Trapped Times Two

The latest game from Bill Wall (with notes by him):
I played an interesting Jerome Gambit yesterday, and with a little luck I won in 22 moves.  I sort of trapped his king and queen at the same time.

Wall,B - Guest327668
Playchess.com, 2012

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.Qb5+ 

[As seen in Wall - Yunfan, Chess.com, 2011, (1-0, 18) and Wall - Zhu, Chess.com, 2011, (1-0, 19) - Rick]

9...Qd7 10.Qe2 Nf6 

11.d4 Qg4 12.f3 Qh4+ 13.g3 Qh5 14.Nc3 c6 

15.e5 dxe5 16.0-0 Bh3 

I expected that.  Perhaps better is 16...Kf7, threatening 17...exd4.

17.Re1 Kf7 

 Or 17...Rf8 18.dxe5 Nd7.

18.Ne4

I wanted him to move the f6 Knight so I could get in g4 and not have hims sac to open up my king.  I wasn't sure about 18.dxe5 Rhe8 19.f4 Bg4.

18...Nxe4 19.g4

This looked better than 19.Qxe4 exd4 and I am in trouble.

19...Qh4

The only place for the Queen and it seems trapped and out of play.  I thought I could hold after 19...Bxg4 20.fxg4 Qh4 21.Qxe4.

20.Qc4+

Better than 20.Qxe4 Rhe8 21.Qf5+ Qf6.

20...Kf6 

The king has to move somewhere.  Perhaps better is 20...Ke8 21.Rxe4 Rf8.

21.Rxe4

I almost played 21.dxe5+ Nxe5 22.Qxe4, but Black has 22...Qxe1+! 23.Qxe1 Nxf3+ and Black wins. 

21...Rhe8? 22.g5+ and Black resigned  

If  22...Kf5, then 23.Qf7 mate.  Black could hold out a little bit more with 22...Ke7 23.Rxh4 Nxh4 24.dxe5 Nxf3+ 25.Kh1, then 26.Qb4+, but White should win this.

My House! My House! My Kingdom for a House!

Passing the following game along to me with the note "Another Jerome Gambit swindle," Bill Wall explained the crux of the game in one sentence, and the psychology of the contest in another: My opponent tried to castle by hand, but dropped a rook. Opponents seem to panic when their king is in the center.

Wall,B - Yunfan
chess.com, 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.Qb5+

This is something new: in almost 24,000 games in The Database, this position does not show up at all!

The closest thing to it seems to be a 2006 FICS game, PierreKurdy - NLockwood (0-1, 58), which began: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qxc5 d6 8.Qd5+ Ke8 9.d3 Nf6 10.Qb5+ c6 11.Qb3. Of course, if you do a search on that position at move 11, you find that Bill Wall - Seven11, Chess.com, 2008 got there, too.

Giving "Jerome Gambit odds" requires alert, strong play. Familiarity with basic stratagems (Bill has studied The Database) is very useful.

So is the proper use of psychology. Here White asks (just like he does when his Queen checks from d5 in analogous situations) Black: is it worth the b-pawn to block the check with the Bishop? The answer is: probably not, but arriving at that conclusion takes time, as, Black reasons, surely, there must be some way to punish that impertinent Queen...

9...c6 10.Qb3

Posing the questions, Where will Black's Bishop go?, Where will Black's King go? and How will he get there?

10...Nf6 11.d3 Qa5+

12.Nc3 Rb8

You would almost expect Black to try something like 12...Qh5, but he is still worried about the White Queen at b3 and its attack on the pawn at b7.

The Rook move should give White some ideas based on GM John Nunn's warning: "LPDO, Loose Pieces Drop Off."

13.Bd2 Qb6

Another "solution" to the b7 pawn problem. That's three by my count: 9...c6, 12...Rb8 and now 13...Qb6.

It's all very reasonable, and the computer still gives Black the edge, but it is an indication that Black is uncomfortable with his position (instead of cheering himself: More than a dozen moves and I'm still better!)

14.Qa3 Ke7 15.f4 Re8

Having shored up Pb7, Black now goes about castling-by-hand to safeguard his King. That will make him feel a whole lot better. Multi-tasking will take its toll, though.

16.0-0-0 Kf8 17.Qxd6+ Kg8 18.Qxb8 Black resigned

Black can win the exchange with 18...Bg4, but that would leave him still three pawns down.