Starting the Year Off, Strangely

Bill Wall sent me a collection of his games played in 2010, and I was especially interested in those with Jerome Gambit and Jerome-ish openings. The following contest has a certain level of strangeness...

Wall,B - GuestDLNJ,
FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 a6

I'm sure that this kind of thing shows up in "respectable" games, but it seems a bit provocative against a member of the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde.

4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.0-0

Sang-froide.

5...h6

Black does not want a Knight to check from g5. (Perhaps he is not yet ready to play ...Bc5 yet, either.) These "safety moves" have a certain amount of danger in them.

6.Nc3 Nd4

Another diagram is indicated.

This looks for all the world like a delayed Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit that Black has prepared for with ...a6 and ...h6 and that White has prepared for with 0-0 and Nc3.

Doesn't seem fair, does it?

7.Nxe5+ Ke8

And that is that.

Black's only chance to prolong the game was with 7...Kf6, which is not the most frequently chosen (but certainly playable) move in the "normal" Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit. White follows this with 8.Qh5 and Black's defense is very difficult.

For example, 8...Ne7 looks reasonable, but it does not prevent the intended 9.Nd5+ since after 9...Nxd5 (instead 9...Ke6 10.Nf7 and the Queen goes) 10.exd5 and Black's Knight at d4 is a goner (even 10...Nxc2 is a horror, as it leads to a delicious problem-mate: 11.Re1 Nxe1 12.d4 Qe8 13.Qxe8 Nf3+ 14.gxf3 d6 15.Qf7#).

Maddeningly, the alternate 8...c6 is met by the placid 9.d3 – what can Black do? Look at the mesmerizing line as White's d-pawn advances like an unstoppable zombie: 9...Ne6 10.d4 g6 11.Qxg6+ Ke7 12.d5. Instead, 9...g5 10.f4 opens deadly lines to the King.

None of this is any longer a worry for GuestDLNJ.

8.Qh5+ Ke7 9.Qf7+ Kd6 10.Nc4+ Kc6 11.Qd5 checkmate

Victory, if not "instant".