Saturday, November 4, 2017

Jerome Gambit: Pay Attention

Image result for free clip art ouch

In the Jerome Gambit, Black and White face the same challenge: paying attention. Black often is in an unfamiliar and risky situation, and must be aware of dangers as they arise. White has to apply pressure, and be ready to pounce when Black lowers his guard - and, the more the pressure he applies, the greater opportunity he has to pounce.

The following game shows this, as everything is calm and routine - until checkmate. Ouch.

Wall, Bill - Guest522870
PlayChess.com, 2017

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 



4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 



Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's first choice, before moving on to 6.Qh5+, and Bill's current preference. It is less forcing, which means, among other things, that it gives less direction for Black in preparing his defense.

6...Bxd4 7.Qxd4 d6 8.O-O Nf6 9.Nc3 Rf8 



Black is planning on castling-by-hand, a good defensive strategy. He should not allow himself to be distracted.

10.f4

A standard move in this kind of position: kick the Knight on e5 and get the "Jerome pawns" moving, with the possibility of a pawn advancing to e5 or f5. An alternative was the developing 10.Bg5

10...Neg4 

Bill has also faced the more restrained 10...Nc6 in Wall,B - Anonymous, lichess.org, 2016, (1-0, 19) and Wall,B - Anonymous, lichess.org, 2016 (1-0, 46).

11.h3 c5 

It is often a good idea to meet an attack on one of your pieces with an attack on one of your opponent's pieces. Here, Black's pawn attack on the enemy Queen forces White to ignore the threat to the Knight on g4.

12.Qc4+ Be6 

How to answer the Queen check is a standard concern in some lines in the Jerome Gambit. Black is happy to respond to the check by developing a piece, probably a bit better than the alternative, 12...d5.

13.Qd3 Nh6 14.f5 Bd7



Black plans on giving up his pawn on d6, in order to reposition his Bishop on c6, pressuring White's pawn on e4. There is a problem with this idea, however, which means that the proper move was 14...Bc8.

15.Qxd6 Bc6 6.Qe6 checkmate


Oh, yeah, that.

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