Complicate, complicate, complicate

The Jerome Gambit player knows that there may be few - maybe one - chances to steer the game out of its "pre-ordained" path to "0-1" and so must be ready for opportunities as they arise. A primary way of creating an opportunity is to complicate play - and hope for the best.

fehim - GibletGrey
blitz, FICS, 2013

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+

Whenever I see this "nudge" I suspect the player is familiar with the Jerome Gambit - and, perhaps, this blog.

7...Ke8 8.Qxc5 Nf6 9.d3 d6 10.Qb4 

10.Qe3 is more often seen, as in perrypawnpusher - tejeshwar, blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 25) and perrypawnpusher - steelrfan44, GameKnot.com, 2009 (½-½, 25).

10.Qg5 was seen in fehim - polite, FICS, 2009 (0-1, 29).

10.Qa5 was seen in shugart - luisileon, FICS, 2014 (1-0, 39).

10...c5 11.Qc3 b6 12.0-0 Bb7 

13.Bg5 

13.b4!? is an interesting suggestion of Houdini, for example 13...d5 (13...cxb4 14.Qxb4) 14.bxc5 dxe4 15.Re1 Rc8 16.Qb3 Rxc5 17.Nc3 Bd5 18.Nxd5 Qxd5 19.dxe4 Qxb3 20.axb3 a5 21.c4 Kf7 when Black still holds the advantage of a piece vs two pawns. 

13...h6 14.Be3 Qd7 15.Nd2 Rf8 16.f4 Qg4 

This looks aggressive, but Black might have done better with the center push 16...d5.

17.h3

It might be the time for the thematic pawn push 17.f5, leading to a balanced game. White has a different move, and a pawn break, in mind.

17...Qh5 18.Nf3 Nh4 19.Nxh4 Qxh4 20.e5

White hopes to stir things up.

20...Qg3 21.Rf2 Qxe3

Black is happy to exchange pieces, and avoid further complications, but here he had the winning move 21...Nd5 available. Missing that shot, things turn bad. 

22.exf6 Qd4 23.Re1+ Kd7

The King would have been happier at d8, as we will see. 

24.fxg7

This move is okay, but more refined would be 24.Re7+ Kc6 25.Qxd4 cxd4 26.fxg7. 

24...Qxc3 

 Now if White simply recaptures the Queen, Black has time for 25...Rf7 and can be happy with his piece vs 2 pawns advantage.

25.gxf8N+

Nice underpromotion.

25...Kc6 26.bxc3 Rxf8 27.d4 Kb5 

Black's active King does not compensate for the lost exchange and White's two extra pawns.

28.a4+ Kc4 29.dxc5 dxc5 30.Re7 Bc6 31.Rxa7 Kxc3 32.a5 bxa5 33.Rxa5 c4 34.Ra6 Be4 35.Rxh6 Bxc2

36.Rc6 Bd3 37.g4 Kb4 38.f5 c3 39.f6 c2 40.g5 Kb3 41.h4 Kb2 42.h5 Kb1 43.g6 c1Q+ 44.Rxc1+ Kxc1

45.g7 Ra8 46.f7 Bh7 47.f8Q Ra1 48.Kh2 Ra3 49.Qxa3+ Black resigned

One... last... trick...

Sometimes when I'm playing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) things do not go as I have planned (or hoped).

In those cases, there are still chances that my opponent will fall for a trick or a trap – or just plain fall, for that matter. It is my job to keep things, er, interesting, until something finally goes my way.

perrypawnpusher - BishopChris
blitz FICS, 2010

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

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

According to the New Year's Database, Black's most popular response to the Queen check (see "Perhaps the best chess advice that I ever read...").

7.Qd5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+ d6 9.Qe3 Nf6

Black is comfortably better.

10.f4 Kf7 11.O-O Re8

It is up to the "Jerome Pawns" to cause mischief before Black gets his King castled-by-hand.

12.Nc3 d5

I've faced this threat of a pawn fork at d4 a couple of times before (see perrypawnpusher - tejeshwar, blitz FICS 2009 and perrypawnpusher - sarBear, blitz FICS, 2009) and am not comfortable with it.

13.f5 Ne5 14.d4

My plan was to use the pawn at d4 to support my e-pawn when it got to e5. It never quite happened that way.

After the game Rybka suggested 14. exd5 Nxd5 15. Nxd5 Qxd5 16. d3, leaving White with a ways to go to achieve equality. 

14...Nc4 15.Qh3

One or two free tempos are all that White needs to get things under control, but that doesn't seem likely.

15...dxe4 16.Bg5 Qxd4+ 17.Kh1 Nd2

This complicates things for Black. It was better to tuck his King into safety with 17...Kg8.

18.Bxf6

Confidently pressing the "attack", I produce... a useless move.

18...Kxf6

 19.Qxh7 Nxf1

Down a Rook and a Bishop, I was looking for just about anything to throw at my opponent. All I had left was pretending that everything was under control, that I knew what I was doing...

20.Qg6+ Ke7 21.Rd1

This should not work. But it is annoying. My opponent began to wonder why I didn't recapture the Knight, and decided to put an end to my attacking "threats". 

After the game Rybka gave my best chance, if still losing, as 21.f6+ gxf6 22.Qg7+ Ke6 23.Nb5 Qd7 24.Nxc7+ Ke5 25.Qg6 Qxc7 26.Qxe8+ Kd4 27.c3+ Kc4 28.Rxf1

analysis diagram







21...Qf6

An interesting psychological point. It is as if Black overlooked the fact that Knights can move backward (21... Nd2).

22.Nd5+ Black resigned

The problem is that White has both mate threats and threats to win more material – after capturing Black's Queen.

...said the spider to the fly

If you play the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) against an opponent twice (like my games against BronxBoyII, JoeJox and tejeshwar), you may ruin the advantage of surprise – and your opponent may have his own surprise waiting for you...

perrypawnpusher - marbleschess

blitz 10 0, FICS, 2009

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

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

Improving on 6...g6 7.Qxe5 Nf6 from our first game.

7.Qd5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+ Qe7

This looks like a TN, and a good one at that. Now the pawn-grab 9.Qxc7 for White is a good way to commit suicide: 9...Qxe4+, etc.

9.Qe3 Nf6 10.d3 d5 11.f3

Falling back and digging in. See my game against Mooncat for a similar idea.

11...dxe4 12.fxe4 Ng4 13.0-0+

Well, that's one worry (King safety) taken care of, and a second piece developed, but Black is still clearly better.

13...Ke8 14.Qg3 Qc5+ 15.Kh1 Be6

A good developing move, although 15...Rf8 might have been stronger.

16.Nc3 Kd7

Preparing to both swing the Queen Rook into play and castle-by-hand. Marbleschess, it is clear, was no longer in awe of the Jerome Gambit.

Perhaps that is what saved me.

17.h3

Better might have been 17.Bf4, but I had a pretty good guess how my opponent was going to respond to my move, and I had an unsettling surprise.

17...N4e5 18.d4

Perhaps what Ossip Bernstein was thinking about when he mentioned "the equalizing injustice of chess."

Now White would have a slightly better game after Black plays 18...Qc4 19.Rd1 Raf8 20.dxe5+ Kc8, but instead his opponent goes to pieces.

18...Qxd4 19.Rd1 Qxd1+ 20.Nxd1 Rad8 21.Bf4 Kc8 22.Bxe5 Nxe5 23.Qxe5

23...Bd7 24.Nc3 Rhe8 25.Qg3 g6 26.Nd5 Black resigns

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!