Too Much of A Bad Thing

As much as I enjoy watching (and playing) smashing attacks in the Jerome mode, I have to (again) warn defenders, out of a sense of fairness, that the following defense amounts to too much of a bad thing.

funnycrimes - MaxMBJ
blitz, FICS, 2013

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

The Semi-Italian Opening.

4.O-O Na5 

Black's move is provocative, especially when combined with 3...h6 ("like walking around with a Kick Me! sign pinned to the seat of your pants..." see "A Hot Rocket to Oblivion"). The "Jerome Treatment" is clearly recommended.

5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Ke8 

Technically better is 6... Ke6, but Black's game would still be clearly worse. 

7.Qh5+ g6 

Looking this line up in The Database, only 3 of the 15 defenders (including this game) found this move; alas, all of them lost, anyhow.

On the other hand, 11 of the 12 players who chose an alternate 7th move lost as well (White blundered his Queen in the one Black win).

Here are the sordid details:

7...Ke7 8.Ng6+ 

(Or 8.Qf7+ Kd6 9. Qd5+ [9.d4 Nc6 10. Nc4#, aghamal - muchpain, blitz, FICS, 2012] 9...Ke7 10.Ng6+ [10.Qxa5, Black resigned, KeepuHonest - Barnetme, blitz, FICS, 2012; or 10.Qf7+ Kd6 11.Qd5+ Ke7 12.Ng6+ White won by ajudication, JoeDemir - dogbrother, blitz, FICS, 2010] 10...Ke8 [10...Kf6 11.Nxh8 c6 12.e5+ Ke7 13. Qf7#, aldac - anesh, blitz, FICS, 2011] 11.Nxh8 Qg5 [11...Nc6 12.Qf7#, rosti - carifano, blitz, FICS, 2010] 12.Qf7+ Kd8 13. Qxf8#, comport - khemosabi, blitz, FICS, 2013}) 

8...Ke8 

(8...Ke6 9.Qf5+ Kd6 10. Qd5#, perrypawnpusher - TheTrueDamaBlanca, blitz, FICS, 2009; or 8...Kd6 9. e5+ [9. Nxh8 Kc6 {9... Nc4 10. Nf7+, Black resigned, bartab - VeniceOdyssey, standard, FICS, 2011} 10.Qxa5 b6 11.Qd5#, albertpak - khemosabi, blitz, FICS, 2013; or 9. Qe5+ Kc6 10.Qd5+ Kb6 11.d3 Nf6 12.Be3+ c5 13.Qf5 d6 14.d4 Bxf5 15.dxc5+ dxc5 16.exf5 Rg8 17.b4 Nc6 18.Nd2 Ka6 19.bxc5 Bxc5 20.Bxc5 Qxd2 21.Rab1 b6 22.Be3 Qxc2 23.Rfc1 Qe4 24.Rxc6 Qxc6 25.Ne7 Qc2 26.Rc1 Qxa2 27.Nxg8 Nxg8 28.g4 Nf6 29.h3 Kb7 30.g5 hxg5 31.Bxg5 Ne4 32.Be3 Rc8 33.Rxc8 Kxc8 34.Kg2 Qd5 35.f3 Qa2+ 36.Kf1 Ng3+ 37.Ke1 Qe2#, valiantknight - Monkee, blitz, FICS, 2000] 9...Kc6 10.Nxh8 b6 11.Qf3+ Kb5 12.Qxa8 Bb7 13.Qxd8, 
Black resigned, duvvisreedhar - khemosabi, blitz, FICS, 2011) or
(8... Kf6 9.Qf5#, balix - luccass, blitz, FICS, 2012) 

9.Nxh8+ g6 10. Qxg6+ Ke7 11. Qf7+ Kd6 12. Qd5+ Ke7 13. Qe5#, Houdini.

8.Qxg6+

Here Black resigned in ghostshadowrook - VeniceOdyssey, standard, FICS, 2011.

8...Ke7 9.Qf7+

White proceeds with a clear plan. For those who want something
more complicated, Houdini recommends 9.Nc3 c6 10.b3 Qe8 11.Ba3+ Kd8 12.Nf7+ Qxf7 13.Qxf7.

analysis diagram





9...Kd6 10.Qd5+ Ke7 11.Ng6+

Or 11.Qxa5 d6 12.Ng6+ Ke8 13.Nxh8 Qf6 14.Qh5+ Ke7 15.Ng6+ Kd7 16.Nxf8+ Qxf8 17.Qf5+ Kd8 18.Qxf8+ Kd7 19.Qxg8 Kc6 20.Qc4+ Black resigned, Divtwo - HotCaldron, FICS, 2010

11...Ke8

Not much better is 11...Kf6 12.Nxh8 Kg7 13.Qxa5 Kxh8 

12. Nxh8 b6 13.Qf7 checkmate

Sense of Danger

As I mentioned in yesterday's post (Sunday Book Review) I have been reading Amatzia Avni's Danger in Chess, subtitled How to Avoid Making Blunders.

When I played through a recent Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit game that reached the following position, I thought about what Avni had written about "when the opponent plays badly in the opening."

comport - mrquestionmark
FICS, 2011

Suppose you play against someone who makes some silly moves, right from the start. He sheds material, or plays not in accordance with development rules, or he makes apparently self-destructive moves... Most chess players, when faced with such an enemy, tend to relax and expect an early success. It is a human trait to count on consistency in behaviour; if our adversary played weakly until now, so we reason, he is likely to demonstrate the same low quality in the following phases of the game as well.

This line of thought is devoid of empirical justification. Our opponent may possess poor openings knowledge, but still be a strong middlegame player. Or he may have deliberately made early provocations to lead us to think that our victory is assured.

Whatever our impression about our rival's level of play, we must stay on guard!

8.Qb3+ Kf8 9.Qf7 checkmate