Pawns 1, Piece 0

Sometimes White wins by attack in the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) and sometimes he has to "play out" the game and use his pawns against his opponent's extra piece. Proper defense by Black should save at least half of the point, but that doesn't always happen...

perrypawnpusher - CorH

blitz, FICS, 2011

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5

Our earlier game, featuring 5...Kf8, was a pretty good example of Black and his extra piece out-duelling White and his extra pawns (although I had my chances)  perrypawnpusher - CorH, blitz, FICS, 2009, (0-1, 74).

6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+

A check of The Database shows that I don't always play this "nudge": 7.Qxc5 d6 8.Qe3 Nf6 9.0-0 Re8, perrypawnpusher - MoonCat, blitz, FICS, 2007, (1-0, 29).


7...Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6 10.0-0 Kf7

Returning the extra tempo lost by the "nudge".

11.f4


Also seen: 11.Nc3 as in perrypawnpusher-joejox, blitz, FICS, 2009 (½-½, 27).

I did not find Rybka's apparent "let's not risk anything else" recommendation that it made after the game to be appealing: 11.d4 Re8 12.Qb3+ Kf8 13.f3 c6 14.c4 Qb6 15.Be3 Be6 16.Nc3 Bf7 17.Rfe1 

analysis diagram








11...Re8

Of course, Black's Knight can aways kick White's Queen instead, with 11...Ng4 as in perrypawnpusher - Feestt, blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 19).

12.f5 Ne5


Instead, the precipitous 12...Rxe4 did not work at all after 13.fxg6+ hxg6 14.Qxe4 in perrypawnpusher - bnxr, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 29).


13.Nc3


I wanted to play 13.d4 but could not figure out how to meet 13...Neg4. The moves are from Vazquez -Carrington, Mexico, 2nd match, 1876 and I should have remembered them for historical reasons, if no others: 14.Qb3+ Kf8 15.h3 Rxe4 16.hxg4 Rxg4 17.Qf3 c6 18.Nc3 d5 19.Bf4 Kg8 20.Be5 h5 21.Rae1 Bd7 22.Re3 Qb6 23.b3 Rf8 24.Na4 Qb4 25.Nc5 Bc8 26.c3 Qb6 27.Bxf6 gxf6 28.Qh3 Rg5 29.Ne6 Bxe6 30.fxe6 Qc7 31.e7 Re8 32.Qe6+ Kh8 33.Qxf6+ Rg7 34.Qf8+ Black resigned

13...Kg8


Prudent. There was always the kick at the Queen with 13...Nc4 as an alternative, although it did not lead to much difference after 14.Qd4 Ne5 15.d3 Kg8 in perrypawnpusher - DysonLin, blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 23).


14.d4 Neg4

Of course.

15.Qf3 Bd7


An opponent tried 15...c6 in perrypawnpusher - avgur, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 23) but the pawn probably needed to take two steps. 


16.h3 Nh6 17.Bxh6 gxh6 18.Rae1 Kh8

19.e5 dxe5 20.dxe5 Ng8

Active defense with 20...Bc6 (followed by 21...Rg8) was more likely to be successful in holding back the pawns, reaching  a balanced game.

21.f6 Bc6 22.Qf4 Rf8 23.f7

White's "Jerome pawn" threatens to win back the sacrificed piece: 23...Qg5 24.Qxg5 hxg5 25.fxg8/Q+ Kxg8. White would be a pawn better, but the win would be far off.

Instead, Black saves his Knight and loses his King.

23...Ne7 24.Qf6 checkmate

Always Learning

I find that when I play the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), there is always something to learn. Some of the lessons are about the opening and some of them are about chess, itself. 

perrypawnpusher - Feestt
blitz, FICS, 2009

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

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

I'm still not yet comfortable with the "modern" Jerome Gambit, with its alternatives to 5.Nxe5.

6...Ng6 7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6

Also playable was the sensible 8...Qe7.

9.Qe3 Nf6 10.0-0 Kf7

Black prepares to swing his Rook into action. I figured that I needed to get my "Jerome pawns" moving as quickly as possible.

11.f4 Ng4

Black acts to take advantage of the "misplaced" Queen who has made over 1/3 of White's moves, but this notion is faulty. He would have done better to stay the course with 11...Re8 with advantage. 

12.Qg3

This is such a natural place for the Queen in this variation that I didn't examine the position deeply. After the game, Rybka suggested 12.Qb3+, with the idea that after 12...Ke8 White can annoy the Knights with 13.h3 Nf6 14.f5 Ne5 15.d4 Nc6 16.Be3 b6 – the point being that 16...Nxe4 could be met by 17.d5 Ng3 18.dxc6 Nxf1 19.Bd4 bxc6 20.Bxg7 and an even game.  

I had dismissed 12.Qb3+ too early, expecting that it would be well-met by 12...Be6, but Rybka showed that this was a shallow fear: White then has the return 13.Qg3, threatening the fork at f5, and after 13...Qh4 14.Qxh4 Nxh4 White has an even game after 15.f5 Bd7 16.Rf4 Nxf5 17.h3 Nf6 18.exf5.

Lesson: It's not good enough to play a bad opening, you have to play a bad opening well.

12...Re8

Back to "business as usual", although here Rybka prefers 12...c5 as a preventative move against a future d2-d4 attack on a Knight at e5. Deep thinking.

13.f5 N6e5 14.d4 Nc6

Giving back a piece, with plans to blow up White's center. Black's King can slip back to g8, castling-by-hand, if things get too hot.

The "know-it-all" Rybka suggests that this is better accomplished by 14...Nf6 15.dxe5 dxe5.

White now has the advantage.

15.Qxg4 Nxd4 16.Na3

Protecting the c-pawn. Good for you if you realized that the move was not necessary: with 16.Bg5 Qd7 17.Nc3  White builds his attack, as the pawn means little (if 17...Nxc2, then 18.Rad1).

If Black does not capture the c-pawn, but tucks his King in with 17...Kg8, then White can return his Queen with 18.Qd1 and still have an advantage, as f5-f6 is a move that is coming.

16...d5

The King needed to duck back to g8, instead.

17.Qh5+ Kg8

 Here I looked at 18.Bg5 Qd7 19.f6, but abandoned it because of the reply 19...g6. Too bad! If I had looked one move further – Where can the Queen go? –  I would have seen that 20.Qd1 threatens both the Black Knight at d4 and the move f6-f7+, forking the King and Rook.  

My response actually gives my opponent the advantage again.

18.exd5 Qxd5

Feestt falls for the one trick in the position. Perhaps he was pleased to finish off my center and figured that he could work out the pawn-down situation later, perhaps in a Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame. 

However, if he had played 18...Bxf5, instead of the capture at d5, he would have been able to take advantage of the looseness in White's position with something like: 19.c4 c6 20.Bg5 Qb6 and Black is even, or maybe even a bit better.

19.Qxe8 checkmate