Deep Thinks

Although the following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game was played at blitz speed (2 12), it contained two relatively long "deep thinks". With mine, I accidentally avoided an immediate destruction; with my opponent's, he immediately percipitated one.

perrypawnpusher - lorecai
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

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

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6

10.0-0 Ng4

This is a multi-purpose move: attacking the Queen, preparing to attack the King (if White castles Kingside) and arranging to exchange Queens, if need be.

Our earlier game went 10...Rf8 11.f4 Ng4, perrypawnpusher - lorecai, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 47).

11.Qg3

This was my move choice after a pretty deep think, at least for a blitz time control. It seems like a prety obvious move, and I would bet that my opponent was wondering what was taking me so long to find it. What could I possibly be seeing in the position??

In part, I didn't like 11...Qh4 as a response, forcing the exchange of Queens, although things worked out well for tedhorst and Ghandy in their games with that move: tedhort - popasile, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 30) and Ghandy - julianaajedrez, FICS, 2009 (0-1, 26, a loss on time in an even game).

In my deliberations I eventually discarded 11.Qe2 – a move which, unbeknownst to me, quickly goes horribly wrong: 11...Qh4 12.h3 Nf4 13.Qf3 Ne5 14.Qc3 Ne2+ White resigned, mrjoker - weiran, ICC, 2008.

So, although I did not come up with anything spectacularly good with my "deep think" at least I did not come up with something spectaularly bad, like 11.Qe2 would have been. 

11...h6

I am not sure what to think about this move. It could have been a mouse-slip for an intended 11...h5, as I faced last year in perrypawnpusher - Riversider, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 18).

In any event, it un-protects  the Black Knight at g6, which makes my next move easy to see (although 12.f3 might have been a tiny bit better).

12.h3 N4e5

It might have been time to try the "fishing pole" move, 12...h5!?, although the placement of White's Queen allows him to take the Knight and survive, e.g. 13.hxg4 hxg4 14.f4!? followed by developing the rest of his pieces and attention to defense (of course).

13.d4

For concrete reasons, 13.f4, which accomplishes the same thing (attacking and either winning or chasing away the defender of the Knight on g6), was better.

After the text, Black now has 13...Qh4, and 14.dxe5 Qxg3 15.fxg3 Nxe5 would only give White a small edge. If White opts to exchange Queens himself after 13...Qh4 with 14.Qxh4, Black would have the annoying 14...Nf3+ which breaks up White's pawns, 15.gxf3 before recapturing the Queen with 15...Nxh4. As White would then be due to lose another pawn, his advantage, again, would be small.

My opponent went into a deep think now.

13...Qg5

Wow.

Was this another mouse-slip for an intended 13...Qh4 ? Or was he counting on seeing 14.dxe5 Qxg3 15.fxg3 Nxe5 ?

Either way, this was an unfortunate move.

14.Bxg5 Black resigned

Knights

    Jerome Gambit vs those Knights.

perrypawnpusher - Riversider

blitz, FICS, 2010

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

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

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6

A normal setup for the Jerome Gambit. Often the Black Knights like to kick the White Queen.

10.0-0 Ng4 11.Qg3

Better than the dangerous 11.Qe2 Qh4 12.h3 Nf4 13.Qf3 Ne5 14.Qc3 Ne2+ White resigned, mrjoker - weiran, ICC, 2008.

11...h5

Or 11...Qh4 12.Qxh4 Nxh4 as in tedhort - popasile, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 30) and Ghandy - julianaajedrez, FICS, 2009 (0-1,26)

12.h3 h4 13.Qb3

I didn't like taking the Queen away from the Kingside – but, those Knights!

13...N4e5

Black missed a dynamic attacking line that Rybka pointed out after the game: 13...Nf4!? 14.Qf3 Rf8 15.hxg4 Qg5 16.Kh2 Bxg4 17.Qe3 Kd7 18.d3 Bd1 19.Rg1 Bxc3 and Black has an edge in the resulting messy position.

analysis diagram







14.f4 Nc6 15.Nc3 Qf6 16.d3 Qd4+ 17.Kh1 Nf8

Surprisingly, this re-deployment is fatal. The Knight needed to go to e7.

18.Nd5 Kd8

Black played his move, and then Resigned, seeing that his Queen is trapped after 19.Be3.

Technical Difficulties (Part 2)

Sometimes when I play chess online – usually at FICS and usually a Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) or related opening – I encounter "technical difficulties" to be overcome, along with the expected chess resistance. Luckily, as yesterday's and today's posts show, these problems can be overcome.

perrypawnpusher - szuwarek
blitz 10 0, FICS, 2010

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6

This move usually signals pretty bad news – if it means that my opponent is familiar with the Whistler Defense – or pretty good news – if it means that my opponent remembers something about Blackburne's Defense.

7.Qxe5 d6

Blackburne.

8.Qxh8

As in Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1885, the best-known Jerome Gambit game.

Despite Blackburne's crushing win, modern theory holds that if Black is well-prepared, he may be able to work out a draw; otherwise, he loses to a knowledgeable opponent.

8...Qf6

Okay, make that "pretty good news" – for White.

9.Qxh7+

By coincidence, both ecimsa - Mordent, FICS, 2006 and irvpat - Mordent, FICS, 2009 ended here with Black's resignation after White's ninth move.

One of my earlier games continued with the less exact 9.Qxf6+: 9...Nxf6 10.d3 Be6 11.Nc3 Re8 12.0-0 d5 13.exd5 Nxd5 14.Bd2 Bb4 15.a3 Bd6 16.Nxd5 Bxd5 17.Rae1 b6 18.Rxe8 Kxe8 19.Re1+ Kf7 20.Bc3 a5 21.Be5 Ba2 22.Bxd6 cxd6 23.b3 a4 24.bxa4 d5 25.f3 h5 26.Ra1 b5 27.Rxa2 bxa4 28.Rb2 Ke6 29.Kf2 Ke5 30.Ke3 d4+ 31.Kf2 Kf4 32.Rb4 Ke5 33.Rxa4 h4 34.Rb4 g5 35.a4 g4 36.fxg4 h3 Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - nicholasjanssen, blitz FICS, 2009.

Another Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member (with a pleasant 57% score with the Gambit) had an oddly de-caffeinated moment and paid for it: 9.0-0 Qxh8 10.c3 Be6 11.d4 Bb6 12.Bg5 Nf6 13.e5 dxe5 14.dxe5 Ne4 15.Na3 Nxg5 White resigned, Superpippo - ddp, FICS, 2001.

9...Ke6

This move costs a piece, but interposing the Queen allows White to exchange, arriving at a calm position where the first player is ahead the exchange and three pawns: 9...Qg7 10.Qh4 (10.Qxg7+ Kxg7 11.c3 Be6 12.d4 Bb6 13.Bg5 Bc4 14.Nd2 Bd3 15.f3 Rf8 16.Kf2 c5 17.Ke3 Ba6 18.Rad1 cxd4+ 19.cxd4 d5 20.e5 Rf5 21.f4 Nh6 22.Bxh6+ Kxh6 23.g4 Rf8 24.Rc1 Bd8 25.Rc8 b5 26.Ra8 g5 27.f5 Re8 28.Rxa7 Bc8 29.Rc1 Bb6 30.Rf7 Rxe5+ 31.Kd3 Re4 32.Rf6+ Kg7 33.Nxe4 dxe4+ 34.Ke3 Kxf6 35.Rxc8 Black resigned, tedhort - ElMagoVago, FICS, 2009) 10...Qf6 11.Qxf6+ Nxf6 12.0-0 Nxe4 13.d3 Nf6 14.Be3 Bf5 15.Nc3 Bb4 16.Nb5 c6 17.Nd4 Bd7 18.c3 Bc5 19.Nf3 Bxe3 20.fxe3 Re8 21.Ng5+ Kg7 22.e4 Be6 23.Rf3 Bg4 24.Rg3 Bh5 25.Rh3 Ng4 26.Rg3 Rf8 27.Rf1 Rxf1+ 28.Kxf1 Kf6 29.Rf3+ Kxg5 30.Rg3 Kf6 31.Rf3+ Ke7 32.Rg3 Ne5 33.d4 Nc4 34.b3 Nd2+ 35.Kf2 Nxe4+ White resigned, Nesseerd - oldway, FICS, 2005

10.Qxg8+ Kd7 11.0-0 b6

12.Nc3 Bb7 13.Qh7+ Ke6 14.Qh3+

The Queen returns safely. All Black has for his missing Rook is a handful of attacking files and diagonals.

14...Ke7 15.Nd5+ Bxd5 16.exd5

From this position White will be able to exchange Queens then a Rook, after which the extra Rook will win in the endgame.

However, my opponent made no moves in the roughly 8 minutes he had left on his clock. Oddly, after running down to zero his clock then began to rack up "negative" minutes, despite my call for a win on time. 

At 5 minutes after his flag fell, with his clock still running, I asked for a courtesy adjournment.

I then sent my opponent a message, asked for a continuation of the game, left the site, returned to the site, and reissued the continuation request.

I'm not sure what my opponent was seeing at his end of the chess board, but he did not respond to any of this, and actually started a game with another player.

After a few days of not hearing from my opponent, I requested and almost immediately received an ajudicated win.