Bill Wall is not a professional psychologist, but when it comes to playing off-beat chess openings, he understands a lot about how his opponents think. This can be of considerable help when playing the Jerome Gambit. In some of the notes I give a number of complete Wall games that have been referred to in previous blog posts, but have never been presented in their entirety. Wall, Bill - Guest2928386 PlayChess.com, 2015 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8
The Jerome Variation of the Jerome Gambit, played by Alonzo Wheeler Jerome against David Jaeger in correspondence, 1880. 7.Qxe5
d6 8.Qg3 Nf6 9.d3 Bill has also tried 9.Nc3 Nh5 (or 9...Kf7 as in perrypawnpusher - truuf, blitz, FICS, 2011 [0-1, 32] or 9...Ng4 as in perrypawnpusher - klixar, blitz, FICS, 2007[1-0, 33]) 10.Qf3+ Qf6 11.d3 Qxf3
12.gxf3 Bd7 13.Ke2 Bd4 14.Be3 Bf6 15.Nd5 Bd8 16.Rhg1 Kf7 17.f4 c6 18.Nc3
g6 19.f3 Be6 20.Rad1 Rf8 21.d4 d5 22.Kd3 Bc7 23.Ne2 Ke7 24.e5 Ba5 25.c3
Bb6 26.a4 Rae8 27.Ra1 Ba5 28.b3 Kd7 29.Rg2 Kc8 30.Kc2 Ng7 31.Kb2 Kb8 32.b4 Bd8 33.a5 Bh3 34.Rg3 Bf5 35.Nc1 Ne6 36.Kb3 Be7 37.Rg1 Bh3 38.Nd3 g5
39.fxg5 Rxf3 40.Rg3 Rxg3 41.hxg3 Rg8 42.a6 Bxg5 43.Rh1 Bf5 44.Bxg5 Bxd3
45.Bh4 Bxa6 46.Kc2 Kc8 47.Rh2 Kd7 48.Rf2 Ke8 49.Rf6 Rg6 50.Rf5 b6 51.Rh5
h6 52.Bf6 Kd7 53.Rh3 Bc4 54.g4 a5 55.bxa5 bxa5 56.Rh2 a4 57.Kb2 Nf4 58.Ka3 Bb3 59.Rh4 Nd3 White resigned, Wall,B - Ahmadi,S, Chess.com, 2010. 9... Bg4
Okay, Bill's got me puzzled - and I know something about the Jerome Gambit. How can he afford to play 11.h3 and 13.a3 when he is playing a gambit, and time is supposed to be of the essence? As we will see, he accurately accesses his opponent as being unprepared or uncertain about the proper defense (although the light-squared Bishop is free and trying to protect the Kingside), so there is time for White to keep his options open. Sometimes letting Black keep his options open can lead to him making errors. 13...Bg6 14.Bg5 Qe5 15.Bf4 Qe6 16.Na4
If nothing else, Bill can eliminate his opponent's "two Bishops". 16...Nh5 17.Nxc5 dxc5 Not 17...Nxg3 18.Nxe6+ Ke7 19.Bxg3
Kxe6 20.f4. 18.Bd6+ Ke8 19.Qh2
19...Kd7 Too casual. It is not clear that the King is safer in his new position, and the (doubled) pawn that he give up is certainly of worth. 20.Bxc5 b6 21.Bd4 Qf7
Black's pieces are not so much developed as they are jumbled on the Kingside. His Bishop should have gone to f7 on his last move. 22.f4 Qe7 23.g4 Nf6
24.e5 Nd5 Bill points out that Knight retreats lead to trouble too: 24...Ng8 25.f5 Be8 26.f6 gxf6 27.exf6 Qf7 28.Rae1 or 24...Ne8 25.f5 Bf7 26.e6+. 25.f5 Be8 26.c4 Nc7 27.b4
Those crazy pawns! All 8 of them. It is important to mention that Stockfish 6 rates White about 1/2 pawn better in this position. If Black can remain calm, he should be able to hang on. 27...Rf8 28.e6+ Kc8 29.a4 Kb7
Black has castled-by-hand, but his King still needs to be careful. I've got him right where he wants me! he might have thought, somewhat confusedly. 30.a5 Na6 31.b5 cxb5 32.cxb5 Bxb5 33.Rfb1 Nc7
Black's light-squared Bishop continues to defend valiantly with the Knight, but - those pawns... 34.axb6 axb6 35.Qg2+ Kc8 Black's situation has deteriorated to the point that only 35...Kb8 would save him from a forced checkmate. 36. Rxa8+ Nxa8
37.Qxa8+ Kc7 38.Be5+
It can be fun for Black to play a game of "duelling Knights" in certain lines of the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit - his Knight is busy on one side of the board while White's is busy on the other - but he has to be careful not to fall victim of a poisoned piece. aguisou - Gomenovich blitz, FICS, 2015 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+
The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit. 4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ Interestingly, drumme - Gomenovich, blitz, FICS, 2014 continued 6.c3 Nc6 before the Queen check, 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Nxg6 Qf6 9.Nxh8+ Kd8 10.Nf7+ Ke7 11.d3 Qxf7 12.Bg5+ Nf6 13.Bxf6+ Qxf6 14.Qxh7+ Qg7 15.Qh4+ Ke8 16.0-0 Ne5 17.Nd2 Nxd3 18.Nf3 d6 19.e5 Qg4 20.Qh8 dxe5 21.Nxe5 Nxe5 22.Qxe5+ Be7 23.Rae1 Bd7 24.Qxe7 checkmate. Kicking the Knight first didn't work in gregweb - Gomenovich, blitz, FICS, 2015 as Black had an effective counter 6.c3 d6 7.cxd4 dxe5 8.dxe5 Qe7 9.d4 Bd7 10.0-0 Nh6 11.Nc3 c5 12.Nd5 Qd8 13.Bxh6 gxh6 14.Nf6+ Kf7 15.Qh5+ Ke7 16.d5 Bg7 17.d6+ Kf8 18.e6 Bxe6 19.e5 Bxf6 20.exf6 Qxf6 21.Qxc5 Kf7 22.Qc7+ Kg6 23.Qxb7 Rhb8 24.Qe4+ Bf5 25.Qe7 Qxe7 26.dxe7 Re8 27.Rfe1 Kf7 28.Rac1 Rac8 29.Rcd1 Rxe7 30.Rxe7+ Kxe7 31.Rd5 Be6 32.Ra5 Rc7 33.Rh5 Rc1 checkmate. aguisou has had some experience with 6.c3 as well, in a couple of games played a couple of months apart: 6...Qg5 7.cxd4 Qxg2 8.Qf3 Qg5 9.Qf7+ (here Black resigned inaLmaLja - aguisou, blitz, FICS, 2014) Kd8 10.Qxf8 checkmate, aLmaLja - aguisou, blitz, FICS, 2014. 6...g6 7.Nxg6 Nxc2+
The pawn is digestible, but the Rook is poisoned. 8.Kd1 Nxa1 A quick look at The Database shows 65 games with this position. White scores 82%. 9.Nxh8+ Ke7
Today's blog is full of games relevant to our main one. There is a little bit of "theory" tossed in, too. Enjoy the efforts of steveod and PEITONER. PEITONER - steveod blitz, FICS, 2015 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4
The King retreat is safer, but not without its perils, as White has shown: 7...Ke6 8.Nc3 Nf6 9.e5 Nd5 10.Qg4+ Kf7 11.Nxd5 d6 12.Qf4+ Kg8 13.0-0 dxe5 14.Qxe5 Bd6 15.Qe4 h6 16.d3 Bd7 17.Re1 Bc6 18.Ne7+ Bxe7 19.Qxe7 Qxd4 20.Qe6+ Kh7 21.Qf5+ Kg8 22.Be3 Qh4 23.d4 Rf8 24.Qe6+ Kh7 25.d5 Bb5 26.Rac1 c6 27.d6 Rhg8 28.Rcd1 Kh8 29.d7 Qb4 30.Bd4 Bc4 31.Qxh6 checkmate, PEITONER - aresa, FICS, 2015 8.d3 Bb4+ 9.Nc3 A natural response. In "The Threat Is Greater..." I mentioned the two alternatives, 9.Ke2!? and 9.Kf1!?, which threaten to win a piece after 9...Ke5 10.Qb3 followed by 11.Qxb4. The Database shows that these suggestions have yet to be followed. 9...Ke5
Or 9...Bxc3+ 10.bxc3+ Ke5 (10...Kxc3 11.0-0 Qf6 12.Be3 Kb4 13.Rb1+ Ka5 14.Qb3 c6 15.Qa3 checkmate, Edisce - nkm, FICS, 2005) 11.f4+ (11.Qh5+ was the correct move, as in perrypawnpusher - AdamRou, blitz, FICS, 2010 [1-0, 28]) 11...Kf6 Black forfeited by disconnection, kocanda - ETERHERE, standard, FICS, 2014 10.0-0 White could also whip up an attack with10.d4+ Kf6 11.Qf3+. 10...Nf6 11.d4+ Ke6 12.Qb3+ The Queen goes to b3 and then captures the Bishop, after all. (See the note to White's 9th move.) 12...d5 13.Qxb4 Kf7
White's center pawns help him take command. 14.e5 Ne4 15.Nxe4 dxe4 16.f3 a5 17.fxe4+ Ke8 18.Qc4 Rf8 19.Rxf8+ Kxf8 20.Be3 c6 21.Rf1+ Ke7 22.Qf7 checkmate