A GM Faces the BSJG: Not Quite (Part 2)

[continued from previous post]

In the previous post, I mused

Last year, on this blog, I had a lot of fun looking at the idea of a Grandmaster playing or facing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), online or over-the-board... "A GM Faces the Jerome Gambit (Part 1 and Part 2) and "Jerome Gambit: More GMs? (Part 1 and Part 2)"... 

The other day I started wondering: Did any GMs play or face the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+)? That search would be a different kind of task, as the game would have to feature either a rare example of a GM playing the BSG, or, even less likely, a GM playing the BSJG. But my curiosity was piqued... 

A search of The Database did not turn up any games with a player (of either color) rated 2500...

So, I next turned to my ChessBase "Big Database" (almost 6,5000,000 games), and did a search for the starting position of the Blackburne Shilling Gambit, below.

I was shocked to find 12 games where at least one of the players was rated 2500!

Closer examination, however, showed that all of the examples came from the Bird Variation of Ruy Lopez: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4 4.Bc4.

Still searching, however, I checked the online ChessBase Live Database, looking for 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+ games, and I came upon one with Ian Rogers playing Black.

Ian Rogers! I knew that name: Australian GM! Amazing!

Well, not quite. The game was played in 1975, a few months before Rogers turned 15, five years before he became an International Master, and ten years before he became a Grandmaster.

Let's look at the game, anyhow, as it is quite educational. 

Nater, Carl - Rogers, Ian
Begonia op 09th, Ballarat, 1975

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 

Rogers, the teenager, is feeling frisky. I don't know much about his opponent, Carl Nater (age 35 at the time of the game), but a check on the FIDE website indicates that he had a rating of 1378, so, perhaps Black wished for a quick, trappy win.

Carl Nater, 80, at the 2018 Begonia tournament. He later played at the Victorian Country Championships in 2019. Recent word from GM Rogers is that Nater is still playing chess.

4.Bxf7+ 

This is the earliest game that I have with the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit, predating - by 20 years - Melao Jr, H. - Danilo, Centro Cultural, 1996: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.c3 Kxe5 7.cxd4+ Kxe4 8.Qh5 Kxd4 9.d3 Bb4+ 10.Nc3 Bxc3+ 11.bxc3+ Kxc3 12.Qc5+ Kxd3 13.Qd5+ Kc3 14.Bd2+ Kb2 15.Qb3+ Kxa1 16.O-O#

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8

The Database has 2,585 games with position, with White scoring 58%.

6.Qh5+ g6

If 6...Ke7, White would have a checkmate in 5, starting with 7.Qf7+.

7.Nxg6 hxg6 8.Qxh8 Nf6 

Nater opted to capture the Rook, instead of the g-pawn (with check), relying on the gain of material. 

Rogers skipped the wild 8...Nxc2+ 9.Kd1 Nxa1 10.Qxg8 Qg5 which might have given him an edge, opting, instead, for reasonable development.

Komodo 10 now sees the position as about even, with Black's piece balancing out White's 3 extra pawns. Black has a lead in development, but his King will be unable to castle.

[to be continued]