Multi-Tasking vs ADHD

After posting Bill Wall's latest game to this blog (see "Winning With the Jerome Gambit: A Game Full of Lessons"), I ran across the following game with the same opening line. I chuckled as play went from one area of the board to another to another; and I couldn't decide if the players were expert multi-taskers or suffering from inattention...

Johnstone, Michael - Egan, Michael
IECC, 1999

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ 

5...Kxf7 6.O-O d6 7.Nbd2 h5 8.Nb3 h4 9.c3 

White plans to counter Black's wing aggression with play in the center.

9...Nh5

More consistent would have been 9... h3!?

10.d4 Bb6 11.Bg5 Qd7 12.Bxh4 Nf4 13.dxe5 Qg4 14.Bg3 

14...Nxg2

Black has a piece to burn, but he would have done better to move another attacker closer to the enemy King with 14...Nxe5. White's Bishop on g3 helps hold the defense together.

15.Kxg2 Qh3+

This was Black's idea, but it doesn't produce the attack he had hoped for.

16.Kg1 Rh5 17.exd6 Bg4 18.dxc7 

The hungry White pawn wanders while Black piles up on the Kingside.

18...Kg8 19.Nbd4 Nxd4 20.cxd4 Rf8 21.Qb3+ Kh7

If Black's attack does not succeed, White's extra pawns will win the day. On the other hand, White must defend well, if he wants those pawns to win for him.

22.Ne5

The Knight vacates the hot square f3, but this gives Black a chance to grab the advantage. Safer for White would be 22.Nd2, with a possible continuation being 22...Bxd4 23.Qd3 Bb6 24.Rac1 Rc8 25.e5+ Bf5 26.Qf3 Bxc7 27.Qxb7 Bb6 when Black has captured the dangerous passer at c7, and grabbed one of White's center pawns, but he remains three pawns down, and White has a protected passer at e5.

22...Bxc7

Taking the dangerous pawn is understandable, but Black's chance was to knock out the key to White's defense with 22...Rxe5 23.dxe5 Bf3 which wins the Queen after 24.Qxf3 Rxf3. White would have a Rook and four pawns for his Queen, which is probably not enough.

23.Nxg4 Qxg4 

White maintains his three pawn advantage.

24.Qxb7

White's attention wanders from the Kingside, as he is convinced that he has put an end to Black's attack. Therefore, why not grab a pawn?

24...Bb6

Overlooking the drawing combination 24...Bxg3 25.fxg3 Qe2, when White will be unable to avoid repeated checks and a draw (unless he falls into checkmate). Black, too, has overlooked the Kingside.

From here on, White's pawns advance, he uses his pieces to defend his King, and the full point is obtained.

25.Rad1 Rf6 26.Rd3 Rfh6 27.f3 Qg5

A bit stronger is 27...Qg6 28.Qc8 Rxh2 29.Qf5 Qxf5 30.exf5 Rxb2 31.Rf2 Rb1+ 32.Kg2 Rh5 33.f4 Rxf5 when White's lead would be one (passed) pawn, but it would be sufficient.

28.e5 Rxh2 29.Qe4+ Kh8 30.Qg4 Rh1+

Similar to the note above is the alternative, 30...Qxg4 31.fxg4 Rxb2 32.Rf2 Rb1+ 33.Kg2 Kg8 34.Re2 Kf8 35.d5, which leaves White with two passed center pawns. 

31.Kg2 R1h5 32.Qxg5 Rxg5 33.f4 Rg4 34.d5 Kg8 35.Re1 g5 36.e6 Kf8 37.e7+ Ke8 38.Rc3 Bd8 39.Rc8 gxf4 40.exd8=Q+ Kf7 41.Qd7+ Kg6 42.Rg8+ Kh5 43.Qxg4 checkmate

"And I would have gotten away with it..."

I just received the latest Jerome Gambit (delayed) game from Bill Wall. Before - or after - checking it out, you might want to visit "Bill Wall's Chess Page" which has been updated to have even more interesting chess stuff.

The graphic at the top of this post is from the animated series featuring "Scooby-Doo" and his human pals, who got into all sorts of mischief as they solved mysteries. Often the captured villain, at the end of the episode, would lament, "And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!"

Some players who defend against the Jerome Gambit have the same feeling about White's "Jerome pawns". 

Wall,B - Lee,S
PlayChess.com, 2015

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+

5...Kxf7 6.0-0

Bill has played this kind of delayed Jerome Gambit a little differently, before, for example: 6.Be3 Bb4+ 7.c3 Ba5 8.b4 Bb6 9.b5 Na5 10.Nxe5+ Kf8 11.0-0 d6 12.Nf3 Ke7 13.Qc2 Re8 14.d4 Kf8 15.e5 Nd5 16.Qxh7 Nxe3 17.fxe3 Nc4 18.Ng5+ Ke7 19.Qxg7 checkmate, Wall,B - Westender, Chess.com, 2010.

6...h6

An alternative that shows up in different Jerome Gambit game collections is 6...Re8 7.Bg5 d5 8.Nbd2 Bg4 9.c3 Qd6 10.Qb3 Rab8 11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.exd5 Na5 13.Qa4 Bxf3 14.Nxf3 Qb6 15.b4 Bxf2+ 16.Rxf2 e4 17.dxe4 Nc4 18.Qd7+ Kg6 19.Qf5+ Kg7 20.a4 Qe3 21.Nd4 Qxc3 22.Qxf6+ Kg8 23.Raf1 Qxb4 24.Ne6 Qe7 25.Qd4 Nb6 26.Rf3 Nd7 27.Rg3+ Black resigned, Brookshire,T - Cunningham,D, IECC ,1999 (1-0, 27); alternately, 6...Kg8 would allow transposition to Wall,B - KRM, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 25).

7.Nxe5+

Bill has also played this position without the second piece sacrifice:
7.Be3 would lead to Wall,B-Mukak, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 24); while 7.Nc3 was seen in Wall,B - Guest2622844, PlayChess.com, 2013: 7...Rf8 8.Nd5 Kg8 9.Be3 Bb6 10.c4 d6 11.Qb3 Na5 12.Qc3 Nxd5 13.cxd5 c5 14.Nd2 Bc7 15.a3 b5 16.b4 Nb7 17.Nb3 c4 18.dxc4 bxc4 19.Nd2 a5 20.Nxc4 axb4 21.axb4 Rxa1 22.Rxa1 Qh4 23.f3 Bd7? 24.Nxe5 dxe5 25.Qxc7 Bc8 26.Qxe5 Qf6 27.Qxf6 Rxf6 28.b5 Rf8 29.b6 Kf7 30.Rc1 Na5 31.Rc7+ Kg6 32.Bd4 Rg8 33.Kf2 Nb3 34.Bc3 Ba6 35.b7 Rb8 36.Rxg7+ Kh5 37.g4+ Kh4 38.Bf6+ Kh3 39.Rh7 Black resigned

7...Nxe5 8.d4 

Bill has played a similar game, achieving d2-d4 in one move instead of two: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.0-0 h6 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Nf6 8.dxe5 Nh7 9.Qd5+ Kf8 10.Qxc5+ d6 11.Rd1 Black resigned, Wall,B - Guest2170955, PlayChess.com, 2012. 

8...d6 9.dxc5 dxc5 10.Qe1 Re8 

Black has a piece for a pawn as well as better development. He is better, but he needs a plan.

In the mean time, White will develop and unleash his "Jerome pawns".

11.Nc3 Ng6 12.f3 Qd4+ 13.Be3 Qe5 14.f4 Qe7 15.e5 Nd7

Black's Queenside looks dangerously congested.

Bill points out that 15...Bf5 was possible, as 16.exf6? simply loses a piece to 16...Qxe3+ 17.Qxe3 Rxe3

16.Nd5 Qh4

Black's move feints at an attack on the Kingside, threatens to exchange Queens - and ignores the problems of his Queenside.

One fascinating possibility in this position is 16...Qd8 17.Rd1 c6 18.e6+ Kg8  when White simply snags the Knight on d7, with at least equality after 19.exd7 Bxd7 20.Nc3. The point is that Black cannot take the obnoxious White e-pawn with 18...Rxe6, as White can activate his other advanced "Jerome pawn" with 19.f5 Re5 20.fxg6+ Kg8 and the tactics, as Stockfish shows, are in the attacker's favor: 21.Nc7!? Qxc7 22.Qg3 Qa5 23.Rxd7 Bxd7 24.Qxe5 Re8 25.Bxc5 Qd8 26.Qf4 with an advantage to White.

17.f5 Qxe1 18.e6+ Kg8 19.Raxe1 Rf8 20.fxg6 Rxf1+ 21.Rxf1 Ne5 

Perhaps Black breathed a sigh of relief here. True, he has had to return his extra piece, but he has traded Queens and one pair of Rooks, and he can look forward to the possibility of a Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame where White's extra pawn may make no difference.

22.Ne7+ 

Or not.

Here Black resigned, as 22...Kh8 23.Rf8 would be checkmate.

The Other Side

Sidran - Vong, 1992 (see "Offside!") was only an eyeblink look at the Jerome Gambit-style response to the 3...Na5 defense in the Italian Game. Strong? Weak? The line deserves further attention.

Benyovszki - Meyer

IECC email, 2001
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Na5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.Qh5

In our previous game we saw 6.Qg4+ Kf6 7.d4 d6 8.Bg4 checkmate, Sidran - Vong, Compuserve email, 1992.

The text move is not as strong. Interesting is 6.d4 Nf6 with an unclear, but perhaps equal position.
6...Nf6 7.Qf7+

This is not going to lead to success – but Black has the advantage (a smaller one) after 7.Qf5+ Ke7.

7...Kxe5 8.d4+ Kxe4

The position is complicated, and Black misses his chance for 8...Kxd4! 9.Be3+ Ke5 ( 9...Kxe4? 10.Nc3+ Kf5 11.0-0-0 d5 12.Rxd5+ Qxd5 13.Nxd5 and White is winning) 10.Nd2 c5 11.0-0-0 Kd6 12.e5+ Kc6 13.exf6 Qxf6 with significant advantage.

Likewise 8...Kd6 9.e5+ Kc6 10.exf6 Qxf6 would have been better for Black.

9.Nc3+ Kf5

This move leads to a mate-in-nine, but 9...Kxd4 only puts off the inevitable: 10.Be3+ Ke5 11.0-0-0 d5 12.Bd4+ Kd6 13.Bxf6 Kc6 14.Bxd8 Bd6 15.Qxd5+ Kd7 16.Bxc7 Nb3+ 17.axb3 Ke7 18.Rhe1+ Kf6 19.Ne4+ Kg6 20.Qg5+ Kf7 21.Nxd6+ Kg8 22.Re8 checkmate

10.Nd5

Ooops!

White needed to find 10.g4+! Kxg4 11.Rg1+ Kh3 12.Rg3+ Kxh2 13.Bf4 d5 14.Ne2 Qd6 15.0-0-0 Nb3+ 16.axb3 Qxf4+ 17.Nxf4 Bf5 18.Rg2 checkmate.

Now he loses.

10...Qe8+ 11.Ne3+ Ke4 12.f3+ Kxd4 13.c3+ Ke5 14.Nc4+ Nxc4 15.Qxc4 Kf5+ 16.Kf2 Qd8 17.Re1 Kg6 18.Re5 d5 19.Qh4 Ng4+ White resigns.

graphic by Jeff Bucchino, "The Wizard of Draws"