1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ ...and related lines
(risky/nonrisky lines, tactics & psychology for fast, exciting play)
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Were they talking about the Jerome Gambit again?
It's time for another collection of quotations...
Adequate compensation for a sacrifice is having a sound combination leading to a winning position: adequate compensation for a blunder is having your opponent snatch defeat from the jaws of victory - Bruce A. Moon
Careful. We don't want to learn from this. - Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes)
Short of actual blunders, lack of faith in one's position is the chief cause of defeat. To be sure, it is easy to recommend faith and not so easy to practice it. - Fred Reinfeld
Half this game is ninety percent mental - Danny Ozark, Philadelphia Phillies manager
"There are only two kinds of moves in the opening," Tartakower once remarked. "Moves which are wrong and moves which could be wrong."
Like every great chess player, Franklin K. Young was well aware of the superiority of certain opening moves. "Always deploy," Young once advised, "so that the right oblique can be readily established in case the objective plane remains open or becomes permanently located on the centre or on the King's wing, or that the crochet aligned may readily be established if the objective plane becomes permanently located otherwise than at the extremity of the strategic front." Young later clarified the passage as follows: "The best initial move for white is 1. P-K4."
Cardinal Borromeo was once censured for the inordinate time he spent playing and practicing the game of chess. "What would you do if you were busy playing and the world came to an end?" he was asked one day. "Continue playing," he simply replied.
Any opening is good enough, if its reputation is bad enough. - Tartakower
The judicious violation of general principles marks the master-mind. - Löwenthal
I keep on fighting as long as my opponent can make a mistake.– Emanuel Lasker
I make errors, therefore I am!– Saviely Tartakower
My problem with chess was that all my pieces wanted to end the game as soon as possible. - Dave Barry
A chess game is divided into three stages: the first, when you hope you have the advantage, the second when you believe you have an advantage, and the third... when you know you're going to lose!- Tartakower
Chess is thirty to forty percent psychology. You don't have this when you play a computer. I can't confuse it.- Judith Polgar
I don't want to make the wrong mistake. - Unknown
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is. - Jan L.A. van de Snepscheut
To all other chessplayers, the mistake, not the pawn, is the soul of chess. Without mistakes no wins. Long live the blunder! What would chess be without all the hung pieces, the mates in one, the blindness, the Fingerfehler, the mix-ups of move-order, the Nf5xd6 of Amsterdam 1956 or the d4-d3 of Havana 1965? - Tim Krabbé
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. - Napoleon Bonaparte
Less than fifteen per cent of the people do any original thinking on any subject.... The greatest torture in the world for most people is to think. - Luther Burbank
There are only two ways by which to rise in this world, either by one's own industry or by the stupidity of others. - Jean de la Bruyere
If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.- Lewis Carroll
If you're not making mistakes, you're not taking risks, and that means you're not going anywhere. The key is to make mistakes faster than the competition, so you have more chances to learn and win. - John W. Holt, Jr.
The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavorable. Favorable conditions never come. - C.S. Lewis
(These are just a few of the humorous chess quotes at Got Chess Quotes? at Stan's NetChess Message Board. Check them all out!)
Friday, September 25, 2009
Photo Finish?
Currently, stampyshortlegs holds the lead, with 20.5 points out of 26 games completed. He has leap-frogged over Piratepaul, who has 20 points out of 25 games completed.
Sir Osis of the Liver (19 points out of 28 games completed), is secure in third place.
Fourth place is occupied by DREWBEAR 63 (17 points out of 28 games); although he could be joined there by GladtoMateYou (16 points out of 27 games) or Haroldlee123 (14 points out of 25 games) – but not both, as they are playing a game against each other.
Luke Warm is sitting still with 15 points out of 28 games, as is Eddie43 with 14.5 points out of 28 games.
The Jerome Gambit has kept its score of 39%. stampyshortlegs has gained 9.5 points with the gambit, while PiratePaul and Sir Osis of the Liver have gained 9 points.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
That Strange Move Again
Playing through a new (to me) Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game, I encountered an unusual line, with a strange improvement/recommendation that I'd seen sometime before...
UNPREDICTABLE - Sanomis
analysis diagram
Best play now seems to be 7.d4 Qxe4+ 8.Qe2 Qxe2+ 9.Kxe2 when, after a dance of the pieces, 9...Bb6 10.Nb4 Bxd4 11.Nd5 Kd8 the position is equal.
analysis diagram
This is not the thunder-and-lightning play of Whistler's Defense, which is clearly better for Black, but it's probably not the kind of position that White was hoping for when he sacrificed his Bishop.
Instead, Black simply captures the Knight on c6, and then realizes that he will be two pawns down with an uncastled King and no counterplay.
6...dxc6 7.Qh5+ Black resigned
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
One More Bit of Advice...
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
An Early Lewis Gambit
De Con - Amateur
correspondence, 1913
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 4...Kf8
It's not clear what Black gains by declining. Perhaps he is just trying to be difficult.
5.Bb3 Nf6
Hebert - Dumesnil, Masters - Juniors, 1997 continued 5...Qe7 6.Ne2 Qxe4 7.0-0 Nc6 8.Nd2 Qg4 9.h3 Qh5 10.Nf3 Ne5 11.Nxe5 Qxe5 12.Bf4 Qf6 13.Bxc7 d6 14.c3 d3 15.Qxd3 Ne7 16.Rad1 Bf5 17.Qg3 Nc8 18.Bd5 a5 19.Bxb7 Ra7 20.Bxc8 Rxc7 21.Bxf5 Qxf5 22.Nd4 Qf6 23.Rfe1 Re7 24.Rxe7 Qxe7 25.Qf3+ Qf7 26.Qa8+ Qe8 27.Qxa5 g6 28.Qc7 Qe7 29.Qc8+ Kg7 30.Ne6+ Kf6 31.Qxh8+ Black resigned
6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Ne8
8.Nf3 d6
The kind of error that a Jerome Gambit player can appreciate.
9.Bg5 Qd7 10.e6 Qc6 11.e7 checkmate
graphic by Jeff Bucchino, The Wizard of Draws
Monday, September 21, 2009
S.O.S.
We've seen this before, in the blindfold game Blackburne -Evelyn, London 1862 (1-0, 32), starting out 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Bc4 Bc5.
After 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.d4 exd4 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Qh5+ g6 6.Qxc5 Nc6 Bosch sees
...an interesting position. The material is equal, White's queen has been developed rather early and black's king is not entirely safe. Play could continue 7.Nf3 (7.Ne2). Well, at least this is a fun position to play.
Bosch's ultimate assessment is
Black certainly has chances to equalize after 3..exd4, but there are more than enough practical chances for white, and this is clearly not the refuataion of 3.d4