Yesterday's game, Byrne [Bryne] - Farwell, San Francisco, 1859, serves as a curious bridge between two pieces of Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) history. On the one hand, as we have seen, the opening moves transpose to what later will become known as the Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit. On the other hand, it introduces to this blog a player, Willard B. Farwell, who has a couple of other games in the historical California chess database — one of which approaches the question of what games might have influenced Alonzo Wheeler Jerome in the creation of his gambit (see "A Distant Relative?").
Farwell,W - Jones,E
San Francisco, 1859
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4
This is the Scotch Gambit, but, hold on.
4...Bc5 5.Ng5 Nh6
And now, a relatively familiar set of moves...*
6.Nxf7 Nxf7 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Qxc5
The game is about even, although White went on to lose in a miniature (9...d5 10.e5 Re8 11.f4 Nxe5 12.fxe5 Rxe5+ 13.Kd2 Qg5+ 14.Kd3 Re3+ 0-1).
I checked the position after White's 7th move in the ChessLab online database, and discovered a line of games with a whole host of familiar names, on both sides of the board, including:
Labourdonnais - Haxo, Gilvoisin, 1837 (1/2-1/2, 33)
Shumov - Jaenisch, St. Petersburg, 1850 (1-0, 20)
NN - Harrwitz, Paris, 1852 (0-1, 13)
Meek - Morphy, Alabama, 1855 (0-1, 21)
Montgomery - Allison, New York, 1857 (0-1, 59)
Kennicott - Morphy, New York, 1857 (0-1, 24)
Steinkuhler - Blackburne, Manchester, 1861 (0-1, 24)
Ranken - Staunton, London, 1866 (0-1, 24)
Could this be the trail of another "godfather" of the Jerome Gambit? I will be digging deeper...
*-Opening analysis of the time warned against 5...Ne5, because of 6.Nxf7 Nxf7 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Qxc5, going back at least as far as Sarratt - NN, 1818.. Familiar?
Although the following game did not take place during the California Chess Congress of 1858, mentioned yesterday, its participants were from that event's organizing committee. Balancing this out, the opening transposes into what we now know as a Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit, 15 years before Alonzo Wheeler Jerome first published his opening analysis.
Byrne [or Bryne], Thomas - Farwell, Willard B.
San Francisco, California, 1859
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6
The Semi-Italian Opening.
4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bc5
A careless choice that allows White to go Jerome.
6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Qh5+ Kf8
Instead, diddan23- Sirfixulot, Chess.com, 2012, which we looked at a couple of days ago, continued 7...g6.
8.Qxc5+ d6 9.Qc3 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 Nf6
White is up a pawn, with greater center control and a safer King.
11.O-O c5 12.Qd3 Be6 13.c4 Kf7 14.f4 Qc7
Linking his Rooks. Black might have done better with 14...Re8 15.Nc3 Kg8, castling-by-hand first.
15.Nc3 a6 16.e5
Pushing the other "Jerome pawn" with 16.f5 was more dynamic.
16...dxe5 17.fxe5 Qxe5 18.Be3 Rhd8 19.Qe2 Kg8
The game is relatively balanced now.
20.h3 Ne4 21.Bxh6 Qd4+ 22.Be3 Nxc3 23.bxc3 Qe4 24.Rf4 Qe5 25.Raf1 b5 26.Qf3 Bxc4 27.Re4 Qxc3 28.Rc1 Qa5
Black has been gathering material, but here his Queen should have stayed in the midst of the action with 28...Qd3, because his King has safety issues.
29.Qh5
Here White misses a chance to start weaving a mating net with the alternative 29.Rh4.
Black should now counter with 29...Rd5 and then the position, while tense, would be balanced. Instead, he decides: one more pawn...
29...Qxa2 30.Rh4 Qa3
Allowing mate in 9, starting with 31.Qh7+, although White plays otherwise.
31.Qh8+ Kf7 32.Rf4+
Good, although 32.Qh5+ still mates.
32... Ke6 33.Re4+ Kf7 34.Qh5+ Kg8
Suddenly, it appears that White has used his chances up. Where is the checkmate? In the meantime, Black's three connected passed pawns have their own sense of danger, and White's King is not completely safe himself.
Where is the checkmate? After giving the position a lot of attention, Houdini and I can find no more than a draw (by repetition of position) for White!
35.Qg4 Black resigned
It is likely that with 35...Qd3 (centralizing the Queen!) followed by 36...Qd7, Black could have assured his defense.
Here we have some of the strangeness that would become the Jerome Gambit.
