Sunday, December 19, 2010

A Modern Jerome Gambit With A Retro Twist


Speaking of "modern" Jerome Gambit lines see "A Closer Look at the Big Picture (Part 3)" – here is a Bill Wall game where White bypasses the "classical" 5.Nxe5+ in modern style, only to replace it with 5.b4!?, an Evans Gambit-style blast from the past similar to Charlick's "Evans Jerome Gambit".

Is the line any good? It certainly is, when Black responds with a variation of the "Anti-Bill Wall Gambit".

Wall,B - WNXR
FICS, 2010

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


4...Kxf7 5.b4

5...Bxf2+

Well, it looks like we'll have to save analysis of 5...Bxb4, 5...Bb6 and 5...Be7 for another day.

Black seems to be following the idea I laid out in "Here's my plan..."

Whatever White gets from his sacrifice at f7, Black will now get from his sacrifice at f2.
I also noted the downside for Black in this "I want what you have" reaction
what White typically gets from his sacrifice at f7 is a lost game
6.Kxf2 Nf6 7.Rf1 Nxe4+ 

Pawn-grabbing does not look like a good idea here.

8.Kg1 Rf8 9.b5 Kg8


Another puzzling move: Black seems intent upon returning all the material that White gives him.

Certainly it is a good idea to castle-by-hand (like White did) but can Black afford a piece in order to do so? Perhaps he was relying on the relatively transparent trap mentioned in the next note.

10.bxc6 dxc6 11.d3

Of course 11.Nxe5? falls to 11...Qd4+. Is that what Black had in mind?

11...Nc5 

In a reversal of traditional Jerome Gambit roles, White has the extra
piece while Black has the extra pawns.

12.Ba3 b6 13.Qe1 Bg4 14.Nbd2 Bxf3 15.Nxf3


15...Rxf3

This has to be a mis-calculation.

16.Rxf3 Qd4+ 17.Kh1 Re8 18.Bxc5 bxc5


19.c3 Qd5 20.Qf2 e4 21.Re1 h6 22.Rxe4 Rxe4 23.dxe4 Qd1+ 24.Qf1 Qc2 25.Rf8+ Kh7 26.Qf5+ g6 27.Qf7 checkmate 


 

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