Wilderness

Compared to the urban superhighways of the Ruy Lopez or King's Indian Defense, the Jerome Gambit is a path through the woods. Some lesser-played lines are a trudge through the wilderness. In the following game, White, with 155 games in The Database, travels, then wanders, then gets a bit lost - fortunately for him, his opponent is even less prepared for the journey.

fehim - sonikf
blitz, FICS, 2015

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+Kf8 8.Qxc5+ N8e7

A playable, but not often played, move. (More often seen is 8...d6.) All of the relevant games from The Database can be given or linked to.

9.O-O d6 10.Qe3

10.Qc4 was seen in  Wall,B - Guesty1960624, PlayChess.com, 2013 (1-0, 30) while fehim, himself, tried earlier: 10.Qb4 b6 11.d3 Bb7 12.Bg5 h6 13.Be3 Qd7 14.Nd2 Kf7 15.Qb3+ Qe6 16.Qc3 Rhf8 17.Qxc7 Rab8 18.Qc3 Kg8 19.Nf3 Rfc8 20.Qd2 Ne5 21.Nd4 Qf6 22.h3 N7c6 23.Nf5 Ne7 24.Ng3 d5 25.f4 N5g6 26.e5 Qf7 27.d4 Nf5 28.Nxf5 Qxf5 29.g4 Qxc2 30.Qb4 Nh4 31.Rf2 Qe4 32.Re1 Nf3+ 33.Kf1 Nxe1 34.Qxe1 Rc2 35.Rxc2 Qxc2 36.Qd2 Qxd2 37.Bxd2 Rc8 38.Bc3 Kf7 39.a3 Ke6 40.Kf2 a6 41.Kf3 b5 42.f5+ Ke7 43.Kf4 g5+ 44.fxg6 Rg8 45.h4 Rxg6 46.h5 Rg8 47.Kf5 Rf8+ 48.Kg6 Rf4 49.Kxh6 Rxg4 50.Kh7 White forfeited on time. fehim - HarryPaul, FICS, 2006.

10... Kf7

Alternatives:

10...Nc6 11.d4 Qe7 12.f4 Kg8 13.f5 Nf8 14.c3 h6 15.Na3 Nh7 16.Bd2 Nf6 17.Rae1 a6 18.Nc2 Bd7 19.e5 dxe5 20.dxe5 Nd5 21.Qe4 Nb6 22.Kh1 Rf8 23.g4 Qh4 24.e6 Bc8 25.Rg1 Re8 26.Bf4 Re7 27.b3 h5 28.g5 Black forfeited on time, MrJoker - rex3, Internet Chess Club, 2012;

10...h6 11.d4 Kg8 12.c4 (12.f4 as in mrjoker - hp9000, Internet Chess Club, 2009 [1-0, 19])12... Kh7 13. f4 c5 14. dxc5dxc5 15. Qxc5 Qb6 16. Qxb6 axb6 17. Be3 Ra6 18. Nc3 Rf8 19. g3 Bg4 20. Kg2 h5 21. h3 Bd7 22. a4 Bc6 23. b4 Nf5 24. Bg1 Black forfeited on time, MrJoker - ilongavab, Internet Chess Club, 2012 (1-0,24);

10...b6 as in perrypawnpusher - Jaqueperpetuo, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 25); 

10...Ke8 11.d4 Rf8 12.f4 Kf7 (12...d5 as in guest645 - guest1600, Internet Chess Club, 2001 [1-0, 31]) 13. f5 Nh8 14. Qb3+ d5
15. Bg5 c6 16. Nc3 h6 17. Bxe7 Qxe7 18. exd5 Kg8 19. dxc6+ Nf7 20. Nd5 Qd6 21.c7 Kh7 22. Rae1 b6 23. c4 Bb7 24. Re6 Qd7 25. Re7 Qc8 26. Qg3 Bxd5 27. Qg6+ Kg828. f6 Ng5 Black resigned, Ghandy - pratmanu, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 28); 

10... Be6 as in mrjoker - cherryhead, Internet Chess Club, 2008 (1-0, 50); and

10...Bd7 as in guest4097 - guest4686, Internet Chess Club, 2004 (1-0, 25);

11.f4 Rf8 12.f5 Ne5 13.Qb3+ d5 

White is working to interfere with Black castling-by-hand. He should take a moment, now, to support his center with 14.Nc3. Instead, he continues to go after the enemy King.

14.f6 gxf6 15.exd5 Qxd5 16.Qg3

White does not want to exchange Queens and weaken his chances for an attack, but this move puts Her Majesty in a risky position and strengthens Black's counter-attack.

16...Bf5

Even stronger is 16...Rg8.

17.d3 Bg6 18.Nc3 Qe6 19.Bh6 Rg8 20.Rae1

In this complicated position Stockfish 6 recommends the bizarre 20...Be4!? 21.Bg5 Bf5!? when White's Bishop, not Black's, will be in danger, finishing up with 22.h4 h6 23.d4 Qb6 24.Qf2 hxg5 25.dxe5 Qxf2+ 26.Rxf2 gxh4 27.exf6 Kxf6 28.Rxf7 Kxf7 29.Rxf5; Black is ahead the exchange.

However, the defender gets lost in the woods.

20...Qd6  21.Rxe5 Black resigned

This is a complicated position (exchanging Queens first with 21.Qxe5 Qxe5 22.Rxe5 might have helped White) and it is difficult to see Black resigning while just a pawn down, but perhaps he had his fill of the wilderness or his clock was winding down.

It Still Is Not

As a follow-up to my "Greed Is Not Good" post from about a half a year ago, I would like to present another game, a Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit. The "teacher" of the lesson is the same as last time.



Ghandy  - djoaltay
blitz, FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

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

This is one of a number of ways to respond to Black's bold King move. My preference, and it is certainly not for everyone, is 6.c3.

Black can now safely grab White's c-pawn, but he must be careful not to be too greedy: the Rook on a1 is poisoned.

6...Nxc2+ 7.Kd1

Ghandy really "sold" the offer of the poisoned Rook with the weaker-looking (and weaker) 7.Kf1 earlier this year in Ghandy - marlbo, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 9).

7...Nxa1 8.Qf5+

Here's the rub: White had a choice of 39 moves, and 38 of them led to Black's advantage. Alas for djoaltay, the move that Ghandy chose wins.

8...Ke7

This move leads to checkmate, while the alternative, 8...Kd6, "merely" loses the Queen like marlbo did.

9.Qf7+ Kd6 10.Nc4+ Kc5 11.Qd5+ Kb4 12.Qa5+ Kxc4 13.d3+ Kxd3 14.Qd5 checkmate

Very nice!

Deep Thinks

Although the following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game was played at blitz speed (2 12), it contained two relatively long "deep thinks". With mine, I accidentally avoided an immediate destruction; with my opponent's, he immediately percipitated one.

perrypawnpusher - lorecai
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

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

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6

10.0-0 Ng4

This is a multi-purpose move: attacking the Queen, preparing to attack the King (if White castles Kingside) and arranging to exchange Queens, if need be.

Our earlier game went 10...Rf8 11.f4 Ng4, perrypawnpusher - lorecai, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 47).

11.Qg3

This was my move choice after a pretty deep think, at least for a blitz time control. It seems like a prety obvious move, and I would bet that my opponent was wondering what was taking me so long to find it. What could I possibly be seeing in the position??

In part, I didn't like 11...Qh4 as a response, forcing the exchange of Queens, although things worked out well for tedhorst and Ghandy in their games with that move: tedhort - popasile, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 30) and Ghandy - julianaajedrez, FICS, 2009 (0-1, 26, a loss on time in an even game).

In my deliberations I eventually discarded 11.Qe2 – a move which, unbeknownst to me, quickly goes horribly wrong: 11...Qh4 12.h3 Nf4 13.Qf3 Ne5 14.Qc3 Ne2+ White resigned, mrjoker - weiran, ICC, 2008.

So, although I did not come up with anything spectacularly good with my "deep think" at least I did not come up with something spectaularly bad, like 11.Qe2 would have been. 

11...h6

I am not sure what to think about this move. It could have been a mouse-slip for an intended 11...h5, as I faced last year in perrypawnpusher - Riversider, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 18).

In any event, it un-protects  the Black Knight at g6, which makes my next move easy to see (although 12.f3 might have been a tiny bit better).

12.h3 N4e5

It might have been time to try the "fishing pole" move, 12...h5!?, although the placement of White's Queen allows him to take the Knight and survive, e.g. 13.hxg4 hxg4 14.f4!? followed by developing the rest of his pieces and attention to defense (of course).

13.d4

For concrete reasons, 13.f4, which accomplishes the same thing (attacking and either winning or chasing away the defender of the Knight on g6), was better.

After the text, Black now has 13...Qh4, and 14.dxe5 Qxg3 15.fxg3 Nxe5 would only give White a small edge. If White opts to exchange Queens himself after 13...Qh4 with 14.Qxh4, Black would have the annoying 14...Nf3+ which breaks up White's pawns, 15.gxf3 before recapturing the Queen with 15...Nxh4. As White would then be due to lose another pawn, his advantage, again, would be small.

My opponent went into a deep think now.

13...Qg5

Wow.

Was this another mouse-slip for an intended 13...Qh4 ? Or was he counting on seeing 14.dxe5 Qxg3 15.fxg3 Nxe5 ?

Either way, this was an unfortunate move.

14.Bxg5 Black resigned

Accelerated Instant Victory

I am not particularly a fan of the Accelerated Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit, but for those who play it, the following game should be a reminder that a false move like 5...Ke8 for Black can lead to another kind of Instant Victory.

Ghandy - Kwanza
blitz, FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.Bxf7+

White does not wait for a Black Bishop to appear at c5, he sacrifices anyhow. Although the opening does not appear to have a name, it looks like an Accelerated Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8

Perhaps thinking, on reflex, that the King will be safer here. However, we will now see an ending similar to that presented in "Instant Victory" and "Instant Victory Redux".

6.Qh5+ Ke7

Black can throw in 6...g6 as in GFcrafty - Suigeneris, blitz, FICS, 2001, but after 7.Qxg6+ the result will be the same.

7.Qf7+

Also successful was 7.Ng6+ Kd6 8.Qd5 checkmate as in Dasistes - GeorgeVonGeorge, blitz, FICS, 2008.

However, 7.0-0 was not successful, as in EvashUcrushU - mrcain, FICS, 2009, which continued 7...Nxe5 (7...Qe8 was a bit better) 8.Qh4+ (White should have taken the draw by repetition with 8.Qxe5+ Kf7 8.Qd5+ etc.) g5 9.Qg3 d6 White resigned.

7...Kd6 8.Nc4+

Not quite as accurate was 8.Qd5+ but it was sufficient for the full point after 8...Ke7 9.Ng6+ Ke8 10.Nxh8 Nce7 (falling on his sword) 11.Qf7 checkmate in Esistes - SURPRISE, blitz, FICS, 2010.

8...Kc5 9.Qd5+ Kb4 10.c3+ Ka4 11.b3 checkmate

Today's game is the same as GFcrafty - tomamelheim, blitz, FICS, 2001. 

Greed Is Not Good

In a simple Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit game, Black realizes that just as his counter-attack relies on his opponent's greed for success, his own play crashes when he starts looking for "too much."


Ghandy - marlbo
blitz, FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit. White can safely play 4.Nxd4, 4.c3, 4.d3 or 4.0-0 with advantage. He just has to stay away from the complications that come with the greedy 4.Nxe5.

4.Bxf7+

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit. At best White should only get an even game out of it, but he gets a game where he is attacking, not Black.

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

Recommended as best is 6.c3 (see "Crime and Punisher", "Read This Blog" and "Scared to Death" for starters), but the text can stir up some trouble, especially if Black is greedy.

6...Nxc2+

Going after the big fat Rook at a1. Instead, 6...Nf6 led to a complicated, but better game for Black.

7.Kf1 Nxa1

This seems simple and consistent enough, but 7...Nf6 or 7...g6 were the right way to go. In blitz, though, it can be tempting to grab material and then sort it all out later.

8.Qf5+ Kd6

Already Black has to avoid 8...Ke7 9.Qf7+ Kd6 10.Nc4+ Kc5 11.Qd5+ Kb4 12.a3+ Kb3 13.Ne3+Ka4 14.Nc3 checkmate. This kind of finish should be familiar to those who have read "Instant Victory" and "Instant Victory Redux".

9.Nf7+ Black resigned

Black is losing his Queen, and after 9...Ke7 10.Nxd8 Nf6 (not 10...Kxd8 11.Qxf8 checkmate) 11.e5 Kxd8 12.exf6 Black has only a Bishop and a Rook in exchange – and the safety of his Knight on a1 is not assured yet, to boot.