Jerome Gambit: The Return of Cliff Hardy (Part 3)

 

[continued from the previous post]

Cliff Hardy (2478) - GM Martin Kraemer (2895)

10 0 rapid, Lichess, 2023

This may not look like the typical Jerome Gambit blitz game, but it has a significant, familiar feature - the defender has to use time to figure out how to respond, and that puts him behind on the clock. - Rick

36.Rf6??

Missing 37.Rf5+! Kb6 (not 37...Ka4?? 38.Ra5 mate!) 38.Rxh5 = and with a massive time advantage and suddenly an equal position on the board, I would have had an excellent chance of winning the game.

36...Bg4 37.Rxh6 Rxh2 38.a3 Rg2 39.Rxd6 h2 40.Rh6 Rg3+ 41.Kd4 Rh3 42.c4+ Kb6 

43.Rg6 h1=Q 44.c5+ Kb5 45.Rxg4?? Qd1?

The grand disaster misses mate in one with 45...Qa1! but since he only had 8 seconds left on his clock, I guess we can be charitable to him.

The rest of the game is a sprint, but the grandmaster is up to it, clockwise. - Rick

46.Ke5 Qxd3??

Oops! 46...Qxg4 is better.

47.Rg5 Qc3+ 48.Kf5 Rf3+ 49.Ke6 Qf6+ 50.Kd7 Qf7+ 51.Kd6 Qf6+ 52.Kd7 Qxg5 53.e5 Qg7+ 54.Kd6 Qf8+ 55.Kd7 Rf7+ 56.Ke6 Qe7 mate

Checkmating me with 4.2 seconds left on his clock.

As Maxwell Smart used to say, "Missed by that much."

The clock is the 33rd piece. - Rick

I got beaten nicely but he only just made it in time before his clock ran out and if I'd taken more time (I finished the game with 1 minute and 12 seconds left on my clock) and possibly found 37.Rf5+!, I could have completely turned the tables!