Pandora's Box

I've been digging through my database since I wrote "What Have YOU created lately?" trying to find any kind of creativity in my own play in the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+). My games are more likely to follow "book" lines (such as there are), waiting for my opponents to get creative.

In the process, I turned up another of my games that I don't think has appeared on this blog. Here we go...

perrypawnpusher - whitepandora
blitz 3 10, FICS, 2008

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6

A defense as old as A.W. Jerome - O.A. Brownson, Iowa, USA, 1875 (1-0, 25)

7.Qd5+

The infamous "nudge".

7...Kf6
This is new.

8.d4

Attacking the enemy Bishop with the pawn and threatening an attack on the d8-h4 diagonal, winning the Queen. Annoyingly, my computers tell me that a) Black is still better and b) the thematic 8.f4 is probably better than the text move.

8...Bb4+ 9.c3 c6

Wow!

Essential was 9...Ke7 10.cxb4 Nf6, keeping the advantage.

Whitepandora was lucky to be playing against me, and not any other member of the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde.

10.Qg5+

Or 10.Bg5 checkmate, take your pick.

Ow!!!

White is still winning with the text move, but a 10-move Jerome Gambit checkmate would have been something to smile about.

10...Ke6 11.Qxd8

With a Queen and two pawns for two pieces, there is no way that this game should last – how many? – 41 moves. I suppose that it is a tribute to my creativity that I find a way.

11...Nf6 12.Qc7 Bd6 13.Qa5
Her Majesty escapes unharmed.

13...Kf7

Instead, 13...Nxe4 grabbed a pawn. Might not help. Couldn't hurt.

14.e5 Re8 15.0-0 Nxe5 16.dxe5 Rxe5

Black has some dangerous-looking development... and it keeps growing.

17.Qa4 b5 18.Qd4

More to the point was 18.Qb3+ Re6 19.Re1, when White will be able to trade off one of the attackers.

18...Rd5 19.Qe3 Bb7

This is getting creepy. One indication of how quickly Black's development has grown was in the line 19...Bxh2+ 20.Kh1 (if 20.Kxh2, 20...Ng4+ winning the Queen) Rh5 21.g3 Bf5 22.Re1 Bxg3+ 23.Kg2 Rh2+ 24.Kxg3 (24.Kg1 Bxf2+) Rh3+ 25.Kf4 Rxe3 26.Rxe3 when the second player has cut the deficit to a Rook for two pawns.

20.Nd2

Planning to get the Knight to its defensive post at f3, but, oddly enough, the best move was to put the Queen there.Now Black has some more hair-raising tactics, such as: 20...Bxh2+ 21.Kh1 Rh5 22. g3 c5+ 23.f3 Bxg3+ 24.Kg2 Nd5 25.Qxc5 (what else?) Nf4+ 26.Kxg3 Ne2+ 27. Kf2 Rxc5 28.Kxe2 Re8+. White has a piece for a (passed) pawn – and is still way behind in development.



analysis diagram







20...c5 21.Nf3

Whew!

21...Ng4

Black should have taken his opportunity to develop his last piece with 21...Re8.

22.Qe1 Re8 23.Be3 Rh5
24.h3 Ne5 25.Nxe5+ Rexe5 26.Rd1 Bc7

This finally felt like a won game to me.
27.Rxd7+ Re7 28.Rxe7+ Kxe7 29.Bxc5+ Kd7

30.Qe7+ Kc8 31.Qe8+ Bd8 32.Qxh5 Ba6 33.Rd1 Bc7 34.Qe8+ Kb7 35.b4 g5 36.Rd7 h5 37.Qf7 Kc8 38.Rxc7+ Kb8 39.Bxa7+ Ka8 40.Qe8+ Bc8 41.Qxc8 checkmate

In the hands of a "spoiler"

With only four games left to complete in the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) Thematic Tournament at Chessworld, Piratepaul holds a slim .5 point lead (21.0 out of 26 games) over stampyshortlegs (20.5 out of 27 games). All three of their games are against Crusader Rabbit (5.0 out of 25 games), who has secured 14th place, but who clearly can play the role of spoiler. If Crusader Rabbit wins all his games, or loses all his games, Piratepaul will hang onto first place; but the proper distribution of wins, losses and draws could put stampyshortlegs on top. This exciting tournament of 210 games could come down to the final move!

The Bishop's Evans Jerome Gambit

In 1877 in Australia, H. Charlick played a correspondence game combining the Evans Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4) with the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+): see "The Evans Jerome Gambit". A similar idea has appeared in the Bishop's Opening, 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5.

Delanoy - KameneckiCannes, France (2), 2000
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.b4

According to Bishop's Opening expert Michael Goeller,

This move is a good method of transposing to the Evans Gambit since it allows for some independent possibilities, some of which are quite favorable for White. If you like to play the Evans Gambit, this seems the most flexible way to do so..

3...Bxb4

Accepting the gambit by 3....Bxb4 challenges White to prove compensation. The resulting positions are very similar to the Evans Gambit and White probably does best to transpose to the Evans in most lines. There is one significant advantage for White, however, in offering the gambit pawn before developing the Knight to f3. In the line 4.c3 Ba5, which has proven one of the more thorny in Evans Gambit theory, White can play 5.f4!? instead of 4.Nf3 Nc6. - Goeller

4.c3

Instead, 4.f4 exf4 is the McDonnell Double Gambit, about which there is an interesting article by IM Nikolai Minev. 5.Nf3 Ne7 6.Ng5 Ng6 7.Qh5 Qf6 8.c3 h6 9.Bxf7+ Ke7 10.Bxg6 Qxg5 11.Qxg5+ hxg5 12.cxb4 d6 13.Nc3 c6 14.d4 Kf6 15.Bf5 Bxf5 16.exf5 Kxf5 17.0-0 Kg6 18.g3 fxg3 19.hxg3 d5 20.Bd2 Nd7 21.Rae1 Rh3 22.Kg2 g4 23.Ne2 Rhh8 24.Nf4+ Kh7 25.Re7 Nf6 26.Ne6 Nh5 27.Rff7 Rhe8 28.Nf4 Nxf4+ 29.gxf4 Rxe7 30.Rxe7 a5 31.a3 axb4 32.Bxb4 b5 33.Kg3 Kg6 34.Kxg4 Black resigned, was Brownson - Jerome, Iowa 1875.

4...Bc5 5.d4 exd4 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7

Or 6...Kf8 7.Bxg8 Kxg8 8.cxd4 Bb4+ 9.Nd2 Qe7 10.Qb3+ Kf8 11.Qf3+ Ke8 12.Ne2 Rf8 13.Qe3 d5 14.e5 c5 15.a3 cxd4 16.Nxd4 Bc5 17.N2b3 Bb6 18.0-0 Nc6 19.Bb2 Bf5 20.Qc3 Nxd4 21.Nxd4 Rc8 22.Qb3 Rc4 23.Nb5 Bc2 24.Nd6+ Qxd6 25.Qxc4 dxc4 26.exd6 Bd3 27.Bxg7 Rf7 28.Rae1+ Kd7 29.Be5 Bxf1 30.Rxf1 Bc5 31.a4 a6 32.a5 Kc6 33.Rd1 Bxf2+ 34.Kh1 Rd7 35.g4 Bc5 36.h4 Bxd6 37.Bc3 Be7 38.Rxd7 Kxd7 39.h5 Ke6 40.Kg2 Bf6 41.Bb4 c3 42.g5 c2 43.Bd2 Bb2 White resigned, Schuermans - Verwimp, Belgium 2003

7.Qh5+ g6 8.Qxc5 Qe7


Goeller gives 8...Nf6 as equal.

9.Qd5+ Qe6 10.Qxe6+ dxe6 11.cxd4 Nf6 12.Nc3 Rd8 13.Nf3 Nc6


From here on, White consistently outplays Black in an interesting Queenless middlegame, and an instructive endgame.

14.Be3 a6 15.0-0 Kg7 16.Rac1 h6 17.Rfd1 Ne7 18.h3 c6

White has more space and better development, while Black plans his defensive formation.

19.Ne5 g5 20.f3 Ng6 21.Na4 Nxe5 22.dxe5 Rxd1+ 23.Rxd1 Nd7 24.Nb6 Nxb6 25.Bxb6

By allowing Black to double his pawns on the e-file, White has found time to put a serious cramp into his opponent's game.

25...a5 26.Rd8 a4 27.Kf2 Ra6 28.Bc5 Ra8 29.Kg3 b5

A bid for breathing space, as Black is being strangled on the Queenside.

30.Kg4 Kg6 31.Rg8+ Kf7 32.Rf8+ Kg7 33.Kh5 Bb7

Finally!

Of course, White has no interest in exchanging Rooks.

Black's next move quickens the end, but 34...Re8 would only postpone the loss, not evade it.

34.Rf6 Rd8 35.Rxe6 Bc8 36.Rxc6 Bd7 37.Rc7 Kf7 38.Kxh6 Ke6 Black resigned

What Have YOU Created Lately?

Regarding the post "Club Player's Opening" from a couple of days ago, I got to wondering if anyone out there has recently come up with an invention in the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) worth sharing with other readers? Remember, "You, too, can add to Jerome Gambit theory!"

Hitler vs Lenin in Chess?!

Good chessfriend and Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) Gemeinde member Geoff Chandler has another hysterically funny (as opposed to his usual "quite funny": see "Mars Attacks!" as an example) post on his "Chandler Cornered" site. Check it out!

Club Player's Opening

The Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is a club player's opening. That's who plays it, that's who analyzes it (with a few exceptions, like NM Eric Schiller and IM Gary Lane), that's who improves it and that's who finds ways to stymie it.

Part of the excitement of the opening for me is the way players can put a personal touch on it. Pete Banks ("blackburne") has popularized the Banks Variation (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8 6.Qh5) and continues to win with it, even after mika76 at Gameknot.com put forth a refutation.

Lt. G.N. Whistler may have invented Whistler's Defense (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Qe7) but Brian Wall and Tyrin Price much more recently showed how dangerous it was.

It is always great fun for me too play through games in my database and look for individualized interpretations, from viejoasquerosos's predeliction for playing Bc4 and Bxf7+ (or ...Bc5 and ...Bxf2+) at the earliest possible moment, in any opening, to equally inventive ideas like in the following game.

weenar - Quixote
blitz, FICS, 2000

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


4...Kxf7 5.Ng1

Wow... weenar decides that the essence of the Jerome Gambit is displacing the King, followed by a Queen check. In what has to be the most outrageous of the "modern" lines, this check is prepared without further sacrifice.

Other retrograde lines that I can think of offhand are 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Ng8 and 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.exf5 followed by Ng1.
5...Qf6 6.Qh5+
True to the main idea, although 6.Nf3 may have been stronger.

6...g6 7.Qg4
The Queen, mindful of such lines as 1.e4 e5 2.f4 Qh4+ 3.g3 Qe7, etc., should have retreated to e2.

7...Qxf2+ 8.Kd1 Qf1 checkmate
Admittedly, that didn't go too well.
It has been said that opening innovations will lose the first and last time they are played; the former because they are not quite understood, the latter because they are understood too well. In between the two? That's where the excitiement is.

White: Looking For Opportunites

Not every Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc3 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) can be a swash-buckling win for White. Often the first player must keep the game (sometimes, even the draw) in hand while looking for an opportunity to present itself (see "It's not over until the Lady sings..."). At the right moment he can strike back, like in the following game, and win the day.

AlgozBR - WeiJ

blitz, FICS, 2009

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8

Given by Alonzo Wheeler Jerome in his analysis in the July 1874 Dubuque Chess Journal.

7.Qxe5 Qe7

As far as I can tell, this was first played by Jerome himself, in two 1880 corresponcence games with Daniel Jaeger.

8.Qf4+ Nf6 9.0-0 TN

Or 9.Nc3 d6 ( 9...c6 10.d3 d6 11.h3 h6 12.0-0 g5 13.Qg3 Qe5 14.Qxe5 White resigned, Jaeger - Jerome, correspondence, 1880) 10.0-0 Bd4 11.d3 a6 12.Ne2 c6 13.Nxd4 b5 14.Nxc6 Qe6 15.Nd4 Qe7 16.Bd2 Kg8 17.Nf5 Qc7 18.Qxd6 Qxd6 19.Nxd6 Be6 20.f4 g6 21.Bc3 Nd7 22.Bxh8 Kxh8 23.f5 gxf5 24.exf5 Bd5 25.Rae1 Nf6 26.Ne4 Bxe4 27.dxe4 Rc8 28.e5 Nd5 29.e6 Rxc2 30.e7 Nxe7 31.Rxe7 Rxb2 32.f6 Rd2 33.Re8 checkmate, perrypawnpusher - ERICOLSON, 2 12 blitz, FICS, 2007

9...d6 10.Re1 Be6 11.e5

Breaking in the center at the earliest moment, to facilitate an attack on the enemy King and Queen.

11...dxe5 12.Rxe5 Bd6

Black has to feel like he already has the game in the bag – always a dangerous mind-set.

13.d4 Kg8 14.Nc3 14...Bxe5 15.dxe5 Nd5 16.Qg3 h6

Okay, if you're going to look for a swindle, er, opportunity, where would you start?

17.Ne4 Kh7 18.c4 Nb6 19.Qd3

There are so many reasons why this shouldn't work, but it's a blitz game, and Black gets careless...

19...Rhf8 20.Nf6+ Kh8 21.Qh7 checkmate