Restrain, Blockade, Destroy

The watchwords of Aaron Nimzowitsch (1886-1935) "restrain, blockade, destroy" come to mind in playing over the following game, as Black seems to utilize "hypermodern" concepts in has battle against a clearly "neo-romantic" chess opening.

It is one of the stranger Jerome Gambits I have ever seen.

Wall, Bill - Guest4149739
PlayChess.com, 2013

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

7.Qd5+ Kf8

More common is 7...Ke8.

8.Qxc5+ d6

There is also 8...Qe7, as in Wall,B - Quack, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 22)

9.Qc3

The more-often played 9.Qe3 is as old as Vazquez,A -Carrington,W, Mexico, 2nd match, 1876 (1-0, 34) and as new as Wall,B - Vijay,V, Chess.com 2010 (1-0, 22) and Wall,B - LC, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 20)


9...Nf6 10.d3 Qe7

A slight improvement over 10...c6 as in Wall,B - Boris, Sparkchess.com, 2012 (1-0, 32). So far, we have a normal Jerome Gambit-style position.

11.O-O c6 12.f4 Bd7 13.f5 Ne5 14.h3 

Bill later suggested 14.Bf4.

14...c5 15.g4 Bc6 

White has activated his "Jerome pawns" and in response Black has started to restrain them and - with his Knights - blockade them.

An indication of how further "odd" the position can get is in Houdini's recommendation, instead of Black's last move: 15...g5 16.Bxg5 h5 17.h4 hxg4 18.a4 Be8 19.Nd2 Bf7. 

16.g5 Nfd7 17.b4 h6 18.g6 Qh4 

Black has about had it with all of White's pawn moves (Bill has also created this impatience in his opponents with repeated Queen moves) and decides to become aggressive, here threatening 19...Qg3+. 

19.Kh2 b6 20.a4

Instead, 20.Bf4 was a possibility. 

20...Nf6 21.Bf4 

Bill shows how things could go horribly wrong for White: 21.bxc5? Nd5 22.exd5 Ng4+ 23.Kg2 Bxd5+ 24. Kg1 Qg3 checkmate

21...Re8 

22.Nd2 Nh5 23.Bxe5 Rxe5

Threatening 24.. .Qg3+.

24.Rf3 

White's King is still at risk: 24.bxc5? Qg3+ 25.Kh1 Rxe4 26.dxe4 (26.Nxe4 Bxe4+ 27.dxe4 Qxc3) 26...Qxc3. 

24...Ke7 25.Rg1

White completes his development (!) and sets an interesting trap for his opponent.

25...Bxa4

This can lead to a slight advantage for White (better was 25...Kd7), or a whole lot more.

26.Ra1 b5 

Black protects his Bishop and blocks the a-file against the White Rook. Instead, he should have retreated his piece with 26...Bd7 and let the White Rook in, facing a small disadvantage. However, this was far from obvious.

27.d4 

With this move White takes over the game.

27...cxd4 28.Qc7+ Kf6

This leads to checkmate, whereas 28...Ke8 only leads to disaster after 29.Qc6+ 

29.Qxd6+ 

A bit faster was 29.Rg1

29...Kg5 30.Rg1+  Black resigned

It is ironic that Black, ahead in development for most of the game, should have his King expire with a Bishop offside and a Rook lollygagging at home.