Congratulations!

I am taking time out from my "passionate" savoring of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) to offer congratulations to my son, Matt, and his bride, Melanie, as they marry today. My heart swells, and my eyes overflow.


Readers who are familiar with the "Kennedy Kids" know that "big brother Matt" has grown from "A Fool Proof Plan" through "Little Capablanca".


As I have shifted to writing about Mary, Jon, and Matt in their "older" years, I guess that I owe my new daughter-in-law, Dr. Melanie, a story as well.

Ajedrez en Antigua‏

From an email from "Kennedy Kid" Jon, attending Spanish Academy Sevilla in Antigua, Guatemala. No word on Jon playing the Jerome Gambit, but there is hope!

...In addition, the Guatemalan Chess Federation sponsored a Chess tournament today nearby the park. I decided to participate and I did ok. I made a silly blunder my first game and subsequently lost, but I regained my pride by winning the next two. After three games they did some point calculation that I did not understand and decided that I was 6th (out of around 18) and I watched the guy who beat me play a game of speed chess in the final. The games I played were normal games where they added a timer after about 20 minutes of play. I really don´t like speed chess (each person had two minutes) as the guy who beat me was winning handily in the final match but could not get to checkmate before he ran out of time. Anyway, I played (and won) one more game for fun afterwards, ending the day 3-1...

On the Road Again

"Kennedy Kid" Jon is on the road again, home from Haiti briefly, now off to Guatemala for a month to improve his Spanish language skills.

As I did with his stay in Uganda, as well as Haiti, I have begun to learn about chess in Guatemala.

For example, I learned that Silvia Carolina Mazariegos was Guatemalan Women's Chess Champion for the years 1981 - 1994. She returned as champion 2001, 2002 and 2004. During the same span of time the Men's title was dominated by Carlos Armando Juárez Flores, who was champion in 1980, 1983-88, 1991, 1993-1995, and 1998-2007. 

The Guatemalan Defense, 1.e4 b6 2.d4 Ba6, was covered in The Myers Openings Bulletin (New MOB No. 1, 3, and 4) in 1992 and 1993. Myers presented three games from the 1930s played by Hans Cohn, from his 1947 book Ajedrez en Guatemala, which had a chapter on "Defensa Guatemalteca". The MOB also gave the first part of a 1939 game by Georges Koltanowski (vs Cohn) and the first part of 1943 game by Reuben Fine, from a blindfold simultaneous exhibition.

Wrote Myers

It [the chapter on Defensa Guatemalteca] starts with a long quote from a 1913 magazine article by emanuel Lasker, expressing Cohn's opening philosophy. Summing up, it says that the ideas lefense will stop any attack, lead to counterattack, and enable Black to play for a win "si el blanco desconoce sus posibilidades o las sobreestima" [if White doesn't know about its possibilities or overestimates them]; I haven't seen Lasker's original German, but I found two of those Spanish words to be interesting: "desconoce" means doesn't know about, but it can have a sense of deliberately ignoring. As for "sobreestima", one might expect White to have problems when he underestimates an unfamiliar defense, but the Spanish word, which also means having too much respect for something, makes sense. Fear of the unknown affects judgement. When faced by a surprising opening a player may imagine dangers which are not really there. There or not, he'll spend time looking for them and trying to defend against them.

Hmmm, sounds like an opening I know...

If Jon gets around to playing any more Jerome Gambits (see "Artificial Ignorance" parts 1 and 2), I'll let you know.

Sunday Book Reviews

Long-time readers are no-doubt aware that over the last few years I have written 125 - 150 chess reviews, posted at the Chessville.com site. That is also the location for my short story fiction, from Sherlock Holmes to Perry the PawnPusher to The Kennedy Kids.

Unfortunately, Chessville has not posted new material in the last 5 months, and I am unsure when it will become active again. Therefore, I have decided to start posting reviews here, in "Sunday Book Reviews".

For the most part I will cover unorthodox or aggressive chess openings, as I did at Chessville, which should be of interest to many readers. For example, I have reviewed a number of books in the Secrets of Opening Surprises series (#4, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12), and it seems reasonable to give a look at #13.

I have reviewed books about openings less travelled (examples: Starting Out: d-pawn Attacks - the Colle-Zukertort, Barry and 150 Attacks by IM Richard Palliser; Starting Out: The Dutch Defense by Neil McDonald; and The Trompowsky by Nigel Davies), openings off of the beaten path (examples: Tango!  A Dynamic Answer to 1.d4 by Richard Palliser; Tiger's Modern by Tiger Hillarp Persson; and Chess On the Edge Volume 1, 2 and 3 - 100 Selected Games of Canadian Grandmaster Duncan Suttles, by FM Bruce Harper, GM Yasser Seirawan, with contributions by IM Gerard Welling,) and openings to which there is hardly a path at all (examples: Two Books by Richard Moody Jr. - Magic: Black to Move and Win! and Universal Chess: The Search For Truth And Beauty; Winning with the Krazy Kat and Old Hippo, by Gary K. Gifford, Davide Rozzoni and Bill Wall; and Challenging the Sicilian with 2.a3!? by Alexei Bezgodov).

I have even reviewed books on openings that challenge the Jerome Gambit in outrageousness, and which have inspired me to write my own tome on that duckbilled platypus of chess openings (Unorthodox Chess by Some Loser and In Your Face Chess Novelties by Andrew Tocher).

Please take a minute to let me know what you think about this idea.

Coming next Sunday Book Review: Captain Jack Sparrow!

Artificial Ignorance (Part 1)

How do you get a chess-playing computer to play poorly?

In the case of programs like Talking LCD Chess – see "Jerome Gambit and the Perfesser (Part I)", Part II, Part III and Part IV – you can limit how deeply it searches for each move. It sees less, it misses more.

In the case of programs like Chess Challenger 7 – see "A Jerome Gambit 'Challenger' " –  you can limit the amount of time it spends on choosing each move. Again, playing strength has a lot to do with how far the computer "sees".

Or, when you design a program, you can have it play a relatively decent game, but every once-in-a-while have it choose the 4th or 5th or worse move choice. That's the blunder-as-a-ticking-time-bomb model: with strong players, large mistakes are rare; but with weak players things go *boom* quite regularly.

I was thinking about this "problem" (most of the time programmers are trying to make their chess engines stronger and smarter) today while discussing the Chess Titans program (which is included in the Windows 7 operating system) with my son, Jon.

The youngest of the "Kennedy Kids", home on vacation from his work in Haiti, has been spending more time on chess lately. Of course, he wanted me to show him the details of the Jerome Gambit, and of course I spent a lot of time doing so.

He wants to return to The Haitian Project, play his boss at chess, and beat him with the Jerome Gambit...

Another Disaster Comes to Haiti

"Kennedy Kid" Jon has been at Louverture Cleary School in Haiti, before, during, and after January's devastating earthquake. He was there for the recent hurricane, as well.

The people of Haiti are resilient. They have survived many disasters and are already overcoming the recent ones.

The other day, however, Jon told me in a phone call that he had been teaching the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) to one of the LCS volunteers.

We can only hope that everyone is prepared for that.

Stupefy!

"Kennedy Kid" Jon is home from Haiti and watching Harry Potter movies.

A "Stupefy!" spell might explain the following game.

perrypawnpusher  - AirmanLeonidas
blitz game 2 12, FICS, 2010


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

The Semi-Italian Opening.

4.0-0 Bc5 5.Bxf7+

The Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.Qh5+ Kf8

Oddly enough, the updated New Year's Database, with over 18,650 games (and free for the asking), has only one example of this move – and none of Black's very reasonable next move.

Rybka recommends, instead, 7...Ke6 8.Qh3+ Ke7 9.Qc3 d6 10.d4 Bxd4 11.Qxd4 Nf6 12.f4 Nc6 13.Qc3 Rf8 14.b4 Kf7 15.Bb2 Kg8 16.b5 Ne7 when Black has a clear advantage.

8.Qxe5 Qe7

Also seen is 8...Bd6 9.Qd4 Qh4 10.g3 Qh5 11.Qe3 c6 12.d4 b6 13.e5 Bc7 14.f4 Ne7 15.Nc3 b5 16.Ne4 Bb7 17.Nc5 Bc8 18.f5 d6 19.Ne6+ Kg8 20.Nxc7 Nxf5 21.Qf4 Rb8 22.exd6 Bd7 23.Bd2 Rf8 24.Rae1 Kh7 25.Qe5 Qh3 26.Bf4 Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - LethHansen, blitz, FICS, 2009.

9.Qf4+ Nf6

Black's King does better to eacape with 9...Ke8. After 10.Nc3 c6 or 10...Bd6 the second player is still for choice. 

10.e5

Here I waited patiently as the clock moved on, for something like 10...d6 11.exf6 Qxf6 12.Qxf6 gxf6 when White has an edge: up a pawn, with better pawn structure, against the two Bishops.

Instead, Black resigned, right before his time ran out.

Chessville is back!

Chessville is back online!

Readers have come to know Chessville as a place to find opening analysis, especially analysis of unorthodox openings, as well as news of the chess world, book & product reviews and chess fiction (including the Sherlock Holmes, Perry the Pawnpusher and "Kennedy Kids" stories). 

After about a half-year lapse in new material, and a month or so (lately) of being un-reachable, Chessville (you can also find it in my "Links") is back online and will soon be adding new content.

See you there!

On Break

"Kennedy Kid" Jon is home today, starting his Christmas break from teaching at The Haitian Project's Louverture Cleary School, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

(This is Jon, dressed for a Halloween party as "Route National 3", the road LCS staff and students have been cleaning.)

NOT the Jerome Gambit

Occasionally I have taken a break from the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) on this web site to give an update on the adventures of my son, Jon, the youngest of the three "Kennedy Kids" (above, at his recent graduation from the University of Notre Dame, with brother Matt and sister Mary): see"And Now For Something Completely Different..."; "A Short Break from the Jerome Gambit"; and "Ugandan Chess Master" for his summer in Uganda.

I probably should have mentioned that he spent Spring Break 2009 in El Salvador. He was observing the election, however, not playing chess. Still, Ajedrez El Salvador is an interesting and informative site.

In the fall Jon will be off to Haiti. I haven't found out much about the Haiti Chess Federation, but I'll keep you posted.

Ugandan Chess Master

Every once in a while I have taken a break from posting on the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) to mention happenings in Uganda, where Kennedy Kid Jon spent last summer (see "And Now For Something Completely Different..." and "A Short Break from the Jerome Gambit").

Jon's Uganda blog is at http://www.jbkuganda.blogspot.com/

Word from the Uganda Chess Federation is that Moses Kawuma, a member of the Ugandan Olympiad Chess Team, recently scored 8-0-2 at the 2008 World Olympiad in Dresden, Germany. According to The Chess Drum, this performance (9/10) was enough for Kawuma to be granted the FIDE Master title.

Here are Master Moses Kawuma's games:

Kawuma,M (2204) - Chimthere,A (1966) [D37] 38th Olympiad Dresden GER (1), 13.11.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Bd3 dxc4 9.Bxc4 Qxd1+ 10.Rxd1 Bd7 11.Ne5 Be8 12.Nb5 Nc6 13.Nd3 Be7 14.Nc7 Rc8 15.Nxe6 fxe6 16.Bxe6+ Bf7 17.Bxc8 Rxc8 18.a3 Nd5 19.0-0 Nxf4 20.Nxf4 Bf6 21.Rd2 Ne5 22.Nd5 h5 23.Nxf6+ gxf6 24.Rfd1 Kg7 25.f3 Kg6 26.Kf2 Bb3 27.Re1 a5 28.f4 Nc4 29.Rd3 a4 30.Re2 b5 31.e4 Rc6 32.Rd5 Nd6 33.Rd4 Nc4 34.g3 Kh6 35.h3 Kg6 36.g4 hxg4 37.hxg4 Rc8 38.Rd5 Rh8 39.Kg2 Nb6 40.Rd6 Nc4 41.Rd7 Rh4 42.Kg3 Rh1 43.e5 fxe5 44.fxe5 Bd1 45.Rf2 Nxe5 46.Rd6+ Kg7 47.Kf4 Nf7 48.Rb6 Rg1 49.Rxb5 Rxg4+ 50.Ke3 Bb3 51.Rb7 Kg6 52.Rb4 Rg3+ 53.Kd4 Rg5 54.Rb6+ Kg7 55.Kc3 Nd8 56.Re2 Kf7 57.Rd6 Ne6 58.Rd7+ Kf6 59.Rf2+ 1/2-1/2

Grassi,E (2063) - Kawuma,M (2204) [B33] 38th Olympiad Dresden GER (2), 14.11.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 f5 11.Bd3 Be6 12.Qh5 Rg8 13.g3 Rg4 14.f3 Rg6 15.Qxh7 Rh6 16.Qg8 Rg6 17.Qh8 Bxd5 18.exd5 Qg5 19.f4 exf4 20.0-0-0 fxg3+ 21.Kb1 Ne5 22.hxg3 Rg8 23.Qh3 Qxg3 24.Bxf5 Qxh3 25.Bxh3 b4 0-1

Skehan,C - Kawuma,M (2204) [A45] 38th Olympiad Dresden GER (4), 16.11.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.e3 c5 3.c3 d6 4.Nd2 e5 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.Bc4 Bd6 7.e4 0-0 8.Ngf3 a6 9.a4 Nc6 10.0-0 Bg4 11.Qc2 Na5 12.Be2 Qc7 13.b4 cxb4 14.c4 b5 15.Qa2 bxc4 16.Nxc4 b3 17.Qd2 Nxc4 18.Bxc4 Nxe4 19.Qd3 Nc5 20.Qc3 Rab8 21.Bb2 Ne4 22.Qd3 Bxf3 23.gxf3 Ng5 24.Rac1 Nh3+ 25.Kh1 Bc5 26.Qc3 Bd4 27.Qd2 Qb7 28.Kg2 Nf4+ 29.Kg3 Qb6 30.Bxd4 Qg6+ 31.Kh4 Qh5+ 0-1

Kawuma,M (2204) - Antoniou,A (2177) [E18] 38th Olympiad Dresden GER (5), 17.11.2008
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 e6 3.c4 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.Nc3 0-0 7.0-0 Ne4 8.Nxe4 Bxe4 9.Ne1 Bxg2 10.Nxg2 d5 11.Qa4 dxc4 12.Qxc4 Nd7 13.Qc6 Nf6 14.Be3 Qd6 15.Rac1 Rac8 16.Rfd1 Rfd8 17.Bg5 Nd5 18.Bxe7 Qxc6 19.Rxc6 Nxe7 20.Rcc1 Kf8 21.e4 Ke8 22.Ne3 c5 23.dxc5 Rxd1+ 24.Nxd1 Kd7 25.b4 bxc5 26.bxc5 Kc6 27.Nb2 Rd8 28.Rc2 Rd4 29.f3 Kb5 30.Kf2 Nc6 31.Ke3 e5 32.a3 f6 33.Nd3 Na5 34.Nb2 Rd8 35.f4 exf4+ 36.gxf4 Rc8 37.e5 fxe5 38.fxe5 Rc6 39.Nd3 Nb3 40.a4+ Kxa4 41.Ra2+ Kb5 42.Rxa7 Nxc5 43.Rxg7 Nxd3 44.Kxd3 Rh6 45.Rg2 Kc6 46.Ke4 Kd7 47.Ra2 Rh4+ 48.Kf5 Rh5+ 49.Kf6 Rh6+ 50.Kf7 Rh3 51.Rd2+ 1-0

Miller,B (1741) - Kawuma,M (2204) [B21] 38th Olympiad Dresden GER (6), 19.11.2008
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.Qxd4 Nc6 4.Qe3 Nf6 5.Bd3 e5 6.Nc3 Bb4 7.Bd2 0-0 8.Nge2 d6 9.0-0 Be6 10.Kh1 Qd7 11.f4 Bc5 12.Qg3 exf4 13.Nxf4 Kh8 14.Ncd5 Bd4 15.Bc3 Bxc3 16.bxc3 Bxd5 17.exd5 Ne5 18.c4 Qg4 19.Qf2 Rfe8 20.Rae1 b6 21.Re3 Nxd3 22.Rxe8+ Rxe8 23.cxd3 Re5 24.h3 Qg5 25.Ne2 Qe3 26.Qxe3 Rxe3 27.Nc1 Kg8 28.Kg1 b5 29.Kf2 Re7 30.Re1 Rc7 31.g4 bxc4 32.g5 Nd7 33.Re8+ Nf8 34.Rd8 cxd3 35.Nxd3 Rd7 36.Rxd7 Nxd7 37.Kf3 f6 38.gxf6 Nxf6 39.Nb4 a5 40.Nc6 a4 41.Nb4 Kf7 42.a3 g5 43.Ke3 h5 44.Kf3 Kg6 0-1

Kawuma,M (2204) - Kumar,M (2019) [D37] 38th Olympiad Dresden GER (7), 20.11.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 c6 7.Be2 Nbd7 8.h3 b6 9.0-0 Bb7 10.Rc1 Rc8 11.cxd5 Nxd5 12.Nxd5 cxd5 13.Bd3 Nf6 14.Qa4 a6 15.Ne5 b5 16.Qb3 Ne4 17.Rcd1 Qa5 18.Bb1 Rfd8 19.Qd3 Qb4 20.f3 Nf6 21.Rf2 g6 22.g4 Nd7 23.Rfd2 Bf6 24.Nxd7 Rxd7 25.g5 Bg7 26.Qf1 Rdd8 27.h4 Re8 28.a3 Qe7 29.Be5 b4 30.axb4 Qxb4 31.f4 a5 32.h5 Qb3 33.Bd3 Bc6 34.Qe2 Ba4 35.Kf2 Qb4 36.Rh1 Qe7 37.Qg4 Bb3 38.Qh4 Bxe5 39.fxe5 Bc4 40.hxg6 fxg6 41.Bxg6 Rf8+ 42.Kg3 Rc7 43.Rdh2 hxg6 44.Qh8+ Kf7 45.Rh7+ Ke8 46.Rxe7+ Rxe7 47.Qh3 Kd7 48.Qg2 Rf5 49.Rh4 Rxg5+ 50.Rg4 Rxg4+ 51.Kxg4 Kc6 52.Qc2 Kb6 53.b3 1-0

Kawuma,M (2204) - Christopher,A (1679) [D12] 38th Olympiad Dresden GER (8), 21.11.2008
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Bf5 4.c4 c6 5.Be2 e6 6.0-0 Be7 7.Nc3 0-0 8.Nh4 Bg6 9.Nxg6 hxg6 10.b3 Nbd7 11.Bb2 Rc8 12.Bf3 b6 13.Qd2 c5 14.cxd5 cxd4 15.exd4 Bb4 16.dxe6 Ne5 17.Qe3 Nxf3+ 18.Qxf3 fxe6 19.Ne4 Qd5 20.Nxf6+ gxf6 21.Qxd5 exd5 22.Rfc1 Kf7 23.Rxc8 Rxc8 24.Rc1 Rxc1+ 25.Bxc1 Bc3 26.Be3 b5 27.Kf1 f5 28.Ke2 f4 29.Bxf4 Bxd4 30.Be3 Be5 31.Bxa7 Bxh2 32.g3 Ke6 33.Kf3 Ke5 34.Kg2 Bxg3 35.Kxg3 Ke4 36.a4 b4 37.Bc5 Kd3 38.Bxb4 Kc2 39.a5 Kxb3 40.Be1 1-0

Ho Hou Meng,H (1926) - Kawuma,M (2204) [A10] 38th Olympiad Dresden GER (9), 22.11.2008 1.c4 b6 2.Nc3 Bb7 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 c5 7.d5 d6 8.e4 Nbd7 9.Qd2 0-0 10.Bd3 a6 11.a4 Re8 12.0-0 Ng4 13.Bxe7 Qxe7 14.Qg5 Qxg5 15.Nxg5 Nge5 16.Be2 exd5 17.exd5 Nf6 18.Rae1 Rad8 19.b3 Bc8 20.Nge4 Nxe4 21.Nxe4 Bf5 22.Ng3 Bc2 23.Bd1 Bxd1 24.Rxd1 Ng6 25.Rfe1 Kf8 26.Kf1 Re5 27.Ne4 h6 28.f3 Ke7 29.g3 Kd7 30.f4 Ree8 31.Kf2 Ne7 32.Nd2 Nf5 33.Nf3 Rb8 34.Ra1 Rxe1 35.Rxe1 b5 36.axb5 axb5 37.g4 bxc4 38.gxf5 cxb3 39.f6 gxf6 40.Rb1 c4 41.Nd4 Ra8 42.Nxb3 Ra2+ 43.Kg1 cxb3 44.Rxb3 Rd2 45.Rb7+ Ke8 46.Rb8+ Ke7 47.Rh8 Rxd5 48.Rxh6 Rf5 49.Rh4 d5 50.Kf2 d4 51.Ke2 Ke6 52.Kd3 Kd5 53.Rg4 Rh5 54.h4 Rf5 55.Rg7 Rxf4 56.Rxf7 Rf3+ 57.Kd2 Ke6 58.Rh7 d3 59.h5 Kf5 60.Rh8 Rh3 61.h6 Kg6 62.Rg8+ Kf7 63.Rg7+ Ke6 64.h7 Kf5 65.Re7 Kg6 66.h8Q Rxh8 67.Kxd3 Kf5 68.Ke3 Ra8 69.Kf3 Ra3+ 70.Kf2 Kf4 71.Rb7 Ra2+ 72.Kf1 f5 73.Rb4+ Kg3 74.Rb3+ Kg4 75.Rb4+ f4 76.Rb3 Rc2 77.Ra3 Rd2 78.Rb3 Kf5 79.Rb5+ Ke4 80.Rb4+ Ke3 81.Rb3+ Rd3 82.Rxd3+ Kxd3 83.Kf2 Ke4 84.Ke2 f3+ 85.Kf2 Kf4 86.Kf1 Ke3 87.Ke1 f2+ 88.Kf1 Kf3 1/2-1/2

Kawuma,M (2204) - Rambalohery,J [A46] 38th Olympiad Dresden GER (10), 23.11.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d6 3.c4 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 Bg4 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Qxf3 Nbd7 9.Bd3 e5 10.Bg5 exd4 11.exd4 Re8+ 12.Be3 Nh5 13.0-0 c5 14.dxc5 dxc5 15.Be4 Ne5 16.Qe2 Nc6 17.Bxc5 Qh4 18.Qg4 Qxg4 19.hxg4 Bxc3 20.Bxc6 Rec8 21.Bxb7 Rxc5 22.Bxa8 Bxb2 23.Rab1 Bd4 24.gxh5 Rxh5 25.Bd5 Bb6 26.Rb3 Kg7 27.Re1 Bc7 28.Re7 Bh2+ 29.Kf1 Kf6 30.Rxf7+ Ke5 31.Rh3 1-0

Muendle,K (1928) - Kawuma,M (2204) [D55] 38th Olympiad Dresden GER (11), 25.11.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 0-0 6.e3 b6 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.Bxf6 Bxf6 9.cxd5 exd5 10.b4 c5 11.bxc5 bxc5 12.Qc2 g6 13.0-0 c4 14.Be2 Re8 15.Rfb1 Bc6 16.Rb2 Nd7 17.Rab1 Qe7 18.a4 Rec8 19.Nd2 Bg7 20.Bf3 Nf6 21.g3 h5 22.h3 Qd7 23.Bg2 Qd6 24.Nb5 Qd8 25.Nc3 Bf8 26.Nf3 Rab8 27.Ne5 Rxb2 28.Rxb2 Ba8 29.Qb1 Kg7 30.Rb5 a5 31.Rb2 Bb4 32.Nb5 Bb7 33.Na7 Rc7 34.Nb5 Re7 35.Qd1 Ne8 36.Qc2 Nd6 37.Nxd6 Qxd6 38.h4 Bc8 39.Qd1 Bf5 40.g4 hxg4 41.e4 c3 42.Re2 dxe4 43.Bxe4 Rxe5 44.Bxf5 Rxf5 45.Re4 g3 46.f3 Qc6 0-1

A Bagatelle

I unearthed my Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess CD the other day with thoughts that I might be able to use it with my "Chessboard Math" groups at a nearby school. I loaded it on my machine at work to be sure that the 1995 program would run under Windows XP. It did, no problem.

Wandering through MATC, I rediscovered the fact that it has a chessplaying engine, designed to give novices a decent game without embarassing them. When I had a free 5 minutes, I dashed off a game.

Of course, it had to be a Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+).

Here's the light-hearted romp.

Kennedy - MATC
blitz 2008

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 b5



Where did that come from?? There's a whole lot of trouble for White with 8...Qh4+, instead.
9.Qxe5+ Kc6 10.Qd5+ Kb6 11.d4



Moving too fast... Moving too fast... Making my moves too fast...

I was taking seconds on each move, so when I got to my 11th move I thought "Can't take the Rook on a8, he'll play 11...Bb7 and my Queen is trapped!"

I should never move so fast that I can't think straight...

11...Bb4+ 12.c3 Bb7


All of a sudden Black's goofy 8th move "works."

13.Qe5 Be7



A lucky break for me: 13...Bd6 is stronger (as MATC decides next move).

14.Be3

Here's a goofy line Fritz8 came up with later, showing some of what was hidden in the position: 14.a4 d5 15.Qxg7 Qd7 16.a5+ Ka6 17.Qxh8 Bf7 18.Nd2 Bxh8 19.Nb3 Qc6 20.Nc5+ Qxc5 21.dxc5 dxe4 with an unclear position.

14...Bd6 15.d5+ Ka6 16.Qd4 Nf6



Now I'm winning, but a safer route for Black (when White still has an edge) was pointed out by Rybka 3: 16...c5 17.dxc6 dxc6 18.a4 c5 19.Qd3 Kb6 20.Na3 a6 21.axb5 Be7 22.Qc4 axb5 23.Bxc5+ Bxc5 24.Qxb5+ Kc7 25.Qxc5+ Kb8 26.0–0 Qe7 27.Qd4 Nf6 28.e5 Ne4 29.Nc4 Rd8 30.Rxa8+ Bxa8 31.Qb6+ Bb7. Of course, Rybka had 5 minutes per half move to think on it...

17.a4 Qe7 18.axb5+ Kxb5 19.c4+ Kb4 20.c5+ Kb5 21.Nc3 checkmate

Ok, ok, I missed a couple of mates-in-one at the end there...

Driving Distance

"Kennedy Kid" Matt is now in Phoenix, Arizona, doing a physical therapy clincal internship for the Milwaukee Brewers major league baseball team. That puts him a 2-hour drive from Jerome, Arizona. If anything Jerome Gambit-ish occurs in Jerome, Matt will be able to report from on site.

And Now For Something Completely Different...

This post will touch on the Jerome Gambit, then wander off. I hope everyone will stay with me.

Chessville readers may be familiar with my series "The Kennedy Kids" (loosely based on the chess exploits of Jon, Mary and Matt) especially the one titled "Birthdays With My Friend Jerome" which contains some interesting Jerome Gambit games allegedly played by my youngest.

Anyhow, Jon -- now a senior at the University of Notre Dame -- is spending the summer in Uganda, near Jinja. His blog is worth checking out: http://jbkuganda.blogspot.com/.

I was surprised at the amount of chess going on in Uganda, but have been trying to come up to speed quickly. A good starting place is at Dr. Daaim Shabazz's site, The Chess Drum, where there is a 2002 interview of Daniel Nsibambi, president (at that time) of the Uganda Chess Federation. There is also a profile of the Uganda National Team.

ChessBase has a 2005 story about a chess-playing trip the Uganda team made to Germany.

FIDE has some news on the 2008 East African Chess Championship, and of course there is a website for the Uganda Chess Federation itself.

To date I have not found any Jerome Gambit games or analysis from Uganda -- but, rest assured, I am looking!