Les échecs modernes; histoire, théorie complète

My thanks to Edward Winter, of Chess Notes, for sending me a copy of the Jerome Gambit analysis from Henri Delaire's Les échecs modernes; histoire, théorie complète, 1914


"Jerome Gambit"

Imagined in 1871 by an American player, A.-W. Jerome, of Paxton, this gambit can surprise by the brusqueness of its attack; but an attentive defense is rightly without great difficulties. Also it is seldom tried.

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

The essential blow

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5

5...Kf8! this second defense is also good and less dangerous 6.Nxc6 dxc6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Qf3 (8.d4 Bg4 9.Qe1 Qxd4 etc) 8...Qd4 9.d3 Bg4 10.Qg3 Bd6 11.Bf4 g5 12.Bxd6+ cxd6 13.h3 Be6 14.Qxg5 Rg8 better 

6.Qh5+

6.d4 is less agressive 6...Bxd4 7.Qxd4 d6 (7...Qf6 8.Qd1 d6 9.0-0 g6 10.f4 Nc6 better) 8.0-0 Nf6 9.f4 Nc6 (9...c5 10.Qc3 Neg4 11.Nd2 b5 12.h3 h5! etc) 10.Qd3 Re8 11.Nc3 Be6 better]

6...Ke6

6...Kf8! 7.Qxe5 Qe7 8.Qf4+ Ke8 9.Nc3 d6 10.Qg3 Qf7 better; 6...Ng6? undergoing an awkward attack 7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qc3 Nf6 10.d3 c6 11.0-0 Kd7 12.f4 Qb6+ 13.Kh1 Kc7 14.Qe1 Re8 even;
6...g6? a vain attempt to block the white Queen 7.Qxe5 d6! 8.Qxh8 Qh4 9.0-0 Nf6 10.Qd8 Bb6 11.e5 dxe5 12.Qd3 better

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.d4

8.f4 does not lead to a better offensive result 8...Qf6 9.fxe5+ Qxe5 10.Qf3 Nf6 11.d3 Kc6 12.Nc3 d6 better

8...Bxd4 9.Na3 c6

9...Ne7? incorrect defense 10.Qh3 Qf8 11.Nb5+ Kc5 12.Nxd4 Kxd4 13.Bg5 better;
9...Qf6? worse 10.Nb5+ Kc5 11.Nxd4 Qxf5 12.Nxf5 g6 13.Be3+ Kc6 14.Nd4+ Kd6 15.0-0-0 Ke7 16.Nb5 and wins

10.c3 Qf6 11.cxd4 Qxf5 12.exf5 Nf7 13.Bf4+ Ke7

Black, free from danger, has the advantage of a piece for a pawn.

A Shared Concern

I have shared my concerns over the novel Paul Morphy: Confederate Spy with Edward Winter, prompting a posting at his Chess History website.

Pilfer another person's pieces or pawns. Leave their words alone.  

A Distant Relative?

While the origin of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) appears to have been some time after Alonzo Wheeler Jerome was mustered out of the army as a 2^nd Lieutenant in August 1865, at Hilton Head, North Carolina (he returned to Mineola, New York, where he worked in a factory that manufactured agricultural machinery); and before "New Chess Opening" appeared in the April 1874 edition of the Dubuque Chess Journal, it is possible that the inventor was influenced by contemporary or past games and analysis.

The spectacular game Hamppe - Meitner, Vienna 1872, has been explored in this column as a possible inspiration: see "Godfather of the Jerome Gambit?" Parts I, II, III, and endnote, as well as "Hamppe - Meitner Revealed" and "Godfather of Oz?".

To this I would like to add an "offspring" game, clearly a decendent of "Hamppe - Meitner", and therefore related, if only by analysis, to the Jerome Gambit.

The game receives coverage in one of Edward Winter's "Chess Jottings" which notes

The game was published in the March 1957 BCM [British Chess Monthly], page 59, the source being Leonard Barden’s The Field column of 17 January 1957. That must mean that Le Lionnais’ ‘1957’ was wrong. The BCM (D.J. Morgan’s Quotes and Queries column) gives ‘1956 Swiss Boys’ Championship’ and states that the players were R. Frauenfelder and M. Gschwend.  

Rudolf Frauenfelder – Max Gschwend

Oerlikon, July 1956  

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Qe2 Na5

Although this is not a Giuoco Piano game, readers have seen both the Qd1-e2 and ...Nc6-h5 themes covered here. The following move is no surprise, either.

4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Qh5+

White's two Queen moves have "reversed colors" for the opening, and what follows are the moves of Hamppe - Meitner.

5...Ke6 6.Qf5+ Kd6 7.d4 Kc6 8.Qxe5 Kb6 9.Na3 a6 10.Qxa5+ Kxa5 11.Nc4+ Kb5 12.a4+ Kxc4 13.Ne2 Bb4+ 14.Kd1 Bc3 15.b3+ Kb4 16.Nxc3 Kxc3 17.Bb2+ Kb4 18.Ba3+ Kc3

Drawn by perpetual check.

Shillings: One Found, Two Lost (Part 1)

Sometime back I contacted Edward Winter, of "Chess Notes" and Chess History fame, with some questions about the origin and naming of the Blackburne Shilling Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4). He posted my query, and recently presented some relevant information. 

3786. Blackburne Shilling Gambit

From Rick Kennedy (Columbus, OH, USA):

‘The opening 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nd4 has been called the Blackburne Shilling Gambit, in recognition, apparently, of J.H. Blackburne’s use of it to win small stakes from players. However, I have yet to find a single game with it played by Blackburne. In fact, the earliest game uncovered was played in New Zealand in 1911. How did Blackburne’s name become attached to the variation? Indeed, when did it become attached?

Steinitz’s Modern Chess Instructor has a note on the line, but does not refer to Blackburne. Mr Blackburne’s Games at Chess makes no mention of it. Nor does Freeborough and Ranken’s Chess Openings Ancient and Modern attribute the line (given in a footnote) to anyone. E.E. Cunnington’s books (one on traps, one on openings for beginners), which were published in London shortly after the turn of the century, give the moves but do not name Blackburne.

One clue may be that the first edition of Hooper and Whyld’s Oxford Companion to Chess (1984) does not call the line by name, but the second edition (1992) calls it the Blackburne Shilling Gambit. Did the co-authors discover some historical information during that eight-year period?’

6470. Blackburne Shilling Gambit (C.N. 3786)

From page 429 of the December 1897 American Chess Magazine:

"All chess life seems to be with America," writes an esteemed and particularly well-posted English correspondent. "A great change has come over English chess. The 'old masters' are dying out. The new-born strength of amateurs has slaughtered them. They have no prestige. Names once of weight are now spoken of with contempt. No new professionals are coming in – no new Blackburnes or Birds. The 'nimble shilling,' for which the old professionals played at the Divan, is now too hardly earned. The country joskins know the openings and the principles, and instead of Bird's giving a Queen and winning twenty games in an hours, as I have seen ('hoc egomet oculis mei vidi'), he plays on even terms, and of five games wins only the odd one and a shilling. The ancient 'Shilling Gambit' is no longer a thing of dread. Young men from Birmingham walk into the Divan without awe and speak of giving odds. And the late H. Macaulay of this city (now Birmingham) actually conceded the Knight to a master who played and won a prize in the Manchester International, and Macaulay, giving the odds, won a majority of the games." - New Orleans Times-Democrat.

Double-Perpetual

In a recent "Chess Explorations" by Edward Winter at ChessBase, a game with the opening highlighted in our last post, "A Kind of Jerome Gambit That Wins", progressed 14 moves before a draw was reached, in a rather unusual manner:


1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nd7 4.Bc4 h6 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Kf6 8.Qf3+ Kxe5 9.Qf7 Ngf6 10.Nd2 Qe8 11.Nc4+ Kxe4 12.f3+ Kf5+ 13.Ne3+ Ke5 14.Nc4+ Kf5+ draw

(For those who are counting, this is daily post #300 to this blog.)

Busch-Gass Gambit

From the pages of Edward Winter's Chess Facts and Fables (2006) comes an interesting early, if undated, Busch-Gass Gambit game (see "Worth a Second Look... "Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3) – with White giving Queen Rook odds.

Michaelis,Otho - NN

New York remove White's Queen Rook

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Nxe5 Qe7 4.d4 Bb6 5.b3 d6 6.Ba3 Qd8 7.Nf3 Bg4 8.Bd3 d5 9.0-0 Nf6 10.Re1 dxe4 11.Bxe4 Bxf3 12.Bc6 checkmate

And Yet Wilder Still...

From Edward Winter's A Chess Omnibus (2003):

Back-rank mate

A bizarre game:

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Ne5+ Ke6 7.Qxg4+ Kxe5 8.d4+ Kxd4 9.b4 Bxb4+ 10.c3+ Bxc3+ 11.Nxc3 Kxc3 12.Bb2+ Kxb2 13.Qe2+ Kxa1 14.Kf2 mate.

Seven [sic] consecutive captures by the black king and the option of giving mate by castling at move 14. Indeed, page 120 of Robert Timmer's Startling Castling! stated that White played 14.0-0 mate. That source gives White's name as F.C. Spencer, with no other details. When the game appeared on page 158 of the May 1894 Deutsche Schachzeitung White was identified as J. Spenser of Minnesota. Giving the score (also with 14.Kf2) on page 200 of its July 1917 issue, the BCM offered no players' names or occasion, but the score was said to be derived from the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News of 1894. It appeared in the 1895 book of Chess Sparks by J.H. Ellis, headed only 'Played at Mineapolis [sic] Chess Club about 1894'

Wildest!

Here's a Wild Muzio, presented in Edward Winter's 1996 Chess Explorations (source British Chess Magazine, September 1903, page 392):

Blackburne, J.H. - Amateur

simultaneous exhibition

Canterbury, 1903

(notes by Blackburne)

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4

On this occasion, to follow the fashion, I offered the King's Gambit wherever I had the chance; and to my utter astonishment, nearly allwere accepted. 'That's the way to learn chess', said I.

3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5.Bxf7+

An almost obsolete variation. Some 40 years ago or more, I frequently played it, but came to the conclusion that it did not lead to such a lasting attack as the ordinary Muzio.

When I sacrificed the bishop, one of the lookers-on asked what Gambit I called that, pointing to the next board. 'That', I said, 'is the Bishop's Gambit, and this is the Archbishop's'. The Archbishop was present at the time.

5...Kxf7 6.Ne5+ Ke8

The only move. Any other loses immediately.

7.Qxg4 Qf6

The correct reply is 7...Nf6

8.d4 Bh6 9.0-0 Qg7 10.Qh5+ Ke7 11.Bxf4 Bxf4 12.Rxf4 Nf6 13.Qh4 d6 14.Nc3 c6 15.Raf1 Rf8 16.Nf7

16.Nxc6+ would equally have won, but I could not resist this; it is the sort of move sure to intimidate the ordinary amateur. Anyway it somewhat non-plussed my opponent, for he immediately exclaimed, 'What have you taken?'

16...Rxf7 17.e5 dxe5 18.dxe5 Nbd7 19.exf6+ Nxf6 20.Ne4 Be6 21.Nxf6 Kf8 22.Nxh7+ Kg8 23.Rxf7 Bxf7 24.Nf6+ Kf8 25.Qb4+

How's that, umpire?

graphic by Jeff Bucchino, Wizard of Draws

I love a great used bookstore

I like a good bookstore.

I love a great used bookstore.

I have always enjoyed reading (and been a little jealous) of the chess treasures that Geoff Chandler turns up, in his travels through Edinburgh, searching for used books (see Chandler Cornered at Chess Edinburgh).

So it was with interest and a sense of excitment that I recently received an email:

From: Scott at Browsers' Bookstore
(scott@browsersbookstore.com)
Sent: Sat 12/13/08 7:40 PM
To: richardfkennedy@hotmail.com

Hi,

Google led me to your "Joys of Discovery" blogs re: Jerome Gambit & Ernest H. Quayle. Don't have much further information for you, but I do have a book (and the reason I googled in the first place) that was once owned by Ernest H. Quayle, or at least signed by him in July 1944. "One-Hundred-and-One of My Best Games of Chess" by F. D. Yates & W. Winter. May or may not be of any use, but possible slight interest to you.

Best wishes,

Scott Givens
Browsers' Bookstore

Ah, yes, "Joys of Discovery (Part I)", Part II and Part III – the Jerome Gambit game between Sgt. W. A. Harris and Ernest H. Quayle, Los Angeles, California, 1944. The same year that he signed the Yates & Winter book – you don't think there could be a connection...?

Browsers' Bookstore is in Corvalis, Oregon ("Volume II" of the store is in Albany, Oregon), and looks like a great place to spend a few hours and a few bucks. (Where low prices meet high quality – Works for me.) They've got a very useful "Links" page, as well.

Flaws (Part I)

A more serious look at the Amateur - Blackburne game would reveal a few "flaws," to return to the master's comments on "brilliancy."

Amateur - Blackburne
London, 1885

Yes, 1885. The August 15, 1885 issue of the Brooklyn Chess Chronicle (J.B. and E.M. Munoz, editors) presented the game as having been "played some months ago."

J. H. Blackburne played tens of thousands of tournament, match and exhibition games. It is understandable that in recalling this one for Mr. Blackburne's Games at Chess (1899), he believed that it had been played "at Simpson's Divan about 1880."

It is only speculation, but perhaps Blackburne conflated two memories, as on October 20, 1880, at Simpson's Divan, he sharply finished off a game against a "Mr. L.," having given the odds of two Knights


1…Be7 2 Bxe5+ Qxe5 3 Nxe5 Rxg2+ 4 Kxg2 Rg6+ 5 Kh3 Bg2 mate

This finish was given in the September 1882 issue of Chess Monthly, according to Edward Winter in his "Unsolved Chess Mysteries (26)".

Interestingly enough, Mr. Blackburne's Games at Chess has a position similarly identified ("Played at Simpson's Chess Divan in 1880, White giving the odds of two Knights" vs "Mr. L") with colors reversed.

Blackburne, playing White, finishes off the game in the same manner.

1.Be2 Bxe4+ 2.Qxe4 Nxe4 3.Rxg7+ Kxg7 4.Rg3+ Kh6 5.Bg7 mate

At an age where I can smile knowingly at all of this "misremembering," it is also reassuring to recall the words of José Capablanca, from "How I Learned to Play Chess" in the October 1916 issue of Munsey’s Magazine.

It is not correct to assume, however, that my chess ability depends upon an overdeveloped memory. In chess, memory may be an aid, but it is not indispensable. At the present time my memory is far from what it was in my early youth, yet my play is undoubtedly much stronger than it was then. Mastery of chess and brilliance of play do not depend so much upon the memory as upon the peculiar functioning of the powers of the brain.