Welcome to the World of Wall

Of late, Bill Wall (see Chessville's "Bill Wall's Wonderful World of Chess") has been investigating the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) and other Jerome-ish openings.

I've had fun playing over a number of his games and have decided to present several, starting in his pre-Jerome Gambit era. Even early on, his brand of wild, brash and outrageous play had some Jerome-ish tinges to it.

Watt,B - Wall

Taylorsville, NC, 1975

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Bc5

Having his own ideas, but this was too much for his opponent to sit still and take.

3.Na4

Cue the scary violin music: we have seen this before in "Godfather of the Jerome Gambit? Part I, Part II, Part III", "Godfather of Oz??" and "Hamppe - Meitner Revealed".

3...Bxf2+ 4.Kxf2 Qh4+

5.Ke3 Qf4+ 6.Kd3

6...Nf6

Hampe - Meitner, Vienna, 1870 continued 6...d5 7.Kc3 Qxe4 8.Kb3 Na6 9.a3 Qxa4+ 10.Kxa4 Nc5+ 11.Kb4 a5+ 12.Kxc5 Ne7 13.Bb5+ Kd8 14.Bc6 b6+ 15.Kb5 Nxc6 16.Kxc6 Bb7+ 17.Kb5 Ba6+ draw

7.Nc3

In the September 2002 issue of Chess Life, Grandmaster Andy Soltis suggested 7.Qf3 as an improvement in this line. (I have no idea if he was familiar with Bill's game here.)

7...d5

8.Qe1

Understandably faltering under pressure. Rybka suggests that White could find his way to a balanced game with: 8.Qf3 dxe4+ 9.Nxe4 Bf5 10.Qxf4 exf4 11.Ke2 Nxe4 12.d3 Nf6 13.Bxf4 Nc6 14.Nf3 0-0-0 15.Re1 Nd5 16.Bg3 Ndb4

analysis diagram





8...dxe4+ 9.Kc4 e3+

It's "open season" on Kings...

10.Kb3 Nc6 11.a3 Be6+ White resigned

 

G.K.G.

It's fun to include Gary K. Gifford as part of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) Gemeinde – not so much because he plays the Jerome Gambit (he doesn't) but because of his support of the opening, publishing several of my Jerome Gambit articles in the fantastic and fantastical "Unorthodox Openings Newsletter" (see "Jerome Gambit Scrapbook") – which can be found among the Yahoo Groups – and coining the nickname "The Jerome Gamble".

Players who like the Jerome Gambit are probably playing their share of unorthodox chess openings, too.

It's also a delight to stop by Chessville and visit Gary's chess comics that fill out "The Chess Player's Chronicles", as well as his tactics page there.

Like I've said: Jerome Gambit Gemeinde members are interesting people!

Psychology... and the Jerome Gambit?

The title of a very interesting article at Chessville is "Do Not Overestimate the Role of Psychology in Chess" by FM Amatzia Avni.

While I don't agree with everything the author says, he certainly has the background to say it (check out "Inside Avni's Mind" and my reviews of his books Practical Chess Psychology, The Grandmaster's Mind, and Devious Chess; as well as Chessville editor David Surratt's review of Chess Tips for the Improving Player ) and he doesn't mince words, for example

Yet a new psychological jargon appears to delude people to think that they act cleverly, while this is not the case.

By the way, many players have made comments about playing against my Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) but none have actually suggested that they thought I was being clever...

Worth a Second Look... (Part 3)

The most recent analysis of 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 (see "Worth a Second Look (Part 1)" and "Worth a Second Look (Part 2)") is by NM Clyde Nakamura, in his very creative "The Search for Dragons & Mythical Chess Openings" column at Chessville. Nakamura refers to the line, after the additional 3.Nxe5 Nc6, as "Chiodini's Gambit" apparently so-named by a chessfriend-of-a-chessfriend. He gives earlier (1998) analysis by Stefano Vezzani and by Sverre Johnsen, and then gives a host of annotated games, including one by Busch and one by Gass.

The Boden-Kieseritzky Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nxe4 4.Nc3) was suggested by Lionel Kieseritzky in 1848. Samuel Boden published the first analysis of it in his Popular Introduction to Chess in 1851. Over 150 years later, will the BKG, in Chiodini form, rise again like the mythical Phoenix?

Firsts

An exchange of emails with Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member Pete Banks ("blackburne"):

Hi Rick,

Not sure if I mentioned this, but one of my Internet wins with the Jerome is in Gary Lane's book The Greatest Ever Chess Tricks and Traps .

I wonder if this is the first publication of a complete Jerome game in book form?

Pete

Hi Pete,

I've got dibs on the review copy of Gary's book when it shows up at Chessville, so I'll be able to see your game in print with my own eyes. Congratulations all over again!

As for the first publication of a complete Jerome Gambit game in book form, I think your game is a rare item, but not the first.

Andres Clemente Vazquez included three Jerome Gambits from his second match with William Carrington in his book Algunas Partidas de Ajedrez (1876); and he shared his game against L. Giraudy in the 2nd & 3rd editions of his Analisis del juego de ajedres: libro a propositio para que pueda aprender dicho juego, el que lo ignore del todo, in necesidad de maestro (1885, 1889). (Not in the 1st edition, mind you: it was published in 1874, the first year that the Jerome Gambit saw print.)

Of course, the infamous game Amateur - Blackburne, London 1885, appeared in Mr. Blackburne's Games at Chess (1899), and thereafter in numerous books, including Handbuch des Schachspiels - 8th ed (1916); Du Mont's 200 Miniature Games of Chess (1942); Chernev and Harkness' An Invitation to Chess A Picture Guide to the Royal Game (1945); and Wenman's Master Chess Play (1951).

More recently, Eric Schiller has included Amateur -Blackburne in his Unorthodox Chess Openings (1998, 2002) and Gambit Chess Openings (2002); and, with John Watson, his Survive and Beat Annoying Chess Openings (2003).

Hope that isn't rain on your parade -- your game appears to be the first game from this century and the past one to appear in book form, as far as I know. Good enough?

Best wishes,

Rick

Jerome Gambit Blog: More Tidying Up

It's time to do a bit more tidying up (see "Jerome Gambit Blog: Tidying Up") on the blog – looking back on older posts and updating things since the last effort...

Relationships with the ChessPub.com forum remain cordial, if distant (see "Jerome Gambit: Duck-Billed Platypus of Openings"). I posted a short message there with a link to this blog, and some people have followed it over, placing the site 13th in referrals to jeromegambit.blogspot.com, according to Google Analytics. Of course the actual number is 1/16 th of those who came over from the Something Awful website (see "Something Awful", "Something Awful Again" and "Return to Awful"), just to keep things in perspective.

"Is it September already?" requires a number of updates. To date there has been no Jerome Gambit tournament in Jerome, Arizona, as far as I know. I still have an observer near the scene, though (see "Driving Distance"). Bill Vallicella's very interesting and ever-challenging Maverick Philosopher website has a new location. A review copy of Benjamin Hale's book Philosophy Looks at Chess has arrived, and when I get past my current writer's block (i.e. spending all of my writing time on this blog, instead of writing reviews for Chessville) I'll have my say about it.

An update to "The Jerome Gambit Gemeinde (modern)" would have to include chessfriend and game-contributor Martin Moller, of Denmark (see "Jerome meets the Elephant", "Jerome Gambit Strikes in Denmark!" and "Deadly Duel in Denmark" ) Unfortunately, the tournament mentioned in "A Jerome Gambit Gemeinde Adventure in Denmark" did not proceed as expected, and it is not likely that we will see further Jerome Gambit games from it.

The possible connection betwen Winston Churchill and Alonzo Wheeler Jerome (see "From the Email Bag...") has been traced a bit. Churchill's mother was the American, Jennie Jerome (Lady Randolph Churchill; 1854-1921). Jennie's father was Leonard Jerome (1818-1891) of New York City fame and fortune. Leonard's father was Isaac Jerome; his grandfather was Aaron Jerome; his great-grandfather was Samuel Jerome. Samuel's father, Timothy Jerome, according to thePeerage, in 1710 "fled from France to England. In 1717 he sailed from the Isle of Wight to settle in Connecticut." Papers from the military records of Alonzo Wheeler Jerome (born in Four Mile Point, New York, see "The Man, The Myth, The Legend...") show that upon his death in 1902, his widow, Jennie Jerome (the name is an interesting coincidence) filed for a survivor pension. One affadavit was signed by Edgar Jerome and Martha Millis, listed as brother and sister of Alonzo, living in Fairfield County, Connecticut. Further research, of course, is needed to make any link, such as an Alonzo Wheeler Jerome-linked homestead in Connecticut.

In a comment to "Why not join in the discussion?" Pete Banks wrote the following:

Hi Rick,

I sent my latest escapade to Gary Lane after I sent it to you, as he'd asked for Jerome examples. Here is the relevant part of his reply: 'Did Rick Kennedy ever have his article published in the Germanmagazine he mentioned called Kaissiber? Anyway, you won't be able to use the opening as a surprise weapon for much longer because in November a winning game of yours is mentioned in my book "The Greatest Ever Tricks and Traps in the Opening" published by Everyman. Cheers Gary'

So a Jerome Gambit is to appear in print! Perhaps we'll get a revival going!

A check of the Everyman Chess website shows that Gary Lane's The Greatest Ever Chess Tricks and Traps is available now. Perhaps it should be included as the next entry in the "Jerome Gambit Scrapbook".

By the way, as for the Kaissiber saga, see "To Infinity... And Beyond! (Part II)", "Breaking News..." and "Jerome Gambit Blog: Tidying Up". I'm still hopeful.

Regarding the "Jerome Gambit and the Perfesser series" Part I, Part II, Part III and PartIV, I have another instructive, exploratory "human vs computers" match coming up, where the protagonist, "RevvedUp" (a pseudonym of my invention), alternates between playing Black and playing White, using the line played by the computer in the previous game as his choice in the current one – thus extending his Jerome Gambit "book" through the use of the computers' praxis...

Randspringer!

Readers who enjoy unorthodox chess openings will be pleased to learn that there is a new Randspringer availiable, a triple issue (#82 - #84), with 152 pages. Costs are 14,80 Euro plus 3 Euro for international shipment. Or $25.00 to the USA, I believe.

If you are interested, please contact Peter Reuter at savethewhalenow@yahoo.com

On a related note, I would like to quote from a footnote to a book review that I wrote for Chessville a year or so ago. I do not know if the offers still hold – why not email Peter and ask him?

Peter Reuter (savethewhalenow@yahoo.com) has an announcement sure to set your mouth watering: years 3 through 6 of Rainer Schlenker’s mind-bending German language magazine Randspringer – trailblazer of unusual opening ideas, a contemporary of the legendary Myers’ Openings Bulletin, predecessor to the Unorthodox Openings Newsletter – are available in book form.

But wait – there’s more! Here is a synopsis:

Handbuch der Unregelmaessigen Schacheroeffnungen, Bd. 3 bis 6 [Manual of Unorthodox Chess Openings, vol. 3 to 6]. Reprinted Randspringer volumes 1984 to 1987, 4 paperbacks, 700 densely packed pages with offbeat theory and unorthodox openings of the eighties!

If you order these titles, Peter will throw in:

(1) Randspringer #78. Trossinger Partie 1 e4 & 2 Lc4 auf alles [1 e4 & Bc4 versus (almost) everything, e.g. 1 e4 c6, 2 Bc4!? d5, 3 Bb3 de4:, 4 Qh5! g6, 5 Qh4] (August 2006, 42 pages).

(2) Randspringer #79/80. Up dates Franco-Polnisch 1 e4 e6, 2 d4 b5! (January 2006, 98 pages)

(3) Randspringer #81. Matt in 20 Zuegen. 19.Jahrhundert virtuell im Geiste. Henry Birds. This covers a multitude of unorthodox openings, much b3&f4 material, Sicilian Winger 1 e4 c5, 2 b4, Danish Gambit 1 e4 e5, 2 d4, Ruth Counter Attack 1 d4 Sf6, 2 Lg5 Se4, Kentucky Defense 1 d4 Sh6?! and many more (May 2006, 62 pages).

(4) Festschrift 100 Jahre SV Schwenningen. The large games section covers some of Schlenker’s theoretical and practical efforts in chess (April 2006, 56 pages).

Also, those who order will be sent along a free copy of the 1997 book: Franco-Polnisch 1 e4 e6, 2 d4 b5 u.a. [and others] (paperback, 96 pages).With plenty of games and analysis, Randspringer can certainly be enjoyed by those (like myself) whose first language is not German. These 1050+ pages are not lost to the ages...

I was also able to track down the book version of the first year of Randspringer, but discovered that for some reason there was no bound version of year two. Peter was industrious enough to offer me photocopies – an offer I could hardly refuse!

graphic by Jeff Bucchino, "The Wizard of Draws"

Goddess Chess

Readers who have not yet visited the Goddess Chess site (or the blogger's Chessville site, as well; see: "Les Femmes des Echecs... & the Jerome Gambit") should stop on by and have their eyes opened wider.


In a recent post titled "The Giuoco Piano a/k/a C50 in ECO terms" Jan mentioned my search for women who -- for whatever reasons -- had played the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+). As for the opening itself, she wrote...

I had a vague idea that it must have something to do with chess but for some unknown reason "go fish" pops into my mind whenever I read the words "Jerome's Gambit."

[Ah, Jan you are too cruel. Spot on about the Jerome Gambit -- but cruel. - R.K.]

The other thing "Jerome's Gambit" conjures up is a memory from my murky past long long ago, on a planet far far away...of a street hustler named Boney Jerome who used to hold court on the steps outside the apartment building where I lived at the time.

Boney Jerome tried to lure me into an "unspecified relationship" by attempting to bribe me with large gold and cubic zirconia rings (the gold was probably as fake as the stones), which I always rejected with a sweet smile.

He eventually gave up on me, declaiming to all in the neighborhood that I was way too smart and sassy-mouthed for my own good, always throwing quotes from Shakespeare at him. For my part, I was impressed that Boney Jerome knew the name Shakespeare.

My response was to quote from Emanuel Lasker in the December 1907 issue of Lasker’s Chess Magazine

... The artistic conscience sometimes makes him who has it a coward – or, let us say, a Hamlet of the chess board.

I wonder if Hamlet was a chessplayer. From his character it seems indeed likely. If he was, he probably played a weak but imaginative game, with a craving to improve upon the best move and therefore often missing it.

Hamlets of the chess board are frequent types. Once in the meshes of combination they lose themselves in its intricacies, and evolve ideas that are so infinitely subtle that they have no vitality. Then is the moment when fate, usually with a somewhat brutal, matter-of-fact blow, wakes them out of their dreams.

Although what this has to do with "go fish", I am not sure.

Les Femmes des Echecs...& the Jerome Gambit

I was emailing Chessville neighbor JanXena ("Les Femmes des Echecs" – news, games, and witty & urbane commentary) the other day when I got to wondering: did I know how many women were creative enough, courageous enough, carefree enough – or downright foolish, reckless, and bored enough – to play the Jerome Gambit?

That turns out to be a difficult question, in no small part due to to the fact that a large percentage of the Jerome Gambit games in my database (about 80%) are internet games, played pseudonymously.

We've already seen ("My Jerome Gambit Database") this brevity:

Brescak - Hefti
EU-ch U10 Girls, 1998

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

A few years ago Pete Banks ("blackburne") sent me a half dozen games from ChessWorld played by a creative and adventurous woman who explained her chess philosophy

Hello! Oh, I know that I make often the opening with these moves as you mentioned...but unfortunately I NEVER have read a book or any theoretic things about it or even about chess. That's because I'm just learning by doing, I play most of moves very fast and as you can see, I play very often. So with the time I have my favourite openings, but am always open to try new ones or "unconventional" moves.... For me the game is interesting just by doing and I realized that I will get better with many many losses... that takes probably more time than studying the theory, but if I should study it, it wouldn't be fun any more for me.

Here's a game example. White overcomes the disadvantage inherent in the opening, gains the distinctly better game after Black's King wanders too far afield, and had some fascinating checkmates available – before things unravelled.

Plejade - The Cunning Sly
www.ChessWorld.net, 2003

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d3 Ke8 6.Bg5 Nge7 7.Qd2 h6 8.Bxe7 Nxe7 9.d4 exd4 10.Nxd4 d6 11.Nc3 a6 12.0-0-0 Bb6 13.Nd5 Nxd5 14.exd5 c5 15.Ne6 Bxe6 16.dxe6 Ke7 17.Rhe1 Bc7 18.f4 Re8 19.f5 Kf6 20.Rf1 Qe7 21.Qf4 d5 22.Qh4+ g5 23.Qxh6+ Ke5 24.Qh3 Rh8 25.Rfe1+ Kd6 26.Qd3 d4 27.g4 Rxh2 28.c3 Rah8 29.cxd4 Ba5 30.dxc5+ Kxc5 31.Re5+ Kb6 32.Qb3+ Ka7 33.Rxa5 Qc7+ 34.Kb1 Qxa5 35.e7 Re2 36.Rd5 Qxd5 37.Qxd5 Rxe7 38.f6 Rc7 39.f7 Rf8 40.Qf5 Rfxf7 41.Qxg5 Rf1+ 42.Qc1 Rcxc1 checkmate

In another game sent to me I will refer to the players as they were presented.

Yesterday and the day before, I tried to orchestrate some J. Gambits at gameknot's blitz program... I played 15-20 games and was only able to get in one Jerome Gambit, which I won, although I missed a quicker, and nicer, mate which I saw while reviewing the game just now before sending it.

My opponent may have been a stronger player than he appears in this game. His play seemed a little contemptuous at first and it's more likely he underestimated the power of the open lines against his exposed king. Protecting his knight rather than moving it, only to lose it, cost him the game.

Sarah - not Sarah
10 min.blitz http://www.gameknot.com/ 2006
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bxd4 7.Qxd4 d6 8.f4 c5 9.Qc3 Qh4+ 10.g3 Qh6 11.Nd2 b5 12.fxe5 b4 13.0–0+ Ke6 14.Qc4+ Ke7 15.Qf7+ Kd8 16.Qf8+ Kc7 17.Nc4 Qe6 18.Rf7+ Bd7 19.Rxd7+ Qxd7 20.Qxa8 Qb5 21.exd6+ Kd7 22.Qxa7+ Kc6 23.d7 Nf6 24.Ne5+ Kd6 25.Nf7+ Ke7 26.Nxh8 (I missed 26. d8=Q+ Ke6 27. Qde7#) 26...Nxd7 27.Bg5+ Ke6 28.Qa8 Qc4 29.Qe8+ Kd6 30.Rd1+ Kc6 31.Qxd7+ Kb6 32.Bd8+ Ka6 33.Rd6 checkmate

Finally, a game of my own -- my first loss with the Gambit. ("The excuses are all there, waiting to be made" Tartakower could have said.)

perrypawnpusher - MsD
FICS rated blitz game 3 0 2007

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Nf6 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Qe7 10.d3 Be6 11.0–0 b6 12.Nc3 Rae8 13.f4 Ng4 14.Qf3 h5 15.f5 gxf5 16.exf5 Bd7 17.Bd2 Nf6 18.Rae1 Qf8 19.Rxe8 Qxe8 20.Re1 Qd8 21.Bg5 Rg8 22.Bxf6 Qxf6 23.Qd5+ Kg7 24.Qf3 Rf8 25.Qg3+ Kh8 26.Qe3 Qxf5 27.Qd4+ Rf6 White forfeits on time 0–1

And Now For Something Completely Different...

This post will touch on the Jerome Gambit, then wander off. I hope everyone will stay with me.

Chessville readers may be familiar with my series "The Kennedy Kids" (loosely based on the chess exploits of Jon, Mary and Matt) especially the one titled "Birthdays With My Friend Jerome" which contains some interesting Jerome Gambit games allegedly played by my youngest.

Anyhow, Jon -- now a senior at the University of Notre Dame -- is spending the summer in Uganda, near Jinja. His blog is worth checking out: http://jbkuganda.blogspot.com/.

I was surprised at the amount of chess going on in Uganda, but have been trying to come up to speed quickly. A good starting place is at Dr. Daaim Shabazz's site, The Chess Drum, where there is a 2002 interview of Daniel Nsibambi, president (at that time) of the Uganda Chess Federation. There is also a profile of the Uganda National Team.

ChessBase has a 2005 story about a chess-playing trip the Uganda team made to Germany.

FIDE has some news on the 2008 East African Chess Championship, and of course there is a website for the Uganda Chess Federation itself.

To date I have not found any Jerome Gambit games or analysis from Uganda -- but, rest assured, I am looking!

Breaking News...

I've mentioned Kaissiber, before.

Truth be told, I'm also partial to the online Chessville Weekly and the Unorthodox Openings Newsletter (both of which I write for) but nothing quite matches the work of International Master Stefan Bücker.



Don't take my word for it, though – check each issue's Table of Contents: http://www.kaissiber.com/html/heftarchiv.html



I'm highlighting Kaissiber #27 here because it contains an article titled "Alexander Alekhine and Marshall’s 1 d4 d5 2 c4 Nf6!?" – by me.

It's not every day that I can brag that I have something published in two different languages that I can't read – German and Italian.




Anyhow, I just had an exchange of emails with Stefan and as a realistic Editor he had some good news (for me) and some more good news (for Kaissiber readers).



He's still interested in publishing an article on the Jerome Gambit, based on all the information I've been sending him. In the fall. In a much more succinct format than what I've written.