Folie à deux

The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+) is one of the "modern" Jerome Gambit lines where White obtains one pawn in exchange for his sacrificed piece.

In a recent game, after much ado, having gained nothing more and lost nothing more, I arrived at the following endgame position.


perrypawnpusher - OudeKwakkelaar, blitz, FICS, 2011

I had the delusional notion that the game could be draw by moving the White King to the Queenside and eliminating Black's pawns.

The funny thing was, my opponent had the same idea.

43.Kf5 Nd3 44.Ke6 Nc1 45.Kd6 Nxa2 46.Kc6 Nb4+ 47.Kb7 Nd3 48.Kxa7 Nc1 49.Kxb6 Nxb3 50.Kb5 Kh6

Black's King can not help on the Queenside until he takes care of the White h-pawn.

51.Ka4 Nd2 52.Kb5 Nb3 53.Ka4 Nd2 54.Kb5

I was happy with a repetition of position.

54...Ne4 55.Kc6 Kh5 56.Kd5 Nc3+ 57.Kxc5 Kh4 58.Kd6 Kxh3 59.c5 Nb5+ 60.Kd7 Kg4 61.c6 Kf5 62.c7 Nxc7

drawn, as neither player has mating material

But, wait a minute! Let's go back to Black's move 51 (or 53) and try 51...Nd4 instead:

 
analysis diagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Now Black's Knight and pawn cooperate perfectly, and White's King can only race around foolishly, taking a stab at the pawn, then the Knight, then the pawn...
 
Eventually Black's King joins the dance and the game is over: 51...Nd4 52.Ka5 (going after the pawn) Kh5 (Black has time to head toward the h-pawn) 53.Kb6 Nb3 54.Kc6 Kh4 55.Kb5 (might as well go after the Knight again) Kxh3 56.Ka4 Nd4 57.Ka5 (back to the pawn) Kg4 58.Kb6 Nb3 59.Kb5 Kf4 60.Ka4 (attacking the Knight) Nd4 61.Ka5 Ke5 62.Kb6 Nb3 63.Kb5 Kd4 64.Ka4 Kxc4. Black will simply escort his pawn to its Queening square.
 
The final irony is that while the leap of the Black Knight to d4 was a winner on move 51 and move 53, even if the second player had finally discovered the idea it would not be so on move 55: Black would need to play 54...Nb3, and that would allow 55.Ka4, repeating the position for the third time and allowing a draw, anyway...

Such things are bound to happen in blitz play.