I just completed a complex and challenging Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game in the second round of the "Piano Piano" tournament at Chess.com.
It doesn't feel like it should have gone that way - either I should have crushed my opponent, or he should have refuted me, right? That's the Jerome way.
Instead, we fought in the opening, we fought in the middlegame, and we fought in the endgame.
My opponent resigned when we were in a King and pawn vs King endgame and it was clear that the pawn was going to advance and promote.
Before that, a balanced Queenless middlegame tilted my way because of my "extra" pawns against his "extra" piece.
Of course, it all went back to the opening, where I "purchased" those pawns for the price of one little piece...
I am going to rely on post mortem analysis by Stockfish 14 and the Chess.com computer - plus looks into The Database - to help make sense of what happened.
(My opponent was rated over 150 points above me. I suspect he will utterly destroy me in our next game, now that he has the White pieces.💀)
perrypawnpusher - jjdd57
3 d/move, "Piano Piano" tournament, Chess.com, 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
Once again the Chess.com computer fusses that this is an "inaccuracy" (of about 1 1/4 pawns), preferring 6...Kf8. Fair enough. The Database shows 2,874 games with 6...Ng6, with Black scoring 45%, against 941 games with 6...Kf8, where Black scored 50%.
My own record in 137 previous games with White against 6...Ng6 is 79% (with virtually no difference in results between 6...Ng6 and 6...Kf8).
YMMV.
7.Qd5+ Kf8
Interestingly enough, the Chess.com computer considers this move only "good", assessing 7...Ke8 as "best". The difference would be moot if I had played the "best" move on move 9, exchanging Queens - in which case it would not matter on which of the two squares the Black King was, as the computer considered capture by the King (instead of the Knight) as "best".
The Database nods ever so slightly: 7...Kf8 appears in 362 games, with Black scoring 32%; 7...Ke8 appears in 782, with White scoring 34%.
I think this is another example of how a strong computer chess program can provide intellectually interesting insights of little practical value to club players. Of course, tactical insights are another thing, and I appreciate and prize those efforts.
8.Qxc5+ Qe7 9.Qe3
This is an "inaccuracy" according to the Chess.com computer, dropping the assessment of my position about a pawn's worth. It preferred 9.Qxe7+.
This could be a helpful assessment, going forward, contributing to a reassessment, particularly because The Database disagrees: it has 67 games with 9.Qe3 (certainly the position is more familiar), with White scoring 72%, and only 11 games with 9.Qxe7+ (White usually avoids trading Queens), with White scoring 64%.
9...Nf6
A solid alternative is 9...d5, which has appeared in a couple of games, with a win for each side. By transposition, 10.d3 Nf6 11.f3 would then be 1-0 perrypawnpusher - marbleschess, 10 0 blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 26)
[to be continued]
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