Stepping Out of the Ring (temporarily)

I'm always up for a Jerome Gambit, if my opponent allows it.

Well - almost always. Sometimes my patience falters.

But that doesn't mean that I can't still play cheesy chess.

perrypawnpusher  - kanidonara
blitz, FICS, 2013

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6

Side-stepping the Jerome Gambit for the Semi-Italian Opening.

4.0-0

Hoping for 4...Bc5 and a chance at the Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit.

4...Nf6 5.Nc3

Okay. Looking for 5...Bc5 and the ability to play the Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

5...a6 

My opponent holds off on his ...Bc5. I've fussed about this before, in "Are We There Yet?"

6.d4

Giving up on the Jerome Gambit.

Previously I prevaricated with 6.a3 and then my opponents allowed me my wish by playing ...Bc5: perrypawnpusher - cinamon, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 28); and perrypawnpusher - Olito, blitz, FICS, 2011 (0-1, 35).

I also "passed" with 6.d3, getting a chance to sacrifice my Bishop as well, in perrypawnpusher - tschup, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 18)

Bill Wall played 6.a4 and scored with 6...Bd6 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qe2 Re8 9.Qc4+ Kf8 10.Nh4 Ne7 11.d3 b6 12.f4 a5 13.fxe5 Bxe5 14.d4 d5 15.exd5 Bd6 16.Bxh6 gxh6 17.Rxf6+ Kg7 18.Raf1 Ba6 19.Nb5 Be5 20.dxe5 Qxd5 21.Qg4+ Kh7 22.Rf7+ Kh8 23.Qg7 checkmate, Wall,B - Kamyar,K, Chess.com, 2011.

6...exd4 7.Nxd4 Bc5 

8.Be3

I suppose that I could have still tried 8.Bxf7+, (although there are no examples in The Database) but I wanted to play this not-very-deep "trappy" move, as it was easy to guess my opponent's routine response.

8...0-0

Routine, but trouble.

9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.Bxc5

My opponent resigned a few moves later.

Here are a couple of similar examples, by long-time Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member PlatinumKnight.

PlatinumKnight - strawks
blitz, FICS, 2005
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bc5 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.Bxc5 Nxe4 9.Bxf7+ Kxf7 10.Qf3+ Nf6 11.Bd4 Qe7+ 12.Kd1 Re8 13.Qb3+ d5 14.Nd2 Qe2+ 15.Kc1 Qe1+ 16.Rxe1 Rxe1 checkmate

PlatinumKnight - warehouse
blitz, FICS, 2005
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bc5 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Nxc6 Bxe3 9.Nxd8+ Rxd8 10.0-0 Bg5 11.e5 Ng8 12.Qf3+ Ke6 13.Re1 c6 14.Nc3 b5 15.Ne4 Ne7 16.Nxg5+ hxg5 17.Qg4+ Kd5 18.Qxg5 g6 19.Rad1+ Kc5 20.e6+ Kb6 21.Qxe7 a5 22.Qxd8+ Kc5 23.e7 Bb7 24.Qxd7 Bc8 25.Qc7 Bf5 26.Re5+ Kb4 27.c3+ Ka4 28.Qxc6 Rb8 29.Rd4 checkmate

Scary Movie

I have made the comparison before (see "Jerome Gambit: Don't open that door!"), but sometimes when I play over a Jerome Gambit game I secretly identify with the defender with the Black pieces who seems to be in a scary movie... I keep yelling at the screen: Don't turn that way! Don't enter that room! Don't open that door!

Wall,B - Rami
10 min game, PlayChess.com, 2012

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.0-0 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bc5 6.Bxf7+

We have come, by tranposition, through the Semi-Italian Opening to the Italian Four Knights Game to the Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit...

6...Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.d4 Qe7 9.dxc5 Qxc5 10.Be3 Qc6 TN

10...Qc4 was seen in perrypawnpusher - cinamon, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 21).

11.Bd4 Nc4

This is getting scary. Does the Knight have to run away from the King?

12.e5 Nd5

Okay, now another guard is wandering away...

13.Qf3+ Kg8?

Oh, no! (Doesn't Black realize that he has an extra piece, one he can return with the much safer 13...Nf6 ? )

14.Nxd5 Nd2

The final flail.

15.Ne7+ Kh7 16.Qf5+ and Black resigned as it is mate after the next move.

Something more embarassing than...

If there is something more embarassing than losing to the Jerome Gambit (even if you do not merit entry to the "George J. Dougherty Club") it has to be giving "Jerome Gambit odds" in a game, having your opponent put his Queen en prise, and you missing the capture... The saving grace in the following game is that I still had a strong game after my opponent's slip and my blunder, and I was still able to bring the point home.

perrypawnpusher  - cinamon
blitz, FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6

The Semi-Italian Opening.

4.0-0 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bc5

The Semi-Italian Four Knights Game. An earlier game of ours had continued 5...a6 6.a3 Bc5 7.Bxf7+, perrypawnpusher - cinamon, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 28)

6.Bxf7+

The Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

6...Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.d4 Qe7

Earlier this year perrypawnpusher - cinamon, blitz, FICS, 2011, continued instead with the equally strong 8...Bxd4, etc (1-0, 25).

9.dxc5 Qxc5 10.Be3 Qc4 11.f4 Qxe4

This move totally shocked me. I remember thinking: I had NO IDEA that he could play that move! And now my Bishop is hanging!! How did I ever overlook that move??

12.Re1

Of course, after I quickly protected my Bishop, I realized why I had considered 11...Qxe4 impossible: because the pawn was protected by my Knight!

12...Qf5 13.fxe5 Qxe5

I took  a deep, calming breath, and realized that while I was a pawn down, I had plenty of compensation in terms of better development and my opponent's uneasy King.

All I had to do was keep that panic-filled voice in the back of my head (What if you lose this game?? What a humiliation!!) quiet.

14.Bd4 Qd6

Protecting his Knight, possibly thinking to exchange Queens if I move my Bishop, maybe even thinking of sneaking in ...Ng4. He blocks the d-pawn and delays his development, however.

15.Ne4 Nxe4

"Chopping wood" is one defensive strategy, but here it helps me activate my Rook and exposes a future weak point at g7.

16.Rxe4 Rf8

Given enough time, Black hopes to get his King to safety.

However, he does not have enough time.

17.Qf3+

Even stronger was 17.Qg4, threatening mate at g7. Mate follows the defensive try 17...Rg8: 18.Qh5+ g6 19.Qf3+ Qf6 20.Qxf6#

The tricky part of 17.Qg4 is to see that after 17...g5, White still has 18.Qh5+ Kg8 19.Rf1 and there are too many pieces bearing down on the Black King to escape mate, even if Black exchanges Rooks.

17...Kg8 18.Qb3+ Kh8 19.Rd1

Switching to harassing the Queen (20.Rg4 focused on the King). My opponent must have been running short of time, and I gave him more to think about.

19...Qg6 20.Re3 b6 21.Rg3 Black resigned

Totally Psyched Out

"I don't believe in psychology," Bobby Fischer supposedly said. "I believe in strong moves."

Then, again, Bobby probably never played the Jerome Gambit. If he had, he would have known the power of psychology (causing surprise, confusion, doubt and fear in the opponent) to make up for shortcomings, in an otherwise busted chess opening.

In the following game my opponent totally out-psychs me, though,and then adds some strong moves, too, for a well-deserved (for him) and painful (for me) victory.

perrypawnpusher  - Olito
blitz, FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6

The Semi-Italian Opening.

4.0-0 Nf6

With 4...a6 the game would transpose to perrypawnpusher - angelosgoulianos, blitz, FICS, 2007 (1-0, 40).

The whole Rook-pawns idea should not have been unsettling to me, but the fact that my opponent was playing his moves quickly sort of cued the ominous violin music to start playing in the background... See "If I write all this and someone reads it...".

5.Nc3 a6 6.a3

Temporizing. Last year I had tried a similar time-wasting idea, d2-d3-d4, in perrypawnpusher - tschup, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 18).

Of course, there certainly was nothing wrong with 6.d4 and a small advantage. I was still hoping for a Jerome Gambit-style game.

6...Bc5 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Nxe5+ Nxe5 9.d4 Nf3+

This hit me like a ton of bricks.

Not just the move – I had seen it in my game against AirmanLeonidas – but the ideas behind it.

My game with Olito was taking place later on in the same day that I had posted my ICC game against HenryV . In the notes to HenryV I had pointed out that White could capture the Black Knight on f3 with his Queen, because if Black retaliated with with ...Bxd4, White had a neat maneuver starting with Nc3-b5.

Of course, my opponent had just prevented Nc3-b5 with his a-pawn move.

Apparently, Olito was familiar with my blog post and had planned accordingly. Panic ran screaming down the hallways of my brain – which is reason #253 as to why I will never be a good chess player...

For the record, the text move is better than 9...Qe7 as in perrypawnpusher - cinamon, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 28).

10.Qxf3

I decided to go along with a modification of my original plan, anyhow.

Next time I will take a look at 10.gxf3, breaking up my Kingside pawns, but giving me a chance to scatter Black's pieces after 10...Ba7 11.e5 Nh7. Both Rybka 3 and Fritz 8 then suggest marching White's d-pawn to d6:  12.d5 Qh4 13.d6 c6 14.Qd3 Qh5 15.f4 when the "Jerome pawns" could still cause some grief.

10...Bxd4 11.Ne2 Be5 12.Qb3+

I was playing quickly, too, but more with a sense of desperation: I didn't like being out-prepared in my own, favorite opening!

Now Black has 12...d5 when 13.f4 Bd6 14.e5 forks two pieces, but there is escape with either 14...Bc5+ or 14...Re8.

12...Kg6

A mistake, or more psychological warfare?

13.f4 Bd6 14.f5+

Going after the King! To punish it! To checkmate it!

Yes, I had kind of lost my head by this point.

Sticking with the obvious, instead, would have given White at lease an even game, and perhaps a small edge: 14.e5 (the fork) Bc5+ (one piece escapes) 15.Be3 Ne4 (the other piece escapes) 16.Bxc5 Nxc5 17.Qc4 (chasing off the defender) d6 18.b4 Na4 19.e6 Qf6 20.f5+ Kh7 21.Qxc7

analysis diagram






But, back to the real world.

14...Kh7

15.Bf4 Bc5+ 16.Kh1 Nxe4

White is mostly just a piece down now. Still, I thought it was worth taking a swipe at the enemy King.

17.Qf3 d5 18.g4 Qh4 19.Ng3 Nxg3+ 20.Bxg3 Qg5 21.h4

White has, as my Dad would say, "a whole lot of nothing", but Jerome Gambiteers have gotten out of worse messes than this one.

21...Qf6 22.Qxd5 Bd6 23.Bxd6 Qxh4+

Somewhere out there, Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member Pete Banks ("blackburne") is saying "I told you so!" I've seen Pete hang on and survive some pretty desperate positions – the Jerome Gambit is complicated for Black, as well as White.

24.Bh2 Qxg4

25.Rg1

After the game, Rybka 3 liked White's position enough to suggest: 25.Rf4 Qh5 26.Rg1 Rg8 27.Rg2 Re8 28.Rg1 Rg8 29.Rg2 Re8 30.Rg1 Rg8 31.Rg2 Re8 32.Rg1 Rg8 33.Rg2 Re8 34.Rg1 Rg8 35.Rg2 Re8 36.Rg1 Rg8 37.Rg2 Re8 38.Rg1 Rg8 39.Rg2 Re8 40.Rg1– that's right, White repeats the position and Black goes along with him: a draw.

Of course, my line of play gives up a pawn, and my opponent's generosity (giving back the piece) is all for naught.

25...Qxf5 26.Rad1 c6 27.Qg2 Rg8 28.Rgf1 Qh3 29.Qxh3 Bxh3 30.Rf7 b5 31.Rg1

The idea of active Rooks trying to win a pawn before transitioning into a hopefully-drawable Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame is an attractive one, but it needs to be executed properly. My move overlooks a nice response by Black.

31...Be6 32.Re7 Bd5+ 33.Rg2 Bxg2+ 34.Kxg2 Rad8 35.Be5 Rd2+ White resigned

What a mess...

Hat off to my opponent Olito, who seriously schooled me in this game.

One Idea

A recipe missing one ingredient can lead to a dish that does not turn out right. So, too, a defense in a chess game, missing one important idea, can become flat and ineffectual. If the idea of trading Queens had popped into my opponent's head in the following game, things might have turned out differently.

perrypawnpusher - cinamon
blitz, FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6

The Semi-Italian Opening.

4.0-0 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bc5

The Semi-Italian Four Knights Game.

Our earlier contest continued, instead 5...a6 6.a3 Bc5 7.Bxf7+ perrypawnpusher - cinamon, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 28).

6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.d4 Bxd4 9.Qxd4 Qe7 10.f4

phil

I like this better than my earlier 10.Bf4 in perrypawnpusher - philippemuurmans, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 28).

10...Nc6

Straight forward, and an improvement over 10...c5 11.Qxe5 as in perrypawnpusher - louarn, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 21) and perrypawnpusher - jaymen, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 40).

11.Qc4+

Or 11.Qd3 as in perrypawnpusher - kinghh, blitz FICS, 2010 (1-0, 31).

11...Ke8

Black should always be on the lookout to play ...d7-d5, which is beneficial in terms of development (a counter to a gambit) and which only minimally further exposes his King.

Here, an even better move than 11...d5 would have been 11...Qe6, blocking the check and offering the exchange of Queens, dampening White's initiative.

12.e5 Ng4

This will cost a piece. If that is Black's intention, he could have tried, instead, 12...Qe6 13.Qxe6+ dxe6 14.exf6 gxf6 and headed toward the swamp that is the Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame.

That Queen move was an essential ingredient that my opponent left out.

13.h3 Ngxe5 14.fxe5 Nxe5 15.Qe4 d6

This position is more complicated than it looks, or at least a lot more complicated than I realized when I was playing. It looks like Black is a pawn up (with complications, of course, starting with his insecure King) but after the game Rybka 3 rated White as being the equivalent of a Rook ahead.

16.Bf4

This move, threatening to create and eventually win an isolated pawn on e5, is okay; but what Rybka was thinking of was: 16.Nd5 Qd7 17.Bf4 Qf5 18.Nxc7+ Kd8 19.Qxf5 Bxf5 20.Nxa8.

I had glanced at 16.Nd5, but saw that Black could move his Queen and protect the c7 pawn, all in one move. The position is not just about forking the Black King and Rook, however, as the following line shows: 16...Qd7 17.Bf4 Kd8, getting the King, too, off of the deadly e-file, but then 18.Bxe5 dxe5 19.Rad1 shows that the d-file has become equally hazardous.

16...c6

 Rightly keeping the White Knight out of d5, denying me an important ingredient for my attack.

17.Rae1

Adequate, but again missing much of the potential in the position.

I had briefly looked at 17.Bxe5 Qxe5 18.Qg6+ Kd8  but hadn't found a killer move to end the game and so eventually chose the text move. The irony is that I overlooked how strong 19.Rae1, after the above sequence, would have been.

17...Rf8 18.Bxe5 Rxf1+ 19.Rxf1 dxe5

Had my opponent continued with 19...Qxe5, instead, and given me exactly what I wanted, i.e. 20.Qxe5 dxe5 21.Re1 Be6 22.Rxe5 Kf7, I would have recovered the pawn, but the resulting position would have been slightly in Black's favor (B vs N).

As it was, my Queen remained on the board and I was "forced" to find a good move for it. 

20.Qg6+ Kd8 21.Rf7 Qc5+ 22.Kh2 Bd7 23.Qxg7 Kc7 24.Rxd7+ Kb6 25.Na4+ Black resigned

Off the Beaten Path

This game wanders a bit from the usual Jerome Gambit move order, but I was very interested in playing Bxf7+, even if the move had to be delayed a bit.


perrypawnpusher - cinamon
blitz, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6

The Semi-Italian Opening.

A delay similar to the game: 3...a6 4.0-0 h6 5.Nc3 Bc5 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.Qh5+ Ke6 9.Qf5+ Kd6 10.d4 Bxd4 11.Rd1 c5 12.Ne2 Kc7 13.Nxd4 d6 14.Ne6+ Bxe6 15.Qxe6 Nf6 16.Bf4 Re8 17.Qb3 Nxe4 18.Bxe5 Rxe5 19.Qf7+ Qd7 20.Qf3 Qf5 21.Qxf5 Rxf5 22.f3 Ng5 23.Re1 Kd7 24.Rad1 Re8 25.Rxe8 Kxe8 26.Rxd6 Re5 27.Kf2 Ke7 28.Rb6 Rf5 29.Rxb7+ Kf6 30.Rb6+ Kf7 31.Rxa6 Ne4+ 32.Ke3 Nd6 33.Rxd6 Ke7 34.Rd3 Rh5 35.h3 Re5+ 36.Kf2 g5 37.Re3 Rxe3 38.Kxe3 Kd6 39.Ke4 c4 40.Kd4 Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - angelosgoulianos, blitz, FICS, 2007.

4.0-0 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.a3

I'm sure that 6.d4 is a better move, but I was still angling for a Jerome-ish game.

I've also tried 6.d3 Bc5 7.Be3 (7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Nxe5+ Nxe5 9.d4 d6 10.dxc5 Bg4 11.f3 Bh5 12.g4 Nexg4 13.fxg4 Bg6 14.g5 hxg5 15.Bxg5 dxc5 16.Qf3 Qd4+ 17.Kh1 Qe5 18.Bxf6 Qxh2 checkmate, perrypawnpusher - tschup, blitz, FICS, 2010) 7...Qe7 8.Nd5 Nxd5 9.Bxd5 Nb4 10.Bb3 Bxe3 11.fxe3 Qc5 12.Bxf7+ Kxf7 13.Nxe5+ Ke7 14.Ng6+ Kd6 15.d4 Qg5 16.e5+ Kd5 17.Qf3+ Kc4 18.b3+ Kb5 19.c4+ Kb6 20.Nxh8 d6 21.exd6 c6 22.Nf7 Qg6 23.e4 Bd7 24.Ne5 h5 25.Nxg6 Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - EAB, blitz, FICS, 2010.

6...Bc5 7.Bxf7+

Finally.

7...Kxf7 8.Nxe5+ Nxe5 9.d4 Qe7 10.dxc5 Qxc5 11.Be3 Qc4

12.f4 Neg4 13.Bd4 Re8

A bit better was 13...d6, which kept Black's edge.

14.h3 Ne3 15.Bxe3 Nxe4 16.Qd5+ Qxd5 17.Nxd5 Rf8

Black has returned the sacrificed piece and material is even, for the moment. I am able to grab a pawn, but over the next few moves miss chances to gain more. 

18.Nxc7 Rb8 19.Nd5

Much better was 19.Ba7 (or 21.Ba7).

19...Ng3 20.Rfe1 d6 21.Rad1 Be6

22.Nc3 Rbd8 23.Kh2 Nf5 24.Bb6 Rc8

25.g4 Ne7 26.Rxd6 Kg8

White has been making steady progress, but this error accelerates it. 

27.Rdxe6 Nc6 28.f5 Black resigned