Friday, April 12, 2013

Study the Classics


Serious chess players studying serious chess openings are often encouraged to study the classic games that illustrate thematic play. 

Likewise, less-than-serious chess players studying less-than-serious chess openings - the Jerome Gambit comes immediately to mind - still would benefit from studying the "classic" games from that line of play.

(That brings to mind an interesting challenge: what are the "classic" games in the Jerome Gambit praxis? Certainly this is fodder for discussion and a series of posts later on in the year.)

Ôèëèäîð1792 - Guest 543
www.bereg.ru, 2013

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 



4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6


8.d4 Bxd4 9.Bg5 



This move comes from the classic game Tonetti - Ruggieri, Rome, 1863 (1-0, 23), which no doubt thrilled - or, at least, amused -  chess players around the world.

The alternative, 9.Na3, was seen in the earlier Jerome - Norton, correspondence, 1877 (0-1, 41); and updated in "An Intriguing Letter" Parts 1, 2 & 3 and "Some History of the Jerome Gambit" Parts 1 & 3.

9...Ne7 

This is a significant improvement over Ruggeri's 9...Nf6Guest 543 has passed his first test.

10.Bxe7+ Qxe7 11.c3 Nd3+ 12.Kd2 Nxf2


Black is "winning all over the place" - but, didn't he forget something??

13.Qd5 checkmate

Oh, yeah, that's right...

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Be Prepared!



The chessboard can be a scary place, and it is always a good idea to be prepared for what might show up there. This advice also refers to defenders who face the unbalanced Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+). Luckily for them, many refutations of the gambit have been published.

Lucky for the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde, chess games, do not, yet, "play themselves".

Wall,B - Guest3164644
Playchess.com, 2013

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 



4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Qf6 




A defense suggested by NM Eric Schiller in his 1998 Unorthodox Chess Openings.

8.Rf1

Unfortunately, this move is not covered in UCO.

8...g6 9.Qh3+

Threatening 10.fxe5

9...Ng4


Seen previously:


9...Kf7 10.fxe5 Qxf1+ 11.Kxf1 d6 12.Qc3 Black resigned, Wall, B - Guest1690223, Playchess.com, 2012;
and

9...Ke7 10.Nc3 c6 d6 (10...c6, Wall,B - XCCY, FICS, 2011 [1-0,21]) 11.Nd5+ Kd8 12.Qg3 Qe6 13.fxe5 dxe5 14.d4 Ne7 15.dxc5 Nxd5 16.Bg5+ Ke8 17.exd5 Qxd5 18.Rf2 Be6 19.Rd2 Qxc5 20.0-0-0 Rf8 21.Qh4 h5 22.Bh6 Rf5 23.Rd8+ Rxd8 24.Rxd8+ Kf7 25.Rf8+ Qxf8 26.Bxf8 Kxf8 27.Qd8+ Kg7 28.Qxc7+ Kh6 29.h4 Rf1+ 30.Kd2 Rf2+ 31.Ke3 Rf5 32.Qd8 a6 33.Qh8 checkmate, Wall,B - Aburasian, Chess.com, 2010

10.Qxg4+ Ke7 11.Nc3 d6? 




12.Nd5+ Kd8 13.Nxf6 Bxg4 14.Nxg4 h5 




White is up two pawns.

15.Nf2 Kd7 16.Nh3 Re8 17.d3 Nf6 18.Ng5 Ng4




Black has done well in attending to his development. He should not try to mimic White's wandering Knight.

19.h3 Nh2 20.Rh1 Black resigned






Monday, April 8, 2013

Another Serving


Following up on the previous post, "More Russian Home Cooking" it is relevant to point out Yury V. Bukayev's article on the Evans-Bukayev Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d3 h6!? 5.b4!, which contains some Jerome Gambit accents such as 5...Bxb4 6.c3 Bc5 (6...Bf8 7.d4 Na5 8.Bxf7+; 6...Ba5 7.0-0 [7.d4 d6 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Bxf7+]]d6 8.d4 Bb6 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.Bxf7+) 7.d4 exd4 8.0-0 Na5 9.Bxf7+; and 5...Bb6 6.b5 Nd4 7.Bxf7+.

Xороший appetit!