My opponent's play was bold enough to give me trouble, and even if he did not solve all of the mysteries of the Jerome Gambit, he played a game which left me feeling constantly as if I were one step behind.
perrypawnpusher - magza
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6
7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Be6
This move provokes f2-f4 by White, but it is only the beginning of Black's sharp play.
10.0-0
Or 10.f4 as in mrjoker - Melbourne, blitz, ICC, 2008 (1-0, 38), mrjoker - tomnoah, ICC, 2009 (0-1, 42), perrypawnpusher - GabrielChime, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 33); perrypawnpusher - udofink, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 29), and perrypawnpusher - Kingsmeal, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 25).
10...Kd7
My opponent practically screams "Come and get me!"
Alternatives include 10...Qf6, as in perrypawnpusher - OverwiseMan, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 24); 10...Nf6, as in perrypawnpusher - dirceu, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 16) and perrypawnpusher - nmuffjgp, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 22); and 10...h6 as in MrJoker - pds1, ICC, 2011 (1-0, 28).
(All of the games referred to can be found in The Database.)
11.f4 N6e7 12.f5 Bf7 13.d4 Bc4 14.Rd1 Nf6
Black's pieces keep close watch on White's "Jerome pawns."
"Just a couple more moves," I told myself, "and I'll have an even game."
15.b3
Either 15.e5 or 15.Na3 might have been a tiny bit better.
15...Ba6 16.Nc3
A curious move.
I know that I did not play 16.e5 because I was worried about 16...Nxf5, but that was just poor "analysis", as 17.Qf3 wins back the sacrificed piece with advantage to White. Black does better to answer 16.e5 with 16...Ng4, and after 17.Qg5 he holds his own (or better) in the tactics on the Kingside.
Consistent was 16.c4 followed by 17.Nc3.
16...Re8
This move was my "opportunity", the one that usually comes knocking in the Jerome Gambit. Black's best was 16...Qf8 working against the line given concerning 15.e5. In fact, White's next move should be 17.e5.
17.Qg5 Rg8 18.e5 Nfd5
19.Bb2
Developing the Bishop, protecting the Knight, uniting the Rooks: and it all still feels too slow.
After the game, Houdini suggested 19.Nxd5 Nxd5 20.Qg4 (coming soon: c2-c4) with an edge for White.
19...h6 20.Qd2 Nxc3 21.Bxc3 Nxf5
Bleh. A score-and-one moves, and White has little to say about his position, while Black's pieces are beginning to glow again.
22.d5 Qe7
Possible, and better, was 22...dxe5
23.e6+ Kc8 24.Bb2 b6 25.c4 Kb7
Black has castled-by-hand on the Queenside, and his light-squared Bishop looks a little bit odd. White has his dark-squared Bishop on a strong diagonal, and a protected, passed pawn at e6.
Houdini gives Black only a slight edge, but the question is: Where will White get his play? Black's pieces are well-placed to defend against the one plan that suggests itself, infiltrating along the f-file to f7: 26.Rf1 Raf8 27.Rf2 g6 28.Raf1 h5.
26.b4
Opting to stir things up on the Queenside.
26...Bxc4 27.Rdc1
Making the same kind of mistake referred to in the notes to White's 16th move, concerning 16.e5. Here the right move was 27.Qf4, although after 27...Bxd5 28.Rxd5 g6 Black has returned his extra piece for some pawns, and is a pawn ahead.
White's e-pawn would be weak, not strong, and that would give Black the advantage in the long run.
White's game now just flows from bad to worse.
27...b5 28.a4 a6 29.a5 g6 30.Rxc4 bxc4 31.Rc1 Qg5 32.Qxg5 hxg5 33.Rxc4 Ne3
White's sacrifice of the exchange only means that he is now a Rook behind.
34.Re4 Nxd5 35.Rg4 Rae8 36.Rxg5 Nxb4 37.Rg4 Nd3 38.Bc3 Rxe6 39.Rd4 Nc5 40.Rb4+ Kc6 White resigned
I have read that Grandmasters can look at a complicated position and almost immediately, without apparent analysis or evaluation, decide that a certain piece "must" go to a particular square. How different that is from my own experience...
perrypawnpusher - louarn
blitz, FICS, 2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5
Earlier this year we had played a couple of Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit games that I had won in 21 and 49 moves.
4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6
7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 N8e7
Planning for play on the f-file, especially targeting the square f5, which seems to be a magnet for "Jerome pawns".
10.0-0 Rf8
An interesting alternative is 10...d5, seen in perrypawnpusher - OverwiseMan, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 27).
11.f4
Or 11.d4, as Louis Morin (mrjoker) has played successfully in a couple of games, guest6567 - guest4702, ICC, 2004 (1-0, 26) and mrjoker - tomnoah, ICC, 2008.
11...Bd7
With an eye toward putting the Bishop on the a8-h1 diagonal. Both 11...Nc6, as in perrypawnpusher - taman, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 35), and 11...c6 as in perrypawnpusher - Kovrad, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 16) were also playable.
12.f5 Ne5 13.d4 Ng4
As always, retreating to c6 was better, but harassing the Queen is irresistible. A quick peek at the New Year's Database shows that I have over 45 games with a Queen at e3 being attacked by a Knight at g4!
You would think that by now I would have come up with the proper response for White.
14.Qg5
An interesting idea, but I had forgotten that I had tried something similar in one of my games against MRBarupal and my pawn at e4 (as well as the square itself) proved weak. It should not be surprising, therefore, that Rybka prefers 14.Qe2 (although it sees the game as even after my move).
14...Nf6 15.e5
Rushing forward into trouble. First: 15.Nc3
15...dxe5 16.dxe5 Ne4
There's that weak e4 square again.
17.Qxg7
The position may look dangerous for Black at first glance, but White has two pieces attacking five pieces (six, if you count the enemy King) and the pair of advanced "Jerome pawns" doesn't make up the difference.
17...Nxf5 18.Qxh7 Qe7
Exchanging Queens takes the heat off of Black's King and preserves his advantage, although 18...Be6 was even stronger.
19.Qxe7+ Kxe7 20.Nc3 Nxc3 21.bxc3 Nh4
Hoping to exchange another piece, bringing the game closer to a won endgame, as White's pawns will be no match for Black's extra piece.
However, this was just the kind of slip that I was hoping for as it allows me to reverse my fortunes.
22.Ba3+ Ke6 23.Rxf8 Rxf8 24.Bxf8 Kxe5
Up the exchange and two pawns, White now has the winning chances.
25.Bg7+ Kd5 26.Rd1+ Kc6 27.Kf2 Nf5 28.Bd4 b5
I think this must have been a mouse-slip.
29.Bxa7 Kb7
Allowing the exchange of Bishops only hastens the end.
30.Bd4
See above.
30...Ka6 31.Be5 Be6 32.Bxc7 Bxa2 33.Ra1 Kb7 34.Rxa2 Kxc7
35.g4 Nd6 36.Kf3 Nc4 37.g5 Ne5+ 38.Kf4 Ng6+ 39.Kf5 Ne7+ 40.Kf6 Nd5+ 41.Kf7 Nxc3 42.g6 Ne4 43.g7 Nd6+ 44.Kg6 Black resigned
I have to wonder exactly what an OverwiseMan would think about playing against an under-wise chess opening like the Jerome Gambit...
perrypawnpusher - OverwiseMan
blitz, FICS, 2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6
Earlier my opponent had tried 6...Ke6 against me in perrypawnpusher - OverwiseMan, blitz, FICS, 2010.
7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Be6
Or 9...N8e7 as in perrypawnpusher - OverwiseMan, blitz, FICS, 2010.
10.0-0 Qf6
11.f4 Nh4
"Out of the frying pan and into the fire."
Instead, Wall,B - Parsom, Chess.com, 2010, continued 11...N6e7 12.d4 Bc4 13.Re1 Kd7 14.Na3 Ba6 15.b4 b6 16.c4 Re8 17.e5 dxe5 18.dxe5 Qe6 19.Qf3 Bxc4 20.Nxc4 Qxc4 21.e6+ Kd6 22.Bb2 Nc6 23.Rad1+ Ke7 24.Rd7+ Kf8 25.Bxg7 checkmate
12.f5 Bd7 13.g3 Bxf5
Giving back the sacrificed piece seems like a reasonable idea, but Black should use the stranded Knight for that purpose, not the Bishop. Now he loses both.
14.exf5+ Kd7 15.gxh4 Re8
16.Qf4 g5 17.hxg5 Qe7 18.Nc3 h6 19.f6 Nxf6
Hoping that the opened line against White's King will give him counterplay.
20.gxf6 Rhg8+ 21.Kh1 Qe1
Black's idea: now if 22.Rxe1? Rxe1+ 23.Qf1 Rxf1 checkmate!
22.f7 Rg4 23.fxe8Q+ Kxe8 24.Rxe1+ Black resigned
Again disaster arrives down the e-file. Even if you are playing against a refuted opening like the Jerome Gambit, it is not a good idea to keep your King and Queen too long on an open file.
perrypawnpusher - OverwiseMan
blitz, FICS, 2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6
An earlier game with my opponent continued: 6...Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qe8 9.fxe5+ Kc6 10.c3 Ne7 11.Qg5 g6 12.d4 h6 13.Qg3 Bb6 14.d5+ Kb5 15.Na3+ Ka6 16.Qd3+ Ka5 17.Qb5 checkmate, perrypawnpusher - OverwiseMan, blitz, FICS, 2010.
7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 N8e7
More often seen is 9...Nf6. The text move can be a prelude to play along the f-file.
10.0-0
Or 10.f4 Rf8 11.0-0 Nc6 12.f5 Nge5 13.d4 Ng4 14.Qg3 h5 15.Be3 Nxe3 16.Qxe3 Qf6 17.c3 g6 18.Nd2 g5 19.e5 dxe5 20.dxe5 Qxe5 21.Qxe5+ Nxe5 22.Rae1 Kf7 23.Rxe5 Kf6 24.Re2 Bd7 25.Ne4+ Kg7 26.f6+ Kg6 27.Rfe1 h4 28.c4 g4 29.Rf2 Rae8 30.Rfe2 Bc6 31.Nd2 Rd8 32.Ne4 h3 33.gxh3 gxh3 34.Kf2 Rde8 35.Kg3 Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - taman, blitz, FICS, 2010.
10...d5
A good idea.
Earlier I saw 10...Be6 11.f4 d5 12.f5 d4 13.Qg3 Bc4 14.d3 Bxd3 15.cxd3 Nf8 16.Qxg7 Rg8 17.Qe5 c5 18.f6 Nfg6 19.f7+ Kf8 20.Bh6+ Rg7 21.Qxg7 checkmate, perrypawnpusher - perama, blitz, FICS; and
10...Rf8 11.f4 c6 12.f5 Ne5 13.d4 Ng4 14.Qg3 Nf6 15.Qxg7 Rg8 16.Qxf6 Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - Kovrad, blitz, FICS, 2010.
11.exd5
After the game Rybka preferred 11.d3 followed by f2-f4.
11...Qxd5 12.Nc3 Qe5
The first confrontation on the e-file. I wasn't happy with the idea of exchanging Queens, but I couldn't think of anything better.
13.d4 Qe6
Puzzling: I thought he would have been happy with 13...Qxe3. Maybe he was thinking, If White wants to exchange Queens, then I don't want to.
14.Qg3 c6
15.Bg5 Nf5 16.Qd3 h6
Mistakenly assuming that White will move his Bishop. But, instead, there is the eeeeeeee-file!
17.Rae1 Ne5
Bad things are happening on the e-file, and this doesn't help. "Best" was 17...Kf7.
18.Rxe5 hxg5 19.Rxe6+
Sufficient, but 19.Qxf5 was stronger.
19...Bxe6 20.Re1 Rd8
And White finishes up.
21.Rxe6+ Kf7 22.Qxf5+ Kg8 23.Qxg5 Rxd4 24.Re8+ Kf7 25.Rxh8 Ke6 26.Re8+ Kd6 27.Qe7 checkmate
A hope of the Jerome Gambiteer is to chase the enemy King into the middle of the board and then force a checkmate. Although my opponent uses a solid defense, he does not play well enough to escape disaster.
perrypawnpusher - OverwiseMan
blitz, FICS, 2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+
Or 5.0–0 Nf6 6.d4 exd4 7.Ng5+ Ke8 8.Re1 h6 9.e5 Nd5 10.Qh5+ Ke7 11.Qf7 checkmate, dondan - OverwiseMan, FICS, 2010.
5...Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6
7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qe8
9.fxe5+ Kc6
A surprise and a mistake. Best was 9...Qxe5
10.c3 Ne7
11.Qg5 g6
After the game Stockfish recommended 11...Ng6, and Black's King gets to safety, e.g.: 12.d4 Be7 13.d5+ Kb6 14.Qe3+ Bc5 15.Qe2 a5 16.b4 axb4 17.Be3 Bxe3 18.Qxe3+ Ka6 19.cxb4 b6 20.0-0 Kb7 – You castle your way, I'll castle my way!
analysis diagram
12.d4 h6
13.Qg3 Bb6 14.d5+
14...Kb5
Leading to checkmate. It was necessary to return the piece with 14...Nxd5 15.exd5+ Kxd5, although Black's King is still in great danger after 16.Qf3+ Kxe5 (other moves lead to mate) 17.Kd1 (threatening Re1).
analysis diagram
15.Na3+
15...Ka6 16.Qd3+ Ka5 17.Qb5 checkmate
