Casually

The Italian Four Knights Game is a pretty tame beast, and when White livens it up (actually, "deadens" it up might be more accurate in terms of his chances) with a couple of piece sacrifices, it can be hard for Black to develop a sense of urgency or to even take things other than casually.

perrypawnpusher - Aerandir
blitz, FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Bc4 Bc5

The Italian Four Knights Game.

5.Bxf7+

The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Bb4

An interesting defense that seems, on the surface, to have a number of things going for it, although it reduces Black's game from "won" to "equal". The line was well-explored in "Coffee Break".

8.dxe5 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Nxe4

All according to short-sighted plan: bust up White's pawns and then gobble one. Black would keep the game even with 9...Re8 10.exf6 Rxe4+ 11.Be3 Qxf6.

10.Qd5+ Ke8 11.Qxe4 Qe7 12.0-0 d6

Black is not distressed: White's extra pawn is doubled, and there are enough open lines to trade off the heavy pieces and slide into the infamous Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame where a draw can be found.

13.Bf4 dxe5 14.Rfe1 Bd7

This move, however, is a bit too casual.

15.Qxb7 Black resigned.

It's not just the b-pawn, or the e-pawn and c-pawn that will follow it in capture: Black's King will be too exposed after 15...Kf7 16.Rxe5 Qf6 17.Qxc7 for the second player to hope any more for a draw.

Cat-and-Mouse

Bill Wall plays a cat-and-mouse game with his opponent's King as it tries to escape to its hole in the wall – er, castle-by-hand.


Wall - Hamilton
Chess.com, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5

The Italian Four Knights Game.

5.Bxf7+

The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

5...Kxf7 6.Qe2

An interesting idea. The Database has over 30 games by "hinders" at FICS with this move, winning over 50% of the time, in the years 2000-2002. 

6...Rf8

The theme of the game: Black would like to move his King to safer quarters. White does not allow this.

7.Qc4+ Ke8

Black's King is spooked. Otherwise he would have played the thematic 7...d5. After 8.Qxc5 Nxe4 9.Nxe4 dxe4 10.Nxe5+ Nxe5 11.Qxe5 Kg8 a lot of attacking pieces have been exchanged, and Black's pawn at e4 is remarkably resilient. White would be up a pawn, but it will be a while before it means anything – and there is always the notorious Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame for Black to aim for.

8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Be6

White has an extra pawn and a safer King.

10.d3 Kf7 11.Ng5+

Meow!

11...Ke7 12.Bd2 Qd7 13.0-0 h6 14.Nxe6 Qxe6

It's the same story: development is even (maybe better for Black, if you count his King as developed), while White has an extra pawn. Open lines will show which monarch is safer.

15.f4 Ng4

Irresistible as ever.

16.Qg3 h5 17.h3 Nf6

Now Wall wraps things up.

18.fxe5 dxe5 19.Nd5+ Nxd5 20.exd5 Qxd5 21.Qxg7+ Kd6 22.Rxf8 Black resigned

Rope-A-Dope

The following game has a sense of strangeness about it.

It was as if my opponent were adopting a rope-a-dope strategy against me. It worked, up until the point when it didn't...



 perrypawnpusher  - rsiemon
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 N8e7

10.f4

This is about as strong as 10.0-0 (which will come next move) or 10.d4 (which never quite arrives).

10...Bd7

To fight against White's e-pawn. Better, although looking anti-positional, was 10...c5.

11.0-0

The next time I play this line, I will opt for more center action with 11.f5 Ne5 12.d4 N5c6 13.Nc3 Kf7 and then 14.0-0 with a roughly even game.

11...Bc6 12.f5 Nf8

Come and get me!

My next move tries to do just that, but there is not a whole lot for White in either (slightly better) alternative: 13.Nc3 Nd7 14.d4 Nf6 15.e5 dxe5 16.dxe5 Nfd5 or 13.d4 Nd7 14.c4 Nf6 15.e5 dxe5 16.dxe5 Ng4

13.f6 gxf6 14.Rxf6 Ng8

Come and get me!

15.Rf1 Qe7 16.d3 Rd8

After the game Rybka 3 suggested 16...Qg7 17.Bd2 Nd7 18.Nc3 Ne7 19.Rf2 Rg8 20.Qe2 b5 21.Raf1 Ne5 as about even.

17.Qg3

Again, Rybka 3's post-mortem suggestion was 17.Nc3 Qg7 18.d4 Nf6 19.Qg5 Qxg5 20.Bxg5 Nxe4 21.Rae1 d5 22.Bf6 Rg8 23.Nxe4 dxe4 24.c4 Kd7 25.Bxd8 Kxd8 26.d5 Be8 27.Rxe4 when White has a Rook and two pawns to Black's two pieces.

17...Rd7

Time to castle-by-hand on the Queenside... Funny! 

18.Nc3 Qg7 19.Qh3 Kd8 20.Be3 Kc8

By this time in the "Rumble in the Jungle", George Foreman had largely worn himself out against Muhammad Ali and his rope-a-dope tactics.

21.Rf2 Kb8 22.Raf1 Rd8

Black finally drops his guard.

23.Rf7

Here, Black forfeited on time. After the necessary 23...Qg6 he would lose a Knight to 24.Rxf8.

Good Luck

From the Good-Luck-Is-Better-Than-A-License-To-Steal Department comes the following end position from a Blackmar Shilling Jerome Gambit game

heckifiknow - pianazo, blitz, FICS, 2011

With White to move, it is stalemante.

Don't go away -- It gets better

After an opening oversight shared with my opponent (I wondered why there were no other examples of his 6th move in The Database) the game goes on to some interesting attacking ideas. So, don't get upset and go away; the game gets better.


 perrypawnpusher - acwizard
blitz, FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6

The Semi-Italian Opening.

4.0-0 Bc5 5.Bxf7+

The Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Kf8

In the Sorensen Variation (see "Battle Again") of the Jerome Gambit, this King move is playable, even laudible. However, in the Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit... 

7.Nxc6

Of course 7.Ng6+ would win at least the exchange, depending on if the Knight can extract itself.

I think I was patting the dog and telling her I was busy when I made this move... (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

7...dxc6 8.d3 Ne7

By transposition 8...Nf6 led to perrypawnpusher - vladchess, blitz, FICS, 2011 (½-½, 46) with the relevant continuation 9.Be3 Qe7 10.d4 Bb6 11.f3 Kg8 12.Nc3 Kh7 13.Qd3 g6

9.Be3

Rybka 3 prefers to preserve the Bishop with 9.c3 Bb6 10.d4 and a roughly equal game.

9...Bb6

Black does not want to open the f-file with 9...Bxe3 10.fxe3+  but his King could have safely gone to g8 (and even on to h7) maintaining an edge.

10.Nc3

Instead, 10.d4 kept White's dark-squared Bishop and kept the game balanced. Exchanging the Bishop with 10.Bxb6 cxb6 was seen in stretto - TommyN, FICS, 2008.

10...Kg8 11.Bxb6

Impatience. Again, the way to keep things level was with 11.d4, but the choice of one strategy over another is always easier to see after the game is over.

11...cxb6 12.f4 Kh7 13.d4 Bd7

Here we have a confrontation between the "Jerome pawns" and Black's extra piece. The game is about equal.

14.f5 Rf8

Black has neatly castled-by-hand.

15.Qd3 Rf6 16.g4 g5

This pawn move upsets the balance of the game. It would have been more prudent to simply return the Rook with 16...Rf8.

17.e5 Rf7

This move creates unnecessary grief. Again, after the Rook retired with 17...Rf8, White can try 18.Rae1 Be8 19.Ne4 Kh8 but he still has to be careful with his pawns, lest Black liquidate them by returning his piece. 

18.e6 Black resigned

Not only does White's e-pawn fork a couple of pieces, his f-pawn threatens to advance with a discovered check.

Asterisk

In the notes to "Still Worth Knowing" I mentioned that The Database had 10 games with the line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.0-0 Na5. Since one was played recently, I thought I'd present the contests.


ghostshadowrook - VeniceOdyssey
FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6

The Semi-Italian Opening

4.0-0 Na5

If anything, even less of a good idea than 3...Na5.

5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe5+

6...Ke8

Or 6...Ke6 7.d4 c5 8.Qg4+ Ke7 9.Bg5+ hxg5 10.Qxg5+ Ke8 11.Qxd8+ Kxd8 12.Nf7+ Ke8 13.Nxh8 cxd4 14.Nd2 b6 15.c3 dxc3 16.bxc3 Rb8 17.Rfe1 Kd8 18.e5 Nh6 19.Ng6 Bc5 20.Ne4 Bb7 21.Nxc5 bxc5 22.Rad1 Nf5 23.e6 Bc6 24.e7+ Nxe7 25.Nxe7 Rb7 26.Nxc6+ Nxc6 27.Rd5 c4 28.a4 Rb3 29.Rg5 Rxc3 30.Rxg7 Ra3 31.Rd1 Nb8 32.Rg8+ Kc7 33.a5 Rxa5 34.Rc1 d5 35.Rg7+ Kc6 36.Rg6+ Kc5 37.h4 d4 38.Rg5+ Kb4 39.Rxa5 Kxa5 40.Rxc4 Kb5 41.Rxd4 Nc6 42.Rd5+ Kb6 43.h5 a6 44.h6 Ne7 45.Rd6+ Ka5 46.Rxa6+ Kxa6 47.h7 Kb6 48.h8Q Ng6 49.Qf6+ Kb5 50.Qxg6 Kc5 51.f3 Kd5 52.Kf2 Ke5 53.Qe4+ Kf6 54.Ke3 Kf7 55.Kf4 Kf6 56.Qc6+ Ke7 57.Ke5 Kf7 58.Kf5 Ke7 59.Ke5 Kf7 60.g4 Ke7 61.Kf5 Kf7 62.Qc7+ Kf8 63.Kf6 Kg8 64.Qg7 checkmate,  ctstraightedge - oirimil, FICS 2010;


Or 6...Ke7 [here Black resigned in yenalexxx - skimtnbikekayak, blitz, FICS, 2010] 7.Qh5 Kd6 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 cxd4 22.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 checkmate, perrypawnpusher - Butin, blitz, FICS, 2009.

7.Qh5+ g6

With Black's pawn on h6, this does not close out any danger.

Instead, 7...Ke7 8.Ng6+ (8.Qf7+ Kd6 9.Qd5+ Ke7 10.Ng6+ [10.Qf7+ Kd6 11.Qd5+ Ke7 12.Ng6+ White won by ajudication, JoeDemir - dogbrother, FICS 2010] 10...Ke8 11.Nxh8 Nc6 12.Qf7 checkmate, rosti - carifano, FICS, 2010) 8...Ke6 (8...Kd6 9.Qe5+ Kc6 10.Qd5+ Kb6 11.d3 Nf6 12.Be3+ c5 13.Qf5 d6 14.d4 Bxf5 15.dxc5+ dxc5 16.exf5 Rg8 17.b4 Nc6 18.Nd2 Ka6 19.bxc5 Bxc5 20.Bxc5 Qxd2 21.Rab1 b6 22.Be3 Qxc2 23.Rfc1 Qe4 24.Rxc6 Qxc6 25.Ne7 Qc2 26.Rc1 Qxa2 27.Nxg8 Nxg8 28.g4 Nf6 29.h3 Kb7 30.g5 hxg5 31.Bxg5 Ne4 32.Be3 Rc8 33.Rxc8 Kxc8 34.Kg2 Qd5 35.f3 Qa2+ 36.Kf1 Ng3+ 37.Ke1 Qe7 checkmate, valiantknight - Monkee, FICS, 2000) 9.Qf5+ Kd6 10.Qd5 checkmate perrypawnpusher - TheTrueDamaBlanca, blitz, FICS, 2009).

8.Qxg6+ Ke7

And here Black resigned.

Instead, Divtwo - HotCaldron, FICS, 2010, continued to the same end: 9.Qf7+ Kd6 10.Qd5+ Ke7 11.Qxa5 d6 12.Ng6+ Ke8 13.Nxh8 Qf6 14.Qh5+ Ke7 15.Ng6+ Kd7 16.Nxf8+ Qxf8 17.Qf5+ Kd8 18.Qxf8+ Kd7 19.Qxg8 Kc6 20.Qc4+ Black resigned,

Odd Twin

The following game was played at FICS the day after my game against MRBarupal (see"Battle Again"). This time Black faces no mere pawn-pusher, but an actual, stronger, knight-pusher...


Knightpusher - MRBarupal
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8

The Sorensen Variation.

6.Nxc6 dxc6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.d3 Bg4 9.Qe1 Qe8 10.Be3

The moves of this game are exactly the same as those in perrypawnpusher - MRBarupal, blitz, FICS, 2011. Perhaps for that reason, or perhaps for another, here Black resigned.

"Objectively," the game is still a bit better for the second player.