Knock-Down Drag-Out Battle

The "Play the Jerome Gambit Quad" at Chess.com is evolving into two two-player races. Bill Wall and ubluk (whose first game was mentioned by IM Gary Lane in his recent "Opening Lanes" column at ChessCafe.com) are contesting for first and second places while DeDrijver and bfcase are battling for third and fourth places. In an earlier game, we saw the latter win, but in the following contest (another win for White) DeDrijver evens things up with his opponent.

DeDrijver (1438) - bfcace (1486)
Play The Jerome Gambit Quad
Chess.com, 2012

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

4...Kxf7 5.c3

White goes for a "modern" Jerome Gambit variation, bypassing 5.Nxe5+.

5...Nf6 6.Ng5+ Kf8 7.d3 d5 8.exd5 Qxd5 9.f3 Bg4

Black offers to return a piece to rip open White's fortress. Rybka says "take the piece" but Rybka isn't human...

10.c4 Qd4 11.Qe2 Re8 12.fxg4 e4 13.Be3 Qe5

Black eases up on the presssure, whereas after 13...exd3 14.Bxd4 Rxe2+ 15.Kd1 Bxd4  he would have had a crushing position.

14.Bxc5+ Qxc5 15.dxe4

White returns the favor: he should have recaptured with the Knight, 15.Nxe4. In such crazy positions, it can be hard to find your bearings. 

15...Nd4 16.Qd3 Qa5+

More complications. It was okay to grab a piece with 16...Qxg5 and try to hold on.

17.Nc3 Qe5 18.Nd5 Nxg4

The knight at g5 is leading a charmed life! Black could have kept the game even with 18...Qxg5. But White's play lets him regain the balance.

19.Rf1+ Kg8 20.Nf3 Nxf3+ 21.Rxf3 Nxh2

22.Rf5

An illusion: the piece is not protected.

22...Qd6

Thinking, perhaps, about consolidating his position. However, the Rook imprisoned at h8 plays no part, and it begins to look like Black is a piece down. Worse, White has a nice shot.

23.Rd1 c6 24.Nf6+ Qxf6 25.Rxf6 gxf6

26.Qg3+ Kf7 27.Qxh2 Rxe4+ 28.Kf1 Rxc4 29.Rd7+ Ke8 30.Rxb7 Rc1+ 31.Ke2 Rc2+ 32.Kd3 Black resigned

The Invincible Jerome Gambit

Every once in a while I get to play a Jerome Gambit game that reminds me why I got interested in this not-at-all-invincible chess opening. As the editor wrote in the Dubuque Chess Journal of July 1874,

It should be understood that Mr. Jerome claims in this New Opening "only a pleasant variation of the Giuoco Piano, which may win or lose according to the skill of the players, but which is capable of affording many new positions and opportunities for heavy blows unexpectedly."

perrypawnpusher  - strobaneblitz, FICS, 2012

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

An interesting defensive idea to save a piece. It has not been seen often (8 wins for Black in 21 games in The Database) and can only be chosen for surprise purposes ahead of the stronger 8...Qf6.

9.Qd5+ Ke7 10.Qxc5+ d6 11.Qe3 Nf6

The position is similar to that reached in the 6...Ng6 line.

12.0-0 Re8

I was amused to see that, after the game, Rybka had suggested 12...c5 for Black, and that it recommended in response that White play something out of the Sicilian Wing Gambit: 13.b4 cxb4 14.d4 Kf8 15.a3. Wow!

13.f5 Ne5 14.d4 Nc6 15.e5

White's "Jerome pawns" are marching double time, but what error has Black made? He has three pieces (let's not count his King) developed to White's two and he should probably continue castling-by-hand now with 15...Kf8.

15...dxe5 16.dxe5 Nd5

It hardly seems fair to criticize this reasonable-looking move, but Black's longer-term fortunes might have been better served by swapping Queens and giving a piece back: 16...Qd4 17.Qxd4 Nxd4 18.exf6+ Kxf6 with an even game.

17.Qg5+

This works, but after the game Rybka much preferred 17.Qg3, as after 17...Nxe5 the move 18.Bg5+ causes problems, e.g. 18...Nf6 19.Qxe5+.

17...Kf8

At first glance this seems safer than 17...Kf7, but it is not.

18.f6 gxf6 19.exf6 Nxf6

I am pretty sure that my opponent was now expecting 20.Qxf6+? Qxf6 21.Rxf6+ Kg7 when his chances of survival would have soared.

20.Rxf6+ Qxf6 21.Qxf6+ Kg8 22.Bh6 

Here Black let his clock run out and lost on time



If A Tree Falls...

If a tree falls in the forest, and there is no one around to notice, does it make a sound? 

Is a bad move in chess a blunder, if it never is punished?



 perrypawnpusher - tuffnut
blitz, FICS, 2012

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

Before this game tuffnut had 7 wins, 6 losses, and a draw against the Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+

An exciting alternative was seen in workingdead - tuffnut, FICS, 2011 5.b4 Bxb4 6.c3 Be7 7.d4 exd4 8.cxd4 d6 9.0-0 Bg4 10.Qb3+ Ke8  although Black prevailed in 72 moves.

On the other hand, the specious 5.Ng5+ earned a split decision against my opponent in three games: carlbecker - tuffnut, FICS, 2005 (½-½, 69); neni - tuffnut, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 7); and Lommel -tuffnut, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 15).

Like the above, I would hardly have known until my research, after our game was over, that my opponent had also dispatched 5.d4 (Handlangari - tuffnut, FICS, 2005, 0-1, 22) and 5.d3 (pettypete - tuffnut, FICS, 2004, 0-1, 21).

5...Nxe5 6.Qh5+

It turned out afterward that my opponent was only 1-3 against 6.d4, but that is a move that I do not play.

6...Ng6

A number of years ago, perrypawnpusher - tuffnut, blitz, FICS 2007 saw 6...g6 (1-0, 33).

7.Qd5+

The "nudge".

Later, I chuckled to note that my opponent was 2-0 against the "pure" 7.Qxc5.

7...Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Qe7

10.0-0 Nf6 11.Nc3

Or 11.d3 as in perrypawnpusher - Edvardinho, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 57). (Hmmmm, it looks like I have never posted this game - Rick.)

11...Be6

Not overlooking the possible pawn fork, but planning to put pressure on White's center and his Rook at f1.

Either 11...Rf8 (e.g. perrypawnpusher - MRBarupal, blitz, FICS, 2010, 0-1, 31) or 11...Kf7, looking to castle-by-hand, could be a bit stronger.

12.f4 Bc4 13.d3 Ba6 14.Bd2 b6

15.Rae1 Kd7 16.Qh3+ Kd8 17.g4

Searching for an improvement over 17.Nd5 of perrypawnpusher - ZhekaR, blitz, FICS 2011 (0-1, 36), but this is not it.

After the game Rybka preferred 17.e5 dxe5 18.fxe5 Nd7 but I don't think that I would have seen the followup 19.Ne4, leading to an edge for White.

17...Bc8 18.f5 Ne5 19.g5 Ne8 20.Qg2 Qd7 21.f6

With Black's King and pieces huddled in the middle of the board, it looks like the ideal time to open things up, but White ignores the dangers to his King and Queen along the g-file. 20.d4, with the idea of e4-e5 was a better way.

21...gxf6 22.gxf6 Qf7 23.Bg5

Instead of this move (and for the next few moves) Rybka's post-game analysis focuses on 23.Re3, so that White will have some kind of an answer to Black's ...Rg8.

23...Be6

24.b3 c6 25.Kh1 Kc7 26.d4 Ng6 27.e5 dxe5 28.dxe5 Bd5

In blitz, you can sometimes not see something that is there (like the threats along the g-file), and then see something that is not there.

I don't know if tuffnut thought that he was pinning and winning my Queen with this move, or if he decided that his extra piece would give him the advantage with Queens off of the board; but, suddenly, my "Jerome pawns" can spring to life. 

29.Nxd5+ Qxd5 30.Qxd5 cxd5 31.h4

More straight-forward was 31.f7.

31...h6 32.Bf4 Nxf4 33.Rxf4 Kc6

Better was 33...Rf8 right away, with plans to include the Rook in a blockade of the pawns.

34.e6 Nd6 35.f7 Rhf8

36.e7 Rxf7 37.Rxf7 Nxf7 38.e8Q+ Rxe8 39.Rxe8 Nd6

White's "Jerome pawns" have disappeared, by they have taken their toll: White is up the exchange. Further, his h-pawn will cost Black his Knight.

Can Black's King advance and cause problems on the Queenside?

40.Re6 h5 41.Rh6 Kc5 42.Rxh5 Ne4 43.Rh7 a5 44.h5 Kb4 45.Rb7 b5 46.h6 Ng5 47.h7 Nxh7 48.Rxh7 Kc3

49.Rc7+ Kb2 50.a4 bxa4 51.bxa4 Ka3 52.Kg2 Kxa4 53.Kf3 Kb4 54.Ke3 a4 55.c3+ Kb3 56.Kd4 a3

57.Rb7+ Kc2 58.Ra7 Kb2 59.Ra5 a2 60.Rxa2+ Kxa2 61.Kxd5 Kb3 62.c4 Black resigned

White's endgame play was rough-hewed, but good enough.

Picking Up & Losing A Historical Thread (Part 2)

Yesterday's post – see "Picking Up & Losing A Historical Thread (Part 1)" – presented some possible further information about one of the players in the almost-70-year-old Jerome Gambit game, Sgt. W.A.  Harris - E. H. Quayle, correspondence 1944.

Not only did the "Bryant College Goes to War" collection have two letters by a Sgt. Winston Arthur Harris, there was a comment that began

Thank you so much for posting these letters! My grandfather, Winston Arthur Harris...

which suggested a family member as a further contact who might have more information for my search.

While trying to figure out Sgt. Harris' connection to a school in Rhode Island, I noted his return address in the May 14, 1944 letter

644 Bomb Squadron
410 Bomb Group

A.P.O. 140, c/o PM, NY, NY

This was taking my search in a completely opposite direction: while I had previously linked Sgt. Harris to the 124th Cavalry Regiment out of Brownsville, Texas (the location given by Herman Steiner in his Los Angeles Times "Chess" column), the 644 Bomb Squadron was deployed to the European Theater of Operations, not China-Burma-India.

Indeed, if the Wikipedia entry for the 644th is correct, the Bomb Squadron was stationed at Will Rogers Field and Muskogee Army Airfield in Oklahoma in 1943; then Laurel Army Airfield in Mississippi in early 1944; and then Lakeland Army Airfield in Florida; before moving overseas to RAF Birch and RAF Gosfield, in England, in April 1944.

Thus, there is no Brownsville, Texas connection for the 644 Bomb Squadron.

It looks like there may have been (at least) two "Sgt. W. A. Harrises"...  

Picking Up & Losing A Historical Thread (Part 1)

Several years ago – see "The Joy of Discovery (Part I)" – I encountered the following Jerome Gambit game

Harris,W.A. Sgt. - Quayle,Ernest H.
Los Angeles, California, USA 1944

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qxh8 Qh4 9.0-0 Nf6 10.Qd8 Bd7 11.Qxc7 Bb6 12.g3 Qh3 13.Qxd6 Bc6 14.g4 Qxg4+ White resigned

It had appeared – see "The Joy of Discovery (Part II)" – in Herman Steiner's "Chess" column in the Los Angeles Times for January 7, 1945, with the note "A short game by Ladderite E. H. Quayle of Westwood, Cal., and Sgt. W. A. Harris of Brownsville, Tx."

Of the latter player, I wrote

1944 was war time, and Fort Brown in Brownsville, Texas was where the 124th Cavalry Regiment was stationed. The 124th remained a mounted unit until its deployment in the China-Burma-India theater of operations.

That was as far as I was able to trace the early Jerome Gambiteer – see "The Joy of Discovery (Part III)".

Recently, however, I discovered (in the "Bryant College Goes to War" collection) a couple of V-mails, one written in 1944 and one written in 1945, by a Sgt. Winston A. Harris.

Could he be the same chess player?

Quick As A Flash

If the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) comes as a suprise to a defender, it might be twice as much of a hassle if it is delivered at blitz speed. The following game is over in little more than a few eyeblinks, with a vision of the enemy Queen as the last thing that the Black King saw before checking out.

TrustyPawn - taviman
blitz

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
, FICS, 2009

4...Kxf7 5.d4 exd4 6.e5 Nge7 7.Ng5+ Kf8 8.Qf3+ Kg8 9.Qf7 checkmate

Still More Books

Bill Wall has sent me a spreadsheet full of articles and books that touch (sometimes heavily) on the Jerome Gambit, and I noticed a few titles that I missed in my last two posts concerning books in the modern era.

Many thanks!


A History of Chess in South Africa (2003), Leonard Reitstein
Why You Lose At Chess (1982, 2001), Tim Harding
The Pan Book of Chess (1965), Gerald Abrahams
The Chess Mind (1951), Gerald Abrahams