Beyond Gloom and Doom

Imagination and sheer force of will help the Jerome Gambiteer take a "bad" or "lost" position and make something out of it. In the following game, White finds himself in deep trouble (definition: playing White in the Jerome Gambit); and focusing only on his subsequent loss would blind observers to the actual chances that he created for himself.  

HauntedKnight - Makaroni
blitz, FICS, 2011


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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4

This line has advantages and disadvantages over 6.Qh5+, and, at one time, was Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's preference.

4...Bb4+ 7.c3 Qh4

At first glance it looks like Black is in a panic, throwing pieces around and leaving some en prise. As I pointed out in "Gloom and Doom", however, this is a strong counter-attack for Black.

8.dxe5

Previous experience (including a couple of earlier games by HauntedKnight) has not been encouraging for White (8.0-0 seems "best"):

8.0-0 Nc6 9.cxb4 (9.Qf3+ Qf6 10.Qh5+ g6 11.Qd5+ Qe6 12.Qxe6+ dxe6 13.cxb4 Nxd4 14.Na3 Ne2+ 15.Kh1 Nf6 16.Re1 Nxc1 17.Raxc1 c6 18.Nc4 Rd8 19.e5 Nd5 20.Nd6+ Ke7 21.Re4 a5 22.b5 cxb5 23.Rh4 h5 24.Nxb5 Nb4 25.Nd6 Bd7 26.Nxb7 Rdc8 27.Rxc8 Rxc8 28.h3 Rc2 29.Nxa5 Rxb2 30.a3 Nd3 31.f4 Ne1 32.Nc4 Rxg2 33.Nb6 Rc2 34.Nd5+ exd5 35.f5 Nf3 White resigned, Gamin - JumpNMustangII, FICS, 2001) 9...Qxe4 10.Be3 Nf6 11.Nc3 Qf5 12.b5 (12.Qb3+ d5 13.Nb5 Ne8 14.Nc3 Be6 15.b5 Ne7 16.Rae1 Nd6 17.Qb4 Rhc8 18.Re2 Ng6 19.Rfe1 Nh4 20.f3 Kg8 21.Bf2 Nxg2 22.Kxg2 Rf8 23.Bg3 Qxf3+ 24.Kg1 Nf5 25.Rxe6 Nxg3 26.hxg3 Qxg3+ 27.Kh1 Qh4+ 28.Kg1 h6 29.R6e2 Qg3+ 30.Rg2 Qxe1+ 31.Kh2 Rf1 32.Rxg7+ Kh8 33.Rh7+ Kxh7 34.Qe7+ Qxe7 35.Kg2 Qf7 36.Kh2 Qf3 37.Nxd5 Rh1 checkmate, Deep Sjeng 1.5 - Hiarcs 9, The Jeroen Experience, 2003) 12...Nb4 13.Rc1 c6 14.a3 Nbd5 15.Qb3 Re8 16.Rce1 b6 17.h3 Bb7 18.g4 Qf3 19.g5 Ne4 20.Nxd5 cxd5 21.Qd3 Nxg5 White resigned, RevvedUp - Crafty 19.19, blitz 2 12, 2006;

8.cxb4 Qxe4+ 9.Qe2 (9.Be3 Qxg2 10.Rf1 Nf3+ 11.Ke2 d5 12.Nc3 Bg4 13.Qb3 Nxd4+ White resigned, jfhumphrey - hvutrong, FICS, 2010) 9...Qxe2+ 10.Kxe2 Nc6 11.Rd1 Nxb4 12.Na3 Nf6 13.Re1 Re8+ 14.Kf1 Rxe1+ 15.Kxe1 d5 16.Be3 Bf5 17.Nb5 c6 18.Nc3 Nc2+ 19.Ke2 Nxa1 White resigned, Teterow - geneve, FICS, 2011;


8.Qe2 Bxc3+ 9.Nxc3 Nc6 10.g3 Qe7 11.Qc4+ d5 12.Qxd5+ Be6 13.Qh5+ g6 14.Qf3+ Kg7 15.d5 Ne5 16.Qd1 Bg4 17.Qd4 Nf6 18.Bg5 Nf3+ White resigned, Maza - aqeel, FICS, 2003.

8...Qxe4+ 9.Be3

HauntedKnight has a very creative idea: let Black choke on captured material while White castles Queenside and uses open lines for his pieces.

An earlier 9.Kf1, which might be "objectively" stronger, did not fix things in HauntedKnight - hellg, FICS, 2010.

9...Qxg2 10.Rf1 Be7 11.Qh5+ g6 12.Qe2 Ke8

13.Nd2 Qxh2 14.0-0-0 Qxe5

15.Rfe1 Kd8 16.Qc4 Qg7

Black prepares for trouble.

17.Bd4 Nf6 18.Ne4 h6

 

White is down a piece and two pawns, but his Rooks are knocking on Black's front door, While Black's are still in the garage.

19.Bxf6

Rybka suggests preparing for a breakthrough with 19.Be5, as in 19...d6 20.Nxd6 cxd6 21.Rxd6+ Bxd6 22.Qd4 Qd7 23.Bxd6 Rf8 24.Be7+ Ke8 25.Bxf8+ Kf7 26.Re7+ Qxe7 27.Bxe7 Kxe7

analysis diagram





Both Rybka and Houdini see White as having almost equalized in this unbalanced position.

With the text, White clears the lines for his Rooks, but Black's defensive resources prove sufficient to hold off the attack.

19...Bxf6 20.Nxf6 Qxf6 21.f4

21...d6 22.Re4 Bf5 23.Red4 Qe6 24.Qb4 Qxa2 25.Qxb7

White's Queen has finally broken through, but so has Black's.

25...Qb1+ 26.Kd2 Qc2+ 27.Ke3 Re8+ 28.Kf3 Qe2+ 29.Kg3 Re3+ 30.Kh4 Qf2 checkmate

graphic by Jeff Bucchino, the King of Draws

Where Do Ideas Come From (Part 6)?

In this final tale (for the time being) of the "large centre" in the Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit, we see Филидор1792 take on a computer program (a version of Crafty) and battle it successfully, right down to the very end...

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.Bxf7+

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Bd6 8.f4

The "big centre."

8...Neg4 9.e5 Bb4 10.0-0 Bxc3 11.bxc3 Nxh2 12.Kxh2 Nd5

Black has had to give up his wandering Knight, but he remains a piece ahead.

Those who play the Jerome Gambit, however, can see the building blocks of possible future success: an army of pawns to oppose the Knight, Black's uneasy King, and the attacking possibilities for White's Queen and Rooks.

13.Qh5+ g6 14.Qh6 Qg8 15.f5 Ke8 16.f6 Qf7 17.Qg7 Rf8

The "Jerome pawn" chain looks like so much fun, even White's Queen has joined in. But it would be too dangerous for Black to exchange Her Majesty off.

18.c4 Nb6 19.c5 Nc4 20.Rf3 Rg8 21.Bh6 d5

If White were playing a human opponent, I would have written something like It came as something of a surprise that Black could not now play 21...Rxg7 without disadvantage. (I suppose that something "over the horizon" could be a "surprise" to a computer.)

22.exd6 Rxg7 23.Re1+ Kd8 24.fxg7 Bf5 25.Re7 Qxe7 26.g8Q+ Kd7

Филидор1792 is trading tactical blow for tactical blow with Crafty.

His next move, however, allows the computer a chance to draw, while the complicated piece sacrifice (or exchange?) that would come after 27.Qxc4 Qh4+ 28.Kg1 would show his advantage, i.e. 28...Qxh6 29.Qf7+ Kc6 30.Qxc7+ Kd5 31.Qxb7+, but only if he continues to resist capturing the Rook, as 31...Kxd4 32.Qxa8 would allow 32...Qc1+ 33.Kh2 Qh6+ 34.Rh3 Bxh3 and capturing the Black Bishop would allow a perpetual.

The trick for White would be to leave the enemy Rook alone and focus on the enemy King and the remaining "Jerome pawns" with 32.Qb2+. 

27.Qxa8 Qh4+ 28.Kg1 Qxd4+ 29.Rf2 Qxc5

This seems greedy to me. Black should be happy to continue checking and score the draw.

30.dxc7 Kxc7 31.Qh8 Kb6 32.c3 Ka6 33.Bg7 Qe7 34.Bd4 Na5 35.Qg8 Be6 36.Qb8 Nc6 37.Qg3 Bc4 38.Rf6 Qe4 39.a3 b6 40.Rf4 Qe2 41.Qh4 Qd2

The game has continued like an epic sword fight in a Douglas Fairbanks movie.

Black's extra pawn may or may not be enough compensation for the lost exchange, and the presence of opposite-colored Bishops makes the position even murkier.

Now White sees a chance to win a pawn and rid the board of the pesky prelates, but he is done in by a Crafty zwischenzug.

42.Bxb6

So that after 42...axb6 43.Rxc4 eases White's task a bit.

Black's response, however, distracts White's Queen, and the tactic fails. 

42...g5 43.Qxg5 Kxb6 White resigned

It has to be discouraging to drop a piece for a pawn after all that hard work, and I do not know how much "time" was a factor in the game at this point, but I wonder how "easy" Crafty would have found it to make progress with two pieces vs a Rook and a pawn.

Certainly Black's Bishop can help hold his h-pawn, and the nearness of his King, Knight and Bishop to White's Queenside pawns make White's defense more difficult.

Still, after, say, 44.Qh4 Bd3 45.Qf2+ Qxf2+ 46.Kxf2, it would have been interesting to see this very enjoyable game continue...

Got A Match?

It was not long after I began looking into the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) that I noticed one chess match kept turning up in the databases: in 1993, between the human Micah Fischer-Kirshner and the chess-playing program KnightStalker, an early version of Fritz. As luck would have it, I was able to interview Micah about his experience for this blog.

The Jerome Gambit seemed a natural for matches, especially ones involving computers. Jeroen_61 of the Netherlands ran one with Hiarcs, Junior 7, Shredder Paderdorn (6.02) and Fritz 7.

I tried a few myself, notably a Fritz8 vs Fritz5 encounter and a Delphi vs Wealk Delphi contest. Each attempt had its shortcomings. (Perhaps you read about them here.)

The mysterious "perfesser" played an introductory 4-game match with the Talking LCD Chess Gadget. Like the Jerome Gambit itself, it was good for some chuckles.

Topping all efforts so far, "RevvedUp" and his trusted companions Hiarcs 8, Shredder 8, Yace Paderborn, Crafty 19.19 and Fritz 8 explored the Jerome Gambit in a 30-game encounter. It was simply war.

And then there is that as yet untold tale of two expert-to-master-level American players who played a Jerome Gambit match 5 years ago, but the games remain hidden from public view, pending the players' release of a monograph on the opening...

Perhaps that will show up on this blog one of these days.






























http://jeromegambit.blogspot.com/2008/11/jerome-gambit-and-perfesser-part-i.html


iv

LPDO Revisited

In "My House! My House! My Kingdom for a House!" I mentioned Grandmaster John Nunn's acronym, LPDO, as a reminder that "Loose Pieces Drop Off". In the following game, Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member HauntedKnight takes that notion into account when planning his play, and it helps him grab a "loose" Knight. Black's resignation, only a pawn down, might be a bit early, but it is easily understood.

HauntedKnight - OneNoTrump
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bb4+

Computers tend to like this move, for their own computer-ish reasons. For examples, see "Jerome Gambit: Drilling Down (1)" for RevvedUp's 2008 tag-team match against Hiarcs 8, Shredder 8, Yace Paderborn, Crafty 19.19 and Fritz 8, where this move showed up, played by Crafty. It also appears in Jeroen's earlier 2003 Jerome Gambit computer tournament in the game Deep Sjeng 1.5 - Hiarcs 9.

If the computers are given enough time they often find the recommended 6...Qh4!? as well.

Has OneNoTrump examined the Jerome Gambit with a computer, or is this a knee-jerk reaction (my Bishop is attacked, move it and attack White)?

7.c3 Bxc3+

A clue: this looks like a human decision. The 75 games that have this move in The Database all have a person playing Black.

Computers realize, of course, that Black must return a piece, and suggest something like 7...Ng6/c6 8.cxb4 to mess up White's pawns a bit; or they let White choose which piece he wants by playing 7...Qh4. 

8.bxc3

Bolstering White's center, but 8.Nxc3 was probably a bit better: development and all that.

8...Nc4 9.Qh5+ g6

Reflex. 

Better was 9...Kf8 and Black keeps his edge, even against 10.Qc5+ Nd6 11.e5, because he has 11...b6 12.Qb4 Qe7 when after 13.0-0 the Knight escapes with 13...Nf7. 

10.Qd5+ Black resigned

The loose piece at c4 will drop.

Nudge 2.0

The other day Bill Wall told me that there were 5 Jerome Gambit games (out of over 4.8 million) in the new Big Database 2011 from ChessBase. It turns out that 2 of them were unknown to me. Here's one.

Kitzler,G - Schloeffel,C
Karl Mala Memorial FICS, 2009

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

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

7.Qxc5

Instead of this direct capture, I prefer the "nudge" 7.Qd5+ which usually pushes Black's King to the back rank, where it can interfere with the development of his King Rook. It costs me an extra tempo, but Black returns it with a later ...Kf7 or ...Ke7.

7...d6 8.Qd5+

I suppose that this move could be a "nudge 2.0" as it either moves Black's King, or the Queen's check is blocked by Black's light-squared Bishop, which in turn makes the b7 pawn available for capture.

How good is the move? Well, there are 127 games with it in The Database, and White scores only 37%. On the other hand, the move has been played by Jerome Gambit stalwarts blackburne, AAlekhine and Bill Wall, and was chosen by computers Crafty 19.19 and Yace Paderborn in their games against RevvedUp.

8...Be6 9.Qxb7

Black willingly gives up the pawn and White happily takes it. At least one of them apparently remembers what happens to one who takes the Queen's Knight pawn...

As in many Jerome Gambit positions, Black is "objectively" better, but if White can consolidate his position (he is behind in development and his King is not safe) then in casual or club games White's extra 3 pawns may be able to balance out Black's extra piece.

9...Nf4

Two other possibilities:

9...Nf6 10.d4 Re8 11.Nc3 Qc8 12.Qb5 Bd7 13.Qd3 Nxe4 14.0-0 Kg8 15.Bg5 Nxg5 16.Rae1 c6 17.Qc4+ d5 18.Qd3 Rxe1 19.Rxe1 Bf5 20.Qd2 Ne4 21.Nxe4 Bxe4 22.f3 Bf5 23.g4 Bxg4 24.fxg4 Qxg4+ 25.Kh1 Nh4 26.Qe2 Qxe2 27.Rxe2 Rf8 28.h3 Kf7 29.Re3 Re8 30.Rxe8 Kxe8 31.c3 Ke7 32.Kg1 Ke6 33.Kf2 Kf5 34.Kg3 g5 35.a4 h5 36.b3 Ke4 37.Kf2 Kd3 White resigned, blackburne - meliam, ChessWorld, 2004; and


9...Nh4 10.0-0 Qg5 11.Qxc7+ Ne7 12.g3 Nf3+ 13.Kh1 Qh6 14.h4 Bh3 15.Rd1 Qe6 16.Qa5 Bf1 17.Qh5+ Ng6 18.Qxf3+ Kg8 19.Rxf1 Qh3+ 20.Kg1 Ne5 21.Qb3+ d5 22.Qxd5+ Nf7 23.Qxa8+ Black resigned, Wall - CheckMe, Chess.com, 2010.


Players who return to this line also need be aware of the unplayed 9...Qg5!? Trust me, the Black Rook on a8 is poisoned. White has to try 10.g3. 

10.0-0

This move seems prudent, but it actually opens up Pandora's box. White had to find 10.Rg1 and hold on, as Black has both quiet and wacky responses (try 10...Bd5!?) to try to increase his advantage.

10...Bh3

Okay, take a deep breath.

Black, as is the case in many Jerome Gambit games, has missed the killing stroke 10...Qg5, as 11.g3 causes horrible weaknesses on the white squares around White's King, i.e. 11...Ne2+ and 12...Qh5.

Instead, Black has gone in for flash (taking the Bishop now leads to a quick mate), and that means White has an extra chance. He should try 11.Qb3+, hoping for something like 11...d5 12.d4 Qg5 13.Qg3 Ne2+ 14.Kh1 Nxg3+ 15.fxg3+ Qf6 16.Rxf6+ Nxf6 17.gxh3 Nxe4 when White has two pawns for the exchange and Black will have to work for a win.

After 11.Qb3+ Ke8 12.Qb5+ White should probably exchange Queens if he has the opportunity and otherwise work on his development, again hoping that his 3 extra pawns will come to his rescue.

11.e5

Opening the route to g2 for his Queen, but now his game completely collapses. It is probably time to draw the curtain on this tragedy.

11...Bxg2 12.Qb3+ Bd5 13.e6+ Kf8 14.Re1 Bxb3 15.e7+ Nxe7 16.axb3 Nf5 17.Kh1 Nh3 18.d3 Qh4 19.Rf1 Nxf2+ 20.Kg2 Re8 21.Rxf2 Qg4+ 22.Kf1 Qh3+ 23.Rg2 Qf3+ White resigned

White's undeveloped Queenside tells the tale.


graphic by Jeff Bucchino, the WizardofDraws

Et Tu, GriffySr?

I've reported elsewhere on the phenomenal success that GriffyJr and GriffySr at FICS have had with and against the Jerome family of openings – and as clones of the chess-playing computer program Crafty, that is not a surprise.

Still, it is a bit unsettling to see one of them recently manhandle a Jerome Gambiteer in a critical theoretical line.

NIZAM - GriffySr
standard, FICS, 2010

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6

Computers are far less afraid of this line than humans.

7.f4 d6

The frustrating line that computers love. There's no use playing the Jerome Gambit against a computer unless (among other things) you have a plan on how to attack this.

8.Qf5+

NIZAM launches his Queen against the defense. "Book" is 8.fxe5.

8...Ke7 9.Qg5+ Ke8 10.Qxg7

A human blitz player, seeing two pieces attacked and the enemy Queen so close to his King, might quail; but not a feeling-less computer. 

10...Qh4+ 11.g3

There was no joy in the "better" 11.Qg3 Qxg3+ 12.hxg3.

11...Nf3+ 12.Ke2 Nd4+ 13.Kd1

Allowing the finish.

13...Bg4+ 14.Ke1 Nxc2+ 15.Kf1 Qh3 checkmate

"I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him..."

Theory From the Thematic Tourney (3)

One problem with a refuted opening like the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is that it is refuted... That means that there are lines that Black can play that lead to equality – or more. In some of those lines White can complicate things and hope to take advantage of the confusion. In other lines it is not so easy for White to "find something".

Luke Warm - Daves111
Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament,
ChessWorld, 2010

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 d6 8.fxe5 dxe5

This defense, a favorite of computer chess programs, gives back a piece to drain the dynamism out of the position.

In the gruelling "Jerome Gambit: Drilling Down" matches between human RevvedUp (a pseudonym) and Hiarcs 8, Shredder 8, Yace Paderborn, Crafty 19.19 and Fritz 8, the flesh-and-blood player twice scored draws with Black from this position against opponents rated 1,000 points higher than him. 

The updated New Year's Database shows that White has tried 9.b4, 9.c3, 9.d3, 9.d4, 9.Nc3, 9.Rf1, 9.Qe2, 9.Qf5+, 9.Qg4+ and 9.Qh3+.

In the current game, Luke Warm decides to try a Queenless middlegame, but he finds nothing but trouble.

9.Qf5+ Kd6 10.Qf3 Qh4+ 11.g3 Qg4 12.Qxg4 Bxg4

13.Nc3 Rf8 14.d3 Bh3 15.Bd2 Bg2 16.Ke2 Bf3+ 17.Ke1 Bxh1 18.Ke2 Rf2+ 19.Ke1 Rxh2

20.Nb5+ Kd7 21.b4 Bf2+ 22.Kd1 Bxg3 23.c3 Bf3+ 24.Kc2 Nf6 25.a4 a6 26.Na3 Bf4 27.Rd1 Bxd1+ 28.Kxd1 Rxd2+ 29.Ke1 Black resigned

It takes all kinds...

Wandering through the updated New Year's Database of Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+), and Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.0-0/4.Nc3/4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+) games, I stumbled across two players with similar names: GriffySr and GriffyJr.

They had played games from 2001 to 2010, and had FICS  ratings as high as 2366 and 2136 respectively.

Heavy hitters!

The Griffys' score with White was a blistering 99%: 33 wins, no losses, one draw (in a winning position). Their score with Black was nearly as good: 90%, from 26 wins and 3 losses.

Most of their games with White were attacks against the Semi-Italian Opening (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6), and they defended brutally against the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) – some games were of theoretical interest.

I guess I wasn't too surprised when I looked into the players a bit deeper, and read

GriffyJr and GriffySr are identical Crafty binaries with hardwired search depth.

I'd already discovered GFcrafty to be a silicon-based member of the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde, too.

Well, as they say, "It takes all kinds..."

Good things come to those who... work!

When Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member Welton Vaz started the following game, I doubt that he realized the gigantic struggle that lay ahead of him. I'm pretty sure that his opponent figured that a win was only a matter of time – it was, but for White.

Ghandybh  - mentalbreak
Chess.com, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6

The Semi-Italian Opening.

White's typical "Jerome treatment" is to play a temporizing move like 0-0 or Nc3 now, hoping for ...Bf8-c5, allowing the signature Bxf7+. 

4.Bxf7+

Wow.

This reminds me of Veijoasquerosos of Mexico, who played over 1,100 games at RedHotPawn.com, and who played Bxf7+ (or ...Bxf2+) as early and as often as possible: see "King of Bxf7+".  

I've played the move myself, although accidentally: perrypawnpusher - marapr, blitz FICS, 2007 (1-0, 27).

A look at the updated New Year's Database shows 904 games with this position, with White scoring 39%.

One of the top users of 4.Bxf7+ here is GFcrafty (a weakened version of Crafty, the free, open-source computer chess program developed by Dr. Robert M. Hyatt) at FICS.

Perhaps the most important of those games, however, is Gandybh - sqerl, Chess.com, 2009 which shows that Welton has played the line before, and is ready to face his opponent.

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

Rybka, in its "blunder check" mode (5 minutes per move), suggested 6.d4 Nc6 7.Nc3 d6 8.0-0 Nf6 9.h3 Be7 10.d5 Nb8 11.Be3 Re8 12.Re1 as better. The line looks like no fun at all. Maybe when the "Jerome pawns" get rolling...

analysis diagram







6...Ng6 7.Qd5+ Ke8

White has his work cut out for him.

8.d3 Nf6 9.Qf5 Ne7 10.Qf4 Nc6 11.0-0 Nd4 12.Qe5+ Ne6 13.Be3 Qe7

14.Nc3 d6 15.Qb5+ c6 16.Qb4 c5

It looks like Welton's play has begun to annoy his opponent who would probably prefer "16.Resigns."

Good.

17.Qb5+ Bd7 18.Qxb7 Rc8 19.Qxa7

White now has 4 pawns for his 2 sacrificed pieces. That's not enough, but it's more than he had a few moves ago. Also, Black's King is stuck in the center, and at least for now his King's Rook is buried in the garage.

19...Ng4 20.Nd5 Qd8 21.h3 Nxe3 22.fxe3 Be7 23.Nxe7 Qxe7

Black has made progress in one area – when ahead in material, exchange pieces – but he still has an opponent fighting back.

24.Qb7 Rf8 25.Rxf8+ Qxf8 26.Rf1 Qe7 27.a3

Here's a clue: White believes that his "Jerome pawns" will one day be able to take on Black's two extra pieces in the endgame.

27...Rc7 28.Qb8+ Qd8 29.Qb6 Rc6 30.Qxd8+ Kxd8 31.Rf7

31...Ke8 32.Rf1 Rb6 33.b3 Ra6 34.a4 Ng5 35.h4 Nf7

Black has been teasing and provoking the pawns. No harm done. So far.

36.Kf2 Ne5 37.Ke2 d5

To open a path to swing the Rook over – but, a pawn is a pawn.

38.exd5 Rf6

39.d4

Hesitating. It was okay to exchange the Rooks.

39...cxd4 40.exd4 Bg4+ 41.Ke1 Rxf1+ 42.Kxf1 Nd7

Now the fun really begins.

White's plan is pretty clear: have his King escort the five connected past pawns forward, until one or more of them Queens.

Black has to counter this. Ideally, if he can hold up the pawns with his King and only one piece, then he can use (or sacrifice) the other to create a winning passed pawn on the other side of the board.

43.Ke1 Ke7 44.Kd2 Kd6 45.c4 Bf5

46.Kc3 Nf6 47.b4

47...Ne4+ 48.Kb3 Nd2+ 49.Kc3 Ne4+ 50.Kb3

White is willing to repeat the position and accept the draw.

50...Bd7

Black can't bring himself to "lose" the half-point.

51.a5 Nd2+ 52.Kc3 Ne4 53.Kb3 Nf2

Again Black wavers – and then decides "no draw". His problem is that now White's game gains momentum.

54.a6 Kc7 55.b5 Kb6

Rybka suggested instead : 55...Ne4 56.Kb4 Nd6 57.a7 Kb7 58.b6 Nc8 59.c5 Nxa7 60.bxa7 Kxa7 when it looks like Black's King and Bishop may be able to hold up White's central pawns (and draw) after all.

analysis diagram






56.c5+ Ka7 57.c6 Bc8

Black's Knight is sadly out of play. 

58.d6 Ne4 59.d7 Nd6

60.d8Q Nxb5 61.Qxc8 Nd6 62.Qd7+ Nb7 63.Qxb7 checkmate

Very nice work. As they say, nobody ever won a game by resigning...