf5 18.fxe5 Qc6+ White resigned, perrypawnpusher - james042665, Chess.com, 2008) 11.Qd5+ Ke7 12.Qxc5+ Qd6 13.Qxd6+ cxd6 14.c3 g5 15.Kf2 g4 16.h3 d5 17.hxg4 dxe4 18.d3 d5 19.g5 h6 20.dxe4 dxe4 21.Nd2 Nxd2 22.Bxd2 Bg4 23.Be3 Ke6 24.Rh4 Kf5 25.Bd4 Rh7 26.Rah1 h5 27.Ke3 Ne7 28.R4h2 Nd5+ 29.Kd2 b6 30.Re1 Re8 31.Be3 Rd8 32.Kc2 Rc7 33.a3 Rcd7 34.Bd4 b5 35.Be5 Rc8 36.Kb1 a5 37.g6 b4 38.axb4 axb4 39.g7 b3 40.Bd4 Kg6 41.Kc1 Kf5 42.Rhh1 Nb4 43.Kd2 Rxd4+ White resigned, perrypawnpusher - Temmo, JG3 thematic, Chessworld, 2008.

10...Qf6

Or 10...Qh6 11.Qd5+ Ke7 12.Qxc5+ Qd6 13.Qxd6+ cxd6 14.c3 Nf6 15.d3 b6 16.Ke2 d5 17.Kxf3 dxe4+ 18.dxe4 Bb7 19.Re1 Kf7 20.Nd2 Rhe8 21.g4 d5 22.e5 d4+ 23.Kg3 dxc3 24.bxc3 Nd5 25.Bb2 Rad8 26.Ne4 Nf6 27.Nd6+ Kf8 28.Nxb7 Rd7 29.Ba3+ Kf7 30.Nd6+ Rxd6 31.exd6 Ne4+ 32.Rxe4 Rxe4 33.Kf3 Rc4 34.d7 Rxc3+ 35.Ke4 Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - electrahan, blitz FICS, 2009

11.e5+

Fail.

This looked like a great move at the time, but the right path had already been laid out for me by Louis Morin ("mrjoker"), that of simply collecting the dark-squared Black Bishop: 11.Qd5+ Ke7 12.Qxc5+ d6 13.Qxc7+ Bd7 14.Nc3 Rc8 15.Nd5+ Ke6 16.Qxb7 Qd4 17.f5+ Ke5 18.Qxd7 Nf6 19.Qe6 checkmate, guest2365 - guest2535, Internet Chess Club, 2004

11...Ke7

Wow.

Black was taken in by the move, too. Had he played, instead, 11...Nxe5 12.fxe5+ Qxe5 he would have shown that my pawn advance was a blunder.

12.exf6+ Nxf6


Game over? Hardly. My opponent probably wants me to show him that I have more than just a good sense of humor in the opening. Or maybe he is aware that sometimes I get... tired.

13.Qxc5+ d6 14.Qe3+ Kf7


15.h3

Naturally not 15.Qxf3 Bg4 winning the Queen.

15...Nxd2 16.Bxd2 Re8


17.Qf2 Kg8 18.Re1 Bxh3


I don't mind giving up the pawn. I'm trying to untangle my pieces on the Queenside.

19.Nc3 Bg4+ 20.Kc1 c5 21.b3 b5 22.Kb2 b4 23.Ne2 Ne4


This is getting annoying.

24.Qe3 a5 25.Qd3 a4 26.Ng1 a3+ 27.Kc1


27...Rad8

I was getting frustrated. Being this tied up was ridiculous!

28.c4

This is not a BLUNDER, but it is clearly an INACCURACY – see "Italian Game Anti-Fried Liver Defense (Part 2)" – since 28.Rxe4 was the best move. (Would it have ended the game? Probably not.)

Here is my new annotation for "I should have had some coffee":


28...Nf2 29.Rxe8+ Rxe8 30.Qxd6 Ne4


31.Qd5+ Be6

A slip. It helped.

I knew that I was going to have to go all the way to checkmate with my opponent, though, and time was running low.

32.Qxe4 Bf7 33.Qg2 Bh5 34.Kc2 Bg6+


35.Kd1 Be4 36.Qf2 Bf5 37.Nf3 Bg4


38.Be3 Rd8+ 39.Ke1 Rd3 40.Rd1


At last!

40...Rc3 41.Rd8+ Kf7 42.Ne5+ Ke7 43.Qd2 Bf5 44.Qd6 checkmate





graphic by Jeff Bucchino, The Wizard of Draws

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