Platinum Mind Tricks

I had another encounter with what I have called a Blackburne Shilling Gambit "Jedi Mind Trick". My opponent was PlatinumKnight, so perhaps I should refer to it as a "Platinum Mind Trick".


perrypawnpusher - PlatinumKnight
blitz, FICS, 2010

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

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

The updated New Year's Database has 60 examples of games by my opponent in this line: 58 with Black, 2 with White. Two have already appeared on this blog, one against darrenshome and another against richiehill.

4...Ke7

Messing with my mind (4...Kxf7 was just fine)...

After our game I learned that PlatinumKnight is a bit of a specialist with this strategy, as the Database has 30 of his games with 4...Ke7, starting in 2005. 

5.Bc4

Also possible, of course, are 5.Bxg8 or  5.Bb3.

5...Ke8

A striking move, played, I imagine, to allow Black's Queen to regain access to the d8-h4 diagonal. Indeed, we have the original Blackburne Shilling Gambit position, except that Black's f-pawn is missing and Black's King cannot castle – neither will be important if he can pull off the usual BSG shenanigans.

6.Nxd4

I suspect that PlatinumKnight was hoping for 6.Nxe5, which he could answer with 6...Qg5 (and a roughly equal position) but I've learned my lesson from Master zadox.

I don't think that my opponent has faced 6.Nxd4 in this position before. Perhaps it will help him give up attempts at "mind tricks".

6...exd4

It is sad that after the game all Rybka had to recommend instead of this recapture was: 6...Qh4 7.Nf3 Qxe4+ 8.Be2 Qf5 when White is much better.

7.Qh5+

7...g6 8.Qe5+ Ne7

Or 8...Qe7, as in perrypawnpusher - zadox, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 14).

9.Qxh8 Black resigned

Theory From the Thematic Tourney (4)

Louis Morin ("mrjoker") is well known to readers of this blog as a long-time member of the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde. He has his doubts about the opening, as any reasonable player would, especially about the defense from yesterday's blog (see "Theory From the Thematic Tourney (3)") as he expressed in an email to me...

In one of your posts you ask if the Jerome is playable. My current answer is "no" against proper play by Black. At any rate I did not find anything of value against 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6! 7.f4 d6! 8.fxe5 dxe5

 9.Qh3+ Ke7 10.Qg3 Kf7

even though White gets a second pawn for the piece.

Now against both 11.Qxe5 Qh4+! (forcing a decisive weakening of the light squares) 12.g3 Qe7 13. Qxe7+ Nxe7 14.c3 Bh3 15.d4 Bb6 15.Nd2 (the threat was ...Bg2) 15...c5!

(attacking the center before White can complete his development), and 11.Rf1+ Nf6 12.Qxe5 Bb4!

(pinning the d pawn to hamper White's development) 13.Qh5+ g6 I could not find any defence for White after several hours of analysis. At best White has to give back one pawn to remain alive, and quite often he cannot even do that.

There is also this crazy gambit line when White manages to castle king-side: 11.c3 Nf6 12.d4 exd4 13.0-0.

Now surprisingly 13...dxc3+?! 14.Kh1 seems promising for White, but simply 13...d3+! is good enough for Black.
































Of course 7.Qf5+ is a major alternative, but 7...Kd6 8.f4 Qh4+ is devastating, and even after 8...Qf6 I could not find a decent continuation for White. I cannot enjoy playing with a piece down for only one pawn, unless of course a clear compensation could be found.





























Too bad, because I think that White can hold his own against all other variations, including Schiller's Defence (6...Ke6 7.f4 Qf6), with chances for both sides. If you have any ideas for White in some of the lines I gave you, let me know.

Theory From the Thematic Tourney (3)

One problem with a refuted opening like the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is that it is refuted... That means that there are lines that Black can play that lead to equality – or more. In some of those lines White can complicate things and hope to take advantage of the confusion. In other lines it is not so easy for White to "find something".

Luke Warm - Daves111
Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament,
ChessWorld, 2010

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 d6 8.fxe5 dxe5

This defense, a favorite of computer chess programs, gives back a piece to drain the dynamism out of the position.

In the gruelling "Jerome Gambit: Drilling Down" matches between human RevvedUp (a pseudonym) and Hiarcs 8, Shredder 8, Yace Paderborn, Crafty 19.19 and Fritz 8, the flesh-and-blood player twice scored draws with Black from this position against opponents rated 1,000 points higher than him. 

The updated New Year's Database shows that White has tried 9.b4, 9.c3, 9.d3, 9.d4, 9.Nc3, 9.Rf1, 9.Qe2, 9.Qf5+, 9.Qg4+ and 9.Qh3+.

In the current game, Luke Warm decides to try a Queenless middlegame, but he finds nothing but trouble.

9.Qf5+ Kd6 10.Qf3 Qh4+ 11.g3 Qg4 12.Qxg4 Bxg4

13.Nc3 Rf8 14.d3 Bh3 15.Bd2 Bg2 16.Ke2 Bf3+ 17.Ke1 Bxh1 18.Ke2 Rf2+ 19.Ke1 Rxh2

20.Nb5+ Kd7 21.b4 Bf2+ 22.Kd1 Bxg3 23.c3 Bf3+ 24.Kc2 Nf6 25.a4 a6 26.Na3 Bf4 27.Rd1 Bxd1+ 28.Kxd1 Rxd2+ 29.Ke1 Black resigned

Slippage

In our previous Jerome Gambit game, my opponent seriously out-played me and well deserved the full point. In this game, I didn't play any better, but my opponent didn't keep pace. 

perrypawnpusher - mjmonday
blitz, FICS, 2010


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

The Semi-Italian Opening.

4.0-0 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bc5

The Semi-Italian Four Knights Game

6.Bxf7+

The Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

6...Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.d4

8...Bxd4 9.Qxd4 d6 10.f4 Nc6 11.Qd3 Re8

Black is very business-like in his play, staying out of mischief and preparing to castle-by-hand.

I also had difficulties after 11...Be6 12.Bd2 Nb4 13.Qg3 Nxc2 14.Rac1 Nd4 15.f5 Bd7 16.Qg6+ Kg8 17.Be3 Be8 18.Qg3 Nc6 19.Bf4 Nh5 20.Qe3 Nxf4 21.Rxf4 Qg5 22.Qf2 Ne5 23.h4 Qh5 24.Rd1 a5 25.f6 Ng4 26.Qg3 Qc5+ 27.Kh1 h5 28.Rxg4 hxg4 29.Qxg4 Rh7 30.Rd5 Qf2 31.h5 Qf1+ 32.Kh2 Qxf6 33.Rf5 Qd4 34.Qf3 Bd7 35.Rd5 Qf6 36.Qxf6 gxf6 37.Kg3 Rg7+ 38.Kf3 Bg4+ 39.Kf4 Be6 40.Rd2 Rg5 White resigned perrypawnpusher - HRoark, blitz FICS, 2010.

12.Bd2 Kg8 13.Rae1 Nb4

All of a sudden my opponent falls for an optical illusion... Attacking that Queen is so tempting.

Instead, 13...Kh8 was just fine for Black, as in perrypawnpusher - DeDaapse, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 24) and perrypawnpusher - JohnBr, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 31)

14.Qc4+ d5

Previously I had seen 14...Be6 in perrypawnpusher - Angstrem, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 35) and perrypawnpusher - amirelattar, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 50).

15.Qxb4 dxe4

16.Bc1 b6 17.Nxe4 Bb7 18.Nxf6+ Qxf6 19.Bd2 c5 20.Qc4+ Kh8 21.Bc3 Qg6

22.g3

The Bishops-of-opposite-colors are not yet drawish; instead, the player with the attack has the advantage. The move played is a blunder. White should not have further weakened the a8-h1 diagonal, and instead focused upon protecting g2.

22...Qg4

A missed chance: 22...Qc6 is deadly. 

23.Qd3 Rxe1 24.Rxe1 Qh3

This looks like it puts pressure on White's King, but it allows the shot 25.Bxg7+. Too bad I missed it.

25.Qe2 a5

Black continues his play on the light squares, preparing for ...Ba6.

26.Qf2

Totally focused on defending, instead of the mentioned Bxg7+.

26...Kh7

Allowing me to finally bring an end to the game by glueing Black's Rook to g8 and exchanging Queens.

27.Re7 Rg8 28.Rxb7 Qg4 29.Qd2 Qf3 30.Qd3+ Qxd3 31.cxd3 Re8

An oversight.

32.Rxg7+ Black resigned

Such Foolishness

I've pointed out before (see "Worth the time?") that sometimes defending against the Jerome Gambit isn't worth a person's time...




perrypawnpusher - MrNatewood
blitz, FICS, 2010

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Ng6

Not a common reply: there are 15 games in the updated New Year's Database. Black retains a small edge, even though White scored 67% in those games.

9.Qd5+ Ke7 10.Qxc5+ d6 11.Qe3

11...Be6

Thoughtless development. After the game Rybka recommended 11...c5 12.d4 cxd4 13.Qxd4 Nf6 14.Nc3 Qb6 15.Qxb6 axb6 16.0-0 Kf7 17.Rd1 Rd8 18.f5 Ne5 19.Bg5 Ra5 and Blackhas an edge.

12.f5 Black resigned

Black will lose a piece for a pawn, leaving him down a pawn. That is not a horrible situation, but perhaps annoying enough to want to just start over with a new game.

Theory From the Thematic Tourney (2)

Looking further at some of the theoretical implications of the ChessWorld Thematic Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) Tournament, I was sure that the 5.Ng5+ line of the Jerome Gambit (after 4...Kxf7) had been finally disposed of by the game DREWBEAR 63 - Daves111 (see "Death of a Variaton").  

A quick glance at the updated New Year's Database, however, shows that this is not so: there are five games that have appeared after my "concluding" post on the topic, including two wins with White by digitalthunder, against (slightly) higher rated opponents:

digitalthunder - funkonfusion
blitz, FICS, 2010

1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 e5 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+ Qxg5 6.0-0 d6 7.d4 Nxd4 8.Bxg5 Black resigned




digitalthunder - kakaStain
blitz, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+ Ke7 6.Nf3 Nf6 7.d4 exd4 8.e5 Ne4 9.Qe2 d3 10.Qxe4 Kf7 11.Ng5+ Kf8 12.Qd5 Bxf2+ 13.Kxf2 dxc2 14.Qf7 checkmate

What can I say??

Never say Never...

graphic by Jeff Bucchino, the Wizard of Draws

Theory From the Thematic Tourney (1)

The Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament at ChessWorld is only about 80% complete, but it is already possible to start drawing some conclusions about what it has to say about the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) play and theory.

For starters, as is usually the case, the Bishop sacrifice was accepted (4...Kxf7) in 155 of the 156 games being played. 

The "modern" variations of the Jerome (those not including 5.Nxe5+) remain far more popular than "classical" variations, making up 78% of the games. In fact, the "classical" lines were tried by only four of the thirteen players: blackburne (12 games),  stampyshortlegs (12 games), Luke Warm (9 games) and anbeks (2 games).

The likely tournament winner, Daves111, showed that success depended upon beating the Jerome Gambit (he won 11 games out of 12 with the Black pieces) as well as being successful with it (he won 10 games out of 12 with the White pieces). Daves111 played 5.d3 (seven times), 5.0-0 (twice), 5.Nc3 (twice) and 5.Qe2 (once).

As is consistent with "modern" play of the Jerome Gambit, with the White pieces Daves111 did not force play along thematic lines as much as he developed consistently, played carefully, and waited to take advantage of his opponents' errors – a good strategy in any game situation, especially when you are the top-rated player.

graphic by Jeff Bucchino, the Wizard of Draws