Housekeeping...

Now that the number of posts to this blog has passed 1,000 and its age races toward three years, I know that sometimes past items will be overlooked and not linked to current ones.

For example, in "Barely Legal" where I shared my Philidor Defense game that ended in a variation of Legal's Mate

I should have mentioned that in "Declining the Jerome Gambit - Légally" I presented a Damiano Defense game (by transposition) that also ended up in Légall's Mate

Oh, they're the almost the exact same position, you say? How could I have included one and overlooked the other?

It looks like my blog's "search" function could use a built-in "spell check" function to help me out... 

p.s. Another recent Légal, played since the above was written, from my short visit to ICC: AlonzoJerome - Osmin, ICC 5 5, 2011, # 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Nc6 4.Nc3 h6 5.0-0 Bg4 6.d3 Nd4 7.Nxe5 Bxd1 8.Bxf7+ Ke7 9.Nd5 checkmate

 

Declining the Jerome Gambit - Légally

Given that my favorite opening, the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+)has so many refutations, I'm constantly amazed at the number of people who go out of their way to decline the fool thing.

I need to have a whole new set of ideas if I want to win my games!


perrypawnpusher - NN
blitz 10 0, FICS, 2010

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 f6

No Jerome Gambit today.

4. d4 d6

Seriously: no Jerome.

5. O-O Bg4

Pinning my Knight. I get it, I get it: no Jerome.

6. dxe5 fxe5 7. Nc3

7...Nd4

Punishing me, on top of everything else, for my mis-placed Bishop on c4.

Clearly my opponent – whose name I have omitted for fairness' sake – is not a regular reader of this blog, or he would know how riled up I get when facing ...Nc6-d4.

8. Nxe5 Bxd1

Goodbye, Queen.

9. Bf7+ Ke7 10. Nd5 checkmate

Goodbye, King.

This well-known opening trap is credited to the French player M. de Kermar, Sire de Légall (1702-1792). It also is sometimes called the Blackburne Trap, since the English player Joseph Blackburne (1859-1951) used to catch so many players in it! It can arise in a number of different move orders, and it's one of those traps you need to be aware of so you don't fall victim to your own greed! Learn to recognize the pattern you see in the following examples.

The rest of David Surratt's article on Légall's Mate is at Chessville.