Bully

Sometimes I feel like a bully playing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) or one of its relatives – in this case, a variant of the Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 followed by Bxf7+). Too much "shock and awe" or something...



Still, the opening is worth a look, as it has its interesting features
perrypawnpusher - Butin
blitz 10 0, FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6
4.0-0 Na5


Provocative!
I had never seen this move before, and was only able, later, to find two game examples – neither of which contained my next move.
5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Ke7

Although Rybka 3 and Fritz 8 will immediately recommend the Bishop sacrifice, finding the "safest" place for the Black King, and the best followup for White, now is not easy. Rybka 3 suggests that White can win the Rook, ramaining the exchange and two pawns up, with the exact 6...Ke6 7.Ng6 Rh7 8.Qg4+ Kf7 9.Ne5+ Ke7 10.Qg6 Qe8 11.Qxh7 Nf6 12.Qg6.

7.Qh5


Certainly the Jerome-ish play, but simpler and better was 7.Ng6+ followed by 8.Nxh8.

7...Kd6

Ouch. Game over.

With 7...Qe8 now Black can fight back, although after 8.Ng6+ Kd8 9.Qf3 Qxg6 10.Qxf8+ Qe8 11.Qxg7 Ne7 White has 3 pawns for his missing piece.

My opponent put up a fight for almost 30 more moves, but it seems unfair to do more than list them. (Play through the game on Chess Publisher, if you wish.)

8.Nf7+ Ke7 9.Nxd8 Kxd8 10.Qxa5 b6 11.Qc3 Nf6 12.d3 d6 13.f4 Ng4 14.e5 dxe5 15.fxe5 Bc5+ 16.d4 Be7 17.Qc6 Rb8 18.Qg6 Rg8 19.Nc3 Ba6 20.Rf7 c5 21.Qxg4 cxd422.Qxd4+ Ke8 23.Rxe7+ Kxe7 24.Qd6+ Ke8 25.Qxb8+ Kf7 26.Qxa7+ Kg6 27.Qxa6 Kh7 28.Qd3+ Kh8 29.Qh3 Re8 30.Bxh6 gxh6 31.Qxh6+ Kg8 32.Qg6+ Kf8 33.e6 Ke7 34.Qf7+ Kd8 35.Qd7 checkmated

A First Time Decline

"Theory" on the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) Declined (not 4...Kxf7) is rather sparse, as most players elect to take the first sacrificed piece.

perrypawnpusher - walkinthespirit

blitz 12 0, FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5

4.Bxf7+ Ke7

Perhaps out of surprise, perhaps out of a wish not to go along with White's plans, Black declines the opportunity to go two-pieces-up-for-two-pawns. White winds up a pawn ahead, playing against a displaced King – a considerable luxury.

5.Bb3 Nf6 6.Nc3 Na5

It appears that the Knight is taking things "personally". This will only lead to more misfortune.

7.Nxe5 Nxb3 8.axb3 d6 9.Nf3 Rf8 10.d4 Bb4 11.Bg5

11...Kf7 12.Bxf6 Qxf6 13.0-0 Bg4

On this move my opponent overlooked – as I did on my next move – that the Black Bishop is in a precarious position.

14.e5

This is ok, but look at what Rybka 3 found: 14.Nd5 (forking Queen and Bishop) Bxf3 15.Qd3 (avoiding the Queen swap on f3) Qd8 16.Qxf3+ Kg8 17.Qd3 (the uncovered attack by the Rook has to be dealt with) Ba5 18.Rxa5 (nabbing a piece, but it's not over yet) c6 (attacking the Knight and Rook) 19.Rfa1 cxd5 20.Rxd5 Qf6 21.f3 Qe6 22.Rb5 – so what was at stake was a pawn, not a piece.

14...dxe5

Capturing on f3 was again the right idea, as now White has Nxd5+.

15.dxe5 Qe6

The game now totally unravels.

16.Ng5+ Kg8 17.Nxe6 Bxd1 18.Nxf8 Bxf8 19.Raxd1 Re8 20.Rfe1 Bc5 My opponent is a fighter, but a Rook is a Rook.

21.e6 a5 22.Nd5 c6 23.Nc7 Re7 24.Rd7 Black resigned

Those folk over at ChessWorld are fast!

Just yesterday (see: "Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament: Hurry!") I mentioned that blackburne, of the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde, was going to sponsor a Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) tournament – and today the 15-player list is filled and the games have begun!

We will check in every now and then to see how the battles are progressing.

graphic by Jeff Bucchino, the Wizard of Draws

Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament: Hurry!

True to his word (see Comments on "Searching, Searching, Searching") blackburne of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) Gemeinde has organized a Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament at ChessWorld.

It will be a 15-player all-play-all event, for Chessworld members.

If you are interested in joining in the battle, check out "Jerome Gambit 4" (Tournament Number #132910). You might want to hurry, though – already a dozen players (including some battle-hardened Jerome Gambit veterans) have signed up.

The hurrieder I go...

The old saying "The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get" tends to be true for me when I play blitz games with the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+). I keep telling myself to "slow down" – but do I listen?? Here's a wild game, and for once the quickness of it – two minutes, with six second increments – put the heat on my opponent, not me. 

perrypawnpusher - Mences 

blitz 2 6, FICS, 2009 

  1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5

4.Bxf7+ 

It's always fun to see the time lag in my opponent's response after I play this.

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

Signalling the central-pawns-vs-piece game. 

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

10.0-0 Bd7 11.f4 Qe7 12.d3 Kf7 A standard formation. Black is near to castling-by-hand, White has the d3-e4-f4 pawn formation. Black is better, but he will need a plan.

13.Nc3 Rhf8 14.h3 Kg8 15.g4 Bxg4 16.hxg4 Nxg4Black has returned the piece for two pawns, and the game is roughly equal.

17.Qg3 Nf6 18.f5 Ne5 19.Bg5 Qd7 20.d4 Nc4 21.b3 Nb6

Things have progressed according to my plan of keeping the pawns rolling, although I should have prepared my next move with 22.Rad1. 

22.e5 dxe5 23.dxe5 Qd4+ 24.Qe3

Better was 24.Kg2. From here on out Black outplayed me, and I was lucky that his clock ran down. There's a lot for me to learn from studying the following moves.

24...Qg4

25.Kh2 Nfd5 26.Nxd5 Nxd5 27.Qg3

I didn't think that anything bad would happen to me if I got the Queens off of the board. I was not getting any cooperation, however.

27...Qh5+ 28.Kg2 Qe2+ 

Rybka 3 suggests instead 28...h6 29.c4 hxg5 30.cxd5 Rad8 31.d6 Qe2+ 32.Kg1 cxd6 33.e6 as being equal, saying that the text gives White the advantage – but only if he responds to this check with 29.Kg1. 

29.Rf2 Qe4+ 30.Kh3 Making things worse 

  30...Rxf5 31.Rxf5 Qxf5+ 32.Kh4 

From here to the end, my game slips bit-by-bit. 

32...Qg6 33.c4 Nb4 34.a3 Nc2 35.Rf1 Nd4 36.Qf4 Ne6

37.Qe3 h6 38.Be7 

Black forfeits on time 1-0

Good game by Mences!

Searching, Searching, Searching

On thing that fuelled this Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) blog during its first year of existence was reporting the outcomes, and presenting the games, from a number of Jerome Gambit thematic tournaments.

With the completion of those tournaments, though, there do not seem to be recent ones.

Readers are encouraged to report current or recently completed Jerome Gambit thematic tournaments, as I am sure the Gemeinde would be interested.

Thank you!

graphic by Jeff Bucchino, Wizard of Draws

Cave Man Chess

When I play the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) nobody has ever accused me of playing an "advanced" form of chess – more often, just the reverse.

I'm sure that if anyone ever develops an "ACO" opening tome – Atavistic Chess Openings – the Jerome will fit in there nicely.

perrypawnpusher - Comunista
blitz 10 0, FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5

The set-up.

4.Bxf7+


The sac.

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



The defense.

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

Time for each of us to get down to business. There are 15 games with this position in my database (not including this one), including 7 by Louis Morin and 4 by me. White scores 82%. I guess we'll have to check out the Critical Line in this defense, as well.

10.d3 Kf7 11.0-0 Re8 12.f4
Interesting: this position (not including this game) shows up 3 times in my database, and White has two losses – with me going 0-1. Comunista is finding his way through the "tree of variations" quite nicely.

12...Nd5


A novelty – and a cute one, at that – but more to the point would be putting a pawn on d5. Black plans to move the action to the Queenside, while I want to stay focused on his King on the Kingside.

13.Qg3 Nb4 14.Na3
Sensible, but more straight-forward would have been 14.f5, as in 14...Ne5 (14...Nh8 is probably safer) 15.Bg5 Qd7 16.d4 Nec6 17.Qb3+ Kf8 18.f6 when things would begin to move White's way.

14...a6 15.Bd2

Again, 15.f5 followed by 16.Bg5 was more incisive.

15...Nc6 16.Bc3

This gets the Bishop on an attacking diagonal, but overlooks what Black has been preparing.

16...b5


17.Bxg7

Played quickly, for maximum impact, but a bluff. Just like I had overlooked 16...b5, I had overlooked a resource for Black at move 18. Yipes!

17...Kxg7 18.f5 Nd4

This move maintains Black's advantage, but 18...Qh4 would have put an end to his worries.


19.Qf2 c5

Again, not bad, but getting the Queens off of the board (e.g. 19...Qf6 20.fxg6 Qxf2+ 21.Rxf2 hxg6) was a better idea. Black is thinking "counterattack."

20.fxg6 Rf8 21.Qd2 hxg6 22.c3 Ne6 23.Nc2 Qh4

See?

24.Rxf8 Nxf8 25.Rf1 Ne6 26.g3 Qg4


Egads... Black still has the advantage, but it is more of the traditional Jerome gambit piece-vs-two-pawns variety. I knew that if I could get my Queen and Knight re-positioned, the tide would turn in my favor.


27.Qf2 Kh6



Tide's turned!

It's hard to see at first that this innocent move upsets Black's position enough to shift the initative to White.


28.Ne3 Bb7

A terrible oversight that ends an exciting game. After 28...Qg5 White could have continued nibbling at the Black Queen with 29.h4 Qe7 30.Nd5 when the difference in development woulc be all on the first player's side.

29.Nxg4+ Black resigned

Many thanks to Comunista for the challenge!

graphic by Jeff Bucchino, Wizard of Draws