Complications, Anyone?

You might not be a fan of the Blackburne Shilling Gambit, and you might not be a fan of the Jerome Gambit, but you would have to be a pretty jaded chess player not to appreciate the complications stirred up in the following game.

richiehill - fidotopdog
standard game, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4

4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6

6.c3 d6

Recently looked at on this blog: see perrypawnpusher - ozypawnstar, blitz, FICS, 2010.

7.Qg4+

Reviving and older line and introducing further complications.

7...Ke7

Capturing the Knight with 7...Kxe5 is only asking for trouble, although if Black has his wits about him he can still draw. 

White can split the point after that with 8.f4+ Kxe4 (8...Kf6 costs Black his queen after 9.Qh4+ Kf7 10.Qxd8 but he can limp on with a worse position after 10...Nc2+ 11.Kf2 Nxa1) 9.f5+ Kd5 (or 9...Ke5 10.cxd4+ and White is better; or 9...Kd3 10.Qxd4+ Kc2 11.Na3#) 10.Qxd4+ Kc6 11.Qc4+ Kd7 12.Qe6+ Kc6 13.Qc4+ draw by repetition, as White has nothing better.

White has tried for more after 7...Kxe5 with 8.cxd4+ and gotten lucky after both 8...Kf6 9.Qh4+ Kf7 (9...g5 was necessary to keep the game even) 10.Qxd8 Be7 11.Qxc7 Nf6 Black resigned, Jeopar - InduMMS, FICS, 2009;

and 8...Kxd4 9.Qe2 (9.Qf3 is unclear) 9...Nf6 10.d3 (better 10.Nc3 Ke5 11.f4+) 10...Ke5 11.f4+ Ke6 12.d4 Kf7 when Black was better, but White won in 26 moves in SynapticGap - osmann, FICS, 2006.

It is easy to see why fidotopdog retreated his King in this game!

8.Qg5+ Nf6

This looks natural, but Black would have done better exchanging Queens, i.e. 8...Ke8 9.Qxd8+ Kxd8. He probably avoided this line because of 10.Nf7+ Ke8 11.Nxh8, but his position would have been better after the reciprocal 11...Nc2+ 12.Kd1 Nxa1. That kind of thing is easier to see after the game.

9.cxd4 dxe5

10.Qxe5+

Choosing to win the Bishop rather than the Knight, but this takes some cooperation. Better was the straight-forward 10.dxe5, when 10...Qd3!? 11.exf6+ gxf6 12.Qf4 would give White the edge. 

10...Be6

Falling in with White's plan. Instead, 10...Kf7 leads to a position where Black has a piece for three pawns. richiehill might have been happy with that, but "objectively" Black would have been better. 

11.d5 Ng4

A panic-induced attack on the enemy Queen.

As often happens in the Jerome Gambit family of games, there comes a time for Black to return his extra piece for some pawns. After 11...Nxd5 12.exd5 Qxd5 White can try the scary-looking 13.Qxc7+ to go two pawns up, but 13...Kf6, preparing ...Bd6 (the power of the two Bishops), shows Black's better development to good advantage. After 14.Qf4+ Qf5 15.d4 Bb4+ 16.Nc3 Rac8 White's best might well be to return a pawn with 17.0-0 Bxc3 18.bxc3 Rxc3 when the impact of the first player's extra pawn may not be very much.

12.Qxe6 checkmate