Jerome Gambit: "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" (Part 2)

 

[continued from previous post]

perrypawnpusher - jonmather

3d/move, "Giuoco Piano" tournament, Chess.com, 2021

It was worth looking at 11.Qc3 as an alternative. 

11...Qe7 12.Nc3 h6 13.Qh4 d6 

Black also had the sharp 13...d5, although after 14.e5 Ng4 White will be able to exchange Queens, lightening the pressure on the center pawns - and the King they protect.

It is strange, in a Jerome Gambit, to be talking about White's King, who has the option of castling, being in more danger than Black's King on c6.

Of course, with the text Black plans to stifle his opponent's thoughts about castling.

14.Bd2 Bg4 15.h3 

Reasonably planning to kick the offending Bishop away, in order to be able to castle Queenside.

After the game, Stockfish 14.1 recommended 15.Nd5 Nxd5 16.Qxg4, which takes care of the light square Bishop issue, but the continuation 16...g5 17.g3 Ne3 18.Bxe3 Bxe3 would leave White unable to castle, anyhow. This is emphasized by the computer's next move, 19.Ke2 which is followed by 19...gxf4 20. gxf4 Bb6 when Black has the usual piece for two pawns advantage, and White's King remains in danger.

15...Bh5 

This move maintains Black's advantage, although a post mortem suggestion of Stockfish 14.1 was for Black to pull the trigger with 15...Nxe4 when 16.Qxe7 Nxc3 17.hxg4 Rxe7+ 18.Kf1 Nd5 19.Re1 Rxe1+ 20. Kxe1 Be3 would have led to a greater advantage.

I think this is a case where it is necessary to remember that the game was played by two club players. Gerald Abrahams, in his The Chess Mind (1951), pointed out that the smallest part of a chess game is not a move, but an idea. jonmather and I have reached the stage of the game where the possibilities (as outlined by the computer) run far deeper than our shallow ideas.

16.g4 Bf7 17.O-O-O 

Whew. A small vistory. White has castled.

17...a5 

No rest for the weary.

18.g5 Nd7 19.Qg3 

The Queen no longer needs to aspire to being exchanged. It is time to get back into the game.

19...b5 20.g6 Bg8 

What to do, what to do, what to do?

After the game Stockfish 14.1 suggested that White's Queen go to f3 or g2, with veiled threats against the enemy King. Then White should consider bringing his Rook on h1 to e1 or f1, and then possibly playing his Knight to e2.

In response, Black's King should back away from the action, using the dark squares.

21.Nd5 Bxd5 22.exd5+ Kb6 23.Rhe1 Qf6 

The idea behind playing 20.g6 earlier was to keep Black's Queen off of f7 in this situation. My original plan was to now hit Black's Queen with 24.Bc3, but when I got to the move, I realized that 24...Bd4 was a complete answer.

It looked like Black's Bishop was in a position to be trapped, so I gave that some thought. Of course, my opponent could decide to simply give back his extra piece...

[to be continued]