The Seventeenth Man

Eight pawns. Two Rooks. Two Knights. Two Bishops. A King and a Queen. We all start out a chess game with the same number of chessmen. However, as the following game by Dave Black shows, being familiar with and playing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) can give the first player an edge in thinking time; and with the clock as White's "seventeenth man" that can tip the advantage in his favor.

mrddblack - gradivus
blitz, 1011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8

Declining the second piece is a reasonable and time-honored defensive plan.

6.Qh5

The Banks Variation, after Pete Banks ("blackburne") of the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde. In this game Black decides to transition back to main lines.

6...Nxe5 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qg3 Qf6

9.0-0 Ne7 10.c3 Qg6 11.Qf3+ Ke8 12.d4 Bb6 13.Nd2 Rf8 14.Qe2 Bd7

15.f4 Qg4 16.Qe3 Kd8 17.Nc4 h6 18.e5 d5 19.Nxb6 axb6 20.a3 Bb5

Black still has his extra piece, and, hence the advantage. White hopes to get his "Jerome pawns" running to balance things out.

21.Rf3 Nf5 22.Qf2 Kd7 23.Bd2 Rae8 24.h3 Qg6 25.g4 Ne7 26.f5 Qh7 27.e6+ Kc8 28.Bf4 Ng8

Black has stopped the progress of White's "Jerome pawns" at the cost of stifling his Queen and Knight. White decides to open a second front, which has the eventual result of lifting the semi-blockade.

29.a4 Ba6 30.b4 Bc4 31.a5 bxa5 32.Rxa5 b6 33.Ra3 Kb7 34.Qe1 Ra8 35.Rxa8 Rxa8 36.Qe5 Rc8 37.Rf2 Nf6 38.Qe1 Qh8 39.Qa1 Qe8 40.Be5 Ra8 41.Qb2 Qa4

42.Kg2 Qa1 43.Qxa1 Rxa1 44.Kg3

He might have tried 44.Bxf6 gxf6 first.

44...Bb5 45.h4 Ra3

Black needed to keep the pressure on with 45...Rg1+. This may have been the result of increasing time pressure.

46.Rf3 Ne4+

This looks forward-going, always attractive when time is short, but it turns the advantage over to White. Better: 46...Ra1

47.Kf4

Here, with White better (the "Jerome pawns" are about to become unbound), his "seventeenth man" checked in: Black lost on time