Off On A Brief Tangent

I recently acquired Knight on the Left: 1.Nc3 by Harald Keilhack, an updated English version of his German language Der Linksspringer. I really like the book, and I am not alone - see the review by Paul Kane and review by lefthandsketch on the Brooklyn 64 site.

I noticed that in his chapter "Against the Sicilian - 1.Nc3 c5 2.Nf3" Keilhack took time to digress and address "The French Marshall" connection (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 c5), where he mentioned my 1988 effort:

There is a booklet The Marshall Gambit in the French and Siclian Defenses by Kennedy/Sheffield with interesting material, however, its rather confusing presentation doesn't allow clear conclusions either.

Oh, well. In our book Riley and I opted to group the lines of play by patterns of piece development, rather than give example master games (with notes) or structure things along lines such as A1b1(c), etc. (By the way, we wrote back before electronic chess databases were prevalent - collecting the games from books, including those in the White Collection of the Cleveland Public Library.)

I will remember Keilhack's concerns as I prepare All or Nothing! The Jerome Gambit, my magnum opus on my current favorite opening.

Here, have a Bishop...

The first game passed along to me by Dr. Goeller (see "A GM Plays the Jerome Gambit??") was not a "pure" Jerome Gambit game, but it included an early Bishop sacrifice and gave a fascinating insight into how an experienced, aggressive Grandmaster, American Larry Christiansen, can give something similar to "Jerome Gambit odds" and still win the game.

LarryC (3058) - therealwizard (1991)
blitz, 3 0, Internet Chess Club, 2008


1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6

Rybka 3, in "blunder check" mode, helpfully adds that this is the "last book move" in the line of play.

3.Bxf7+

Here, have a Bishop...

My guess is that modern masters are more likely to give "time odds" in play against weaker opponents, but here the Grandmaster donates a piece to the "cause" of an interesting and more-balanced game.

3...Kxf7 4.d3 Be7 5.Nc3 Rf8 6.f4 d6 7.Nf3 Kg8

Black has castled-by-hand and maintains his piece-for-a-pawn (soon two) advantage.

On the other hand, White can take inspiration from the "Theory of Infinite Resistance" as developed by my chessfriend (and co-author of The Marshall Gambit in the French and Sicilian Defenses) Riley Sheffield. Often, after making an early error (we can debate if the Bishop sacrifice was an error, but bear with me), if the defender bears down and plays hard, making no further mistakes and provides plenty of resistance to his opponent, a loss is not inevitable. (At least when facing a human.)

By the way, if you get a chance to take a look at Sheffield's Tension in the Chess Position, do so. It is a helpful read for club players.

8.fxe5 dxe5 9.Nxe5 Bc5 10.Nf3 Bg4 11.Bg5 Nc6 12.Qd2

To castle Queenside and not be troubled by the broken up Kingside.

12...Bxf3 13.gxf3 Qd4

Black's advantage (extra piece, better development, safer King) is clear, but White goes about developing and playing his game. He knows that his time will come.

14.0-0-0 Ne5 15.Rhf1 a5

16.Ne2 Qd7 17.Kb1 Be7 18.f4

This advance looks natural, but is actually an error, although Black misses his chance.

18...Nc4

This idea works, as it often can in blitz, but should not. Instead, Black should grab a pawn with 18...Nxe4.

19.Qc3

Overlooking Black's next move.

19...Ne3 20.Ng3 Nxf1 21.Rxf1 b5

Black has a Rook for two pawns and should feel elated.

Yet, it is still a 3 0 game against a Grandmaster, and he can't just take his chessboard and go home. He has to win and  beat the clock. That is a tall order.

22.Nf5 c5 23.Rg1 b4 24.Qc4+ Kh8 25.Nxe7 Qxe7 26.e5 Qf7 27.exf6 Qxc4 28.fxg7+ Kxg7 29.dxc4

White's resourcefulness has him now with two pawns for the exchange. Black is still probably better, but not by much, and not for long.

29...Kf7 30.b3 Rae8 31.Rd1 Re2 32.h4 Rfe8 33.Kb2 Kg6 34.Bd8 Rf2 35.Bxa5 Rxf4 36.Rg1+ Kh5 37.Rg5+ Kxh4 38.Rxc5 Rf2 39.Bxb4 Ree2

Black's two Rooks on the 2nd rank look aggressive, and they blind him to the truth of the position: a likely draw.

40.Ka3 Rxc2

Bold and wrong.

Rybka 3 likes 40...Kg4 41.Rc8 Rxc2 42.Rg8+ Kf5 43.Rf8+ Ke6 44.Re8+ Kf7 45.Rf8+ Ke6 and an eventual draw through repetition.

41.Be1

Pinning and winning the Rook.

41...Rxa2+ 42.Kb4 Rae2 43.Rf5

Cute.

43...Kg3 44.Rxf2 Rxf2 45.c5

The White pawns decide.

45...h5 46.c6 h4 47.c7 h3 48.Bxf2+ Kxf2 49.c8Q h2 50.Qh3 Kg1 51.Qg3+ Black forfeited on time

Booking Mr. Joker

Continuing my on-line visits to some of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) Gemeinde members, I stopped by Louis Morin's ("mrjoker") bookshop website. Interesting. It even has copies of my book (with Riley Sheffield), The Marshall Gambit in the French and Sicilian Defenses...

Hmmm... It also looks like Louis has translated a number of Jeremy Silman's books (from English into French).

I'll mention that Louis has contributed comments and analysis to Grandmaster Boris Alterman's web page, if only forme to be able to mention that The Alterman Gambit Guide White Gambits is due out this month, with The Alterman Gambit Guide Black Gambits due out in March, 2010.

The Jerome Gambit Gemeinde has some interesting members!

Kaissiber!

I've spoken quite positively of Stefan Bücker's awesome quarterly magazine Kaissiber, which focuses on games, analysis and history (see "To Infinity... And Beyond!", "Breaking News...", "My head is spinning" and "Jerome Gambit Blog: Tidying Up") -- especially unorthodox openings.

Kaissiber 33 is due out today (unless you are a subscriber; in which case you have already received your issue, lucky person) and is well worth tracking down. (Word is that it has some killer King's Gambit analysis...)

If you are interested in collecting back issues of Kaissiber, it is important to know that they are available in bound editions, with the fourth volume due out this coming January (or late December).

Finally, for those of you who have interest in such things, Stefan also has copies for sale of my (with Riley Sheffield; Introduction by Hugh Myers) Marshall Gambit in the French and Sicilian Defenses which focuses upon 1.e4 e6 2.d5 d5 3.Nc3 c5!? and 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 d5!? (and which is much, much sounder than the Jerome Gambit!)