I just resigned my Jerome Gambit game in the third round of the Italian Game Classic tournament at Chess.com. Truth be told, I ran out of ideas, in a bad position.
That's just one way that I am not as smart as Bill Wall - he never seems to run out of ideas. There are other ways, to be sure, and I will get to them.
In the mean time, I have to congratulate my opponent, who steadily and clearly out-played me, even more than I had feared.
Most likely I will finish in 3rd place in the tournament, out of 5 players, behind the undefeated Winawer99, and LttlePrince.
perrypawnpusher - LttlePrince
Italian Game Classic tournament, Chess.com, 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+
The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.
For the record, I had played this line against AndrewLLL earlier this round, winning in 18 moves. I was a bit worried that LttlePrince might notice, and learn from that game - as well as my blog notes.
This headache was just recently compounded, when I advanced to the fourth round of the Italian Game Battlegrounds tournament at Chess.com, along with TamasHK - and AndrewLLL (we had tied for top in our section and both moved on). So I can expect both of them to stop by and peruse this game coverage, too. (Hi, guys.)
5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Bd6 8.dxe5 Bxe5
9.Ne2
Previously, I had played 9.f4 in perrypawnpusher - joseluislopez, blitz, FICS, 2012 (0-1, 55) and 9.Bg5 in perrypawnpusher - lixuanxuan, blitz, FICS, 2014 (1-0, 22). I did not like how Black damaged my Queenside pawns in that first game, so I chose the text as a way of avoiding the Bishop-for-Knight swap.
According to The Database, 9.Ne2 was a novelty when I played it against AndrewLLL. I hadn't come up with anything better - so I played it again, against LttlePrince.
9...c6 10.f4 Bc7 11.e5 Ne4
A slight improvement over 11...Nd5, which AndrewLLL had played. This Knight seems to be floating in air, but, once it is cemented in place, it becomes a dominating force.
12.Qd3
Ah, yes. A decade ago, Wall, B - Stevanovic, R, Chess.com, 2010 had continued, instead, 12.O-O Bb6+ 13.Nd4 Bxd4+ 14.Qxd4 Qb6 15.Be3 Qxd4 16.Bxd4 and Black had succeeded in swapping Queens, exaggerating his Knight-for-a-pawn material edge. Since the game was a rare thing - a loss by Bill - I had figured that I could "improve" on his play by avoiding similar excitement along the a7-g1 diagonal. Fair enough; but, as I have pointed out, I am not as smart as Bill Wall...
12...d5 13.Be3 Bf5 14.Qb3 Bb6 15.O-O-O Bxe3+ 16.Qxe3 Qb6
This was my preparation for the line - no need to search for the game, it hasn't been posted on the blog, see "Do I Share Everything? No" - I even had an "answer" to "save" my Queen.
17.Nd4 g6
Well, my King has castled, and my Rooks are linked - but his Rooks are linked, too. White's chances must lie in mobilizing his "Jerome pawns", starting with h2-h3, perhaps preparing this with g2-g3 in order to counter-act Black's possible prophylaxis with ...h7-h5 and ...h5-h4.
Instead, I decided upon a joke plan that probably would have worked in 1-minute bullet chess, and might have worked in 5-minute blitz chess, but had no place in a 3-days-per-move tournament.
18.Nxf5 gxf5 19.Qh3
See? Who could possibly resist 19...Nf2, forking both of my Rooks and my Queen?
Is this chess or stand up comedy?
[to be continued]
In the previous post (see "Jerome Gambit: His Trap Was Part of My Trap") I noted that I had stumbled over another one of my blitz games that I had not yet posted on this blog. (With over 600 of my games in The Database, that seems quite possible.)
Playing over the game, it is hard to figure out why it did not appear: it is not an embarassing loss - or an interesting win, either. Play simply continues until Black errs, wherupon he resigns.
perrypawnpusher - lixuanxuan
blitz, FICS, 2014
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+
The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.
5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Bd6
In the main line Jerome Gambit, retreating the Bishop this way can lead to trouble, but, in the Four Knights variation, Black has protected against annoying Queen checks from d5.
8.dxe5
Back in 2011 - 2013, Philidor1792 experimented with the extravagant 8.f4!? in blitz play, scoring 7 - 2 - 1.
8...Bxe5 9.Bg5
Often the Bishop goes to g5 in the Jerome Gambit, to put pressure on the enemy Knight, possibly in conjunction with Nc3-d5. Previously, I had played 9.f4 in perrypawnpusher - joseluizlopez, blitz, FICS, 2012 (0-1, 55), and, just recently, I had played 9.Ne2 in perrypawnpusher - AndrewLLL, Italian Game Battlefield, Chess.com, 2020 (1-0, 18).
8...h6 10.Bh4 Qe7
11.Nd5 Qd6 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.O-O c6 14.Nxf6 Qxf6 15.c3 d5
16.exd5 cxd5 17.Qxd5+ Kg6 18.Rad1 Be6 19.Qe4+ Bf5
White has 2 pawns for his sacrificed piece, but they are on either side of the board, and whatever passers they promise to produce are a long way into the future - if ever.
20.Qe3 h5 21.Qg3+ Bg4
A strange slip - given that the time control was 14 minutes, no increment, and he had 9 minutes left on the clock - as it allows his Bishop and Queen to be pinned to his King. I chose the Queen
22.Rd6 Black resigned
Turn-around is fair play, they say, and the following game is a fun example. Philidor 1792 is off to a solid 3-minute game, when, suddenly...
Philidor 1792 - guest1416
3 0 blitz, www.bereg.ru, 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.a3
Here we have Gunsberg's Variation of the Four Knights Game, explored (among other places), along with other double e-pawn openings, in Hugh Myers' 1977 Reversed King Pawns, Mengarini's Opening.
White prepares to take the "black" side of the positions that
develop, hoping to be helped by his "extra" pawn move. Black prepares to play...
4...Bc5
...a reversed Italian game, and, after...
5.Bc4 Bxf2+
...he uncorks a Reversed Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit!
The only "reversed" Jerome Gambit that I can find in The Database at this point are lixuanxuan - Polone, blitz, FICS, 2012 (0-1, 27), which began 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Bc5 4.Bc4 Bxf2+ ; and Diophantos - khangaza, blitz, FICS, 2007 (0-1, 34), which began 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Bc5 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.d3 Bxf2+.
Of course, that is not to overlook games like Krejcik, Josef - Baumgartner, Troppau, 1914 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Nxe5 Bxf2+ 4.Kxf2 Qh4+ 5.g3 Qxe4 6.Qe2 Qxh1 7.Bg2 Black resigns. For a discussion of the Busch - Gass Gambit, see "Worth A Second Look" Parts 1, 2 and 3.
6.Kxf2 Nxe4+ 7.Nxe4 d5 8.d4
Following along the lines of ideas for Black in the regular Jerome Gambit, White could play 8.Bd3 dxe4 9.Bxe4 or 8.Bxd5 Qxd5 9.d3, but, instead he plays the blow-it-up variation - see perrypawnpusher - Marcym, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 20) and perrypawnpusher - NimbusReign, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-0, 26). Why not, he's ahead a couple of pieces, right?
8...exd4
A better idea, according to Houdini, was 8...dxe4 9.Nxe5 Qf6+ 10.Ke1 Be6 11.Bxe6 Qxe6 12.Nxc6 Qxc6, although, despite White's King's central residence, the first player's extra piece still outweigh's Black's extra pawn.
9.Ng3
Solid, but missing 9.Bg5!? when 9...f6 allows a brutal attack 10.Nxf6+ gxf6 11.Re1+ Kf8 12.Bh6+ Kg8 13.Bxd5+ Qxd5 14.Re8+ Kf7 15.Rxh8, according to the computer. That would be a lot for a person to see in a 3-minute game.
9...dxc4 10.Re1+ Be6 11.Kg1 0-0
White has castled-by-hand and might actually believe that his extra piece is worth more than Black's extra three "Jerome pawns". The psychological reversal might have been difficult, with the Jerome-player facing the Jerome.
12.Ng5 Bd5 13.Nf5 Qf6 14.Qg4 Ne5
Instead, 14...Rad8 or 14...Rae8 would have probably kept the game even.
15.Qh3
White presses his counter-attack against the (reversed) Jerome. In a slower game, he might have risked 15.Rxe5!? Qxe5 16.Bf4 h5 (16...Qf6 17.Nxh7 Kxh7 18.Bg5 Qe6 19.Qh5+ Kg8 {19...Qh6 20.Bxh6 g6 21.Qh4 gxf5 22.Bg5+ Kg7 23.Qh6+ Kg8 24.Bf6 Bc6 25.Qg7#} 20.Ne7+ Qxe7) 17.Bxe5 hxg4 18.Ne7+ Kh8 19.Nxd5 with advantage.
15...h6 16.Ne4 Qe6 17.Kh1
Safety first - and an even game. Again, with time to burn, Philidor 1792 would certainly have found 17.Bxh6!? Ng6 (17...gxh6 18.Nxh6+ Kg7 19.Nf5+ Kg8 20.Ng5) 18.Neg3, etc.
17...Ng6 18.Nxd4 Qxh3 19.gxh3 Rae8
Black is now clearly better.
20.Kg1 Rxe4 21.Rxe4 Bxe4 22.Nb5 c6 23.Nd6 Bxc2 24.Nxc4 Rd8 25.Be3 b6 White lost on time
Another Jerome victory!
(Another Random Note: May, 2011, had been the month, so far, with the most page views for this blog since it started in June, 2008 . However, last month November, 2013, overtook it, becoming the month with the most views - until December 2013, which has surpassed both to become Number 1! My "Welcome!" and "Thank You! to everyone stopping by. - Rick)
