I Don't Know How They Do It

I continue to be impressed by chess players who can manage both an unusual chess opening line and the bullet time control.

And win.

I mean, I could easily play a few meaningless moves and lose on time. I know how to do that.

But in the following game HenriDepraz brings home the full point - with checkmate - in under 10 moves.

HenriDepraz - ls103

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Na5 

I looked at this move in the first year of this blog, 2008. 

Of course, White can now simply play 4.Nxe5, but what's the fun in that? 

My most comprehensive coverage was in "Jerome Gambit: Again the Early Sources"

Looking again (see "Jerome Gambit: Early Sources") through Peter J. Monte's The Classical Era of Modern Chess (2014) I noticed that the Jerome Gambit-related line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Na5 4.Bxf7+ (see "Offside" for starters) has appeared as early as in Rodrigo "Ruy" López de Segura's Libro de la invencion liberal y arte del juego del Axedrez (1561) and Giulio Cesare Polerio's Ordini di giuochi degli scacchi in diversi modi, cosi di mano, come sottomano, cio e in offenza, e dife[n]za co[n] altri bellissimi partiti, sono di Guilio Cesare Polerio alias l'Apruzzese. Giocandosi del Pari (1594).

 Monte writes

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Na5: Mentioned in Lopez III, xiv, the move 3...Na5 is refuted by the sequence 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ etc. in Polerio's D16 and 29.

The early lines of play are given

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Na5

Last move in Lopez III, xiv. 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+

* 5...Ke7 6.d4 d6 7.Bg5 Nf6 8.Nd3 h6 9.Bh4 g5 10.Bg3 Bg4 11.f3 Bh5 12.Qd2 in Doazan D16

* 5...Ke6 6.Qg4+ Kxe5 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.Qd5+ Ke7 9.Qxa5 and

* 5...Ke8 6.Qh5+ Ke7 7.Qf7+ Kd6 8.Qd5+ Ke7 9.Qxa5 in Doazan D29

"Doazan" refers to Gabriel Eloy Doazan's 1843 article in Le Palamede, where his "Un manuscrit sur les echecs" presented one of Polario's manuscripts. 

4.Bxf7+ 

There are 2,860 games with this move in The Database. White scores 71%.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 

Black's King steps back.

Stockfish 16.1 slightly prefers 5...Ke7, e.g. 6.d4 d6 7.Bg5+ Nf6 8.Nd3 h6, when play gets wild - 9.Qh5 hxg5 10.Qxh8 Nxe4 11.0-0 Bf5 but supposedly equal, where White has a Rook and a pawn (and a safer King) for two pieces.

6.d4 

Simple enough.

With only one minute on the clock, White does not explore 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Nxg6 hxg6 8.Qxg6+ Ke7 9.d3 Bh6 10.Bxh6 Nxh6 11.Qg5+ Kf7 12.Qxa5 with four pawns (and a safer King) for a piece. 

6...d6 

Encouraging - or overlooking - White's next move.

7.Qh5+ Ke7 

Black would have better chances to hold on with 7...g6 8.Nxg6 Nf6 9.Qh4 hxg6 10.Qxh8 Nxe4 11.Bh6 Qf6 12.Qxf8+ Qxf8 13.Bxf8 Kxf8 when White would have a Rook and two pawns for two pieces. 

8.Qf7 checkmate

There are 7 games like this in The Database