Another RHP Jerome Gambit Tournament (Round 2)

Here is the second round of the second Jerome Gambit thematic tournament that I encountered at RedHotPawn.com from 2013 (won by jankrb), starting from the Jerome Gambit position:

musirapha (1874) - ZorroTheFox (1447)
Giuoco Piano Jerome Gambit tournament, RedHotPawn, 2013

(1-0) This game will be covered in a subsequent post.


ZorroTheFox (1447) - musirapha (1874)
Giuoco Piano Jerome Gambit tournament, RedHotPawn, 2013

1...Kxf7 2.0-0 Nf6 3.d3 h6 4.c3 d6 5.Be3 Bb6 6.Bxb6 axb6 7.Nbd2 Bd7 8.a4 Qe7 9.b4 Rhf8 10.Nc4 Kg8 11.Qb3 Kh8 12.Nh4 Qf7 13.Nd2 Qxb3 14.Nxb3 Rf7 15.Rfe1 g5 16.Nf3 Kg7 17.Ra2 Nh5 18.Rd1 Bg4 19.Nbd2 Nf4 20.d4 Ne2+ 21.Kh1 Nxc3 22.Raa1 Nxd1 23.Rxd1 Nxd4 24.Ra1 Bxf3 25.gxf3 Nxf3 26.Nc4 Nd4 27.Kg2 Raf8 28.Ra2 Rf4 29.a5 b5 30.Na3 Rxe4 31.Rb2 c6 32.Nb1 Re2 White resigned


jankrb (2055) - Red House (1588)
Giuoco Piano Jerome Gambit tournament, RedHotPawn, 2013

(1-0) This game will be covered in a subsequent post.


Red House (1588) - jankrb (2055)
Giuoco Piano Jerome Gambit tournament, RedHotPawn, 2013

1...Kxf7 2.0-0 Nf6 3.Nc3 Rf8 4.d3 h6 5.h3 Kg8 6.Kh1 Nd4 7.Be3 d6 8.Na4 Nxf3 9.Nxc5 Nh5 10.Nb3 Qh4 11.gxf3 Qxh3+ 12.Kg1 Rf6 White resigned

Another RHP Jerome Gambit Tournament - Game 3

The following game is in some ways the opposite of the previous one. The game slides down the slippery slope from move 4, toward a Black win. White misses a chance to complicate the game, and perhaps take the advantage, at move 21. The game then continues to slide slowly toward the "inevitable" "0-1".

deriver69 (1401) - musirapha (1874)

Giuoco Piano Jerome Gambit tournament, RedHotPawn, 2014

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qxc5 d6 8.Qe3 Nf6

Over 300 games in The Database reach this position, with White scoring 46%.

9.O-O Re8 10.d3 Kg8 11.Nc3 c6 12.f4 Qb6 13.Qxb6 axb6

The game has gone its own way, with Black wisely castling-by-hand and White delaying the advance of his "Jerome pawns" until after the Queens have been exchanged.

14.Be3 Bd7 15.f5 Ne5 16.Bxb6 Ra6 17.Bf2 c5 18.Be3 Neg4 19.Bf4 b5 20.Ne2 Bxf5

The position is a bit more complicated than either player appreciates.

White realizes that 21.exf5 Rxe2 would be clearly to Black's advantage, so he moves his Knight to a safer square; but in doing so he misses a chance to mix it up.

Challenging is 21.h3!? as now Black's Bishop is in an uncomfortable position, e.g. 21...Ne5 22.Bxe5 or 21... Nh6 22. Bxh6 in each case followed (if Black recaptures) by 23.Rxf5 with an edge for White.

It looks like after 21. h3!? White has an edge after 21...d5 (or 21...Bxe4 22. dxe4 Ne5) 22.hxg4 Bxg4. 

21.Ng3 Bg6 22.h3 Ne5 

23.Bg5 Nh5 24.Nxh5 Bxh5 25.Rf5 Rf8 26.Rxf8+ Kxf8 27.Rf1+ Ke8 28.a3 Ra7 29.g4 Bg6 30.Kg2 Rf7 31.Ra1 h5 32.gxh5 Bxh5 33.a4 b4 

34.a5 Ra7 35.a6 Nc6 36.h4 Nb8 37.Bf4 Kd7 38.e5 Rxa6 39.Rxa6 Nxa6 40.exd6 Nb8 41.Kf2 Nc6 42.Ke3 Bg6 43.Kf3 Nd4+ White resigned

Another RHP Jerome Gambit Tournament - Game 2

When should you actually win a won game? If your opponent blunders in the opening - and, dear Readers, that is an objective assessment of the Jerome Gambit, after all - should you redouble your efforts and finish him off quickly? Or should you wait and use your extra piece in middle-game tactics? Maybe you should wait for the piece vs pawns endgame?

Whatever your choice, you should not shilly-shally, but get about the business of using your advantage in some way - instead of frittering it away. In the following game White is objectively lost after four moves - but Black is objectively almost as  bad off after four more moves. The game is effectively over after another four moves.

musirapha (1874) - deriver69 (1410)
Giuoco Piano Jerome Gambit tournament, 2013

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.d4 Nxd4 

Black would do better with either of the other two available captures, with 5...Bxd4 for choice. 

6.Nxe5+ Ke8 

One attraction of playing unusual openings is that your opponent can be lulled into playing "just any old move." The right retreat  was 6...Ke7. 

7.Qh5+ g6 8.Nxg6 Nf6 

Black does well not to get involved in an excursion into foreign lands such as 8...Nxc2+ 9.Kd1 Nxa1? since what follows is sharp retribution: 10.Ne5+ Ke7 11.Qf7+ Kd6 12.Nc3 Qg5 13.Nc4+ Kc6 14.Qd5+ Qxd5+ 15.exd5 checkmate.

9.Qe5+

For a moment, White slips. This is the right kind of move when playing similar positions in the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit, but in the current position the prosaic capture 9.Qxc5 is better.

9...Kf7

Too cooperative. With 9...Ne6 Black would rescue two pieces.

10.Nxh8+ Qxh8 11.Qxc5

Now everything is fine for White, and his opponent's next move makes it "finer."

11...Nxe4 12.Qd5+ Kf8 13.Qxe4 

A Rook is a Rook is a Rook.

13...d6 14.Bh6+ Kf7 15.0-0 Bf5 16.Qd5+ Be6 17.Qh5+ Ke7 18.Qh4+ Kd7 19.Nc3 Rg8 20.Kh1 Nf5 21.Qh5 Nxh6 22.Qxh6 Bd5 23.Nxd5 Rg6 24.Qh3+ Kc6 25.Ne7+ Black resigned