Thursday, August 5, 2010

Against Blackburne with the Blackburne

The best-known (or half-known) defense to the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is the Blackburne Defense, named after J.H. Blackburne in honor of his 1885 devastating counter-attack, sacrifices and checkmate.

Time has moved on, the Blackburne Defense is known to lead to a draw – but few players are aware of that. And "drawn" or not, the defense is still very dangerous for White to play against. 

So it is fun to see long-time Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member blackburne (Pete Banks) twice utilize the Blackburne Defense in the current ChessWorld tournament. As he shows, danger is just a step away for White – be forewarned! 

Luke Warm - blackburne
Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, ChessWorld, 2010

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


4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6


7.Qxe5 d6


The Blackburne Defense. 7...Qe7 is the Whistler Defense. Both involve sacrifice and sharp play.

8.Qxh8 Qh4


The key to the Blackburne Defense: attack White's King while trapping White's Queen.

9.g3

Inviting disaster.

The proper response is 9.0-0, as seen in another blackburne game in the tournament, stampyshortlegs - blackburne, Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, ChessWorld, 2010: 9...Nf6 10.d3. A mistake.




analysis diagram








10...Ng4. The problem with this move is that White has 32 possible responses: 31 lead to an advantage (most of them mate) for Black. However, 1 leads to a win for White. Instead, Black had the Blackburne style 10...Bh3






analysis diagram






11.Qxf6+ best (Of course not 11.Qxa8 Qg4 12.g3 Qf3 and mate is unavoidable) 11...Kxf6 12.gxh3 Qxh3 13.Nc3 Kg7






analysis diagram






And White has a Rook, Bishop and pawn for his Queen – not enough, given the placement of Black's pieces. Without the 10...Bh3 shot, Black faced collapse: 11.Bf4 Nxf2 12.Bg3 Qh6 13.Bxf2 Bf5 14.Bxc5 Rxh8 15.Bd4 Re8 16.exf5 gxf5 17.Rxf5+ Ke6 18.Rf6+ Qxf6 19.Bxf6 Kxf6 20.Nc3 c6 21.Ne4+ Ke5 22.Re1 Kd4 23.Kf2 d5 24.Nd6 Rb8 25.Re7 Kc5 26.Nxb7+ Kb6 27.Rxh7 Rxb7 28.Rxb7+ Kxb7 29.h4 Black resigned

9...Qxe4+


10.Kf1 Bh3+ White resigned


He doesn't have to worry about losing the Rook, as it will be checkmate.

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