Jerome Gambit: Those Darn Refutations

Those who play the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) always have to be aware of defenders who play dangerous "refutations" - but the challenge for our opponents is to play those lines correctly.

The following game is an example of a good line gone bad. 

delband - Grin_Mak

15 10 blitz, lichess.org, 2022

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qh4+ 9.g3 Nf3+ 

The "Nibs" variation. It is scary and can cause problems for White, but it is also complicated and needs proper attention. After all, Black plans on sacrificing his Queen - or at least, that is a core idea in this line.

10.Kd1 Ne7 11.e5+ Nxe5

Suddenly, it looks like White is planning a Queen check followed by capturing Black's advanced Knight, so Black decides to get at least a pawn for that piece.

12.Qxe5+ Black resigned

Black realizes that something has gone terribly wrong.

It turns out that White's Queen can escape attack by the Knight at e7, with check, so that after 12...Kc6 the Black Queen can be captured. A key move in the "His Nibs" variation is ...Bg4, and that is no longer playable after either 12.Qg5 or 12.h3.

Welcome Back

Welcome back.

Readers can be reassured that this blog continues.

I took a few days off for a combined birthday and Father's Day gift vacation with my son, Jon. 

Yes, he has played the Jerome Gambit, Jon - Chess Titans, casual game, 2011 (1-0, 14).

Among other things, we visited the Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland, Ohio.

Jerome Gambit: Mission Accomplished (Part 3)

 

[continued from the previous post]

perrypawnpusher - MoMalek11

3 days / move, "Giuoco Piano Game" tournament 

Chess.com, 2022

Black's Rook appears a bit lost.

White's pieces continue to menace the enemy King. He can run, but he can't hide.

22.Rf1 Nc4 23.Nd5 c6 24.Nf4 Ne3 25.Rf2 Rbe8 

26.Ng6 Rhg8 27.Bxe3 Bxf5 28.Rxf5+ Kxg6 29.Rfxh5 Kf7 

My plan is to infiltrate with the Rooks, sweeping the King ahead of them.

30.Rf5+ Ke7 31.Rhf4 Kd8 32.Rf7 Kc8 33.Kf2 g5 34.Rg4 Rd8 35.Rxg5 Rge8 36.Rgg7 Rxe4 37.Rc7+ Black resigned

White will grab the b- and a-pawns, then swap a Rook or two, and the extra piece and outside passers will be enough to win.

Jerome Gambit: Mission Accomplished (Part 2)

 

[continued from the previous post]

perrypawnpusher - MoMalek11

3 days / move, "Giuoco Piano Game" tournament 

Chess.com, 2022

I have lost track of the number of times that I have complained that an opponent was being mean to my Queen... 

(I just checked: the most recent was a little over a week ago, in "Jerome Gambit: An Extra Move Always Helps").

Anyhow, I had been in this exact position before, in perrypawnpusher - Feestt, 6 10 blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 19). The game continued with the reasonable 12.Qg3, with a small edge to Black. When I shared the game in the post "Always Learning" I wrote

I had dismissed 12.Qb3+ too early, expecting that it would be well-met by 12...Be6, but Rybka showed that this was a shallow fear: White then has the return 13.Qg3, threatening the fork at f5, and after 13...Qh4 14.Qxh4 Nxh4 White has an even game after 15.f5 Bd7 16.Rf4 Nxf5 17.h3 Nf6 18.exf5. 

Lesson: It's not good enough to play a bad opening, you have to play a bad opening well.

So, I had a tool in my Jerome Gambit tool box, and I was finally able to use it, after more than a dozen years. (Mission accomplished) 

12.Qb3+ Be6 13.Qg3 

Grabbing the b-pawn with 13.Qxb7 would have been very dangerous after 13...Qh4.

13...Qh4 14.Qxh4 Nxh4 

My opponent had little to complain about. The Queens are off the board, his development is better, and his King is relatively safe.

On the other hand, the game is even - and from an "objective" point of view, I had made significant progress from being a couple of pieces down, not long ago. My plan was to show that the enemy Knights were at risk.

15.f5 Bd7 16.Rf4 h5 

The Knights are in trouble. Stockfish 15 suggests immediately giving one back with 16...Nxf5 17.exf5 Rhe8 with about an even game.

17.h3 

The computer is still in a generous mood, suggesting that Black now play 17...Nxg2, when 18.Kxg2 Nf6 19.d3 would leave White a pawn up.

Instead, Black sends his Knight on a typical Jerome Gambit ride.

17...Ne5 18.d4 Nc4 

19.Rxh4 

I didn't think of it at the time, but I could have played 19.b3 first, with the idea that 19...Nb6 could be followed by 20.Rxh4. Actually, since Black is going to lose the Knight at h4 anyhow, he could respond with 19...Nxg2 first, and then, after 20.Kxg2, play 20...Nb6.

In any event, my homework had paid off, and my two pawns advantage - despite my lag in development and the awkward placement of my Rook - meant that I was better.

19...Rag8 

Black has attacking designs on the Kingside. Possibly better was 19...d5, hiting the "Jerome pawns" in the center.

20.Bg5 

I was afraid of a possible ...g7-g5, and thought I would physically prevent the move. This costs the b-pawn, which turns out to be no big deal, but 20.b3 would still have been better.

20...Nxb2 21.Nc3 Rb8 

[to be continued]

Jerome Gambit: Mission Accomplished (Part 1)

Over the last few years I have been entering Italian Game or Giuoco Piano tournaments at Chess.com with the intention of playing as many Jerome Gambits as possible, at a serious time control. I count on the Jeromes to be interesting - so that I can share them on this blog - but also successful, so that I can eventually advance to another round, and play more Jeromes.

In my most recently completed game in the "Giuoco Piano Game" tournament, I won with the Jerome Gambit, ensuring that I am likely to finish first or second in my group, and thus advance to the third round of play.

Mission Accomplished.  

perrypawnpusher - MoMalek11

3 days / move, "Giuoco Piano Game" tournament 

Chess.com, 2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

7.Qd5+

I have a preference for this "nudge" of the enemy King, before capturing the Bishop. The idea is that a King retreat to the 8th rank may subsequently interfere with Black's castling-by-hand or developing his Rook.

Looking at The Database, it seems to mostly a matter of personal choice: 2,373 games where White plays 7.Qxc5 directly, versus 2,296 games where White plays 7.Qd5+ and then 8.Qxc5.

On the other hand, Stockfish 15 evaluates the Queen check first as being about 3/4 of a pawn stronger than the direct capture.

7...Kf8 

After the game, I took a look at King retreats, and I was surprised.

By far, the most popular move, according to The Database, is 7...Ke8, appearing in 1,484 games. It is also the highest rated move (41 ply) by Stockfish 15, for Black, at -2.46 (i.e. Black is about 2 1/2 pawns better)

The next most popular move is 7...Kf8, with 729 games and a rating of -1.88. It is followed by 7...Ke7, with 52 games and a rating of -1.87 and by 7...Kf6, with 31 games and a rating of -1.91. Basically, all three moves are seen by the computer as about equal, providing a little less than 2 pawns advantage to Black.

According to The Database, 7...Ke7 scores 37% for Black; 7...Ke8 scores 35%; 7...Kf8 scores 34%; and 7...Kf6 scores 19%.

It is important to realize that the current game is an online game between two club level players, as are most of the games in The Database. The difference of 3/4 of a pawn (as calculated by Stockfish 15) between two moves is not very large within this context, and scoring 37% or 34% is not a big deal, either (although you might want to take a closer look at 7...Kf6 before playing it).

For the record, The Database says that I have scored 78% against 7...Ke8 (103 games) and 81% (24 games) against 7...Kf8. Again, not much difference.

8.Qxc5+ d6 9.Qe3 Nf6 

10.O-O 

After the game, Stockfish 15 recommended the novelty 10.h4!? which is one reason why I also use Komodo 13 to help me understand play.

10...Kf7

Reasonably planning to castle-by-hand.

11.f4 Ng4 

Black is distracted by the opportunity to attack White's Queen. I am pretty sure that such a move is not always a problem for the second player, but he probably could have simply continued with 11...Re8 or 11...Rf8, followed by 12...Kg8.

[to be continued]

Jerome Gambit: More Explorations (Part 4)

 

A few months ago, with information from Yury V. Bukayev, I posted a series of articles on  Lyudmila Rudenko, with references to Karl Traxler and the Traxler Counter-Attack: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5!? as well as the "The Blackmar - Jerome Gambit?!" . See "Jerome Gambit: More Explorations (Parts 1, 2 & 3)" 

For example, in "Jerome Gambit: First Steps (Part 5)", I pointed out one similarity between the Traxler and the Jerome

Oddly enough, the Jerome Gambit Declined, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Ke7 can transpose, with the addition of 5.Ng5 Nf6 to the Traxler variation of the Two Knights Defense, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ Ke7. 

At the time I proceeded carefully concerning a couple of games by Rudenko

Actually, we are already in the "exploration" stage of this story, as the games I received were photocopies from The Chess Variants. C48. C57 ( Moscow, 1996). Also, the player was identified simply as "Rudenko", but it is a reasonable conclusion by Yury that she was Lyudmila.

 A recent email from Yury confirms

Earlier (February, 21, 2022) you have kindly published the game Zak - Rudenko (1954, corr.) I sent you. Now I'm sending you the photocopy of the page 30 of Aleksandr A. Zav'yalov's book The Opening Traps: 444 (Moscow, 2005, in Russian). It contains the same game (please, see no. 53), and I think, now we can be absolutely sure that all game's information is true! I'm expressing my gratitude to the Russian chess video blogger with the nickname 'Chess'n'OK' who has kindly informed me about this page of this book to find this game. 

I think, this game (it has 11 moves) is the shortest World Champion's Jerome-ish win in chess history! WCC Lyudmila V. Rudenko, bravo! 

It should be noted that her correspondence chess activity is almost forgotten by the Internet now. That is why I'm also expressing my gratitude to Mr. Wall for his memorials which are published on his site ( http://billwall.phpwebhosting.com/articles/women_world_championship.htm ): 

"In 1972, Olga [ Rubtsova - Yu.B. ] became the first Women's World Correspondence Chess Champion. The event started in 1968, which also included Lyudmila Rudenko and Elisabeth Bykova" .

Jerome Gambit: Just One of Many Reasons

In the following game, White pursues the enemy King, and ends up checkmating him. It is instructional to see what paths of escape were available to Black - for club players, attack seems easier than defense, and that is just one of many reasons why the Jerome Gambit is attractive.

Manucapo45 - Kardan39

25 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8. Nc3 Nh6 

Black develops a piece and attacks the enemy Queen. The move is okay, but stronger was 8...Qf6.

9.Nb5+ Kc6 10.Qxe5 Kxb5

Black had the opportunity to make his opponent's King uneasy with 10...Bxf2+.

11.a4+ 

The start of the King hunt. There are ways to escape, but Black has to find them.

11...Kc6

The King prefers staying out of the corner, fearing that it would be unsafe.

Yet 11...Ka6 was the only way out, even if after 12.Qxc5 White threatens checkmate in one. After 12...b6 13.Qd5 c6 14.Qd3+ Kb7 the Black King has found refuge and counter-pressure can give the defender an edge, according to Stockfih 15: 15.a5 Re8 16.O-O Qe7 17.Qg3 Qe5 18.Qxe5 Rxe5. 

12.Qd5+ Kb6 13.a5+ 

13...Kb5

Again the King avoids the corner. True, going there would now lead to an advantage for White - 13...Ka6 14.b4 Bxf2+!? 15.Ke2!? b5 16.axb6+ Kxb6 17.Qxa8 Ba6+ 18.Rxa6+ Kxa6 19.Qxd8 Rxd8 20.Kxf2 - but the text move should lead to mate.

14.c4+ 

White's pawns are happy to join in the attack.

14...Kb4 15.Qd3

The computers grumble that there was a checkmate to be had, but the text move maintains White's advantage.

For the record: 15.b3 Qf6 16.Ba3+ Kxb3 17.Qd3+ Ka4 18.Bb2+ Kb4 19.Bc3+ Kb3 20.Bxf6+ Kb4 21.Qc3 mate 

15...Bxf2+ 

Hoping that an exposed White King might lead to some counterplay.

16.Kf1 

White suspects something, and avoids 16.Kxf2 d5. 

16...Qf6 

Both 16...d5 and 16...Bd4 seem to hold for Black now.

17.Qa3+

Missing the very attractive 17.Ra4+! Kxa4 18.Qa3 mate 

17...Kxc4 18.d3+ 

Again, it looks like Black will now find his way home. However, he runs afoul of the caveat: When the attacker misplays his attack, he loses the attack; when the defender misplays his defense, he loses his King.

18...Kd4

Weirdly, the King would be safe at b5.

19.Qc3 checkmate