Jerome Gambit: Stockfish vs Mittens (Part 4)

                                              

[continued from the previous post]

Stockfish  - Mittens bot

Chess.com, 2026

In the battle of the chess engines, the fish has an advantage over the cat.

49...Re8 50.Rxe8+ Bxe8 

Exchanging Rooks decreases White's chances of direct attack on the enemy King, but Stockfish has seen further

51.Rc8 Kf8 52.f6 

Aye, there's the rub.

52...gxf6 53.g7+ Kxg7 54.Rxe8 

Black has a Knight and a pawn (passed) for a Rook, but in this case it is not enough.

54...Kf7 55.Rh8 Kg6 56.Rd8 f5 57.Kb3 Ne4 58.Kxb4 f4 59.c4 Kf5 

The game has reached a fascinating position. 

Black can sacrifice his Knight for White's c-pawn, as in the game, and hope to advance his f-pawn, according to the saying Black pawns move faster in the endgame.

Or he can run that pawn immediately, with 59...f3  but White's King and Rook prove to be better partners than Black's King and Knight, i.e. 60.c5 f2 61.Rd1 Kf7 62.c6 Ke7 63.c7 Nd6 64.Kc5 Nb7+ 65.Kb6 Nd6 66.Kc6 Nc8 67.Rf1 Na7+ 68.Kb7 Nb5 69.Rxf2 Nxc7 70.Kxc7 White will win Black's remaining pawn, and promote his own - or, in some cases, sacrifice his last pawn to trap Black's King on the h-file, eventually producing a side file (as opposed to back rank) mate. 

It is worth playing out. 

60.c5 Nxc5 Black resigned

White has a checkmate in 18 moves, and even Stockfish 16.1 (64 ply) can see it. 

Apparently, so can the Mittens bot.

My thanks to Chessinator for sharing this game.