Last year, on this blog, I had a lot of fun looking at the idea of a Grandmaster playing or facing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), online or over-the-board. You might enjoy bouncing back to "A GM Faces the Jerome Gambit (Part 1 and Part 2) and "Jerome Gambit: More GMs? (Part 1 and Part 2)".
In summary, checking The Database, I found some online games with a GM-level player (2500 or above, according to the site's rating scales), but they featured either computers, human players with a lower FIDE rating, or human players whose FIDE rating I could not confirm.
I was left with 2 online games that matched my criteria: ChessCoachUA - PArnaudov, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2017 (1-0, 39) and Cliff Hardy - Yasser Quesada Perez, lichess, 1 0, 2019 (0-1, 54).
The other day I started wondering: Did any GMs play or face the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+)? That search would be a different kind of task, as the game would have to feature either a rare example of a GM playing the BSG, or, even less likely, a GM playing the BSJG. But my curiosity was piqued...
A search of The Database did not turn up any games with a player (of either color) rated 2500. In fact, there was only one game with a player rated above 2300 - but it was an interesting enough game. White is rated 2386 on the site.
ivan767 - SanChess2005
7 2 blitz, lichess.org, 2016
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4
The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.
4.Bxf7+
The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.
4...Ke7
The surprises continue: Black plays the BSG, White "Jerome-izes" it, Black declines the gambit. (SanChess2005 has played this move at least once before, in a frantic 0 minutes, 1 second increment bullet game - see "Faster Than A Speeding Neuron".)
The Database has 755 games with 4...Ke7, with White scoring 70%.
For some thoughts on the BSJG declined, see "Idées Fixes et Manqués".
5.Bc4
White is happy with the pawn he has won, and with the fact that Black will not be able to castle; so he withdraws his Bishop.
5...Ke8
Black unblocks the d8-h4 diagonal, putting the main tactical theme of the Blackburne Shilling Gambit back into play. I have called this a kind of "Jedi mind trick".
6.Nxe5
White relaxes too soon. He could have remained safely a piece up by playing 6.Nxd4 Qh4 (if 6...exd4, 7.Qh5+) 7.Nf3 Qxe4+ 8.Be2.
6...Qg5
Compare this position with one in the main line of the BSG:
analysis diagram
7.O-O Qxe5 8.c3
8...Nb5
Retreating the Knight to c6 would maintain Black's piece-for-two-pawns material advantage, although White would be somewhat better after 9.d4, because of his better pawn center and Black's less safe King.
9.d4 Qe7 10.Bxb5 c6 11.Bc4 b5 12.Bb3 Nf6 13.e5 Nd5 14.Nd2 Qg5
White is better, but he has some work to do.
15.Ne4 Qg6 16.Re1 Bb7 17.Nd6+ Bxd6 18.exd6+ Kd8 19.Bxd5 cxd5 20.Bf4 Rf8 21.Be5 Qf5
22.a4
White wants to open a line for his Rook, and he is not afraid to offer his f2 pawn.
23...Qxf2+ 23.Kh1 Qxb2 24.Rb1 Qxc3
All of this moving of the Queen is risky - in fact, White now has a checkmate in 11 moves, although it is hard to find in this complicated position, especially in blitz.
25.Rxb5
Even stronger was 25.Bxg7, because Black's Rook cannot move.
25...Ba6 26.Rc5
This saves his Rook but lets much of the energy escape from the position. White should go after the enemy Queen, but by playing 26.Rf1 Re8 27.Rf3, not the text. Once the Black Queen is moved away from covering the e1 square, White's Queen can go there - and then on to h5, with checkmate threats.
26...Qd3 27.Qxd3 Bxd3 28.Bxg7 Rf7
White is a pawn up.
29.Bh6 Bc4
Instead, after 29...Rf1+ 30.Rxf1 Bxf1 White will have to work for the point.
30.Bg5+ Black resigned
It is checkmate in 3 more moves.
[to be continued]
I received an interesting email from "Cliff Hardy" the other day. In it, he notes
In the post about my game vs the Cuban GM, "A GM Faces the Jerome Gambit (Part 2)", you mentioned the virtually mistake-free game: ChessCoachUA - PArnaudov, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2017: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qg3 Nf6 9.d3 Qd7 10.Nc3 Qg4 11.Qxg4 Bxg4 12.h3 Be6 13.Be3 Bxe3 14.fxe3 Ke7 15.O-O Rhf8 16.Nb5 c6 17.Nd4 Nd7 18.a4 Rxf1+ 19.Rxf1 Rf8 20.Rxf8 Nxf8 21.Kf2 g6 22.Nf3 Nd7 23.b3 a5 24.Ke2 Nc5 25.e5 dxe5 26.Nxe5 Kd6 27.d4 Nd7 28.Nd3 Bf5 29.g4 Bxd3+ 30.Kxd3 b5 31.axb5 cxb5 32.e4 a4 33.bxa4 bxa4 34.h4 a3 35.Kc3 Nb6 36.Kb3 Nc4 37.c3 Nd2+ 38.Kxa3 Nxe4 39.c4 Black lost on time; in which black maintains a winning advantage the whole game (from move 4), according to the Stockfish feature on Lichess (but loses on time in a winning position). I mentioned in a comment to the game that, in a slight anticlimax to my game being a rare example of a GM facing the Jerome Gambit, the black player PArnaudov is also a GM! https://lichess.org/@/PArnaudov
This certainly got me thinking! I responded quickly
The game ChessCoachUA - PArnaudov, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2017, is a good example of why some skeptical people see the Jerome Gambit as only playable in very quick games. Black can figure it all out, but it might take too much time. Certainly angelcamina has found this out with his 1 0 games.
I was interested in learning that PArnaudov is a GM...
For fun, I went to The Database and did a search for games with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ and "ratings > 2500". I found 25 games, with 6 games where White was >2500.
Wow! I was going to check out the games where the 2500+ player played the Jerome Gambit, first. The relevant games in The Database were all played online, not over-the-board.
One game was by BlackDemon, at FICS; it's a computer account; still, it might be fun to see if the Jerome is/was part of its book, the way "Brause" was set up to play the Halloween Gambit...
Two of the games were by Topper76, at redhotpawn.com, in a Kentucky Opening tournament; I will have to track him down. Oddly enough, he won one Jerome Gambit game, on time, in 7 moves, and lost the other to a player rated 2421.
Three of the games were by ChessCoachUA, at lichess.org - in fact, he was rated 2394, 2453, 2519, 2530, 2514 and 2459 on the site, for 6 Jeromes. Alas, ChessCoachUA's lichess.org account was listed as "closed", when I tried to check up on him.
Concerning the FICS computer account BlackDemon, I went to the online FICS games database, and found only 2 Jerome Gambits that it played with White, both in TheDatabase, one where the computer was "only" rated 2347 on the site. As a silicon beast, it couldn't be a grandmaster "in real life", anyhow.
I could not find a Topper76, at redhotpawn.com or elsewhere. Of course, those Jerome Gambit games were from 8 years ago, so the player may have moved on.
The ChessCoachUA story is a bit more complicated, and I had slipped up in my response to Cliff, above. The Database has 2 games by ChessCoachUA, as well as 2 games by ChessCoach_UA, and 4 games by ChessCoach1985. All of the players have lichess.org accounts listed as "closed", so it was not possible to do the kind of research that Cliff Hardy did with PArnaudov (above), to see if we were dealing with a GM in real life.
I tried, though.
I could find nothing on ChessCoach1985.
On the other hand, ChessCoach_UA, could well be Vasily Burishin, of Kiev, Ukraine. I could not find an FIDE rating.
I did find a ChessCoachUA at Chess.com - Alexey Pugach, of Dnepr, Ukraine, whose FIDE Chess Profile lists his rating as 1985. Of course I messaged him.
So - the search to find a human GM (FIDE rating, not online site rating) has not (yet) been successful.
[to be continued]
