Quick Reaction

There is an old saying: Act in haste, repent at leisure.

My opponent in the following game was working his way through a theoretical opening line when he blocked a check with the first piece that came to mind. That proved to be his undoing.


perrypawnpusher  - grunf
blitz, FICS, 2010

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

The Semi-Italian Opening.

4.0-0 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bc5

The Semi-Italian Four Knights Game

6.Bxf7+

The Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

6...Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.d4

8...Bd6 9.dxe5 Bxe5

The recommended defense, although I rarely see it as my opponents generally prefer 8...Bxd4.

10.f4

I played this move even though Black's response is correct and gives him the advantage, because I was willing to take my chances in the complicated positon that would arise.

10...Bxc3

More to the point than 10...Bxf4 11.Rxf4 Re8 12.Qd5+ Re6 13.e5 c6 14.Qd4 Kg8 15.exf6 gxf6 16.Rg4+ Kh7 17.Qd3+ Kh8 18.Bxh6 Re7 19.Qg6 d6 20.Bg7+ Kg8 21.Bxf6+ Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - KnightRoyal, blitz, FICS, 2010

11.bxc3 Re8

I've also seen 11...Rf8 12.e5 Ne4 13.Qd5+ Ke8 14.Qxe4 c6 15.Ba3 Rf7 16.f5 Qa5 17.e6 dxe6 18.Bb4 Qb6+ 19.Kh1 c5 20.fxe6 Rxf1+ 21.Rxf1 cxb4 22.Qg6+ Ke7 23.Rf7+ Kd6 24.e7+ Be6 25.Rxg7 Qe3 26.h3 Qe1+ 27.Kh2 Qe5+ 28.Kh1 Qe1+ 29.Kh2 Qe5+ 30.Kh1 Qe1+ 31.Kh2 Qe5+ drawn perrypawnpusher - drandika, blitz, FICS, 2010

12.e5 Nh7

Taking a longer view of things, it was probably time to return the piece with 12...d6 13.exf6 Qxf6 when Black still had an edge.

13.Qd5+ Re6

Blitz reflex, but not good.


14.f5 c6 15.fxe6+ Black resigned

Mate is forced.

Obscure and Disreputable Enough?

Although this blog is mostly about the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) it sometimes wanders a bit further afield.

For example, a while back, in the post "London Calling...Seven Months of Blog", I mused

I also got wondering the other day: is there another totally obscure and disreputable tactical opening line or gambit that I could go digging for information about, while I'm researching the Jerome Gambit??

This exercise led to a whole slew of new posts and opening ideas: "The next best thing...", "The next worse thing...", "Worth a Second Look (Part 1)", "Worth a Second Look (Part 2)", "Worth a Second Look (Part 3)", "Wild!", "Wilder!", "Wildest!", "And Yet Wilder Still...", "More of The Next Best Thing..." and "Busch-Gass Gambit".

I was reading Bob Long's new Chess DVD catalog the other day, and noticed that Volume 2 of his "The Busy Man's Chess Openings" series by IM Andrew Martin is coming out. Sub-titled "Black Shockers" it focuses on winning from the Black side, and includes analysis of the following defense: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c5.

The line is as old as Greco, and seen today about as often as the Yeti, but in the past it was tried by Marshall, Schlechter, Rubinstein, Grunfeld, Euwe and Heidenfeld. O'Kelley de Galway, Bisguier and Westerinen played it a number of times. There's even an online Opening Report on it.

Might be worth checking out, at that.