Eyeblink Chess: Crash

It can be an exciting challenge to be successful with the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), even when it is played well.

To play the opening poorly is an invitation to disaster. It also seems to be a betrayal of the opening itself. Witness:

Arcetri - dworm
blitz FICS, 2000
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+ Qxg5 6.d3 White resigned


ocho - Aquanaut
blitz FICS, 2000
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+ Qxg5 6.d3 Qxg2 White resigned


xxkrsevenxx - mscp
blitz FICS, 2001
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+ Qxg5 6.d4 Qxg2 White resigned


akhnaten - fafner
blitz FICS, 1999
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d3 Nf6 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.Qh5+ Nxh5 White resigned


BillieBob - SuperCanuck
blitz FICS, 2000
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d3 Qf8 6.Ng5+ Kg6 7.h4 Qxf2 checkmate


Superpippo - kostik
blitz FICS, 2001
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+ Qxg5 6.d4 Qxg2 7.Qh5+ g6 White resigned


Relax, readers. This blog, and the support of the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde will help you avoid such crashes.

Frustration is the Grandmother of Invention

If necessity is the mother of invention, as it is said, then certainly frustration must be the grandmother of invention.

In the following game I wanted nothing more than a normal Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) or something similar, like the Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.0-0 Bc5 5.Bxf7+) or the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+).

What I got, instead, was an odd and frustrating transposition to Damiano's Defense (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6). I'd played against the line a number of times before, but this time I decided to try something new (to me). 

perrypawnpusher  - emoh
blitz FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 f6

This position can arise out of the Damiano Defense with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6 3.Bc4 Nc6. White has the usual advantage of better development and a safer King.

4.d4 Nxd4

In a few earlier games I had dispatched my opponents quickly:

4...Nh6 5.dxe5 fxe5 6.Bxh6 gxh6 7.Nxe5 Nxe5 8.Qh5+ Nf7 9.Qxf7 checkmate, perrypawnpusher - nenettelatour, FICS, 2009;

4...Na5 5.Nxe5 Nxc4 6.Nxc4 Qe7 7.Nc3 Qb4 8.Ne3 d6 9.Ned5 Qa5 10.b4 Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - santor, FICS, 2009;

4...exd4 5.Nxd4 Nxd4 6.Qxd4 b6 (6...c5 7.Qd5 Ne7 8.Qf7 checkmate, perrypawnpusher - cgoodwin, FICS, 2008) 7.Qd5 c6 8.Qf7 checkmate, perrypawnpusher - eddyfactor, FICS, 2009.

Not all of the games went that smoothly, however, as my opponents put up more resistance, and some of the games actually threatened to be boring:

4...d6 5.0–0 exd4 (5...Bg4 6.dxe5 (6.d5 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 Nd4 8.Qd1 a6 9.c3 Nb5 10.Bxb5+ axb5 11.Qd3 Qd7 12.Na3 c6 13.dxc6 bxc6 14.Rd1 Be7 15.Be3 Nh6 16.Bc5 Nf7 17.Nc2 0–0–0 18.Bb6 Rde8 19.a4 Qb7 20.a5 Nd8 21.a6 Qxb6 22.a7 Ne6 23.a8Q+ Kd7 24.Qa7+ Qxa7 25.Rxa7+ Nc7 26.Nb4 Rc8 27.Na6 Rhd8 28.Rxc7+ Rxc7 29.Nxc7 Kxc7 30.Ra1 Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - fiddlinggeorge, FICS, 2007) 6...fxe5 7.Nc3 Nd4 8.Be2 Nxe2+ 9.Qxe2 Nf6 10.Bg5 Be7 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.h3 Be6 13.Nd5 c6 14.Nxf6+ gxf6 15.Rad1 b5 16.Qd3 Ke7 17.c3 Bc4 White resigned, perrypawnpusher - rassmus, FICS, 2009) 6.Nxd4 Nge7 7.Nc3 Ne5 8.Bb3 b6 9.f4 N5g6 10.f5 Ne5 11.Qh5+ g6 12.fxg6 N7xg6 13.Nd5 Ba6 14.Nxf6+ Ke7 15.Nf5+ Kxf6 16.Bg5 checkmate, perrypawnpusher - TheWiking, FICS, 2009;

5...a6 6.Nc3 b5 7.Bxg8 Rxg8 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Qxh7 Rg7 10.Qh4 Nxd4 11.0–0 Nxc2 12.Rb1 f5 13.Qxd8+ Kxd8 14.exf5 gxf5 15.Bh6 Rg8 16.Bxf8 Rxf8 17.Rbc1 Nd4 18.Rfd1 c5 19.Nd5 Ne2+ White resigned, perrypawnpusher - mrau, FICS, 2008;

5...Na5 6.Bxg8 Rxg8 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Qxh7 Rg7 9.Qh4 g5 10.Qh5+ Ke7 11.Nf5+ Ke6 12.Nxg7+ Kd6 13.Nf5+ Ke6 14.Nc3 c6 15.0–0 b5 16.Be3 Bb7 17.Nd4+ Ke7 18.Nf5+ Ke6 19.Qg6 d5 20.Qg8+ Kd7 21.exd5 cxd5 22.Nxd5 Bxd5 23.Qxd5+ Kc7 24.Rfd1 Bd6 25.Qf7+ Kc6 26.Nxd6 Qh8 27.b4 Nc4 28.Nxc4 bxc4 29.a4 Qh6 30.Qxc4+ Kb7 31.b5 Rc8 32.Qe4+ Kb8 33.a5 Rh8 34.b6 Qxh2+ 35.Kf1 Qh1+ 36.Ke2 Qh5+ 37.f3 axb6 38.axb6 Qh2 39.Kf2 Qh4+ 40.Qxh4 gxh4 41.Kg1 Rh7 42.Kh2 Kb7 43.c4 Rh5 44.c5 Re5 45.Bg1 Re2 46.Rf1 h3 White forfeited on time, perrypawnpusher - shahss, FICS, 2007

Time for some creativity!

5.Nxe5 fxe5 6.Qh5+

Not quite a Jerome (you have to love that Bishop on c4), but almost as exciting.

6...Ke7

I don't have many games with the 5.Nxe5 line in my database, but the ones that I have suggest that 6...g6 is the correct move.

6...g6 7.Qxe5+ Qe7 (7...Ne6 8.Bxe6 dxe6 9.0-0 Nf6 10.Bg5 Bg7 11.Nc3 0-0 12.Rad1 Qe7 13.Nd5 Nxd5 14.Bxe7 Bxe5 15.Bxf8 Nf4 16.Rd8 Ne2+ 17.Kh1 b6 18.Bd6+ Kf7 19.Bxe5 Bb7 20.Rxa8 Bxa8 21.Re1 Bxe4 22.Rxe2 Bd5 23.b3 c5 24.c4 Bc6 25.Rd2 a6 26.Rd6 Bb7 27.Rd7+ Black resigned, attasantotjia - epprecht, net-chess, 2007) 8.Qxd4 Bg7 9.Qe3 (9.Qd5 c6 10.Qg5 Qxe4+ 11.Be2 Bf6 12.Qe3 Qxe3 13.fxe3 d5 14.c3 Ne7 15.0-0 0-0 16.Nd2 Bf5 17.Nf3 a6 18.Nd4 Bxd4 19.exd4 Rae8 20.Bh6 Rf7 21.Rae1 Nc8 22.b3 Rfe7 23.Kf2 Nd6 24.c4 Ne4+ 25.Kg1 Nc3 26.g4 Nxe2+ 27.Rxe2 Rxe2 28.gxf5 Rxa2 29.fxg6 hxg6 30.h4 Kh7 31.Bg5 Ree2 32.Rf7+ Kg8 33.Rf1 Rg2+ White resigned, gphillips - epprecht, net-chess, 2006) 9...Nf6 10.0-0 Nxe4 11.Kh1 c5 12.Re1 Black timed out, gdraper - erikmussche, net-chess, 2006.

7.Qxe5+

This move is already a bit too routine. Since White's dark-squared Bishop is immediately available to deliver a deadly check on g5, White should eliminate the one piece that can get in the way, the Knight, with 7.Bxg8. Black loses his Queen after the recapture 7...Rxg8 8.Bg5+, so he must try something like 7...Kd6 instead.

White then has the tricky 8.Na3, which is a good move to remember. If 8...Rxg8 then White plays 9.Qf7 with mate threats, picking up the Rook after 9...Ne6 (9...Rh8 10.Nc4+ Kc5 11.Qd5+ Kb4 12.c3+ Ka4 13.Qa5 checkmate) 10.Qxg8.

Also seen was 7.Qf7+, although it transposed to the 7.Qxe5+ line: 7...Kd6 8.Qd5+ Ke7 9.Qxe5+ Ne6 10.Bg5+ Nf6 11.Nc3 c6 12.0-0-0 d6 13.Qg3 Nxg5 14.Qxg5 h6 15.Qg6 Kd7 16.e5 Be7 17.exf6 Bxf6 18.Qf7+ Qe7 19.Rhe1 Qxf7 20.Bxf7 Rf8 21.Be6+ Kd8 22.Rxd6+ Kc7 23.Rd3 Bxe6 24.Rxe6 Rae8 25.Rxe8 Rxe8 26.Kd1 Rd8 27.Rxd8 Kxd8 28.Kd2 Bxc3+ 29.Kxc3 Kd7 30.Kd4 Kd6 31.f4 c5+ 32.Ke4 b6 33.c4 Ke6 34.f5+ Kd6 35.g4 a6 36.a4 a5 37.h4 Ke7 38.Ke5 Kd7 39.g5 hxg5 40.hxg5 Ke7 41.g6 Kd7 42.f6 gxf6+ 43.Kxf6 Ke8 44.g7 Black resigned, kode - epprecht, net-chess, 2007.

7...Ne6 8.Bg5+ Nf6

As you can see, the next time I play this line I'm going to have lots of new ideas to try out. In this game, however, I had only one pawn for my sacrificed piece, so I needed to make my lead in development count.

9.Nc3 h6 10.Nd5+ Kf7 11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.Qh5+

12...Kg7 13.Qg4+

More adventurous was 13.0-0-0, with compensation. The text gives White the option of a draw through repetition of position (checking the King), unless Black wants to risk more by varying.

 13...Ng5 

14.f4

Again, too routine, too much like the "real" Jerome Gambit. As White can castle Queenside, he should hit the Knight with his h-pawn.

14...d6

15.Qg3 c6 16.Ne3 Qa5+ 17.c3 Qb6

Black loosens up White's King's possible shelter. Still, next move White should 0-0-0. 

18...hxg5 19.0-0 Qxb2

According to plan, but it leaves the King open to a sudden tactic.

20.Qf3

Instead, look at 20.Rab1 Qa3 21.e5.

analysis diagram





White blows up Black's King's shelter. Just a couple of possible variations: 21...dxe5 22.Rxf6 Kxf6 23.Rf1+Ke7 24.Qxe7+ or 21...Qc5 22.Rxf6 Qxe5 23.Rf7+ Kh6 24.Rbxb7.

20...Be7

21.Nf5+

This produces an even game, whereas tactics like in the previous analysis would give White a decent attack: 21.Rab1 Qa3 22.Be6 Qc5 23.Bxc8 b6 24.Bh3.

21...Kf8

A mistake in a complicated position.

22.Nxe7 Kxe7 23.Qxf6+ Kd7 24.Qxh8 Kc7

25.Rf7+ Kb6 26.Qd4+ Ka5 27.Rd1 Bg4

28.Bb3 Bxd1 29.Qb4+ Ka6 30.Bc4+

There goes the Queen.

30...b5 31.Qxb2 bxc4 32.Qa3+ Kb6 33.Qb4+ Ka6 34.Qb7+ Black resigned

Success!

I'm old enough to still have a slide rule, which I used for calculations in high school chemistry class. My cradle wasn't a wi-fi hot spot, and the first mouse that I knew of was Micky, not wireless.

Still, my plan for downloading a ton of games (see "Digging for Gold") and sharing a selection of them – a PGN database of Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+), and Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.0-0/4.Nc3/4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+) games – with Readers (see "Sharing the Wealth") is a step closer: by the time you read this post, I will have succeeded in gathering the 100,000,000 games from FICS, in about 120 compressed files (which should take care of the file size problem for my chess database).

Selecting out the meaningful games may still take a while, but I should make my deadline of 01/01/10.

Sharing the Wealth

Throughout December I will be compiling a PGN database of Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+), and Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.0-0/4.Nc3/4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+) games to share with the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde (and interested others) – on the first of the year, to start 2010 off right!

I have started with a selection of games from my own database, many of which have not been seen on these blog pages. So far the file has almost 3,000 games – I hope to add more as the days go on (see "Digging for Gold").

Digging for Gold

I'm always looking for Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) and Jerome Gambit-related games.

Since I play much of my chess at FICS, I often go to their online database to search for games. My request for games identified as "C50" in the ECO system usually returns 200 games (the maximum in a search) from the day in question.

I can use my ChessBase8 to filter games that are likely to interest me, doing a position search (Kings and Queens on their home squares, the White Bishop on f7). I can do another search on players who used the Jerome in that previous search, to see if I've found an unknown member of the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde. 

I recently found over 170 Jerome Gambit games from one player, a pleasant discovery.

Recently Marcel Van Kervinck used his computer to pull 100 million games off of the FICS site. I haven't yet figured out how to handle a PGN file that size (supposedly my ChessBase program can handle files of "only" 40 million games), though.

At about the same time I discovered that Joshua Shriver had collected over 4 million FICS games, which were later refined and put on Josh's website. I happily searched those files for Jerome Gambit gold...

Right now, I'm wondering if there are other online chess-playing sites that would have large numbers of games that I could search as well.  

Readers are welcome to send in suggestions. (Of course, if you want to send in the games, that would be okay, too.)

The Greatest Ever Chess Opening Ideas

I've read through International Master Christoph Scheerer's The Greatest Ever Chess Opening Ideas (Everyman Chess, 2008) and for the life of me I can't find the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) covered, or even referred to.

Imagine that.

I guess I'll have to wait and see if Scheerer writes a sequel, The Most Notorious Chess Opening Ideas Ever, and see if the Jerome Gambit gets any mention there.

Every Game An Exploration, Every Move A Discovery

While I was planning what I thought would be a routine Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) treatment of the semi-Italian Opening (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6), my opponent was working to achieve a defensive formation that he had found in the past to be successful against a handful of White piece setups. As a result, we created something new and interesting.

perrypawnpusher  - sarBear
blitz FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6

4.0-0

Although I am still not sure that this is the best "waiting" move (as opposed to 4.Nc3) I keep playing it.

4...Bc5 5.Bxf7+

For the record, after the game I asked Rybka to "blundercheck" (at 5 minutes per move) and this is what it suggested that I play, instead of the sacrifice: 5.c3 d6 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Bb6 8.Nc3 Nf6 9.h3 0-0 10.Re1 a6 11.Bf4 Na5 12.Bf1 White has a slight advantage.

analysis diagram

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.Qh5+ Ng6

Here, again, there is a choice of moves, and I think that the one played is not best, as it allows me to capture the Black Bishop on c5, which in turn releases the pin on my f-pawn without me having to spend a move with my King to do so. 

8.Qd5+ Kf8 9.Qxc5+ N8e7

This is a new move (9...d6 is more usual), and part of  sarBear's defensive formation.

10.Nc3 b6 11.Qe3

After the game Rybka suggested 11.Qh5 as better, but I don't think it fits in with what I'm trying to do.

11...Bb7

The fianchetto of the Queenside Bishop for Black in Jerome Gambit and Jerome-ish games is relatively modern – examples that I have are 21st Century ones.

I have faced something similar in one of my games, but, as usual, one of the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde (in this case, Louis Morin) had earlier contact. 

perrypawnpusher - hogmaster, JG3 thematic chessworld, 2008: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+ d6 9.Qe3 Nf6 10.0–0 b6 11.f4 Bb7

guest1730 - guest1656, ICC, 2001: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 N8e7 9.0–0 b6 10.Qe3 Bb7




12.f4 d5

This is Black's idea, to delay castling-by-hand (generally an early anti-Jerome strategy) and hit hard at the center.

13.f5

Of course, my idea was if 13...Ne5 then 14.d4 Nf7 15.e5 when White's "Jerome pawns" are advanced and Black's light-squared Bishop is misplaced. 

13...d4

I think that my opponent was excited about this move, which may explain his upcoming error. Whenever Black is pleased to have reached equality in a Jerome-style game, given that he started out with a couple of extra pieces, something strange is going on.

14.fxg6+ Kg8

Rybka prefers keeping the King in the center with 14...Ke8, something that at first glance seems counter-intuitive. The idea, of course, is to develop the imprisoned Rook from h8 to the deadly f-file, such as: 15.Qf3 dxc3 16.Qxc3 Rf8

15.Qf4

I admit that this was a gamble, that I was pretty sure that sarBear wanted his piece back. The correct continuation according to Rybka was 15.Qd3 Nxg6 16.Nd5 with advantage to White. Surely then there would be a lot of play left in the position.

15...dxc3

Black's one move to avoid disaster was 15...Nxg6. It was a move worth finding, as 16.Qg4 dxc3 17.Qxg6 cxd2 would force White to take the perpetual with 18.Qe6+ Kh7 19.Qf5+ Kg8 etc.

16.Qf7 checkmate