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

One step forward...

In preparing yesterday's post, I noticed that I had not yet presented the following game.


perrypawnpusher - kinghh
blitz, FICS, 2010

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

The Semi-Italian Four Knights Game.

6.Bxf7+

The Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

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

8...Bxd4 9.Qxd4 Qe7 10.f4

Not as effective as the text is 10.Bf4, perrypawnpusher - philippemuurmans, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 28).

10...Nc6

Simple, safe, and preserving Black's advantage. Instead, 10...c5 led to mishaps in perrypawnpusher - jaymen, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 40) and perrypawnpusher - louarn, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 21). 

11.Qd3 Re8

Preparing to castle-by-hand.

12.e5 Ng8

After the game Rybka suggested that it was time for Black to give back the sacrificed piece: 12...b6 13.exf6 Qxf6 and White has an edge.

13.Bd2

Missing the shot 13.Nd5, winning the exchange, as 13...Qd8 would allow 14.Qf5+ winning a piece.

13...d6 14.Rae1 dxe5

Overlooking the fact that White's reply comes with check. After the game Rybka suggested 14...Kf8  leading to an equal game. 

15.fxe5+

This should be enough to win, but in the followup I choose a lot of second or third best moves, and prolong the game.

15...Nf6 16.exf6 Qc5+ 17.Be3 Rxe3 18.Rxe3 gxf6

White is ahead only the exhange, but his massive lead in development and Black's unsafe King are decisive. For example, there is now a mate-in-two, that I missed, because I wanted an advantageous endgame... 

19.Qd5+ Qxd5 20.Nxd5 f5 21.g4 Be6

22.Nxc7 Rg8 23.Nxe6 Rxg4+ 24.Kh1 Kf6 25.Nf4 Nd4 26.c3 Kg5 27.cxd4 Rxf4 28.Rxf4 Kxf4

29.Re1 h5 30.d5 Kf3 31.d6 Black resigned

Slippery Slope

De Arman's 1893 Guide to the Chess Openings notes "The Jerome Gambit... is of course strictly unsound, as the sacrifice of a piece thus early in the game must ever be..." but, nonetheless, calls it "a very hazardous but interesting attack." True, an unfortunate slip early on can take Black down a slippery slope.

perrypawnpusher - louarn
blitz, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Bc4 h6 5.0-0 Bc5

Transposing, at last, to the Semi-Italian Four Knights Game.

6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.d4

8...Bxd4

Our earlier game continued 8...Re8 9.dxc5 d6 10.cxd6 Qxd6 11.Qe2 Bg4 12.f3 Bh5 perrypawnpusher - louarn, blitz, FICS, 2010. After an exchange of errors I escaped into a won endgame (1-0, 49).

9.Qxd4 Qe7 10.f4 c5

A slip: I attack Black's Knight with a pawn (more effective than with a Bishop, as in perrypawnpusher - philippeemuuma, blitz, FICS, 2010, 1-0, 28) so he reflexively attacks a bigger piece, my Queen.

The correct move, as in perrypawnpusher - kinghh, blitz, FICS, 2010, was 10...Nc6, (1-0, 31)

11.Qxe5 Qxe5

Worse than 11...Re8, as seen in perrypawnpusher - jaymen, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 40)

12.fxe5 Ke6

There's no stopping the slide now, although 12...b6 13.exf6 g5 would have slowed it a bit.

13.exf6 Rf8 14.fxg7 Rg8

15.Bxh6 d6 16.Rf8 Bd7 17.Raf1 Ke5

18.Rxa8 Rxa8 19.Rf8 Rxf8 20.gxf8Q Be6 21.Bg7 checkmate

 

Pawn's Struggle

Much of this game revolves around the struggle of a "Jerome pawn" to fulfill its destiny and advance to the 8th rank for promotion.

Congratulations, persistent pawn!



perrypawnpusher - jaymen
blitz, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Bc4 h6 5.0-0 Bc5

Transposing into the Semi-Italian Four Knights Game.

6.Bxf7+

The Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit. (This game helped drag my score in this line up to 63%.)

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

 8...Bxd4 9.Qxd4 Qe7 10.f4

Or 10.Bf4 c5 11.Qxe5 Qxe5 12.Bxe5 Ng4 13.Bg3 d6 14.Rad1 Rd8 15.h3 Nf6 16.Bxd6 Be6 17.Bxc5 Rac8 18.Rxd8 Rxd8 19.Bxa7 Bc4 20.Re1 Ra8 21.Bd4 Bxa2 22.Nxa2 Rxa2 23.Bxf6 Kxf6 24.Rb1 b5 25.f3 Kg5 26.Kf2 Kf4 27.g3+ Kg5 28.f4+ Black disconnected and forfeited, perrypawnpusher - philippemuurmans, blitz, FICS, 2010.

10...c5

Illustrating the principle: when your piece is attacked, don't immediately withdraw it, look for a greater threat against your opponent.

Unfortunately, that doesn't hold in this case, and 10...Nc6 was necessary to preserve Black's advantage.

11.Qxe5 Re8

One benefit to White of playing 10.f4 instead of 10.Bf4 is that if Black had exchanged Queens here, White would have a pawn on e5 attacking Black's pinned Knight on f6. Therefore Black acquiesces to losing a piece.

12.Qxe7+ Rxe7 13.e5 Ne8 14.Bd2

On this and the next move for White, Rybka prefers Nd5.

14...b6 15.Rae1 Kg8

Black has castled-by-hand, but is down a pawn and, more importantly, remains cramped and behind in development

16.f5 Ba6 17.Rf2 Rd8

18.f6

After the game Rybka suggested a more positional approach: 18.Nd5 Rf7 19.g4 Bb7 20.Nf4 Nc7 21.c4 Rc8 22.Ng6 Re8 23.h3 Ba6 24.b3 Bb7

analysis diagram







18...Rf7 19.Ne4 d5

Black lashes out, and gets a defensible game if White captures the d-pawn en passant, but probably better was to exchange pawns on f6.

20.e6 Rxf6 21.Nxf6+ Nxf6 22.e7 Re8

23.Bxh6 gxh6

Too cooperative. Instead 23...Ne4 24.Rf8+ Rxf8 25.exf8Q+ Kxf8 26.Bf4 eliminates White's passer in what amounts to an exchange of pawns.   

24.Rxf6 Bc8

25.Rxh6

Next time I'll see 25.Rf8+ Rxf8 26.e8Q.

25...Kf7 26.Rh7+ Kf6 27.Rh6+ Kg7 28.Rh4 d4

The pawn at e7 has survived so far, but it will need help to promote.

29.Rf4 a6 30.h4 Kg6 31.Rf8 Bd7 32.Rxe8 Bxe8

33.Rf1 Bf7 34.g4

Here come the distractions. 

34...c4 35.h5+ Kg7 36.h6+ Kxh6 37.Rxf7 Kg6 38.e8Q

38...d3 39.Qg8+ Kh6 40.Rh7 checkmate