This column was inspired by several recent Jerome Gambit games where White won, although he could have made use of a shortcut to win even faster. With a dicey opening like the Jerome, you grab what you can, when you can!
Because of lessons learned last year, as we will see, this post could also be titled "What jfhumprey learned".
Teterow - Neca
lightning, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4
6...Bd6
Black does better with 6...Bxd4 and best with 6...Qh5.
7.dxe5 Bxe5
Despite my previous championing of 8.Qh5+, I think that 8.Qd5+ is simplest and strongest, winning back the piece and leaving White a pawn up, with a safer King.
The current game continued 8.0-0 and White won in 30 moves. A similar game between the same players, the same day, also continued 8.0-0 and White won in 35 moves.
By comparison, HauntedKnight - oldway, blitz, FICS, 2011 continued 8.Qh5+ (1-0, 19), as did HauntedKnight - evgehy, blitz game FICS, 2011 (1-0, 64) and HauntedKnight - sarahdaniel, blitz, FICS, 2011, (1-0, 9; hard to beat that). Again, all games were wins, but 8.Qd5+ might have led to a quicker conclusion in 67% of them.
In light of the above, it is educational to play over jfhumphrey - Cibola, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 28) and jfhumphrey - biryuk, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 65) – again, each having reached the third diagram, above – if only to appreciate the later jfhumphrey - stefanomnn, blitz, FICS, 2010 where White discovered 8.Qd5+ and was rewarded with 8...Resigns.
Some moves for Black and or for White in an opening are "thematic" – the kind of moves that are played frequently, because they accomplish the tactical or strategic aims of that line.
Some are not.
eltemible - DJJDev
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Na5
That unnamed "line of play that everyone should know about".
4.Bxf7+
For the record, 4.Nxe5 is best.
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.d4 Bd6
I don't have anything against the move ...Bf8-d6 in the abstract; I am sure that sometimes it is an ambitious move (I am thinking of the Four Knights Game), but as in the Jerome Gambit game HauntedKnight - sarahdaniel, blitz, FICS, 2011 that we looked at a short time ago, and as in the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit game HJBuck - fastglass, blitz, FICS, 2011, it is also a poor fit in this related line: Black does better with 6...d6. See "The Psychology of Error in Chess".
7.Qg4+
Simply the beginning of The End.
7...Ke7 8.Bg5+
Okay, it seems that The End has been postponed. It was expected to arrive with 8.Qxg7+ Ke6 9.Qf7 checkmate, but it still is not far away.
8... Nf6
The sad alternative was for Black's King to step aside and let his Queen be taken without even the recompense of recapture, as 8...Ke8 9.Bxd8 Kxd8 loses a Rook to 10.Qxg7. Painful.
9.Bxf6+ gxf6
As above, "best" was 9...Ke8 10.Bxd8 and again 10...Kxd8 would lose a Rook to 11.Nf7+.
It is no wonder that Black chose a faster exit.
10.Qg7+ Ke8 11.Qf7 checkmate
It is not as if DJJDev had not been warned. A year and a half ago he had played 6...Bd6, and his opponent, Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member UNPREDICTABLE, had also found 7.Qg4+, although after 7...Kf6 The End was again postponed – if for more moves, then also with more pain – 8.Qh4+ (or 8.Bg5#) 8...Ke6 9.Qxd8 Be7 10.Qxc7 Nc6 11.d5+ Kf6 12.dxc6 bxc6 13.Nxd7+ Ke6 14.Qxc6+ Kf7 15.Ne5+ Kf8 16.Qxa8 Nf6 17.Qxc8+ Ne8 Black resigned.
