Monday, February 24, 2020

Jerome Gambit: Checkmate the King

Image result for free clip art checkmate


It is good to remember that your ultimate goal is to checkmate the enemy King. If you have some fun along the way, so much the better.

JoeBau - sailingsoul
FICS, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 



The Semi-Italian opening. It is sometimes referred to as the "Anti-Fried Liver Defense", aimed at preventing a White Knight from moving to g5, i.e. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxf7 Kxf7

4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ 

Now we have the Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.Qh5+ Ke6 



Black would like to hold on to his extra material. He has a few games in The Database, so, perhaps he sees the position as simply a "standard" Jerome Gambit - with the addition of ...h6 and Nc3.

(By the way, in 6 out of his 8 games with the White pieces, he played Nf3-g5, which may reflect on his interest in ...h6, as a defensive move, as indicated in the note, above.)

8.Qf5+ Kd6 9.Nb5+ Kc6 10.Qxe5 Kxb5 11.a4+ 



Well played: the target is the King. It would be out of place to pawn-grab with 11.Qxg7, which would be well met by 11...Qf6, with Black advantage.

11...Kc6

Safer was 11...Ka6 12.Qxc5 b6 and the King will find refuge at b7.

12.Qd5+ Kb6 13.b4

Nice: Black's Bishop can not move without allowing checkmate at b5 - or can it? It is not immediataly clear that 13.a5+ Ka6 should have been interpolated, first. 

13...Bxf2+ 

This is very interesting. The defender returns material; this can be followed by a timely ...a5, giving the King an escape square at a7 - that is why 13.a5+ was best, earlier, to chase the King over to block that move.

14.Kxf2 Qf6+

Not all Queen checks are the same. The only one that escapes checkmate is 14...Qf8+, controlling the c5 square, e.g. 15.Ke2 a5 16.Qd4+ c5 17.bxc5+ Kc6 when White has compensation (safer King, better development) for his sacrificed material (2 pawns for a piece). 

15.Ke2 c6 16.Qa5 checkmate



No comments: