A GM Faces the BSJG: Not Quite (Part 1)

Last year, on this blog, I had a lot of fun looking at the idea of a Grandmaster playing or facing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), online or over-the-board. You might enjoy bouncing back to "A GM Faces the Jerome Gambit (Part 1 and Part 2) and "Jerome Gambit: More GMs? (Part 1 and Part 2)".

In summary, checking The Database, I found some online games with a GM-level player (2500 or above, according to the site's rating scales), but they featured either computers, human players with a lower FIDE rating, or human players whose FIDE rating I could not confirm.

I was left with 2 online games that matched my criteria: ChessCoachUA - PArnaudov, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2017 (1-0, 39) and Cliff Hardy - Yasser Quesada Perez, lichess, 1 0, 2019 (0-1, 54).

The other day I started wondering: Did any GMs play or face the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+)? That search would be a different kind of task, as the game would have to feature either a rare example of a GM playing the BSG, or, even less likely, a GM playing the BSJG. But my curiosity was piqued...

A search of The Database did not turn up any games with a player (of either color) rated 2500. In fact, there was only one game with a player rated above 2300 - but it was an interesting enough game. White is rated 2386 on the site. 

ivan767 - SanChess2005
7 2 blitz, lichess.org, 2016

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+ 

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

4...Ke7 

The surprises continue: Black plays the BSG, White "Jerome-izes" it, Black declines the gambit. (SanChess2005 has played this move at least once before, in a frantic 0 minutes, 1 second increment bullet game - see "Faster Than A Speeding Neuron".)

The Database has 755 games with 4...Ke7, with White scoring 70%.

For some thoughts on the BSJG declined, see "Idées Fixes et Manqués".

5.Bc4

White is happy with the pawn he has won, and with the fact that Black will not be able to castle; so he withdraws his Bishop.

5...Ke8

Black unblocks the d8-h4 diagonal, putting the main tactical theme of the Blackburne Shilling Gambit back into play. I have called this a kind of "Jedi mind trick".

6.Nxe5

White relaxes too soon. He could have remained safely a piece up by playing 6.Nxd4 Qh4 (if 6...exd4, 7.Qh5+) 7.Nf3 Qxe4+ 8.Be2. 

6...Qg5 

Compare this position with one in the main line of the BSG:

analysis diagram






7.O-O Qxe5 8.c3 

8...Nb5

Retreating the Knight to c6 would maintain Black's piece-for-two-pawns material advantage, although White would be somewhat better after 9.d4, because of his better pawn center and Black's less safe King.

9.d4 Qe7 10.Bxb5 c6 11.Bc4 b5 12.Bb3 Nf6 13.e5 Nd5 14.Nd2 Qg5 

White is better, but he has some work to do.

15.Ne4 Qg6 16.Re1 Bb7 17.Nd6+ Bxd6 18.exd6+ Kd8 19.Bxd5 cxd5 20.Bf4 Rf8 21.Be5 Qf5

22.a4

White wants to open a line for his Rook, and he is not afraid to offer his f2 pawn.

23...Qxf2+ 23.Kh1 Qxb2 24.Rb1 Qxc3 

All of this moving of the Queen is risky - in fact, White now has a checkmate in 11 moves, although it is hard to find in this complicated position, especially in blitz.

25.Rxb5 

Even stronger was 25.Bxg7, because Black's Rook cannot move.

25...Ba6 26.Rc5 

This saves his Rook but lets much of the energy escape from the position. White should go after the enemy Queen, but by playing 26.Rf1 Re8 27.Rf3, not the text. Once the Black Queen is moved away from covering the e1 square, White's Queen can go there - and then on to h5, with checkmate threats.

26...Qd3 27.Qxd3 Bxd3 28.Bxg7 Rf7 

White is a pawn up.

29.Bh6 Bc4 

Instead, after 29...Rf1+ 30.Rxf1 Bxf1 White will have to work for the point. 

30.Bg5+ Black resigned

It is checkmate in 3 more moves.

[to be continued]

A GM Faces the Jerome Gambit (Part 2)

[continued from previous post]

Cliff Hardy (2285) - GM Yasser Quesada Perez (2275), 

Lichess, 1 0, 2019

notes by Cliff Hardy and Rick

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5

Finally! A GM has walked into my trap!

4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ 

Interesting. Some players - including Alonzo Wheeler Jerome, at first - prefer 6.d4, instead. The line is less forcing than the text, and gives Black more chances to go astray. Would the GM have found the sharpest reply, 6...Qh4!? That is a tale for another day, another game.-Rick

6...Kf8 

So, is this the revealed wisdom of the grandmaster? Is Black's best defense to the Jerome Gambit the Jerome Defense, seen in two Daniel Jaeger - Alonzo Wheeler Jerome correspondence games,  from 1880, both wins by Black?

Not necessarily.

There are at least 3 ways to address this issue.

First, we can ask another "grandmaster", Stockfish 10, what its choice is. It prefers 6...Ke6 over 6...Kf8 by about 3/4 of a pawn, although, of course it sees both moves as decisive for Black.

Secondly, we can check with The Database, which will give feedback on the results of different defensive moves, drawn from online club level player games. There are 529 games with 6...g6, which can lead to either the Blackburne or Whistler's Defenses, and against which White scores a surprising 72% - no doubt because of the complexity of the play. There are 2,071 games with 6...Ng6, and 1,101 games with 6...Ke6; against each White scores 53%. Finally, there are 663 games with 6...Kf8, against which White scores 49%.

So, if the grandmaster is "thinking like a club player", he will choose 6...Kf8.

I am not sure that GM Quesada Perez has ever given a thought to the Jerome Gambit, let alone prepared a special "best" defense against it. I suspect that when confronted by the Jerome in a bullet game, he simply grabbed a move that looked okay, that didn't advance his King further into danger, and that didn't possibly weaken his pawn structure.

To be fair, if the GM had 8 seconds left on his clock at the end of the game, then he used up 52 seconds for 54 moves - an average of slightly less than a second per move. That he spent twice that average - a whole 2 seconds - on 6...Kf8, might be significant only in humorous commentary. (I recall a master suggesting that in over-the-board blitz games, it was best to choose moves on the side of the board closest to the clock.)- Rick

7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qg3 Nf6 9.Nc3 Qd7

Perez's 9...Qd7 caught me on the hop. With more time, I probably would have played 10.h3 here to stop black going for a queen swap with 10...Qg4. Keeping queens on the board, I think gives White better attacking prospects, though I'd be interested in what the database has to say about the success rates of White's different options on this tenth move!

9...Qd7 is a novelty, according to The Database, although there are a couple of related games that this game will transpose into:

ChessCoachUA - PArnaudov, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2017: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qg3 Nf6 9.d3 Qd7 10.Nc3 Qg4 11.Qxg4 Bxg4 12.h3 Be6 13.Be3 Bxe3 14.fxe3 Ke7 15.O-O Rhf8 16.Nb5 c6 17.Nd4 Nd7 18.a4 Rxf1+ 19.Rxf1 Rf8 20.Rxf8 Nxf8 21.Kf2 g6 22.Nf3 Nd7 23.b3 a5 24.Ke2 Nc5 25.e5 dxe5 26.Nxe5 Kd6 27.d4 Nd7 28.Nd3 Bf5 29.g4 Bxd3+ 30.Kxd3 b5 31.axb5 cxb5 32.e4 a4 33.bxa4 bxa4 34.h4 a3 35.Kc3 Nb6 36.Kb3 Nc4 37.c3 Nd2+ 38.Kxa3 Nxe4 39.c4 Black lost on time; and

ZahariSokolov - puthoor, 5 0 blitz, FICS, 2017: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qd5 Nf6 9.Qd3 Qd7 10.O-O Qg4 11.Nc3 Be6 12.h3 Qg6 13.Qf3 Ke7 14.Nb5 Bb6 15.d3 a6 16.Na3 Rhf8 17.Qe2 Rae8 18.Be3 Bxe3 19.Qxe3 Kd8 20.Qa7 Bxh3 21.g3 Bc8 22.Qd4 Bd7 23.Rfe1 c6 24.Nc4 Ng4 25.Nxd6 Re6 26.Nxb7+ Kc8 27.Nc5 Rd6 28.Qb4 Qh6 29.Nxd7 Qh2+ White resigned - Rick

10.0-0 Qg4 11.Qxg4

Escaping the queen swap with 11.Qd3?! looked a little silly, with the queen blocking the d-pawn. (Yes, see the ZahariSokolov - puthoor game, above - Rick)

11...Bxg4 12.h3 Be6 13.d3 d5 14.e5 Nd7 15.Kh1

15...g6

For a second, I thought I'd botched the game, as I missed that 15...Nxe5?? was a possibility. However, if that had been played, 16.Re1 Bd6? 17.Bf4! would then have been a strong line for White, winning the piece back.

16.Bh6+ Ke7 17.f4 Bd4 

I am not sure what is going on here. It looks like Black wants to attack White's pawn at e5, to make the advance of the "Jerome pawns" more difficult. Komodo 10 gives two interesting lines, both with the second player sacrificing the exchange and both leading to equality: 18.g4 Raf8!? 19.Bxf8 Rxf8 20.Ne2 Bb6 21.d4 c5 22.c3 and 18.g4 Be3 19.Nd1 Bb6 20.f5 gxf5 21.gxf5 Raf8!? 22.Bxf8 Rxf8 23.Nc3 Rxf5 24.Rxf5 Bxf5 25.Nxd5+ Ke6 26.Nxb6 Nxb6. - Rick

18.Bg5+? -++

The bishop was actually better placed on h6, where it would be hard for Black to remove it. On g5, it allows Black the chance of a bit of kingside counterplay by moving the h-pawn. 18.Rae1 would have been a better move, though Black would still have had a clear advantage. Unfortunately, after this move, I didn't really get back into the game. My 'trap' is starting to look not quite so good 😉.

18...Kf7 19.Rab1 h5 20.Ne2 Bb6 21.c3 

Hoping to get in d3-d4, but his opponent does not allow it.- Rick

21...Bf5 22.Rbd1 Nc5 23.Nc1 Ne6 24.Bh4 Be3 25.Ne2 c5 26.Bf2 Bxf2 27.Rxf2 d4 

White's extra pawns are blockaded. Slowly, Black makes his extra piece tell. There is a lot of serious strategy in this 1-minute game.- Rick

28.c4 h4 29.Kg1 a6 30.Kf1 b5 31.Ng1 Rab8 32.b3 bxc4 33.dxc4 a5 34.Nf3 a4 

35.Ng5+ Nxg5 36.fxg5 Ke6 37.Rf3 axb3 38.axb3 Rb7 39.Re1 Rhb8 40.Rf2 Rxb3 41.Ra2 Rb2 42.Ra6+ R8b6 43.Ra7 R2b3 44.Rh7 Rb1 45.Rxh4 Rxe1+ 46.Kxe1 

White still has two pawns for a piece, but Black has the dangerous passer.

46...Rb1+ 47.Kf2 Rb2+ 48.Kg3 Rb3+ 49.Kh2 Rb2 50.Rh7 Kxe5 51.Ra7 Kf4 52.Ra6 Ke3 53.Rd6 Rc2 54.Rf6 Rxc4 and White lost on time.

Wow.

Thanks, Cliff, for fighting the good fight - and then sharing it with us. - Rick

A GM Faces the Jerome Gambit (Part 1)

How many players of grandmaster strength have faced the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+)?

I can think of Joseph Henry Blackburne, author of the notorious 1884 dismantling of the opening.

(Please, let's not revisit the "urban legend" that Alekhine lost to the Jerome. Thank you.)

Of course, if we step outside the main lines and include the Open Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit (otherwise known as the Noa Gambit, or the Monck Gambit) - 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ - then we can add , Charousek, Euwe, Lasker, Marco, Marshall, Tarrasch, Teichmann, and Zukertort, for starters.

For today, let's not go there, either.

Still, I have just learned of a Jerome Gambit, played at bullet speed, online, against a grandmaster.

Let me share some recent exchanges of email with the legendary Australian "Cliff Hardy", player of the white pieces. There will be some move references, but do not let them distract you - I will be presenting the game, with annotations, in due time.

Hi Rick! 

Sorry to inundate you with another game but, after playing the Jerome Gambit for years, I finally got my first chance to play a Jerome Gambit against a GM! It was GM Yasser Quesada Perez, from Cuba.  

Unfortunately, I didn't win 😭... 

Because GM Quesada Perez is quite new to Lichess - our game was only his 15th bullet game on the site - his bullet rating on Lichess is comparatively low for his standard of chess (his standard FIDE rating is much higher at 2572) and so I expect it will soon probably go a lot higher than it was at the time of this game.

Of course, I replied quickly

Hi, Cliff, 

Very glad to receive your game against Quesada Perez! 

Certainly provides one answer to the question "How would a GM respond to the Jerome Gambit??" 

Of course, it still leaves unanswered things like "How can you play such a coherent game with 1 second a move thinking time?" 

I have been going over the game, and will try to treat it with both a sense of respect and wonder when I post it on my blog - with you, your opponent, and my good pal, Stockfish 10, playing way over my head, it's a bit of a challenge to make sense of, and then share with readers. But, that's the whole point, I guess. 

[Black's 9th move] gave me a chuckle. It's a novelty, according to The Database, although your game later could transpose into a couple of online games from 2017. I can imagine the GM thinking: The only thing wrong with my position is that White may think he has an attack; so, let's exchange queens, and the rest will work itself out. No need for concrete analysis, especially in a bullet game.

Chances are, similar thinking produced [Black's 6th move]. It would be scary think a GM actually had a refutation to the Jerome Gambit in his repertoire. Most likely he thought (or just reacted) he'd settle for something reasonable, and figure the rest out later. I have seen that kind of thinking in numerous defenses to the Jerome - but the players were not super strong, and the "figuring" was much less effective.Stockfish 10 raises it's eyebrows only at [Black's 17th move], and its recommended followup for White is complicated and not at all clear to me, at least at this point - reaching =/+ in some lines, which has got to be the same as "=" in a bullet game (unless I'm playing, when it would be "-++" )

Nice game. Good to see you taking it to "the man". I mean - why not? I would do the same - although the comment was never truer than, for me, "After 1.e4, White's game is in its final throes". 

Thanks for sharing. 

I hope to learn more, and it'll show up in the blog. 

Rick

And Cliff came back with

Hi Rick! 

I was initially afraid you might not want to see the game, as it was a loss where I never really even got a great position, but I was quite excited to finally get a chance to play a GM with the Jerome. I was also quite glad I didn't botch it by just hanging a queen on move 8 or so 😉. 

Yes, I think he made it all up because he seemed to spend a bit more time on the first few moves. Now that Lichess shows move times, I can see that he took a "whopping" 2.0 seconds to play [his 6th move] 😉 , so it was one of his slowest moves in the game 😉. He spent even longer on [his 9th move]  (2.9 seconds on that move) so I guess he was trying to work out some sort of defence that would work best for him, like you said. Unfortunately, I tried to move too quickly and played [my 10th move] there - although who knows, technically [an alternate 10th move] is not that much better a move anyway... 

Yes, I noticed with the analysis that the computer didn't like [Black's 17th move] - but that was way over my head too! 😉 It was good fun to try against the GM and I will try to remember to throw in [the alternate 10th move] next time [his 9th move] is played. 

Also, it shows how there are so many GM's in the world - there's always some you've never heard of - or, at least, I'd never heard of this guy before this game! 

Bye

Me

[To be continued...]