Read This Blog

Sometimes the only advice that I have for chessplayers is: Read this blog. Oh - and pay attention to what is going on, too...

Yvalery - Gouldy
standard game, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit. 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6

The updated New Year's Database has five of Yvalery's games with 5...Ke8 here (he was 2-2 with White, and 1-0 with Black), but none 5...Ke6.

6.Qh5

In the Database there are 68 games with this position. White's score is 58%.

I recommend 6.c3, instead, even though it scores only 53% (out of 215 games) in the Database.

6...Nf6

The strongest move. White scores 39% in the Database.

7.Qg5

White has to hang in there while his Rook disappears.

7...Nxc2+ 8.Kd1 Nxa1 9.Qf5+

9...Ke7 10.Nc3 d6

Black has things under control.

11.Nd5+ Nxd5 12.Qf7 checkmate

Ouch!

The Kentucky / Danvers Opening

The story of "the Kentucky Opening" (see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4), 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 – which Joseph Henry Blackburne, I believe, likened to the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) in his Mr. Blackburne's Games at Chess (after 4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+) – can stand one more chapter.

In a post about the opening, which he referred to as the Danvers Opening, Bill Wall (see "The Kentucky Opening (Part 3) ") wrote

It is mentioned in the American Chess Bulletin with that name in 1905

Indeed, it is:

American Chess Bulletin
June 1905

ALL BOSTON VERSUS NEW ENGLAND

One of the largest gatherings of chess players ever brought together in Boston witnessed the struggle for supremacy between teams representing Boston and vicinity and the rest of New England at the rooms of the Boston Chess Club, 241 Tremont Street, on May 30. Boston won by 29 games to 11, the winning team being headed by such well known players as John F. Barry, A.M. Sussmann and Dr. E. E. Southard...

A special prize was offered for the best game at the "Danvers Opening," viz., 1 P-K4, P-K4; 2 Q-R5, which will probably go to Dr. E. E. Southard, the noted ex-Harvard champion, who adopted it successfully against his opponent.

The following month, the American Chess Bulletin gave the score of the two "Danvers Opening" games from the Boston vs New England event, McClure, - Mathewson (1-0, 42) and Southard - Hill (1-0, 27), which were presented in "The Kentucky Opening (Part 4)".

The Kentucky Opening (Part 3)

Readers who have been following the saga of the Kentucky Opening (see Part 1 and Part 2) may have already found themselves protesting: but I never knew that 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 was called the Kentucky Opening!

Likely they are more familiar with references like the one below, from Bill Wall, chess author and investigator of both games short and openings unusual (and, at least on one occasion, someone willing to play the Jerome Gambit!)

Danvers Opening - 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5
by Bill Wall

The opening 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 was probably first named in the early 20th century as Danvers Opening. It is mentioned in the American Chess Bulletin with that name in 1905. The Danvers opening was named after a hospital.

The opening also has names such as the Queen's Attack or Wayward Queen's Attack or Queen's Excursion or the Patzer Opening or the Terrorist Attack. In Indiana, it is Parham's Opening, named after former Indiana State Champion Bernard Parham, who plays 2.Qh5 on almost any Black reply. ECO name is C20.

The attack with the queen is tried mostly by beginners. It is really not very good to bring out the queen early, and many beginners do, hoping for an early mate.

The first game with this opening may be the following:

Adov - Borisov, St Petersburg 1889

1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 g6 4.Qf3 Nf6 5.Qb3 [5.Ne2] Nd4 6.Qc3 [6.Qd3] d5 7.Bxd5? [7.exd5] Nxd5 8.exd5 Bf5 9.d3 [9.Na3 Bxa3 10.bxa3 Qxd5] Bb4 0-1

Well, as we've already seen, there have been earlier, if not well-known, examples of the Kentucky / Danvers Opening.

What about Wall's reference to the opening being named after a hospital? The March 1920 issue of the American Chess Bulletin carried a remembrance of "The Late Dr. Elmer E. Southard" – "The famous Harvard varsity [chess] player, who was assistant professor of psychology at Harvard"

Dr. Southard attained distinction in his chosen profession, as a writer of books and assistant editor of the Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, and will be remembered as the most brilliant player who ever represented Harvard in the annual tournaments with Columbus, Yale and Princeton in New York and who, in the days of two-men teams, played for the Crimson in 1895, 1896, 1897 and 1898...

In due course of time Dr. Southard took his place in the front rank of Boston's chess experts, and more than once was nominated substitute on the American teams which played in the Anglo-American cable matches. The Danvers opening (1. P-K4, P-K4; 2.Q-R5, etc.) was originated by him during the period of 1906-9, when he was assistant physician and pathologist in the Danvers State Hospital for the Insane.

A Small Clue to Follow...

I posted the following at rec.games.chess.misc

Does anyone have access to the American Chess Bulletin, Volume 9, 1912? As part of my research on the Jerome Gambit, I'm trying to track down a reference given in Google books, supposedly in American Chess Bulletin, Volume 9 (1912) p. 158

"...for a kindlier, sweeter old Knight of Caissa never lived. For years he offered the Jerome Gambit to all players, being strong in the..."

The whole paragraph, section, or article would be interesting to see. Many thanks.

Rick

Very quickly came the response:

Newsgroups: rec.games.chess.misc
From: Rook House >@rookhouse.com>
Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:32:00 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: American Chess Bulletin, Vol. 9, 1912

Here is the entire paragraph from page 158 of the 1912 American Chess Bulletin:

Another of the old-timers now at Kansas City is Mr. Parsons, for a long time secretary of the local club at Minneapolis, Minn. Bro. P. is a sort of dean among the Gate City players, having the same quaint and loveable qualitites that so long endeared the late Mr. Reed to the members of the St. Louis Club. Some time I want to write you a little appreciation of dear old Mr. Reed, for a kindlier, sweeter old Knight of Caissa never lived. For years he offered the Jerome Gambit to all players, being strong in the faith that the variation was his own creation. So far as I know, nobody ever had the heart to undeceive him.