"Only" A Draw

Here is another draw from the nearly-completed-now Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament at ChessWorld. It is full of play on both sides of the board, and White only grows "peaceful" when his King is threatened.

Knight32 - Baron wd von Blanc, heart pirate
Jerome Gambit Thematic TournamentChessWorld, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+

4..Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6

7.Qxc5 N8e7 8.d4 Rf8 9.Nc3 d6

10.Qc4+ Be6 11.d5 Bd7 12.Bg5 Kg8 13.f3 Ne5 14.Qe2 h6 15.Bh4 g5 16.Bg3 N5g6

17.h4 c5 18.h5 Nf4 19.Bxf4 Rxf4 20.g3 Rf8 21.0-0-0 b5

22.e5 dxe5 23.Qxe5 Nf5 24.Ne4 Nd4 25.f4 Nf3 26.Qc3 g4

27.Qxc5 Qa5 28.Qd6 Qxa2

That's close enough, thinks White, who checks out.

29.Qg6+ Kh8 30.Qxh6+ Kg8 31.Qg6+ Kh8 32.Qh6+ Kg8 33.Qg6+ Kh8 34.Qh6+ drawn

Battle Again

My introduction to MRBarupal was rather ubrupt: he beat my Jerome Gambit three straight times.

Since then we had met once more, and I had scored my first win.

Today's game is my second.

perrypawnpusher - MRBarupal
blitz, FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8

This is Sorensen's Variation, a solid defense and a change from the games MRBarupal and I had previously played, all of which had continued 5...Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3.

6.Nxc6 dxc6

I was surprised to see that Rybka 3 prefer 6...bxc6 by the tiniest bit, even though it allows 7.d4. Alonzo Wheeler Jerome is on record as preferring 6...dxc6.

7.d3

7.0-0 as in Jerome - Brownson, Iowa, USA, 1875 (1/2-1/2, 29) is probably more accurate, as it is clear that White will be castling Kingside, but it is not totally clear (depending on Black's development) that the first player has to completely forego d2-d4.

That said, after 7.0-0 Nf6 White may respond with 8.d3 (better than 8.e5 of Norton - Hallock, corr 1877), which would simply be a transposition to this game.

7...Nf6

I have had mixed success against 7...Qf6: perrypawnpusher - fortytwooz, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 29); perrypawnpusher - Lark, FICS, 2011, (1-0, 12); and perrypawnpusher - Jore, FICS, 2011, (0-1, 16).

8.0-0 Bg4

A slower game came about after 8...h6 9.Be3 Qe7 10.d4 Bb6 11.f3 Kg8 12.Nc3 Kh7 13.Qd3 g6 in perrypawnpusher - vladchess, blitz, FICS, 2011, (½-½, 46).

9.Qe1

Black's Bishops are really annoying! It was beginning to feel like my "nemesis" was taking over the game again.

9...Qe8

Instead, 9...Qe7 was seen in Lowe - Parker, corr, 1879 (1-0, 37)

10.Be3 Bd6

10...Qe7 and 10...Bb6 are slightly better alternatives, mostly because they prove to be less complicated than the text.

11.f4 Nh5

Instead, after the game Rybka 3 suggested that it was time to return the piece for three pawns: 11...Nxe4 12.dxe4 Qxe4 13.Nc3 Qxc2

analysis diagram









Here Black is a pawn up, but the uncertain placement of his King and the open lines against it give White sufficient counterplay to call the game even.

The text allows White's "Jerome pawns" to advance with malice.

12.e5 Be7 13.f5

Black resigned

I admit that I was a bit surprised at my opponent's decision, as in the past he had shown some strong tactical chops in messy situations.

It is true that after 13...Qf7 14.Nd2 Bxf5 15.g4 g6 16.gxf5 gxf5 material is even and Black's f-pawn is hanging, but after 17.Qf2 Rg8+ 18.Kh1 Qd5+ 19.Ne4 Ng7 it still has not fallen and after 20.Qg3 Ke8 21.c4 Qf7 22.Bh6 Ne6 23.Rxf5 Rxg3 24.Rxf7 Kxf7 25.hxg3 Rd8 it doesn't look like the extra pawn for White will account for much, at least according to Rybka 3 and Fritz 8.

Perhaps events off of the chess board accounted for his need to leave.

Daves111 Tops ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic

Dominating the field like What's-His-Name in the picture on the left, Daves111 left his twelve opponents in the dust as he stormed to the top in the just-completed (or "just about" completed: the remaining game is a mate-in-two) double round robin ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament.

Daves111 scored 21 points out of 24 games, taking 10 out of 12 points available with the White pieces and 11 out of 12 points with the Black pieces.

He was followed by CheckmateKingTwo and Jerome Gambit veteran DREWBEAR 63, each with 17.5 points. My guess is that the tie break will go to CheckmateKingTwo, as he beat DREWBEAR 63 in their two games.

In fourth place, with 16 out of 24 points, was blackburne, the tournament organizer and long-time member of the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde.

TWODOGS and Crusader Rabbit achieved plus scores, with 13.5 and 13 points respectively.

shm19cs broke even with 12 points and eddie43 just missed that mark with 11.5 points.

There followed LukeWarm with 10 points, stampyshortlegs with 9 points, calchess10 with 8 points and Baron wd von Blanc, heart pirate with 7 points. anbeks finished with 0 points.

The top scorers with the Jerome Gambit were Daves111 (10 points), CheckmateKingTwo (8.5) and DREWBEAR 63 (7.5).

The top scorers against the Jerome Gambit were Daves111 (11 points), DREWBEAR 63 (10 points) and CheckmateKingTwo (9 points).

The greatest upset was calchess10 winning a game against an opponent with a rating 350 points higher.

The Jerome Gambit itself scored 46%, which is consistent with how well it has done in past thematic tournaments.

One Slip

It is true that the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) has a number of refutations, but it is necessary for Black to chose one and play it. Treating the opening as toothless can lead to unhappy surprises and poor outcomes.

calchess - Baron wd von Blanc
Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, ChessWorld, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+

4...Kxf7 5.Nc3 Nf6

Here we see the link betwen the "modern" variations of the Jerome Gambit (those without 5.Nxe5) and the Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit, which reaches the same position from a different move order: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7.

In this game, in "modern" fashion, White does not follow with the usual Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit 6.Nxe5.

6.a3 d5

Thematic and good.

7.exd5 Nxd5 8.Ne4 Bb6

Black is doing well: he has an extra piece and he has the better development. It should take him a couple of moves to castle-by-hand, and then he will be comfortable as well.

Instead, he is lulled by White's calm play, and his next move gives up the advantage.

9.0-0 Bg4

10.Nfg5+ Kg8 11.Qxg4 Nf6

And this "defensive" move loses the game.

12.Qe6+ Kf8 13.Qf7 checkmate