Thursday, November 5, 2020

Jerome Gambit: Drawn?!


I remember an over-the-board tournament game from at least a couple decades ago. At one point I repeated positions, claiming a draw, but my higher-rated opponent said I didn't make the claim properly, and when my flag fell, he claimed a win on time. A player committee was assembled, however, and pronounced the game drawn.

The following game is what brought back that memory.


Ghibytzu - AL-Alien

10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020


1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+ 


I have called this the Abrahams Jerome Gambit, because Gerald Abrahams referred to this line as a Jerome Gambit in his books The Chess Mind (1951) and The Pan Book of Chess (1965). As far as I know, Alonzo Wheeler Jerome never played his gambit this way.

The Database has about 17, 600 games with the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+, but the coverage is nowhere near as comprehensive as with the main line Jerome Gambit.

3...Kxf7 4.Nf3 

Fascinating. White sacrifices his Bishop to keep Black from castling, then goes about working on his development. I was surprised to see that The Database had 2,955 games with this position; White scores 50%.

A recent game featured the alternative, 4.Qh5+, which is a bit more Jerome-ish: 4...g6 5.Qxe5 Bd6 6.Qxh8 Nc6 7.Qxh7+ Kf6 8.Qh4+ g5 9.Qh8+ Kf7 10.Nf3 g4 11.Qh5+ Kf8 12.Qxg4 Qf6 13.Qf5 Be5 14.Qxf6+ Bxf6 15.c3 d6 16.d3 Bg4 17.Nbd2 Re8 18.O-O d5 19.Re1 Bxf3 20.Nxf3 b5 21.Bd2 a5 22.exd5 Ne5 23.Nxe5 Bxe5 24.Re4 Nf6 25.Rh4 Nd7 26.Bf4 Bf6 27.Rh7 Nc5 28.Bxc7 Kg8 29.Rh3 Na4 30.Rg3+ Kf7 31.Rb1 Re7 32.Bxa5 Rd7 33.c4 bxc4 34.dxc4 Nxb2 35.Rg4 Nd3 36.f3 Ra7 37.Rb5 Re7 38.Kf1 Bd4 39.Rxd4 White won on time, Huge_Chessticles22 - potatofarmer, Chess.com, iPhone, 2018. 

4...d6 5.c3 Qf6 6.O-O Bg4 


7.Nxe5+ 

A tactical shot that appears to win a pawn. Black, however, is able to claw it back. There was more heat in 7.Qb3+ Ke7 8.Qxb7 when Black might do best to force a draw with 8...Bxf3 9.gxf3 Nd7 10.Qxa8 Qxf3 11.d4 Qg4+ 12.Kh1 Qf3+, etc.

7...Qxe5 8.Qxg4 Nf6 9.Qf3 Qxe4 10.d4 Qxf3 11.gxf3 Bb6 


Black's extra piece outweighs White's extra, isolated, doubled pawn. It will take some work to get things back on track for Ghibytzu.

12.Nd2 d5 13.f4 Ng4 14.h3 Nf6 15.Nf3 h6 16.b3 c6 17.Re1 Bc7 18.Ne5+ Bxe5 19.fxe5 Ne4 


The doubled pawns have been "cured" and White puts his hopes in his passer.

20.f3 Nxc3 21.e6+ Ke7 22.Ba3+ Kf6 23.Re3 Nb5 24.Bc5 Nc7 25.Rae1 Nba6 


26.f4 b6 27.Ba3 c5 28.dxc5 bxc5 29.e7 d4 30.Re5 d3 31.Bxc5 Nxc5 32.Rxc5 Rac8 


The board has duelling passed pawns. White tries a tricky tactic that doesn't quite work.

33.e8=N+ Rhxe8 34.Rxe8 Rxe8 35.Rxc7 Re1+ 


White has won a piece and material is even, but Black's passed pawn has yet to speak.

36.Kf2 Re2+ 

Making things more difficult for himself. Best: 36...d2.

37.Kf3 Re1 38.Rd7 Rf1+ 


What is Black's plan, now? He can snatch pawns, but the Rook and pawns vs Rook and pawns endgame is a difficult one.

39.Ke3 d2 40.Rxd2 Rh1 41.Rd6+ Kf5 42.Rd5+ Kf6 43.Ke4 Ke6 


44.Re5+ Kd6 45.Rd5+ Ke6 46.f5+ Kf6 47.Rd7 Rxh3 48.Rxa7 Rh5 


49.Ra6+ Kf7 50.b4 

Stockfish 11 prefers 50.a4, with White eventually exchanging his a-pawn for Black's h-pawn and counting on the advance of his b-pawn - but it's complicated; and it is important to point out that in the game, the clock is still ticking...

Something similar happens, but the game becomes even.

50...Rh4+ 51.Ke5 Rxb4 52.Ra7+ Kg8 53.a4 Rc4 54.a5 Rc5+ 55.Kf4 h5 56.Kg5 Kh7 57.Kxh5 Rxf5+ 


58.Kh4 Kh6 59.a6 g5+ 60.Kg4 Rf4+ 61.Kg3 Kh5 62.Rh7+ Kg6 63.Rh8 


63...Kg7 

A slip. White can now play 64.a7, and after 64...Kxh8 65.a8/Q he would be better, but the Queen vs Rook endgame, while winnable, is quite tricky - doubly so in a blitz game.

White's plan is to repeat the position and find a draw.

64.Rb8 Ra4 65.Rb7+ Kf6 66.a7 g4 67.Rb6+ Kf5 68.Rb5+ Kg6 69.Rb6+ Kg5 70.Rb5+ Kg6 71.Rb6+ Kg5 72.Rb5+ Kg6 73.Rb6+ Kg5 74.Rb5+ Kg6 75.Rb6+ Kg5 76.Rb5+ Kg6 77.Rb6+ Kg5 78.Rb5+ Kg6 79.Rb6+ Kg5 80.Rb5+ Kg6 81.Rb6+ Kg5 82.Rb5+ Kg6 


At this point, Black won on time. Unfortunately, while White repeated the position more than 3 times, but he did not know how to claim the draw at the website.


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