The following game is a beautiful example of the coordination of pieces and pawns that occurs in a deadly attack. Black's game slowly slips away, until he has nothing left but to face checkmate.
Philidor 1792 - guest1132
3 0 blitz, www.bereg.ru, 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4
4...Bxb4 5.c3 Bc5 6.Bxf7+
6...Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.Qh5+ Ng6 9.Qd5+ Ke8
Instead, Charlick - Holloway, Australia, 1877 (1-0, 76),the earliest example of the Evans Jerome Gambit in The Database, continued 9...Kf8.
10.Qxc5 Nf6 11.0-0 Kf7 12.f4 Re8 13.f5 Ne5 14.d4 d6
15.Qb5 Nc6 16.Nd2 Kf8 17.Qd3 Kg8 18.Bb2 Qe7
Black has castled-by-hand, while White has readied his "Jerome pawns".
19.c4 Bd7 20.Bc3 Qf7 21.Rae1 Rad8 22.e5 dxe5 23.dxe5 Bc8
24.Qg3 Nh5 25.Qh4 g6 26.e6 Qe7 27.Qg4 Qc5+ 28.Kh1
28...Ne7
Black might have done better by sacrificing the exchange to get rid of White's dangerous Knight, with 28...Rxd2.
Now White's attack crashes through.
29.Ne4 Qb6 30.fxg6 hxg6 31.Nf6+ Nxf6 32.Rxf6 Bxe6 33.Rxg6+ Kf7 34.Rf6 checkmate
The Evans Gambit can be deadly in fast blitz games, and when White adds a dash of Jerome Gambit as well, things can get very wild.
It is fun to quote from Bullet Chess One Minute to Mate by Hikaru Nakamura and Bruce Harper on the issue and impact of time
What chess pedants often don't emphasize sufficiently are the psychological and competitive aspects of chess. Great attacking players like Tal often so confused their opponents that they grew short of time and lost their way (and the game). This was risky, of course, because there could be no guarantee that the opponent would get into time trouble, much less make a mistake as a result.
Philidor 1792 - guest1321
blitz 3 0, www.bereg.ru (1), 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4
The Evans Gambit.
4...Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.Bxf7+
The Evans-Jerome Gambit, played as early as 1877 by Charlick in his win against Holloway; only, in that game, Black played 5...Bc5.
6...Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.Qh5+ Ke6 9.Qf5+ Kd6
10.Ba3+ c5 11.Bxc5+ Kxc5 12.Qxe5+ Kb6 13.Qd6+ Kb5 14.Na3+ Ka4 15.Qd4+ Kxa3 16.Qc5+ Ka4 17.Qc4+ Ka3 18.Qb3 checkmate
As mentioned in the last post, I have suggested that those who play, and those who face, the Jerome Gambit, would benefit from becoming familiar with "the classics" of that line.
That got me thinking: What would those classics be?
Here are the additional games from a preliminary sketch.
6. Charlick - Mann, correspondence, Australia, 1881
The Australian player Charlick, who had already played an "Evans-Jerome Gambit" against Holloway in 1877, won a long correspondence game with the Jerome Gambit against John Mann in 1881. Again, an interesting game, and another example of the Gambit's spread around the world.
7. Jerome - S.A. Charles, correspondence, 1881
As I noted in "The Jerome Gambit Gemeinde (early)"
S. A. Charles, a member of the Cincinnati (Ohio, USA) Chess Club, wrote opening analyses, first for the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, then later for the Pittsburgh Telegraph. It is in the latter paper that in 1881 he presented his examination of the Jerome Gambit. That year he also played an incomplete Jerome Gambit correspondence match with Alonzo Jerome.
None of the games were completed before Jerome withdrew, because of "business engagements". This match has been given scant coverage in the blog. The situation will be rectified later this year.
8. Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1885
The best-known Jerome Gambit game (even if Blackburne got the year wrong in his book), a crushing win by Black. Later analysis showed how White could get the advantage. Even later analysis showed how the game could have ended in a tense draw.
9. Sorensen, S.A. -X, Denmark, 1888
This game, the first that I have been able to find with the "pie in the face" defense, also celebrates Lt. Sorensen, who, in the May 1877 issue of Nordisk Skaktidende, wrote a very influential article on the Jerome Gambit, which was translated and republished widely.
10. Tonetti - Ruggieri, Rome, 1863
The King-hunt in this game makes the Jerome Gambit almost look like a legitimate opening. Almost.
From the Adelaide Observer, May 12, 1877
"Chess"
H. Charlick
"Chess in Adelaide"
The following long and stubbornly-contested game was fought April 4, 1877, on the occasion of the visit to Adelaide, during the Easter holidays, of Mr. A. Holloway, of Williamstown, formerly of the Bristol Chess Club. The other game, between the same pair of players, won, at the Kt odds, by Mr. Holloway, was published a few weeks ago. The present partie was played on equal terms.
Charlick,H - Holloway,A
Australia, 1877
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Bc5 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.Qh5+ Ng6 9.Qd5+ Kf8 10.Qxc5+ d6 11.Qe3 Nf6 12.d4 Kf7 13.0-0 Re8 14.Nd2 c6 15.f4 Kg8 16.Re1 Kh8 17.Ba3 Nd5 18.Qg3 Ndxf4 19.Nc4 c5 20.e5 Qh4 21.Nxd6 Be6 22.Nxe8 Rxe8 23.Bxc5 b6 24.Bd6 Bc4 25.Qxh4 Nxh4 26.Rad1 Nhxg2 27.Re4 Bd5 28.Rde1 Re6 29.c4 Nxe1 30.cxd5 Rg6+ 31.Kf1 Ned3 32.e6 Nxd5 33.e7 Nxe7 34.Rxe7 h6 35.Bg3 a5 36.d5 Nc5 37.d6 Rf6+ 38.Kg1 Kh7 39.Be5 Rg6+ 40.Kf1 Rg5 41.d7 Nxd7 42.Bc7 Rd5 43.Re6 Rf5+ 44.Kg1 Rf6 45.Re7 Nc5 46.Be5 Rg6+ 47.Kf1 Nd3 48.Bc3 a4 49.a3 b5 50.Rb7 Rg5 51.h4 Rg4 52.Ke2 Rg3 53.Rxb5 Nc1+ 54.Kd2 Nb3+ 55.Kc2 Rg2+ 56.Kd1 Rg3 57.Be5 Rg4 58.Rb4 Rxb4 59.axb4 Kg6 60.Kc2 Kf7 61.Bc3 g5 62.hxg5 hxg5 63.Kb2 Ke6 64.Ka3 Kd5 65.Kxa4 Kc4 66.Be5 g4 67.b5 Nc5+ 68.Ka5 Nd7 69.Bg3 Kd5 70.Bf2 Nc5 71.Kb6 Nd7+ 72.Kc7 Ne5 73.b6 Nc6 74.b7 Nb4 75.Bg3 Ke6 76.Bd6 1-0
