As J.M. Barrie wrote in Peter Pan,
All of this has happened before, and it will all happen again.
And, so it is that, once again, somehow - thank you, Jerome Gambit - I find myself at the top of the heap in my section in the second round of the "Italian Battleground" tournament at Chess.com.
With one game not yet completed, it looks like I will be followed in the standings by four players who will each have the same score. It will be up to the tie breaks to decide which two, among warwar, docfb, manospawn, and vasbur, will join me in advancing to the third round. (I won a Jerome Gambit against warwar, the only player in this group to allow the opening. If he is interested in a return match, I supect he is happy to have the edge in the tie breaks at this point.)
In the other section, two games remain to finish, but XristosGikas and 275Jukka have secured their advance, while Abhishek29 and Alfonso10 are likely to be the ones relying on tie breaks to secure an advance for one of them.
If my predictions hold, I am likely to be the 4th highest rated amongst the final 6 - but, then again, I will have my secret weapon.
In my February 11, 2010 blog post, "Provoked", I noted about a chessfriend and Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member,
Welton Vaz de Souza is a nice guy.
Sure, from time-to-time he crushes opponents with the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), but he's a nice guy.
Suggestion: don't provoke him in a game of chess.
I was reminded of that when I ran into the following game.
Richad - NeoNunes
blitz, FICS, 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4
The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.
4.0-0
This is one of the orthodox treatments of the BSG, along with 4.Nxd4 or 4.c3. Not everyone wants to play the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit, 4.Bxf7+!?
4...b5
This move, however, proves to be too much provocation. White decides on a Delayed Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.
5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe5+
As I noted in that older post,
It turns out that 5.Bxf7+ is so strong (or 4...b5 so ill-advised) that White could simply grab back a piece here with the alternative 6.Nxd4. If Black responds 6...exd4 then White has 7.Qh5+ and a few checks later the Rook on a8 will be captured.
After 6.Nxd4 Nf6, White retreats his Knight with 7.Nf3 and is better.
6...Ke6
Instead, 6...Ke8 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Nxg6 was seen in Ghandybh - BoogieKnights, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 16) and mikelovell - rogerlovell, FICS, 2012 (1-0, 44).
The alternative, Black's strongest move, 6...Ke7, was seen in Rub - Wall,B, Palo Alto, 1989, (0-1, 12), mukund - jantonacci, FICS, 2013 (1-0, 10) and Chabus - AlfonsoX, FICS, 2013 (1-0, 14).
7.f4
Stronger was 7.c3, as in mukund - jantonacci, FICS, 2013 (1-0, 10) and Chabus - AlfonsoX, FICS, 2013 (1-0, 14).
7...Nf6 8.c3 Nc6 9.d4
9...Nxe5
Courting danger.
10.fxe5 c6 11.exf6 gxf6 12.Qg4+ Kd6 13.Bf4+ Ke7
14.Nd2
This move is good enough, but White misses the hilarious 14.Be5!?
when Black cannot capture the Bishop, as he will be checkmated; so the cheeky prelate can go on and capture at f6.
Black's next move hangs a piece, but White is in no hurry: he builds his attack and breaks through.
14...Bg7 15.Rae1 Rg8 16.e5 d5 17.exf6+ Kf7 18.Qh5+ Kf8 19.fxg7+ Rxg7 20.Bh6+ Kg8 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.Rf7+ Kg8 23.Qxh7 checkmate
(May 2014 was the highest visited month in the history of this blog, going back to 2008. Many, many thanks to readers - and please feel free to continue to visit. - Rick)
