The Return of Jerome Gambit for Dummies (Part 3)

Continuing my search for the "essence" of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), or at least an insight into how it "works" (see Part 1 and Part 2) I examined The Database for games of a half-dozen moves in length.

For the most part, as might be expected, the footnote to most of White's 6-move wins was "White won on time". Opponents were either dazzled, shocked, bored, distracted or offended... and went on to other things. An exception was the following game

Perfesser - Talking LCD Chess (1 ply)
casual game at home, 2003
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf6 1-0

More about this game and the match between these two opponents can be found at "Jerome Gambit and The Perfesser" Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4.

After six moves in the game, White can recover his sacrificed pieces, playing 7.Qf5+ Ke7 8.Qxe5+ and then either 9.Qxc5+ or 9.Qd5+ and 10.Qxc5, depending on Black's 8th move.

This looks very good for the first player, although I have to point out that White lost 8 of 32 games (after 6...Kf6) in The Database, including the very embarassing perrypawnpusher - chingching, blitz, FICS, 2011.

Although White White's main enemy in 6-move games remained the clock, about one third of those "0-1"s were the result of 5.Ng5+ (see "The Return of Jerome Gambit for Dummies, Part 2").

There was also the first appearance of a new kind of obstacle, one that I had bemoaned a couple of years ago in "A Sneaky Way to Defeat the Jerome Gambit"

Chainbk - zdveslo
blitz, FICS, 2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Black wins by ajudication

It all adds up

I have mentioned elsewhere GM Bronstein's lighthearted comment that in chess, three small errors tend to add up to one big error. In the following game, Black suffers a loss more because he loses his way against the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxv7+) than because of any great blunder.


perrypawnpusher - Unimat
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 Qe7 11.Nc3 Be6

Black has any number of alternatives, including 11...b6 as in perrypawnpusher - Navarrra, blitz, FICS, 2011, (1-0, 24); 11...Rf8 as in mrjoker - rex3, Internet Chess Club 2009 (1-0, 50),  perrypawnpusher - MRBarupal, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 31), perrypawnpusher - parlance, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 20) and perrypawnpusher - chingching, blitz, FICS, 2011 (½-½, 36); 11...Ne5 as in perrypawnpusher - mikelars, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0,50); and 11...Kd7 as in perrypawnpusher - parlance, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 22).

The text encourages White to play f2-f4-f5.

12.f4 Bd7

Losing a tempo.

The alternative, 12...Bc4, was seen in QuadCoreBR - Alecs, blitz, FICS, 2008 (1-0, 27) and perrypawnpusher - ZhekaR, blitz, FICS, 2011 (0-1, 36).

Too risky is 12...Kd7 as in perrypawnpusher - Solaar, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 33).

13.f5 Ne5 14.d4 Nc4 15.Qd3 Nb6

The "Jerome pawns" are rolling and White has the advantage.

16.Bg5 h6 17.Bh4 Qf7

Moving out of the pin on the Knight, but it is interesting to see what Houdini recommended after the game: 17...Rd8 18.e5 dxe5 19.dxe5 Bc6 20.exf6 gxf6 21.Qg3 Kd7 22.Rae1 Qc5+ 23.Qf2 Qxf2+ 24.Rxf2 Rde8 25.Rfe2 Rhf8 26.Rd1+ Kc8 27.Rxe8+ Rxe8 28.Bxf6 Nc4 29.Nd5 Bxd5 30.Rxd5 Ne3 31.Re5 Rxe5 32.Bxe5 Nxf5.

analysis diagram








White's attack has been neutralized, but his extra pawn and Bishop vs Knight should win in the end.

18.e5 dxe5 19.dxe5

19...Nfd5

This raises the level of danger, but Houdini's suggestion 19...Qc4 20.Qxc4 Nxc4 21.exf6 will lead to a two-pawn advantage for White, any way.

The tactics all go White's way now.

20.e6 Qh5 21.exd7+ Kxd7 22.Nxd5 Nxd5 23.Qxd5+ Kc8

24.g3

The computer later pointed out that the Bishop was untouchable: 24.Rad1 Qxh4 25.f6 leads to mate.

24...Rd8 25.Qxd8 checkmate

Don't Blame the Jerome Gambit (Part 2)

Yesterday's game featured White reaching a fine Jerome Gambit position out of the opening, only to miss all of the attacking splendor that he had available. Sad.

In today's game, Black understimates the danger that he faces and quickly goes from two pieces up to two pawns down. Instead of my usual, conservative, "consolidate at all costs" approach, I decided to attack violently.

And it would have worked, too, if I hadn't hung my Queen.

Again: don't blame the Jerome Gambit for this "0-1".

perrypawnpusher - chingching
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf6

A rare, usually careless (see the "Halo Effect" theme) response that takes Black quickly from a won game to nearly lost one. It is not an "instant victory", but it should be close. 

7.Qf5+ Ke7 8.Qxe5+ Kf7 9.Qd5+ Ke8 10.Qxc5 d6 11.Qe3 Nf6

The Queen checks were covered in the notes to my recent games against badhorsey (1-0, 30) and navarrra (1-0, 26). Her Majesty has now returned home safely, two pawns to the better.

12.Nc3 Kf7 13.0-0 Re8 14.d3 c6 15.f4 Ng4

Completing castling-by-hand with 15...Kg8 or striking the center with 15...d5 were better ideas than the off-task, but irresistible, strike at the White Queen.

16.Qg3 Kg8 17.Bd2 d5 18.Rae1 Qb6+

This move caught me by surprise. It is actually a time-waster: compare White's Bishop and Rooks to Black's Bishop and Rooks and ask should Black be taking his Queen away from the action to win a pawn or two?

The similarity to the wandering enemy Queens in my games against irak (1-0, 33) and jgknight (1/2-1/2, 49) encouraged me.

19.Kh1 Qxb2 20.f5 Qxc2

21.Qxg4

Unnecessarily acrificing the Bishop at d2 because I believed that I had a "killer" followup move.

After the game, Houdini suggested the prudent 21.Nb1, instead, as White actually has time to protect his Queenside minor pieces because the Black Knight on g4 isn't going anywhere: after 21...Nf6 White would play 22.e5 and Black's "best" would be to hang his horsie out to dry again with 22...Nh5 23.Qf3.

Houdini's suggestion of 21.Nb1 Rf8 22.Rc1 allows Black to complete his Queenside meal with 22...Qxa2, but after 23.Qxg4 White will go a piece up and soon position his Bishop on the a1-h8 diagonal and advance his "Jerome pawns" with a winning attack on the King.

21...Qxd2

Now, the rather pathetic 22.Ne2 would preserve whatever was left of White's initiative, giving him a small edge at the very best, due to Black's delayed development.

22.f6

Well, at least I could say that the odds were with me: Black has 41 possible responses, and 40 of them lose, almost all of them very quickly.

22...Bxg4

Of course, that one remaining move wins my Queen...

I played on a bit longer and recovered some material, but there was no way that I was going to survive being down a Rook for a Queen.

23.f7+ Kf8 24.fxe8Q+ Kxe8 25.exd5+ Kd7 26.dxc6+ Kxc6 27.Ne4 Qxd3 28.Rc1+ Kb6 29.Rb1+ Ka5 30.Nf2 Qc4 31.Rfc1 Qd4 32.Nxg4 Qxg4 33.Rc3 b5 34.Ra3+ Kb6 35.Rab3 a6 36.Rd3 Rc8 White resigned

My opponent finished up nicely and deserved his comeback win.

Again, don't blame my loss on the Jerome Gambit!

Done in by Greed

The following game was a tense, balanced affair, travelling through known territory for a dozen moves and on into a balanced middle game. When I went pawn-grabbing with my Queen, however, my opponent struck back hard, eventually checkmating me.

Lesson?

perrypawnpusher - ZhekaR
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 Nf6

The Database shows that mrjoker has a win, a loss, and a draw against 8...Qe7.

9.Nc3

Or 9.d3, which can traspose to the game.

9...Qe7 10.Qe3 d6

11.0-0 Be6

Black has many alternatives, including: 11...b6 as in perrypawnpusher - Navarrra, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 24) [Hmmm, I don't think that I have posted this game yet - RK]; 11...Rf8 as in mrjoker - rex3, CC, 2009 (1-0, 50), perrypawnpusher - MRBarupal, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 31), perrypawnpusher - parlance, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 20) and perrypawnpusher - chingching, blitz, FICS, 2011 (½-½, 36); 11...Ne5 as in perrypawnpusher - mikelars, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 50); and 11...Kd7 as in perrypawnpusher - parlance, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 22).

12.f4 Bc4

Earlier this year I faced 12...Kd7 in perrypawnpusher - Solaar, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 33).

13.d3 Ba6

14.Bd2 b6 15.Rae1 Kd7 16.Qh3+ Kd8 17.Nd5

Planning to use the opened e-file for my Rook, but 17.e5 was probably a better idea.

17...Nxd5 18.exd5 Qd7 19.Qg3 Qf5

The game is about even, as White has two pawns, better development, and a safer King as compensation for his sacrificed piece.

20.c4 Re8 21.Rxe8+ Kxe8 22.Re1+ Kd7 23.Qe3 Rf8 24.g3 c5 25.dxc6+

After the game Rybka 3 suggested instead 25.b4 cxb4 26.Bxb4.

25...Kxc6 26.Bc3 Rf7 27.Qe8+ Qd7 28.Qe4+ Kc7 29.Qa8

A fool's errand. That pawn on a7 will turn out to be very, very expensive.

29...Bb7

This is good enough for advantage, but 29...Nxf4 was already crushing (i.e. 30.gxf4 Qg4+, etc.).

30.Qxa7

The only chance to keep on playing lay with 30.Qe8.

30...Qc6

Again, good; but, again 30...Nxf4 was much stronger.

31.Re4 Re7 32.Bd4 Rxe4 33.dxe4 Ne7 34.b4 Nc8 35.Qa3 Qxe4 36.Qb2 Qe1 checkmated

Wow. Nice work by ZhekaR to punish my pawn-grabbing!

Mysteries of the Jerome Pawns

I wish that I had won the following game because I solved the "mysteries" of the "Jerome pawns" discussed after move 20. Alas, I took advantage of my opponent's mistake and slid into a drawn endgame, feeling lucky... 

perrypawnpusher - chingching
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+

According to The Database, which I consulted after the game, up until now, chingching was 9-1 against the Jerome Gambit. However, every one of those games saw 5.d4 instead of 5.Nxe5+, so my move was going to at least give my opponent something new to look at. 

I was interested to see that chingching had also played 16 games (scoring 75%) defending an Italian Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d4, which transposed to the Jerome with 4...exd4 5.Bxf7+ (an idea as old as Wright - Hunn, Arkansas, 1874). Among the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde, DragonTail is the top practitioner of this line, and we have previously seen DragonTail - chingching, blitz, FICS, 2009.

5...Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 Qe7 9.Qe3 d6

10.0-0 Nf6 11.Nc3 Rf8 12.f4 Kf7

Continuing to castle-by-hand. Instead, 12...Ng4, as in perrypawnpusher - MRBarupal, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 31) is not as strong.

13.f5 Ne5 14.d4 Neg4

As often happens, it is tempting to harass the White Queen. I suppose this is because White's opening seems so artificial that certain allowances can be made in how Black responds. Still, 14...Nc6 was for choice, as White can now develop some initiative.

15.Qe2 Kg8 16.h3 Nh6 17.Bxh6 gxh6 18.e5 dxe5 19.dxe5

19...Qc5+ 20.Kh1 Nd5

This is a critical position for the game, as Rybka 3, in the post mortem, saw Black's last move as a blunder (recommending 20...Ne8 instead).

The point is that the "Jerome pawns", now connected and passed, work very well with White's heavy pieces after  21.Nxd5 Qxd5 22.Rad1

analysis diagram






See?

I admit that I still did not, and it took some work to see why Rybka saw White as more than a piece better.

For starters, White is threatening e5-e6 and f5-f6 which combine with Qg4+ in a mating attack. That suggests that Black's best retreat for his Queen will be 22...Qf7, even though that still allows White to play 23.e6.

If Black uses his Queen to blockade the forward pawn with 23...Qe7, then 24.Qe5 will force 24...Bxe6 25.fxe6.

If Black uses his Queen to blockade the trailing pawn with 23...Qf6, then White has a tricky combination: 24.e7 Re8 25.Rd8!? when 25...Rxd8 is met with 26.Qc4+ and Black has to either give up his Bishop with 26...Be6 or face the other advancing Jerome pawn with 26...Kf7 27.exd8/Q Qxd8 28.f6+ Kf8 29.Qc5+ Qd8 30.Qe3 Be6 31.Qxh6+ Ke8 32.Qxh7 Qf8 33.Re1 Qxf6 34.Qg8+ Qxa8 when White is up the exchange and two pawns.

Wow. That is so far over my head...

21.Qh5 Nxc3 22.bxc3 Qxe5 23.Rae1 Qf6

White's position is only a shadow of what it was 3 moves ago. His Kingside "attack" is also doomed to failure.

24.Re3 Bxf5 25.Ref3 Qe6

An odd slip by opponent, dropping a piece, when 25...Qg6, instead, would have sealed his advantage.

26.Rxf5 Rxf5 27.Qxf5 Qxf5 28.Rxf5 Rd8

We have reached a drawish looking endgame.

29.Rb5 Rd2 30.Rxb7 Rxc2 31.Rxa7 Rxc3 32.a4 Rc1+ 33.Kh2 Ra1 34.Rxc7 Rxa4 35.Rd7 Ra2 36.Re7 Game drawn by mutual agreement

Faster Than The Speed of Thought

Those who play the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) have become comfortable, out of necessity, with a certain level of chaos all over the chess board.

The same is true for those who play Jerome-like (or Jerome-ized) openings – and doubly so for those who play them at blitz or lightning speed.

I was working through some fast games by DragonTail at FICS (Free Internet Chess Server), making some quick assessments and decided that the particular variation that I was looking at was too wild for me. Add the fact that the players were not at their tip-top best (no offense intended), and the whole series seems to have taken place faster than the speed of thought... 

DragonTail - chingching 

blitz, FICS, 2009 

 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d4

Now, after 4...exd4 we will have a variation of the Scotch Gambit; and after 4...Bxd4 we will have George Laven's Miami Variation, as presented in Acers and Laven's The Italian Gambit (2004). 

4...Bxd4 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Ng5+ Kg6 -+

Yes, after this move Black has a significant advantage, as he would after 6...Ke8, 6...Kf8 or 6...Ke7.

On the other hand, after the careless 6...Kf6, White would have the advantage: 7.Qf3+ Ke7 (7...Kg6 8.Qf5+ Kh5 9.Ne6+ g5 10.Bxg5 Bxf2+ 11.Kxf2 dxe6 12.g4#) 8.Qf7+ Kd6 9.Na3 Nf6 10.c3 Qg8 11.cxd4 Nxd4 12.Be3 h6 13.Nc4+ Kc6 14.Nxe5+ Kb5 15.Bxd4 hxg5 16.Qg6 Qh7± 

7.Qg4 Nf6?

A stronger move is 7...Nh6 -+ , but it has to be followed up properly: 8.Qg3 Bxf2+? 9.Kxf2 ± Rf8+ +- 10.Nf7+? -+ Kxf7 DragonTail - Patrick, FICS 2008 (0-1, 21); Not so good is 7...d5 8.Qg3 (but 8.Ne6+ +-) 8...Bxf2+ (8...Qf6) 9.Kxf2 Qf6+ ± 10.Kg1 = Kh5? +- 11.Nd2? -+ Qxg5 DragonTail - freesok, FICS 2007 (0-1, 23); 7...Qf6 -+ is the computer's choice;

Not 7...d6? giving White the advantage, but wait: 8.Qg3? (8.Ne6+ Kf7 9.Nxd8+ Nxd8 10.Qh5+ g6 11.Qf3+ +-) 8...Kf6? 9.Nf3? (9.Qf3+ Kg6 10.Qf7+ Kh6 11.Ne6+ g5 12.h4 Bc3+ 13.Kf1 Bxe6 14.hxg5#) 9...Kf7 10.Ng5+ Ke7 11.Nf3 Be6? 12.Nxd4? (12.Qxg7+ Ke8 13.Qxh8 +-) 12...Nxd4 DragonTail - chingching, FICS 2009 (0-1,43) 

8.Qg3?

There was the opportunity for 8.Qf5+ Kh5 9.Nf3+ g5 10.Qxg5 checkmate 

8...Nh5 9.Qg4 d5? Instead, 9...Nf6 equalizes. 

10.Ne6+ Kf6 11.Bg5+ Black resigned