Wild Horses

There seemed to be some "wild horses" in this Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game that kept trying to "drag me away." Or drag the game away from me.

Sorry, Podnah, good try, but not this time, either...

You can check out "Relax... Don't work so hard" for my first encounter with the creative TJPOT.

perrypawnpusher - TJPOT
blitz 3 12, FICS, 2009

1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 e5 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5

As old as Jerome - Brownson, USA, 1975, and as recent as perrypawnpusher - steelrfan44, Gameknot.com, 2009

8...Nf4



An idea similar to Fritz 8's seen in "Jerome Gambit: Drilling Down (13)". It seems to beg for 9.Qe5+ Ne6, but I thought I'd let the horse run wild and instead focus on my development.

9.0-0 Nf6 10.d3 d6 11.Qe3 Ne6 12.f4 Ng4

The first horse having returned, the other one now gets loose.

13.Qg3 Nc5

Can all this horsing around be good for Black? Neigh!

14.f5 h5 15.h3 Nf6 Already White now has a pawn breakthrough that would allow him to rustle one of the Knights: 16.e5 dxe5 17.Qxe5+ Qe7 18.Re1 Qxe5 19.Rxe5+ Kd8 20.Rxc5.

The move that I chose instead targets Black's King.

16.Qxg7 Rg8 17.Qh6 d5

Breaking in the center, attacking the pawn chain – but letting the e-pawn advance. Correct seems to be 17...Qe7 with defensive prospects.

18.e5 Nfd7
Black's position is suddenly so dire that Rybka 3, analyzing after the game was over, suggested that he should offer the return of a piece with 18...Ncd7 – but that White's attack was so strong that the first player could continue to develop without capturing immediately: 19.Bf4 c6 20.Nd2 Qb6+ 21.Kh1 c5 22.Rae1 Kd8 23.Nf3.

19.Qxh5+ Ke7 20.Bg5+

Winning the exchange, while 20.Qh7+ led to the win of a Rook. Regardless, the Black King is in serious trouble.

20...Rxg5 21.Qxg5+ Ke8 22.Qg6+ Kf8 23.f6 Nxe5 24.Qg7+ Ke8 25.f7+ Nxf7 26.Qxf7 checkmate

Let's Play Two...

Like in my 4-game set with Joejox – see "Dropping A Half-Point (Part 1) and (Part 2)" – I was reeling off a series of games with tejeshwar when the "real world" intruded and I had to sign off. Too bad: I was able to get in a couple of Jerome Gambits (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) and if we had gone on to a 5th game, well, you know what I would have played... 

  perrypawnpusher - tejeshwar blitz 10 0, FICS, 2009 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 Nf6 9.d3 d6 10.Qe3 Kf7 It is only here that Black varies from my game against steelrfan44 (see "Pleasant..."). Black will castle-by-hand and maintain his advantage. White will have to do something with his extra pawns. 

11.0-0 Rf8 12.f4 Kg8 13.Nc3 d5 14.Qg3 

A bit stronger was 14.f5 

14...d4 15.Ne2 

Ditto. 

15...Nh5 16.Qf3 Qd6 A simple blitz oversight: with all eyes on f4, who's watching h5? Now my opponent gets rattled, and his game suffers. 

17.Qxh5 Nxf4 18.Bxf4 Qf6 19.Be5 Qg6 20.Rxf8+ Kxf8 21.Rf1+ Kg8 22.Qxg6 hxg6 The smoke has cleared somewhat, and it is now White with the extra piece. 

23.Bxd4 Be6 24.Nf4 Bxa2 25.b3 Rd8 

Black resigned

When it came my turn again to play the White pieces, I replayed:

perrypawnpusher - tejeshwar

blitz 10 0, FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6

Known as Blackburne's (or Whistler's) move: a good idea.

7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qxh8 Black resigned

I guess my opponent was unfamiliar with the defense (see "Nobody expects the Jerome Gambit!", "Flaws (Part I)" and "Flaws (Part II)"), after all, or had just plain had his fill of the Jerome Gambit!

Pleasant

Some games are just pleasant.

In the following game my opponent faces the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) with sangfroid, using a relatively unusual defensive idea (castle-queenside-by-hand) and topping it off with a blockading piece sacrifice.

The developing storm clouds over the center and Kingside convinced me that it was a good time to split the point.
perrypawnpusher - steelrfan44
GameKnot.com, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+

Steelrfan44 agreed beforehand to allow the Jerome.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 Nf6 9.d3 d6 10.Qe3 Bd7
White has his two central pawns vs Black's piece and centralized King – but Steelrfan44 has his own plans.

11.f4 Qe7 12.Nc3 Bc6 13.0-0 Kd7

14.b4

I considered this almost a positional move. A center pawn break did not look promising, and I was not ready to compromise my Kingside, as a counter-attack could come there with little risk to Black's King. There was some space to be grabbed on the Queenside, however; and perhaps my Bishop belonged on b2.

An alternative from a game by Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member Louis Morin: 14.Qh3+ Kd8 15.Bd2 Bd7 16.Qf3 c6 17.Rae1 Kc7 18.e5 dxe5 19.fxe5 Ng4 20.Qg3 Be6 21.d4 Rad8 22.Re4 Kb8 23.Rxg4 Bxg4 24.Qxg4 Qe8 25.Be3 Ka8 26.Ne4 h5 27.Qe2 h4 28.Nd6 Qe6 29.Bg5 Rdf8 30.Rxf8+ Rxf8 31.c4 h3 32.g3 Qf7 33.Nxf7 Rxf7 34.Qg4 Kb8 35.Qe6 Rf3 36.Qe8+ Kc7 37.Qd8 checkmate, guest1989 - guest883, ICC 2002

14...a6 15.a4 b6 16.Bb2 Rae8

17.Qd4 Kc8

In retrospect, 17...Bb7 18.b5 a5 – which anticipates Steelrfan44's defensive plan – would have been safer.

18.b5 Bxb5 19.axb5 a5

I had a difficult time figuring out what was going to happen next – proof of the effectiveness of my opponent's idea.
In the meantime, I noticed that the e-, f-, g- and h-files were full of Black's pieces, and few of mine – except my King and Rook.
20.Nd5 Nxd5 21.Qxd5 Rhf8

Definitely time to sue for peace.

22.Qa8+ Kd7 23.Qc6+ Kd8

I was later dumbfounded to see that Rybka assessed White as being almost 2 1/2 pawns better, but I could hardly have expected to have analyzed as it had: 24.g3 Qf7 25.Bd4 Ne7 26.Qb7 Nc8 27.f5 Qd7 28.c4 Qe7 29.Ra2 g6 30.f6 Qe6

24.Qa8+ Kd7 25.Qc6+ draw