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.

Godfather of the Jerome Gambit? (Endnote)

Chess research is sometimes incomplete or contradictory and often a mystery wanting a solution.

I gave analysis from Wolfgang Heidenfeld's book Draw! (1982) in "Godfather of the Jerome Gambit? (Part III)" because it gave the strongest play for both sides in line with the progress of the game Wind - Winckelman, correspondence 1993.

Draw! was not the most far-reaching or most recent resource available to me.

Consider the following quote from Edmar Mednis in his King Power in Chess (1982)

Strong winning chances are offered by the more active 11.Kb5!. Black still must play 11...a5, after which 12.Qe2 (Heidenfeld) is parried by 12...Ne6!! (Seidman). The threatened 13...Bd7 mate forces 13.Ka4 Nc5+ 14.Kb5 Ne6 etc., with repetition of moves for a draw.Therefore, in order to win, White must try other defensive methods. Two promising ones are 12.b4!? (Kastner) and 12. c4! (Presley).

The move 12.Qe2, which Mednis attributed to Heidenfeld, was not mentioned in Draw! – it was from Heidenfeld's earlier book, Grosse Remispartien (1968). It is not surprising that Mednis relied on the latter, as the former and King Power in Chess were published the same year.

The other references – Seidman, Kastner, and Presley – are unclear.

Note also that in "Godfather of the Jerome Gambit? (Part III)" Heidenfeld is quoted that he had mentioned the move 11.Kb5 in Deutsche Schachzeitung in 1972 – four years after Grosse Remispartien. He also attributed, after 11...a5, the move 12.b4 to Ettner, not Kastner; and overlooked the possibility of 12.c4 – although, after 11...Ne7 he attributed it to Schmedes.

Andrew Soltis, in his Chess Life column "Chess to Enjoy" for September 2002 wrote

Wolfgang Heidenfeld, the German-Irish-South African author of a book about spectacular draws, criticized this one [move] and said that instead of Hamppe's 11.Kb4, there's a win in 12.Kb5 a5 and now 12.Qe2!

Note that Soltis referred to the 1968 book by Heidenfeld, not the 1982 one (which should have been available to him). Soltis continued

But when this was discussed in the pages of Chess Life & Review nearly 25 years ago, senior master Herbert Seidman pointed out that Black had a simple improvement in 11...Ne6!, threatening 12...Bd7 mate. White's only response to 11...Ne6 is – 12. Ka4! allowing 12...Nc5+ 13.Kb5 Ne6! with another repetition...

So it appears that Mednis' "Seidman" referred to a Chess Life & Review article from around 1978.

More Soltis

Is that the end for Hamppe-Meitner? No, because defenders of the game argued that Black's error was 11...a5. The right way is 11...Ne7! with the idea of ...a7-a5.

Soltis then looked at 12.d4 and 12.b4 and 12.Qh5 – but not 12.c4 which was the best line according to Heidenfeld in 1982!
Readers are encouraged to dive in with their own ideas, as well as with clarifications of Ettner, Kastner, Presley, Schmedes and Seidman.

(Chess researchers are reminded of the fantastic 4 DVD set Chess Review & Chess Life Complete Collection 1933-1975, reviewed here, and available here.)


graphic by Jeff Bucchino, "The Wizard of Draws"

Godfather of the Jerome Gambit? (Part III)

Referred to by some as the "Immortal Draw," Hamppe - Meitner, Vienna 1872 can still amuse and delight chess players today.
Here's a modern, improved example.

Wind,Maurits - Winckelmann,Thomas
correspondence, 1993

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Bc5 3.Na4 Bxf2+


See "Godfather of the Jerome Gambit? (Part I)"

4.Kxf2 Qh4+ 5.Ke3 Qf4+ 6.Kd3 d5 7.Kc3 Qxe4 8.Kb3 Na6


For 8...Nc6 and Steinitz see "Godfather of the Jerome Gambit? (Part II)"

9.a3 Qxa4+ 10.Kxa4 Nc5+ 11.Kb5


"Correct is 11.Kb5!, a move I suggested in Deutsche Schachzeitung 1972, without, however, myself realising its potential" wrote Wolfgang Heidenfeld in Draw! (1982)

Hamppe - Meitner continued instead with 11.Kb4, with the eventual draw, as did a "friendly skirmish" between Alexander Winster and Susan Eira played in London in 1953: 11...a5+ 12.Kb5 Bd7+ 13.Kxc5 b6+?? ( 13...Ne7 14.Nf3 b6 mate) 14.Kxd5 Nf6+ 15.Kxe5 0-0-0 16.d4 Rhe8+ 17.Kf4 Re4+ 18.Kf3? Bg4+ 19.Kf2 Bxd1 20.Bg5 Bxc2 21.Bxf6 gxf6 22.Re1 Rdxd4 23.Ba6+ Kd7 24.Nf3 Rxe1 25.Nxd4? Rxh1 26.Nxc2 Rxh2 27.Bb5+ c6 28.Bc4 Ke7 29.Nd4 c5 30.Nb5 1/2-1/2

11...a5

11...Ne7 is better. Wrote Heidenfeld

This is a suggestion by another German amateur, Johannes Schmedes, so as to avoid the freeing manoeuvre, b4. In most cases this would lead back to – and thus revalidate – the game continuation, but there is one exception: 12.c4! (just as White frees square b4 for the return of the K... so he tries to free square c4... If then 12...d4 13.Kxc5! a5 14.Qa4+ Kd8 15.Qxa5! Rxa5+ 16.Kb4 and White wins.

12.b4

It is only this move, found by the German amateur Josef Ettner, that justifies 11.Kb5. Its point lies in the fact that the b-pawn attacks two black units so that White is assured of freeing square b4 for the return of his K to civilized regions.– Heidenfeld

Taking the Knight, instead, leads to the standard draw: 12.Kxc5 Ne7 13.Bb5+ Kd8 14.Bc6 b6+ 15.Kb5 Nxc6 16.Kxc6 Bb7+ 17.Kb5 Ba6+ 18.Kc6 Bb7+ Ax Rombaldoni - A Bove, U20 Fiuggi, Italy.

12...Ne7 13.bxa5 Nc6 14.Kxc5 Rxa5+ 15.Bb5 Be6 16.c4 d4 17.Nf3 f6 18.Nxd4 1-0