Whatever You Do, Don't Take Me Seriously

Here we have a short Jerome Gambit game whose brevity can be attributed to the defender relying on his sharp 7th move to win the game - when there was still plenty of play left in the position. Black's King went wandering, instead of staying home.

PasChat - charlyeliot
standard, FICS, 2013

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+

Transposing from the Bishop's Opening to the Italian Four Knights Game to the Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 d5

There are many ways for White to return some of the sacrificed material. This is one of the sharpest.

8.dxe5 Ne8

Or 8...Ng4 as in perrypawnpusher - NimbusReign, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 26); or 8...Bxf2+ as in perrypawnpusher - Marcym, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 20)

Possibly best is 8... Nxe4. 

9. Qf3+ Ke6 

After the safer 9...Kg8 and then 10.exd5 White would have three pawns for the piece, and the game would probably be even. 

10.O-O

This is good, but even better is 10.Qf5+ Ke7 11.Nxd5+ Qxd5 12.Bg5+!? winning a lot of material. 

10... Bd7 

Or 10...Kd7 11.e6+ Kd6 and Black will not last long. 

11.Qf5+ Ke7 12.Nxd5 checkmate

Jerome Gambit-Inspired Play (Part 7)

Turn-around is fair play, they say, and the following game is a fun example. Philidor 1792 is off to a solid 3-minute game, when, suddenly... 


Philidor 1792 - guest1416
3 0 blitz, www.bereg.ru, 2013

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.a3

Here we have Gunsberg's Variation of the Four Knights Game, explored (among other places), along with other double e-pawn openings, in Hugh Myers' 1977 Reversed King Pawns, Mengarini's Opening.

White prepares to take the "black" side of the positions that
develop, hoping to be helped by his "extra" pawn move. Black prepares to play...

4...Bc5

...a reversed Italian game, and, after...

5.Bc4 Bxf2+ 

...he uncorks a Reversed Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit!

The only "reversed" Jerome Gambit that I can find in The Database at this point are lixuanxuan - Polone, blitz, FICS, 2012 (0-1, 27), which began 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Bc5 4.Bc4 Bxf2+ ; and Diophantos - khangaza, blitz, FICS, 2007 (0-1, 34), which began 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Bc5 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.d3 Bxf2+.

Of course, that is not to overlook games like Krejcik, Josef - Baumgartner, Troppau, 1914 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Nxe5 Bxf2+ 4.Kxf2 Qh4+ 5.g3 Qxe4 6.Qe2 Qxh1 7.Bg2 Black resigns. For a discussion of the Busch - Gass Gambit, see "Worth A Second Look" Parts 1, 2 and 3.

6.Kxf2 Nxe4+ 7.Nxe4 d5 8.d4

Following along the lines of ideas for Black in the regular Jerome Gambit, White could play 8.Bd3 dxe4 9.Bxe4 or 8.Bxd5 Qxd5 9.d3, but, instead he plays the blow-it-up variation - see perrypawnpusher - Marcym, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 20) and perrypawnpusher - NimbusReign, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-0, 26).  Why not, he's ahead a couple of pieces, right?

8...exd4

A better idea, according to Houdini, was 8...dxe4 9.Nxe5 Qf6+ 10.Ke1 Be6 11.Bxe6 Qxe6 12.Nxc6 Qxc6, although, despite White's King's central residence, the first player's extra piece still outweigh's Black's extra pawn.

9.Ng3

Solid, but missing 9.Bg5!? when 9...f6 allows a brutal attack 10.Nxf6+ gxf6 11.Re1+ Kf8 12.Bh6+ Kg8 13.Bxd5+ Qxd5 14.Re8+ Kf7 15.Rxh8, according to the computer. That would be a lot for a person to see in a 3-minute game.

9...dxc4 10.Re1+ Be6 11.Kg1 0-0

White has castled-by-hand and might actually believe that his extra piece is worth more than Black's extra three "Jerome pawns". The psychological reversal might have been difficult, with the Jerome-player facing the Jerome.

12.Ng5 Bd5 13.Nf5 Qf6 14.Qg4 Ne5

Instead, 14...Rad8 or 14...Rae8 would have probably kept the game even.

15.Qh3

White presses his counter-attack against the (reversed) Jerome. In a slower game, he might have risked 15.Rxe5!? Qxe5 16.Bf4 h5 (16...Qf6 17.Nxh7 Kxh7 18.Bg5 Qe6 19.Qh5+ Kg8 {19...Qh6 20.Bxh6 g6 21.Qh4 gxf5 22.Bg5+ Kg7 23.Qh6+ Kg8 24.Bf6 Bc6 25.Qg7#} 20.Ne7+ Qxe7) 17.Bxe5 hxg4 18.Ne7+ Kh8 19.Nxd5 with advantage. 

15...h6 16.Ne4 Qe6 17.Kh1 

Safety first - and an even game. Again, with time to burn, Philidor 1792 would certainly have found 17.Bxh6!? Ng6 (17...gxh6 18.Nxh6+ Kg7 19.Nf5+ Kg8 20.Ng5) 18.Neg3, etc. 

17...Ng6 18.Nxd4 Qxh3 19.gxh3 Rae8

Black is now clearly better.

20.Kg1 Rxe4 21.Rxe4 Bxe4 22.Nb5 c6 23.Nd6 Bxc2 24.Nxc4 Rd8 25.Be3 b6 White lost on time

Another Jerome victory!

(Another Random Note: May, 2011, had been the month, so far, with the most page views for this blog since it started in June, 2008 . However, last month November, 2013, overtook it, becoming the month with the most views - until December 2013, which has surpassed both to become Number 1! My "Welcome!" and "Thank You! to everyone stopping by. - Rick) 

Into Each Life Some NimbusReign Must Fall...

A suspect opening.

A complicated game.

I got-out played.

It's amazing how easy it is to explain the following game.

perrypawnpusher  - NimbusReign
blitz, FICS, 2010


1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5

The Italian Four Knights Game.

5.Bxf7+

The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gamit.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 d5

An adventurous move I had just recently first faced.

8.dxe5 Ng4

Two alternatives, one a little better and one a whole lot worse:

8...Nxe4 9.Qf3+ Kg8 10.Nxe4 dxe4 11.Qxe4 Qd4 12.Qxd4 Bxd4 13.f4 Kf7 14.c3 Bb6 15.Ke2 Bg4+ 16.Kd3 Rad8+ 17.Ke4 Ke6 18.f5+ Bxf5+ 19.Kf4 Rhf8 White resigned, Simavo - SeaDonkey, FICS, 2009; and

8...Bxf2+ 9.Kxf2 dxe4 10.exf6 Qxf6+ 11.Ke1 Re8 12.Rf1 Qxf1+ 13.Kxf1 b6 14.Qh5+ g6 15.Qxh7+ Kf6 16.Qh4+ Kg7 17.Bh6+ Kf7 18.Re1 Bf5 19.Nxe4 Rad8 20.Qf6+ Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - Marcym, blitz, FICS, 2010

9.0-0 dxe4

After the game Rybka suggsted that Black bring more pressure t the f-file with 9...Rf8, giving a line that ends up still good for Black: 10.h3 Nxf2 11.Qxd5+ Qxd5 12.Nxd5 Ke8 13.Be3 Bxe3 14.Nxe3 Nxe4 15.Nd5 Rxf1+ 16.Rxf1 Rb8 17.Nxc7+ Ke7 18.Rf4 Nc5 19.Rc4 b6.

analysis diagram




10.Qe2 Bd4

This leads to about an even game. Rybka preferred 10...Qh4.

11.Nxe4 Qd5 12.c3 Bxe5

Rybka sees this position as roughly equal, and suggests the aggressive line of play: 13.h3 h5 14.c4 Bh2+ 15.Kh1 Qe5 16.g3 Bf5 17.Ng5+ Kg6 18.Qxe5 Nxe5 19.Kxh2 Rhf8 20.f4 Nxc4 21.b3.

analysis diagram

I was not thinking that deeply...

13...Ng5+ Kg6 14.h3 Re8

15.Qd2 Qxd2 16.Bxd2 Bf6 17.Nxh7 Kxh7 18.hxg4 Bxg4

The piece-down endgame holds no prospects for White, especially against the two Bishops.

19.f3 Be6 20.Kf2 Rad8 21.Rfd1 Kg6 22.b3 Bh4+ 23.g3 Bf6

24.Rac1 Rh8 25.Ke3 Rh2 26.f4 Bg4 White resigned

When I checked the New Year's Database to see if NimbusReign had ever played or faced the Jerome Gambit, I found no mention of him at all. Hats off to my opponent for delivering such a pounding on perhaps his first opportunity to do so!