"Why Did He Play That Move?" Redux

Shades of "Why did he play that move?": my opponent would have been well-served by asking himself that, after my 12th move. As a result, what could have been an interesting tangle got short-circuited.

perrypawnpusher - Makeyourmove,
blitz, FICS, 2013

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 Nf6 

This is a standard position in the 6...Ng6 Jerome Gambit - this is the 45th time for me. 

Black continues to develop and prepare for castling-by-hand - impressive, for a player who, at least according to The Database, has not played or faced a Jerome Gambit (at least on FICS).

10.0-0 Kf7 11.f4 Re8 12.f5

This position appeared as early as Vazquez,A - Carrington,W, Mexico, 2nd match (1), 1876 (1-0, 34).

This is my 10th game with it on the board, having won 6 and lost 3 to date. Twice my opponents made it easy for me - and now, today.

Why does White allow Black to take his e-pawn? 

12...Rxe4 13.fxg6+ 

Zwischenzug.  Intermediate move.

13...hxg6

After equally incautious 13...Kxg6 White has 14.Rxf6+ Qxf6 15.Qxe4+ as in perrypawnpusher - mconst, blitz, FICS, 2011 (0-1, 18).

Black's best is 13...Kg8 and after 14.gxh7+ then 14...Kh8 (14...Kxh7 allows 15.Qd3) when White has an edge; he should focus on development, as Houdini suggested after the game, 15.Qf2 Rg4 16.d3 b6 17.Nd2 Bb7 18.Nf3. 

14.Qxe4 Black resigned 

perrypawnpusher - bnxr, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 29) continued another 15 moves, with the same result.

Too Clever (or not clever enough) for My Own Good

The following game is mostly the result of preparation and my understanding of a particular line in the Jerome Gambit: my opponent dismissed my chances and fell into a tactical shot that put me a piece ahead. Then I refused to allow him a paltry pawn in return (temporarily) – and I got clobbered! The final position is a wonderful tribute to mconst's creativity and counter-punching!

perrypawnpusher - mconst
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6

Last year our game continued 6...Kf6, perrypawnpusher - mconst, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 42 ).

7.Qd5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+ d6 9.Qe3 Nf6

Earlier this year my opponent was successful with the provocative 9...Ne5 in perrypawnpusher - mconst, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 25).

10.0-0 Kf7 11.f4 Re8 12.f5 Rxe4

The same oversight that bnxr made against me earlier this year. 

13.fxg6+ Kxg6

It was better to retreat with 13...Kg8, when White will only be slightly better.

14.Rxf6+ Qxf6 15.Qxe4+

I was hammering out my moves, and, except for all those Queenside pieces still parked in the garage, I was feeling fine.

15...Bf5

Now all that is necessary is for me to see that after 16.Qe3 Bxc2 White can regain the pawn with 17.Na3 Bf5 18.Nb5 and "the rest is a matter of technique".

Some piece development would help, too.

16.Qc4 Rf8

Here 16...Re8 would have been crushing. 

17.Qf1 Qd4+ 18.Qf2

Clueless as to what is coming.

18...Bd3

White resigned

Really nice. Which I could think of such stuff.

Reminds me of a cartoon I used to watch as a kid, when Quickdraw McGraw would say to his sidekick, "I'll do the thin'in' around here, BabaLouie, and don't you forget it!"

Troubled and Troubling Knights

I know that some chess players choose the Knight for their favorite piece, as its moves are "tricky" but I've never quite had to face the kind of the strange silliness that Black's Knights present in this game. Even so, they were more of a side show, as the "Jerome pawns" took center stage.

perrypawnpusher - whitepandora
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 Nf6

10.0-0 Kf7 11.f4 Re8 12.f5 Ne5

If 12...Rxe4 then 13.fxg6+, as in perrypawnpusher- bnxr, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 29)

13.d4 Neg4 14.Qb3+ d5

Better was 14...Kf8 as seen in Vazquez - Carrington, 2nd match, 1876 (1-0, 34).

15.e5 Ne4

After the game Rybka 3 suggested that it was time for Black to return the extra piece with 15...Nxe5 16.dxe5 Rxe5 leading to an even game.

Now, White's "Jerome pawns" are beginning to look menacing. What to make of Black's advanced Knights? 

16.h3

Rybka suggested that White preface this move with 16.Nc3, which shows that computers can not only play chess, they sometimes can have a sense of humor.  The Black pawn at d5 is pinned, so White's move threatens the Black Knight at e4.

Unpinning the pawn with 16...Kf8 allows White to grab a pawn with 17.Qxd5, when Black can dump one troubled steed with 17...Nxc3 18.Qc5+ Kg8 19.Qxc3 and return the other with 19...Rf8 20.h3 Rxf5 21.Rxf5 Bxf5 22.hxg4, when White has an edge. 

Actually, Rybka suggests that White delay the pawn grab and try 17.h3 first, although this leads, after 17...Ngf2 18.Qxd5 Nxc3 19.Qc5+ Kg8 20.Qxc3 to 20...Ne4, when the second Black Knight can escape via g5.

16...Ngf2 17.Rxf2

I thought that my best chance here was to gather in the two Knights for one Rook. It turns out that I could have done better; or, more correctly, a better player could have done better...

It is easy to see that White has the alternate try 17.Be3, but Black's frustrating 17...Nh1 seems to hold that off, as 18.Kxh1 Ng3+ would lead to the same 2-for-1 swap.

Instead, White needs to shuffle in his Queen with 18.Bf4 Nhf2 19.Qf3 planning to return his Bishop to e3...

But Black is not asleep. With 19...Rf8 he can answer 20.Be3 with 20...Kg8 when Bxf2 can be answered by ...Bxf5 with equal chances. So White must first bolster his f-pawn with 21.g4, when 21...g6 is but one of Black's defensive ideas, i.e. 22.f6 Nxf6 23.Rxf2 Ne4 24.Qxf8+ Qxf8 25.Rxf8+ Kxf8 26.Nd2 Nxd2 27.Bxd2 and the drawish Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame beckons...

17...Nxf2 18.Kxf2

So far, most of the excitement has been in the notes, but that is about to change. White has two pawns for the exchange, but as in my recent game against LuigiJerk, my unprotected King should be my undoing.

18...Qh4+

Here it comes...

19.g3

This is not the best response, objectively, and I knew it at the time. However, if my opponent was surprised at his sudden good fortune (and I was guessing that he was), he might not have any "grand plans" at this point. If so, he might want to just grab a pawn and see what happens.

19...Qxh3

Like this.

20.Qxd5+ Kf8

21.e6 Qh2+ 22.Qg2 Qh5 23.g4 Qh4+ 24.Qg3 Qf6

It is frustrating, to have the Queen's attack produce so little. White seems to be consolidating.

25.Be3

Sloppy. It was consistent to return a pawn to continue development: 25.d5 Qd4+ 26.Be3 Qxd5 27.Nc3 Qc6.

25...g6

Black could have played 25...Bxe6 when White would just soldier on with 26.Nc3.

26.Qf4 gxf5 27.gxf5 a5

Opening a door for the Queen Rook to enter play.

In the meantime, White's "Jerome pawns" are not only connected and passed, their development has opened lines against the Black King.  

28.Nc3

Development is good, but it was okay to take time for 28.d5 (followed by Bd4).

28...c6 29.Qh6+

Still thinking "safety" when I could have played for mate with 29.Qd6+ Kg7 30.Rg1+

29...Qxh6 30.Bxh6+ Kg8

31.Rg1+ Kh8 32.Bg7+ Kg8 33.Bh6+

I had no intention of repeating the position three times for a draw, I just wanted to catch my breath and gain a little clock time.

33...Kh8 34.Bg7+ Kg8 35.Ne4

There is a mate starting with 35.Be5+ but I had things under control.

35...Bxe6 36.Nf6+ Kf7 37.Nxe8 Rxe8 38.fxe6+ Rxe6

39.Be5 b5 40.Rg7+ Ke8 41.Rxh7 c5 42.c3 cxd4 43.cxd4 Rc6 44.Ke3 Rc2 45.Rh2 Rc6 46.Ke4 a4 47.Rh8+ Kd7 48.Rh7+ Ke6 49.Rh6+ Kd7 50.Rxc6 Kxc6

51.d5+ Kd7 52.Kf5 b4 53.Kf6 a3 54.b3 Kd8 55.Bd6 Kd7 56.Bxb4 Kc7 57.Ke7 Kb6 58.d6 Kb5 59.Bxa3 Kb6 60.d7 Kb5 61.d8Q Ka6 62.Qb8 Ka5 63.Bc5 Ka6 64.Qb6 checkmate

Blog's Best Friend

In preparing games for presentation on this blog I use ChessBase to extract games from The Database; and Rybka 3, Houdini 1.2 and Fritz 10 (occasionally Fritz 8) to provide insight and guidance into what was happening in the play. 

Most of the time the computers are faithful friends. Sometimes they seem to mislead.

perrypawnpusher - bnxr
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

The Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 N8e7

I've faced this position a half-dozen times without surrendering a half-point.

Black wants his King's Knight developed in a way that does not impede his King's Rook, which in turn will come into place as he castles-by-hand.

From White's point of view the development at e7 puts less pressure on the "Jerome pawns" in the center, but creates an additional possibility when considering returning a piece for two pawns when one of the White foot soldiers advances to f5.

10.f4 Rf8 11.0-0 Kf7

To castle-by-hand, as noted above. My response: " 'Jerome pawns', advance!"

By the way, a "position search" here in The Database is confounding,  making it of less use, a similar situation to the one I mentioned in Monday's "Checking Back" post. In this line of play, I like the intermediate "nudge" 7.Qd5+, instead of the immediate capture of the Bishop with 7.Qxc5, so my game has reached this position along with four games by Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member Petasluk and an earlier game, erik - jimi, blitz, FICS, 2001; but here it is White's move, while in their games it is Black's.

12.f5 Ne5 13.d4 Nc4 14.Qd3 d5

15.Nc3 h6

Black wants to keep White's Bishop off of g5, but a better move was to pull back his advanced Knight to d6.

16.g4

Supporting the advanced f-pawn, but this is too stereotyped.

As Rybka 3 instructed me after the game, White could already grab a pawn with 16.Nxd5; and after 16...b5 he could move in on Black's King with 17.Nxe7 Qxe7 18.f6 (a clearance sacrifice) 18...gxf6 19.e5 f5 20.Qf3 (a nice move, as the loose Rook at a8 gives the Queen the tempo she needs to continue on to the Kingside) 20...Bd7 21.Qh5+ Kg8 22.Bxh6 Qh7 23.Qg5+ Kf7 24.Bxf8 Rxf8 when White would have a Rook and three pawns for two pieces, and the advantage.

That's a nice line of play, something some readers may have seen. One reason that I turn the post mortem over to the silicon brains is so that I can see what I should have seen.

Certainly I should have seen the gain of the pawn at d5, but I'm still working on having the feel for the kind of sacrifice that 18.f6 would be. The Queen transfer via f3 was nice, but I'm not ready to say that I would have played 17.Nxe7 because I saw the coming win of the exchange with 24.Bxf8.

16...Kg8 17.e5

Instead, 17.Nxd5 was still the right move for White, as he can answer 17...Nxd5 with 18.Qxc4 threatening a discovered check.. After 17...Nd6 18.Nf4, according to Rybka 3 White's advanced "Jerome pawns" balance out the missing piece.

17...b6

Black's plan is to post the Bishop on the a6-f1 diagonal where the White Queen and Rook are currently residing.

Looking at the diagram, I get the feeling that White needs a dose of developed pieces, but Rybka and Fritz give the first player the edge.

18.b3 Ba6 19.Qg3

Slow. White probably could have gone all-out with 19.f6 or played it safe with 19.Rf2.

19...Na5 20.Ba3

Two can play at this game, was my thought, but certainly  20.Rf2 was more to the point.

20...Bxf1 21.Rxf1 Rf7

Black is now up a Rook for two pawns. Frankly, I was amazed that I wasn't having an anxiety attack. It is true that I didn't mind giving up the exchange on f1; after all, look at Black's parked Queen Rook and his offside Queen's Knight. Also, the "Jerome pawns" look scary, but are they a Rook's worth of "scary"?

Rybka and Fritz seem to think they are, and they rate the position about equal. It is easy to follow their suggested line of  play, 22.e6 Rf8 23.Bxe7 Qxe7 24.Nxd5, gaining a pawn, but the question remains: Where does White's counter come from? Especially since what is recommended as best for Black is now the exchange of Queens, 24...Qd6 25.Qxd6 cxd6. 

analysis diagram








Can anyone spot the hidden Rook?

Back to the game...

I decided that I needed to attack Black's King before he got his forces together. As we have seen, this is not the recommended direction. 

22.f6 Nec6 23.Qe3 gxf6 24.Qxh6

24...fxe5

Occasionally it is important for me to remind myself that if a position is complicated for me, it is usually complicated for my opponent, too.

Here, according to Rybka, my opponent overlooks his chance to transition into a better endgame where he has a piece for two pawns... 24...Rh7 25.Qd2 fxe5 26.dxe5 Qh4 27.Qg2 Rg7 28.Nxd5 Rxg4 29.Nf6+ Qxf6 30.Qxg4+ Qg7 31.Qxg7+ Kxg7 32.e6 Re8 33.Rf7+ Kg6 34.Rxc7 Rxe6

analysis diagram








Instead, Black's move is an error.

25.Rxf7 Kxf7

26.Qh5+

How annoying it was to see after the game that if I had played 26.Qh7+  I had a win: 26...Kf6 27.dxe5+ Nxe5 28.Be7+ Qxe7 29.Nxd5+. Wow.


26...Kg8

It seems a bit of hard luck that my opponent let me off of the hook here, when 26...Kg7 would give him a better game; or so the computers say.

Now I saw the draw and went for it. After all... I was a Rook down.

27.Qg6+ Kh8 28.Qh6+ Kg8 29.Qg6+ Kh8 30.Qh6+ Kg8 31.Qg6+ Kh8 32.Qh6+ Game drawn by repetition

Pawns 1, Piece 0

Sometimes White wins by attack in the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) and sometimes he has to "play out" the game and use his pawns against his opponent's extra piece. Proper defense by Black should save at least half of the point, but that doesn't always happen...

perrypawnpusher - CorH

blitz, FICS, 2011

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5

Our earlier game, featuring 5...Kf8, was a pretty good example of Black and his extra piece out-duelling White and his extra pawns (although I had my chances)  perrypawnpusher - CorH, blitz, FICS, 2009, (0-1, 74).

6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+

A check of The Database shows that I don't always play this "nudge": 7.Qxc5 d6 8.Qe3 Nf6 9.0-0 Re8, perrypawnpusher - MoonCat, blitz, FICS, 2007, (1-0, 29).


7...Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6 10.0-0 Kf7

Returning the extra tempo lost by the "nudge".

11.f4


Also seen: 11.Nc3 as in perrypawnpusher-joejox, blitz, FICS, 2009 (½-½, 27).

I did not find Rybka's apparent "let's not risk anything else" recommendation that it made after the game to be appealing: 11.d4 Re8 12.Qb3+ Kf8 13.f3 c6 14.c4 Qb6 15.Be3 Be6 16.Nc3 Bf7 17.Rfe1 

analysis diagram








11...Re8

Of course, Black's Knight can aways kick White's Queen instead, with 11...Ng4 as in perrypawnpusher - Feestt, blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 19).

12.f5 Ne5


Instead, the precipitous 12...Rxe4 did not work at all after 13.fxg6+ hxg6 14.Qxe4 in perrypawnpusher - bnxr, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 29).


13.Nc3


I wanted to play 13.d4 but could not figure out how to meet 13...Neg4. The moves are from Vazquez -Carrington, Mexico, 2nd match, 1876 and I should have remembered them for historical reasons, if no others: 14.Qb3+ Kf8 15.h3 Rxe4 16.hxg4 Rxg4 17.Qf3 c6 18.Nc3 d5 19.Bf4 Kg8 20.Be5 h5 21.Rae1 Bd7 22.Re3 Qb6 23.b3 Rf8 24.Na4 Qb4 25.Nc5 Bc8 26.c3 Qb6 27.Bxf6 gxf6 28.Qh3 Rg5 29.Ne6 Bxe6 30.fxe6 Qc7 31.e7 Re8 32.Qe6+ Kh8 33.Qxf6+ Rg7 34.Qf8+ Black resigned

13...Kg8


Prudent. There was always the kick at the Queen with 13...Nc4 as an alternative, although it did not lead to much difference after 14.Qd4 Ne5 15.d3 Kg8 in perrypawnpusher - DysonLin, blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 23).


14.d4 Neg4

Of course.

15.Qf3 Bd7


An opponent tried 15...c6 in perrypawnpusher - avgur, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 23) but the pawn probably needed to take two steps. 


16.h3 Nh6 17.Bxh6 gxh6 18.Rae1 Kh8

19.e5 dxe5 20.dxe5 Ng8

Active defense with 20...Bc6 (followed by 21...Rg8) was more likely to be successful in holding back the pawns, reaching  a balanced game.

21.f6 Bc6 22.Qf4 Rf8 23.f7

White's "Jerome pawn" threatens to win back the sacrificed piece: 23...Qg5 24.Qxg5 hxg5 25.fxg8/Q+ Kxg8. White would be a pawn better, but the win would be far off.

Instead, Black saves his Knight and loses his King.

23...Ne7 24.Qf6 checkmate

Dizziness Due to Success

Alexander Kotov, in his classic Think Like A Grandmaster, wrote about players who were

over-confident, complacent in their recognition of the fact that they had a marked advantage, and so their vigilance was blunted.
We call this widespread complacency when the win is near 'Dizziness due to success' .

perrypawnpusher - bnxr
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 Nf6 10.O-O Kf7

Black returns the tempo that I spent on "the nudge" (see "Nudge 2.0")

11.f4 Re8 12.f5 Rxe4

While analyzing my game against stcamillis (see "Stand up! Fight back!") where I had played 12.d3, I had realized that 12.f5 was playable – in fact, it had been played as early as Vazquez - Carrington, Mexico, 2nd match, 1876, because the immediate threat against the pawn at e4 was an illusion.

That my opponent grabbed the pawn (his plan from move 10) is one more example of the negative "halo effect" that surrounds the Jerome Gambit: If White blunders so badly in the opening, he is going to blunder throughout the game. So any move that appears bad [like 12.f5], must be bad.

13.fxg6+ hxg6

An unfortunate reflex action. Black needed to play 13...Kg8, when 14.gxh7+ Kh8 15.Qd3 would have left White with a pawn advantage.

14.Qxe4

14...Bf5 15.Rxf5

The position looked messy after 15.Qxb7 Bxc2, so I decided to return a bit of my extra material (Rook for Knight + pawn) to reach a quieter position.


15...gxf5 16.Qxf5 Qe7 17.Qf1

This borders on anxiety, however. Simply 17.Nc3 was fine.

17...Rh8 18.d3 Qe5 19.Nc3

Up  a piece, a little bit of development – what could go wrong?

19...Qxh2+

Well, that's annoying.

The game would have been much simpler after the alert 19.h3. Now my opponent had chances to make my life uncomfortable, and I was fortunate that he did not torture me as much as he could have.

20.Kf2 Qh4+

After the game Rybka preferred 20... Re8, and showed that White would be fine after 21.Ne2 Nd5 22.Ke1+ Kg8 23.Bd2 b5 24.Rc1 c5 25.Kd1 Rf8 26.Qg1 Qe5 27.Rb1 Re8 28.Qf1 c4 29.dxc4 bxc4 30.Ng1.

analysis diagram








Uh, right...


21.Ke2 Kg8

I was very happy to see Black block his Rook from the e-file.

22.Bd2 Qg4+ 23. Qf3 Qe6+ 24.Kf2 Ng4+

Enter: the Knight.

25.Kg3 Nh2

I would not be surprised to learn that my opponent was feeling a bit dizzy, himself. This move allowed me to exchange Queens – and win the Knight.

26.Qd5 Qxd5 27.Nxd5 c6

This move is a slight distraction from the fact that Black's Knight has no safe retreat.

28.Nc3 Kf7 29.Rh1 Black resigned