Opening Disaster

Enter the term "shilling" (for "Blackburne Shilling Gambit" and "Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit") in the "SEARCH BLOG" gadget at the top of this site, and you will see a number of posts on the opening line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 and the Jerome Gambiteer's favorite response, 4.Bxf7+.

The Bishop sacrifice is not the "theoretically best" move (which may or may not be 4.0-0 or 4.Nxd4 or 4.c3) but it has the ability to cause utter chaos in a game – as it does in this one.

perrypawnpusher - TheProducer

blitz 10 0, FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4

Please, don't do that...

4.Bxf7+

4...Ke7

Yeow! Mars Attacks! Shock and Awe!

5.Bxg8

Or 5.Bc4, with attacking chances and the advantage. I just went for the two pawns that were available.

5...Rxg8 6.Nxe5 Ke8

Getting back to business: in the Blackburne Shilling Gambit, White's Nxe5 is punished by black's ...Qg5 -- so here, the King has to get off of the diagonal. No harm, no foul, right?

7.d3 d6 8.Nf3 Qf6
Hey, if it works against the Jerome Gambit...

9.Nxd4 Qxd4 10.Nc3 d5

11.Be3 Qe5 12.d4 Qf6 13.Nxd5 Qc6

14.Qh5+ g6 15.Qe5+ Be7

Sure, why not?

The know-it-all Rybka 3 later suggested: 15...Kf7 16.Qf4+ Kg7 17.Nxc7 Bd6 18.Qh6+ Kh8 19.Nxa8 Qxe4 20.0-0 Bd7 21.Qg5 Be7 22.Qf4 Qxf4 23.Bxf4 Rxa8 when the position has been simplified, and White has the exchange and three pawn advantage. No fun there, either.

16.Qxe7 checkmate

Whodunnit??

From the ever-enjoyable and often hilarious pages of Geoff Chandler's oeuvre d'internet, ChandlerCornered (see "Mars Attacks!", "Stuff happens...", and "Queened! and Rooked!").

Ooooops...

It can be a lot of fun showing off my Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games – even the losses – or, as in the case below, my Jerome-ized games, but it's a little embarassing to find in the middle of a "good" win a really bad move...


perrypawnpusher - Cibola
blitz FICS, 2009

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

The Semi-Italian Game, not necessarily safer than 3...Bc5.

4.0-0 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ 5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.Qh5+ Ng6

8.Qd5+ Ke8

Or 8... Kf8 as in perrypawnpusher - pascalwilliams, blitz 3 0, FICS, 2007 (1/2-1/2, 32) and abhailey - cumelin, net-chess.com, 2008 (1-0, 21).

9.Qxc5 Qe7 10.Qe3 Nf6 11.Nc3 c6 12.f4 b6


Up to here we have a pretty normal Jerome Gambit-style scenario: White hopes he can use his two extra pawns to create mischief before Black can get his extra piece to settle things.

13.f5

Fritz 8's suggestion is interesting, suggesting play across the whole board, and a balanced game after: 13.Qg3 Nf8 14.e5 Nh5 15.Qf3 g6 16.d4 Ba6 17.Rd1 Ng7 18.Ne4 Kd8 19.d5 Kc8 20.a4

13...Ne5 14.d4 Ba6


If you can counter a tactical threat with a stronger one of your own, that is a good thing: so Black threatens my Rook while I "merely" threaten his Knight – well, not exactly, but that was what my opponent was thinking. Instead, the Knight should retreat to f7.

15.dxe5 Qxe5



If 15...Bxf1 then 16.exf6 Qxf6 17.Kxf1. Now I have my piece back, and am up a pawn.

16.Re1 Kf7 17.Qf3 Rhe8 18.Bf4 Qc5+ 19.Be3 Qb5


Clearly a case, Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member Pete Banks ("blackburne") would say, of serious shock and awe.

20.Bd4

Clearly a case of "short attention span chess". When I looked closer at the board after my move (most experts recommend looking at the board before you move) I was appalled at my oversight. Oooops...

20...Qxb2



Well, I suppose it would be too much to expect him to let me have a second chance to capture his Queen... I do have a lot of pawns and pieces pointed at his King, however.

21.e5 Nd5

This falls in with White's plans. Better was 21...Qb4, attacking the Bishop on d4. White's attack can then proceed, but slower: 22.Rad1 Kg8 23.Qg3 Nd5 24.Ne4 Qf8 25.Nd6 followed in a few moves with the pawn break f5-f6.

22.e6+



22...Kg8 23.Qg4 Nxc3

Ending the game, but 23...Re7 24.Nxd5 lead to only misery as well after 24...Qxd4+ 25.Qxd4
cxd5 26.Qxd5 Bb7 (what else??) 27.Qd6

24.Qxg7 checkmate

Overheated

A new line in a defense to the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) doesn't cool things off, but, rather, puts the heat on Black's King...




perrypawnpusher - hotintheshade
blitz FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6
7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Nh6
Haven't seen that move before.

9.Qxe5+ Kc6 10.Qd5+ Kb6


11.d4

If you can visualize (I couldn't at the time) 11.Nc3 followed by Na4+ and then the capture of the Black Bishop at c5, you can see that this isn't the strongest move for White. Rybka's suggested line of play, later, was much more complicated: 11.Qb3+ Kc6 12.a4 Qh4+ 13.g3 Qh5 14.Qb5+ Kd6 15.b4 Re8 16.Nc3 c6 17.Qxc5+ Qxc5 18.bxc5+ Kxc5 with advantage to White.

11...Bxd4
This capture puts hotintheshade's King in serious danger, whereas after 11...Bb4+ 12.c3 Bf8 it is not clear that White has anything more than checking his way repeatedly to a draw.

12.Qxd4+ c5

A multi-purpose move designed to block the check and give Black an escape square at c7. Unfortunatly, it also opens the possibility of a checkmate in 4 moves.

Against the better 12...Ka6, Rybka suggests 13.Qa4+ Kb6 14.Qb4+ Kc6 15.Qc3+ Kb6 16.Be3+ c5 17.Bxc5+ Ka6 18.Qd3+ b5 19.a4 Kb7 20.Qd5+ Kb8 21.Bd6+ Qc7 22.Bxc7+ Kxc7 23.Qxa8. Whew!

13.Qxg7
Readers will no doubt have seen the better: 14.Bd2+ Ka4 ( 14...Kb5 15.a4+ Kc4 16.Na3 checkmate) 15.b3+ Kb5 16.Na3 checkmate

13...Qf8 14.Qxf8 Rxf8 15.0-0 d6 16.Nc3 Bd7

White has a simple two-pawn advantage.

17.Nd5+ Kc6 18.Bd2 Rae8 19.Rae1 Be6 20.f5

Sloppy, as the pawn could simply be taken; but my opponent is taken in by my oversight.

20...Bxd5 21.exd5+ Kxd5 22.Bxh6 Rxe1 23.Rxe1 Rxf5

The rest of the game just plays itself out.

24.Re7 Kc6 25.Rxh7 Re5 26.Rf7 Re2 27.Rf2 Re6 28.Bf4 d5 29.h4 c4 30.Kf1 Kd7 31.Re2 Rf6 32.g3 d4 33.Re4 d3 34.cxd3 cxd3 35.Rd4+ Ke7 36.Rxd3 Kf7 37.Rd7+ Kg6 38.Rd6 Rxd6 39.Bxd6 Kh5 40.Kf2 Kg4 41.Bf4 a6

42.Ke3 Kf5 43.h5 Kf6 44.h6 Kg6 45.Kd4 b5 46.Kc5 Black resigns

Dropping A Half-Point (Part 2)

After a slug-fest with the Black pieces in my second game with JoeJox – for our first game, see "Dropping A Half-Point (Part 1)" – I was very glad to get the White pieces back for game three, and, of course, the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) was still on my mind...

perrypawnpusher - joejox
blitz 5 10, FICS, 2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5
Staying away from the Semi-Italian Game with 3...h6, because of the mess it got him into last time. I found that to be a bit ironic.

4.Bxf7+
The Jerome Gambit proper (if such a thing may be said).

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6
A solid defense.
7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6
Black is better.

10.0-0 Kf7
Preparing to castle-by-hand. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to challenge Joejox twice with the Jerome.

11.Nc3 c6 12.f4 Rf8 13.f5
White has to use his center pawns to make mischief.
13...Ne5 14.d4 Nc4 15.Qd3 Nb6 16.Bg5 Kg8
An interesting position. Black has "castled," but play against his wayward Knight (Nc6-e5-g3-e5-b6) has given White extra tempos, and he is near equalizing – especially after the thematic 17.Rae1.
17.g4 Nbd7 18.Rae1
Black has a fairly good counter to this move now. Better was 18.Bf4 d5 19.e5 Ne8 20.Rae1 Qh4 and Black has an edge.

18...Qb6

19.Na4
Instead, White should offer the b-pawn and g-pawn with an unclear position to follow: 19.Kg2 Qxb2 20.e5 dxe5 21.dxe5 Nxg4 since after 22.Qc4+ Kh8 23.Nd1 Qb5 24.Qxg4 Nxe5 he has play.
19...Qb4 20.b3 Nxg4 The g-pawn was sitting just ready to be plucked; but the consistent move was not to be distracted and play 20...b5, allowing both Queensides to become untangled after 21.a3 Qa5 22.Nc3 Qb6. Black would still have the edge.
21.Bd2 Qa3
After 21...Qb5 White can re-activate his pawns with 22.Qg3 Ngf6 23.Qxd6 with about equal chances. The text allows a draw by repetition.
22.Bc3

Not this way, though! White should play 22.Bc1 and if 22...Qxa2 then 23.Bb2 when 23...b5 24.Ra1 Qxa1 25.Rxa1 bxa4 26.Ba3 gives him at least an equal game.
It looks like Joejox was ready to split the point, though.
22...b5
Too bad: 22...d5 gave Black chances, by playing sharp defense and by returning his piece for a couple of pawns – 23.Qd2 a5 24.Qg2 Ngf6 25.e5 Ne4 26.f6 Rf7 27.e6 Rxf6 28.exd7 Bxd7 29.Nb6 Rd8 30.Nxd7 Rxd7 31.Qf3 Nxc3 32.Qxc3 Rf7, with an extra pawn.
23.Bb2 Qb4 24.Bc3 Qa3 25.Bb2 Qb4 26.Bc3 Qa3 27.Bb2 Drawn

Dropping A Half-Point (Part 1)

The other day at FICS I grabbed four games against a pleasant opponent who would certainly have played more with me if I didn't have to excuse myself to be elsewhere.

It wasn't the same as being in a club and actually sitting across-the-board for a game, but it was much more enjoyable than the "opponent disconnects" or "You &%$$#!" that I sometimes encounter when I accidentally achieve an advantage...

Here are a couple of my games with Joejox. Of course, they touch on the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+)

perrypawnpusher - joejox
blitz 5 10, FICS, 2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6
The cautious Semi-Italian Game. See "Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit", "Pulling A Rabbit Out of A Hat" and "Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit Encore".
4.0-0 Bc5 5.Bxf7+

Jerome-izing the game. I think adding 0-0 to White's position in the Jerome is at least as helpful as adding ...h6 to Black's.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.Qh5+ Ke6

Probably best. I've played 5 previous games in this line, and Black answered 7...Kf6, 7...Ng6, 7...Ke6, and 7...g6 (twice).
8.Qf5+ Kd6 9.d4
Now the proper response for Black is the straight-forward 9...Bxd4, with advantage.
My opponent apparently knows something about the Jerome Gambit and ...Qf6, however; and, as Josh Billings said, "The trouble with people is not that they don't know but that they know so much that ain't so."
9...Qf6 10.dxe5+ Qxe5 11.Bf4 Black resigns

As a post-script, I'd like to add that following the advice of the masters ("analyze your own games") helped me here: in an earlier game against Joyus I had played the rash and weaker 11.Rd1+.