Saturday, December 7, 2024

ChatGPT Strikes Again!

 


Once again, I visited the artificial intelligence (AI) program ChatGPT and made a request.

It gets partial credit for using 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7 as the Jerome Gambit; it is what I call the Abrahams Jerome Gambit.

It gets extra credit, however, for its hilarious (intentional or otherwise) interpretation of the task.

You said:
Create the moves of a chess game between Bobby Fischer and an amateur player, using the Jerome Gambit opening
ChatGPT said:

 

The Jerome Gambit is an aggressive, unorthodox chess opening that can catch unprepared opponents off guard. It begins with the moves:
  1. e4 e5
  2. Bc4 Bc5
  3. Bxf7+

In this gambit, White sacrifices the bishop on f7 in exchange for rapid development and an attacking position.

Let’s create an imaginary game between Bobby Fischer, playing as White, and an amateur player, playing as Black, using the Jerome Gambit. Since Fischer was a highly skilled player, he would likely win against the amateur, but I will aim for an exciting game that demonstrates the opening’s aggressive nature. The moves are as follows:


  1. e4 e5
  2. Bc4 Bc5
  3. Bxf7+ Kxf7
  4. Qf3+ Ke6
  5. Qf5+ Ke7
  6. Qxe5#

Explanation:

  1. e4 e5 – The standard opening move for both sides, with White aiming for rapid central control and Black mirroring that.
  2. Bc4 Bc5 – White develops the bishop aggressively to target the f7 square. Black develops similarly.
  3. Bxf7+ – White sacrifices the bishop to exploit the weak f7 square and create havoc in Black’s camp.
  4. Kxf7 – Black accepts the sacrifice, as it's difficult to avoid taking the material.
  5. Qf3+ – Fischer moves the queen to f3 to put more pressure on Black’s exposed king.
  6. Ke6 – The amateur player tries to run with the king, but this opens the way for further attacks.
  7. Qf5+ – Fischer uses the queen to check the Black king, further restricting Black’s position.
  8. Ke7 – Black tries to move the king to safety.
  9. Qxe5# – With this final move, Fischer checkmates the amateur player, as the Black king is now trapped and cannot escape.

This is a simplified version, as Fischer would have likely won with an even more efficient attack. In real-life games, Fischer's opponents would have put up a much better fight, but the Jerome Gambit’s wild nature can lead to quick victories for White against less-experienced players.

Friday, December 6, 2024

Jerome Gambit: Bad News, Good News

 



The following position comes from a correspondence Jerome Gambit game. Sometimes things get so good, they suddenly turn bad.


xElucidatoRx - lichess AI, corr, 2023

The "bad news" for Black is that White's Jerome Gambit has led to the first player having six Queens.

The "good news" for Black is that White last move establishes stalemate, a draw.

I am not sure that the AI was able to feel embarassment. Perhaps the programmers are working on it.

Thursday, December 5, 2024

Jerome Gambit: Good News, Bad News

 


The following position comes from a 5-minute blitz Jerome Gambit game. Sometimes things get so bad, they suddenly turn good.


ZeKnightRider - GrandLoser101, blitz, lichess.org, 2024


The "good news" for Black is that he has just gotten a second Queen with 73...b1/Q.

The "bad news" for Black is that the move establishes stalemate, a draw.

ZeKnight Rider survives to ride again.

p.s. ZeKnightRider has 600 games in The Database.


Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Jerome Gambit: An Unusual Sortie



The following is an interesting 1-minute game, with both players rated over 2400.


TePart0 - Robik_12

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2024

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 

7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qxh8 Bg4 

Black can offer his Rook, if he is comfortable with the complications that follow. "Objectively", the capture leads to an even game, but often White finds himself in trouble.

This Bishop sortie is unusual, however, and it is not clear what it is designed to accomplish. I wonder if Black intended another piece - the Queen (recommended is 8...Qh4) - to slide down its diagonal, but touched the wrong piece. 

Anything can happen in a bullet game.

 9.Qxh7+ Kf8 10.O-O Qf6 11.c3 Re8 12.d4 Bb6 13.Bh6+ Black resigned


White is up the exchange and two pawns. Unless he is in time trouble, he has the easier task.


Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Jerome Gambit: How Jerome


The following game concludes quickly, for a couple of reasons

First, it is a bullet game, and those do not last long.

Second, the Jerome Gambit scores a quick win, in its own inimical style.


xElucidatoRx - FosterTrinh

2 1 bullet, lichess.org, 2024

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.f4 Nf7

The game is about even. Black has two pieces for two pawns, but he is about to lose one; and his King is at risk.

8.Qxc5 Qh4+ 9.g3 Qd8 


At the cost of 2 tempos, Black has weakened White's Kingside, and still protected his pawn at c7. It is not clear that he can afford the loss of time.

Instead, Stockfish 16.1 recommends 9...Qg4, although that would be met by the aggressive 10.f5+.

Possible in a bullet game would be the erronious retreat 9...Qe7, as it would lead to 10.Qd5+ Kf6 11.Qf5 checkmate 

10.O-O

Interestingly enough, as the computer has often shown that it does not "understand" the Jerome Gambit, its recommendation here is to get the "Jerome pawns" rolling: 10.f5+ Kf6 11.Nc3 Ne7 12.Qf2 Rf8 13.g4 Nd6 14.d4 Kf7 15.e5 Nc4 16.Qh4 with White clearly for choice.

10...Nf6 

Nothing's happening, might as well develop a piece.

11.f5 checkmate


White's hyperactive Queen works with the "Jerome pawns" to deliver checkmate. How Jerome.


Monday, December 2, 2024

Jerome Gambit: Challenge (Part 2)

                                                           


As I wrote in the previous post

Recently, chessfriend Yury V. Bukayev issued a challenge to me

...I would like to play as White against GM Kollars' favourite defence 5...Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qh4+ 9.g3 Qf6. [See"Jerome Gambit: GM vs GM!?"] Of course, Black stands better, but I'll try to play stronger than GM Nakamura, if you agree. Kollars played in 2020 without preparation and with a serious wonder. 

Well, you saw how the first game went - "Jerome Gambit: Challenge (Part 1)" - my game fell apart like a cookie in the rain.

As you can see from our second game, it's still raining...


Yury_V_Bukayev - perrypawnpusher

Chess.com, 2024

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qh4+ 9.g3 Qf6 

Again, this was our starting position. Another look at The Database shows 68 games, with White scoring 57%. (The only time that I have reached this position with Black was the previous game.)

 10.Qh5 

A reminder: I can find only 3 examples of this move in The Database: Wall,B - Marani,G, Chess.com, 2011 (1-0, 28), perrypawnpusher - izscha2014, GameKnot.com, 2014 (0-1, 23), and LetsJeromeGambit - ocelotosss, 10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020 (1-0, 21).

In my game against izscha2014 (see "Jerome Gambit: Help Arrives In Time") I had little success, leading to the realization that

The diversion 10.Qh5 did not work out well for me 

Once again, however, Yury did much better than I did. 

10...c6 

It feels like I have been here before... Once again, creating an escape hatch for Black's King like this did not turn out to be relevant.

Earlier: 

10...g6 in Wall,B - Marani,G, Chess.com, 2011;

10...Ne7 in LetsJeromeGambit - ocelotosss, Chess.com 2020 

Of course, after the game, Stockfish 16.1 suggested 10...Kc6 or 10...Ke7.

11.Rf1 

Varying from the previous game. The text is equally as strong as 11.fxe5+

11...g6 

This move only encourages White to make the move he wanted to, anyhow. Better was 11...Nf7, with the likely continuation 12.e5 Nxe5 13.fxe5+ Qxe5+ 14.Qxe5 Kxe5 15.b4!? 

12.fxe5+ Qxe5 13.Qxe5+ Kxe5 14.b4 


This position brings to mind Yury's Composition no.2 
I wish I had paid attention to that, before starting this game.

Instead, I gobbled the poisoned pawn, and my King then staggered across the board, to it's demise.

14..Bxb4 

Yury points out
Readers can find all moves of this game on Chess.com , and it can be added to collections of famous chess mistakes, even World Champions' games are in such collections: https://thechessworld.com/articles/general-information/top-10-biggest-grandmaster-blunders-at-chess/ .

15.Bb2+ Kxe4 16.Bxh8 Ba5 17.c4 Bb4 


18.Rf4+ 

Humorously, White had a checkmate-in-3 here, starting with 18.Ke2, but the text is strong and clearly winning.

18...Kd3 19.Rd4+ Kc2 20.c5 Ba5 21.Na3+ Black resigned


Black now faces a checkmate-in-3, and therefore Black Resigned

[Readers might notice, if they check out this game at chess.com, that it was played after the date on this post. We are not time traveling, I am behind on posting…] 

I suppose one "moral" of these two games is that the Jerome Gambit is a very dangerous opening for a club player to face. Especially if the Jerome Gambitter is a strong player.

Alternately, if a player were to play 100 games against another player who was rated 500 points higher (my situation), he might be expected to win, maybe, 5 games, while losing 95...

Sunday, December 1, 2024

Jerome Gambit: Challenge (Part 1)


Recently, chessfriend Yury V. Bukayev issued a challenge to me

...I would like to play as White against GM Kollars' favourite defence 5...Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qh4+ 9.g3 Qf6. [See"Jerome Gambit: GM vs GM!?"] Of course, Black stands better, but I'll try to play stronger than GM Nakamura, if you agree. Kollars played in 2020 without preparation and with a serious wonder. 

Well, I have also played against the Jerome Gambit 47 times, scoring 90%, so, of course I accepted the challenge.

That turned out to be a big mistake on my part. 

Yury_V_Bukayev - perrypawnpusher

Chess.com, 2024

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qh4+ 9.g3 Qf6 


This was our starting position. A quick look at The Database shows 66 games, with White scoring 56%. (I have never reached this position with Black.)

10.Qh5 

An interesting and rare idea. I can find only 3 examples in The Database: Wall,B - Marani,G, Chess.com, 2011 (1-0, 28), perrypawnpusher - izscha2014, GameKnot.com, 2014 (0-1, 23), and LetsJeromeGambit - ocelotosss, 10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020 (1-0, 21).

Yes, in "Jerome Gambit: Help Arrives In Time" I did lament

The diversion 10.Qh5 did not work out well for me 

In the current game, Yury did much better. 

10...c6 

Creating an escape hatch for Black's King.

As noted above, also seen: 

10...g6 in Wall,B - Marani,G, Chess.com, 2011;

10...Ne7 in LetsJeromeGambit - ocelotosss, Chess.com 2020 

After the game, Stockfish 16.1 suggested, instead, 10...Kc6 and 10...Ke7.

Retreating the Knight from e5 would allow White to check the enemy King and then collect the Bishop on c5.

11.fxe5+ Qxe5 12.Qe2 


There was no need to exchange Queens.

12...Nf6 13.Rf1 

13.d3 Ke7 14.c3 was seen in perrypawnpusher - 1zscha2014, GameKnot.com 2014 (0-1, 32). 

13...Ke7

The analysis at Chess.com after the game gave this move a "??". 

The move was based on the illusion 13...Kc7 14.d4 Bxd4 15.Bf4 and Black wins the Queen. Of course, the correct move, 14...Qxd4, would allow Black to answer 15.Bf4 with 15...c6.

14.Rf5 Qd4 

Of course, retreating the Queen via the escape hatch would have been a good idea - 14...Qc7. Black would still be better.

15.c3 


At this point, in this position that is objectively even, I was so discouraged that I resigned.

I had looked at 15...Qg1+ and seen 16.Rf1, asking myself Where can my Queen retreat to?

I suspect that Yury chuckled, and saw further, realizing that Black had a piece to return, therefore: 15...Qg1+ 16.Rf1 Bf2+! 17.Qxf2 Qxf2+ 18.Rxf2 d6 and Black can play on.

[Readers might notice, if they check out this game at chess.com, that it was played after the date on this post. We are not time traveling, I am behind on posting…]