Playing At Odds

Although I always play the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) for fun, sometimes I use the opening as a way of giving "odds" to a lower-rated player. Little did I realize that this strategy was over 150 years old!

The following excerpt should be of historical interest to those who play the Chicago Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nxe5) – see The Myers Opening Bulletin, New MOB No. 4, October - December, 1993 – as it is over 25 years earlier than examples generally known.

From the "Chess" column in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, July 12, 1856

We give place to the following communication from Mr. D.W. Fiske, of the Astor Library, inasmuch as it may interest those who are in the habit of giving odds. For our single self, we can only say that we do not delight in any games at odds, and – while we admit the necessity of thus equalizing the game by removing the disparity in force between different players – we never like to encounter "rook" or "pawn and two" men, when we can find an antagonist of the first rank. The toughest match we ever played was with our friend Hamilton, of St. Louis, giving the queen's knight and receiving the pawn and move in return. To those, however, who practice playing at odds, the suggestion of our young friend "Shabiludius" will prove curious and instructive.

SOMETHING NEW IN CHESS

I have been playing latterly some games at a new and curious kind of odds, namely: The odds of giving the Knight in the King's Knight's opening for the King's Pawn. Although my experience in giving these odds has been too brief to enable me to determine their precise value, yet I should hardly be surprised if, upon analysis, they should prove to be little greater than the odds of giving pawn and move – at least I have tried them successfully with players to whom I could only afford to give pawn and move. The following are the opening moves:
WHITE_____________ BLACK
1 P to K 4___________ 1 P to K4
2 Kt to KB3__________2 Kt to QB3
3 Kt takes KP ________3 Kt takes Kt
4 P to Q4
and Black must withdraw his Knight either to King's Knight's third or to Queen's Bishop third. In the former case, White appears to embarass Black's game materially by playing Pawn to King's Bishop's fourth. If he place his Knight at Queen's Bishop's third, perhaps White's best move is Pawn to Queen's fifth, compelling black either to carry his Knight home or to place it on the Queen's Rook's fourth.

CARRERA, who enumerates many curious methods of giving odds, does not, if my memory serves me right, even hint at this. PHILIDOR has left us some games in which he gave the Knight for the Pawn and move, but in that case the Queen's Knight was given by one party and the King's Bishop's Pawn by the other. I have been persuaded to communicate this very brief notice of these novel odds to the ILLUSTRATED NEWSPAPER, in the hope that, if they are of no value, some chess analyst will at once demonstrate their unworthiness. But I also hope that, should they be found to contain any elements of interest, they may be added to the list of the many beautiful and ingenious contrivances by which the devotees of Caissa seek to equalize their disparity at chess skill.
Shabiludius

Disconnect

Every once in a while, a chess game that I am playing (often a Jerome Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) online gets interrupted when my opponent disconnects from the playing site (usually FICS).



Sometimes we can continue the game, sometimes it is like the game – or my opponent – has disappeared.


perrypawnpusher - Ykcir
blitz 14 0, FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7
5.Nxe5+ Kf8
The defense recommended by Lt. Sorensen in his much-reprinted article on the Jerome Gambit in the Nordisk Skaktidende, May 1877.

6.Nxc6

If 6.Qh5 – the Banks Variation – then 6...Qe7!? is the strongest response, suggested last year by both International Master Gary Lane and Mika76.

6...dxc6

Or 6...bxc6 7.d4 Bb6 8.0-0 d6 9.f4 ( 9.Nc3 Qe7 10.f4 Nh6 11.f5 Bd7 12.g4 Bxd4+ 13.Qxd4 Nxg4 14.Bf4 Rb8 15.Rae1 Qf6 16.Qxa7 Qh4 17.Qxb8+ Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - mika76, GameKnot.com 2008) 9...Bb7 10.Nc3 Qf6 11.e5 dxe5 12.fxe5 Bxd4+ 13.Kh1 Qxf1+ 14.Qxf1+ Ke8 15.Bg5 Kd7 16.Qf7+ Kc8 17.Qe8 checkmate, perrypawnpusher - hdig, blitz 7 4, FICS, 2007

7.Nc3
Alonzo Wheeler Jerome gave 7.0-0 in his first analysis in the April 1874 Dubuque Chess Journal – a move he played a year later against Brownson (1/2 - 1/2, 29).

7...Nf6 8.d3 Kf7 9.0-0 Rf8 10.Bg5 Kg8
Black has castled-by-hand and has the familiar piece-for-two-pawns advantage. White's "Jerome pawns" look a bit healthier due to the doubled black c-pawns. Black now stays on top with 11...h6.

11.e5 Bg4

Here my opponent lost his connection with FICS, and the game was automatically adjourned.

After some time passed, I requested from FICS that the game be adjudicated as a draw, as after 12.Qd2 White will recover his sacrificed piece, e.g. 12...Bd4 13.exf6 Bxf6 and after something like 14.Ne4 Bxg5 15.Qxg5 Qxg5 16.Nxg5 White's edge is not great.

For some reason the response was that FICS aborted the game. Nonetheless, I consider it drawn.

Sicilian Jerome Gambit

In a comment to my post "Attacking the King" Jyrki Heikkinen, the creative gambiteer host of the blog "Gambits and Pieces" mentioned that he had played a Sicilian Jerome Gambit (see "Sicilian Jerome"):

Jyrki Heikkinen - Timo-Pekka Lassila,

Tampere, Finland, 1987

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.Nf3 e5 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Ke8 7.Qxd4 Nc6 8.Nxc6 dxc6 9.Qc4 Qa5+ 10.Nc3 Bb4 11.Bd2 Bxc3 12.Bxc3 Qb5 13.Qd4 Kf7 14.a4 Qg5 15.O-O Bh3 16.Qc4 Kg6 17.g3 Bxf1 8.Rxf1 Rae8 19.f4 Qg4 20.f5+ Kh5 21.Qf7+ g6 22.Qxf6 Qxe4 23.h3 Qe3+ 24.Kg2 Qe2+ 25.Rf2 Qe4+ 26.Kh2 Black resigned

An equally outrageous anti-Sicilian line, although a bit less Jerome-ish, can be seen in Stefan Bücker's ChessCafe.com Over the Horizons column, titled "Don't Name the Gambit after Me", where he presents the Al Hadhrani Gambit (with deep analysis that improves on the outcome of this game):

Al Hadhrani - Klinger

Novi Sad Olympiad, 1990

1.Nc3 c5 2.e4 a6 3.Bc4 b5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Qh5+ g6 6.Qd5+ e6 7.Qxa8 Qc7 8.d3 Bb7 9.Bf4 d6 10.Qa7 b4 11.Na4 e5 12.Be3 Nd7 13.Nf3 Ne7 14.Bxc5 dxc5 15.Nxe5+ Nxe5 16.Nxc5 Bg7 17.Nxb7 Rb8 18.Qxa6 Rxb7 19.Qa4 b3 20.axb3 Qxc2 21.0-0 Qxd3 22.f4 Ng4 23.e5 Qxb3 24.h3 Ne3 25.Qxb3+ Rxb3 26.Rf3 N7d5 27.Ra2 Kg8 28.Ra8+ Bf8 29.g4 Kf7 30.f5 gxf5 31.gxf5 Bc5 32.Kh1 Rxb2 33.h4 Rb1+ 34.Kh2 Ng4+ 35.Kh3 Nxe5 White resigned

The Game is Afoot!

More information generously provided by a poster at rec.games.chess.misc on "A Small Clue to Follow..."

I am guessing that this is the St Louis chess player AF Reed, whose name appears often in the St Louis Globe-Democrat chess column. He was a regular solver of the problems in the column, is noted as losing to such players as Max Judd and Zukertort. More specifically, he was one of the leading members of the South St Louis Chess Club; not in the sense of chess strength, but as a regular attendee. If you are in St Louis, he was part of a photo group of S St Louis players donated to the St Louis Chess Club; the picture may still exist somewhere.

The most interesting thing I know about AF Reed is his uniqe money- raising idea. He bought a silver pitcher, and you would play Reed games; if you won, you got a raffle ticket for the pitcher, and if you lost you paid 50 cents. The pitcher was won by AH Robbins.

Can't tell you much more about him, I'm afraid. The Globe-Democrat columns end in 1888. I had computer access to some St Louis Republican columns from later, but I didn't realize that I would lose access to them and thus did not make copies.

If you are near a university with access to the Readex database of 19th century newspapers, this has the St Louis Republican, and you can try a word search for
Reed.

Jerry Spinrad

Many, many thanks Jerry!

A Small Clue to Follow...

I posted the following at rec.games.chess.misc

Does anyone have access to the American Chess Bulletin, Volume 9, 1912? As part of my research on the Jerome Gambit, I'm trying to track down a reference given in Google books, supposedly in American Chess Bulletin, Volume 9 (1912) p. 158

"...for a kindlier, sweeter old Knight of Caissa never lived. For years he offered the Jerome Gambit to all players, being strong in the..."

The whole paragraph, section, or article would be interesting to see. Many thanks.

Rick

Very quickly came the response:

Newsgroups: rec.games.chess.misc
From: Rook House >@rookhouse.com>
Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:32:00 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: American Chess Bulletin, Vol. 9, 1912

Here is the entire paragraph from page 158 of the 1912 American Chess Bulletin:

Another of the old-timers now at Kansas City is Mr. Parsons, for a long time secretary of the local club at Minneapolis, Minn. Bro. P. is a sort of dean among the Gate City players, having the same quaint and loveable qualitites that so long endeared the late Mr. Reed to the members of the St. Louis Club. Some time I want to write you a little appreciation of dear old Mr. Reed, for a kindlier, sweeter old Knight of Caissa never lived. For years he offered the Jerome Gambit to all players, being strong in the faith that the variation was his own creation. So far as I know, nobody ever had the heart to undeceive him.

Talk

Wikipedia not only has a listing for the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 Bxf7+), among many chess openings, (see "Hey, Wiki, it's me, Ricky..."), it also has coverage of the Blackburne Shilling Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4)

Recently on Wikipedia I stumbled across Talk: Blackburne Shilling Gambit which had the following:

...Another suggestion not mentioned in the article is that after 1.P-K4,P-K4 2.N-KB3,N-QB3 3.B-B4,N-Q5?...I should have thought the most enterprising way of punishing black's loss of tempo is with 4.BxP check!! (eg. ....KXB 5.NxPcheck etc. with ample compensation for the piece and a probably winning attack. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.85.28.67 (talk) 12:52, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Disagree. After 5...Ke7 white has no way to continue the attack or even getting more piece in to contine. Moving the Queen out 6. Qg4 d6 7. Qg5+ Nf6 =+ or 6. Qh5 can be met with Nf6 =+. Black is better and white's 4. Bxf7 is an unsound sacrifice. SunCreator (talk) 15:04, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

If one likes this sort of sacrifice for White (compare the Cochrane Gambit against Petroff's Defense: 1. e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nxf7?!), it seems to me that one ought to play against the Blackburne Shilling Gambit 4.Nxe5!? Qg5 5.Bxf7+! Ke7 6.0-0, which gives White a similar but much improved form of piece sacrifice. In that line, White gets to chase around not only Black's king, but also his knight (c3) and queen (d4) with gain of tempo. Krakatoa (talk) 22:06, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

I like the thoughts contained in the first paragraph, especially "ample compensation for the piece," although "and a probably winning attack" may be over-stating it a bit.

The second paragraph seems to miss White's best play against 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke7 – White should probably play 6.c3 Nc6 7.d4 with an okay game.

Paragraph three suggests 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Nxe5 Qg5 5.Bxf7+ Ke7 6.0-0 – which, after the natural 6...Qxe5 7.Bxg8 Rxg8 8.c3 Nc6 9.d4 is similar to the line just mentioned. (Geoff Chandler finished off a troubled Stockbridge "NN" in 1983 with 9...Qa5 10.d5 Ne5 11.Qh5 Nf7 12.d6+)

Take the advantage and run...

Sometimes the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) leads to messy positions. In those situations, it's better to have more material and more time; but it's equally important to have an idea what to do and what not to do.
perrypawnpusher - LethHansen
blitz game 3 12 FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6
The Semi-Italian game.

4.0-0 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ 5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.Qh5+ Kf8 New to me. I have seen 4 other moves: 7...Kf6 (Bergeruw), 7...Ng6 (pascalwilliams, cibola), 7...Ke6 (Joyus, joejox), and 7...g6 (Islanderchess, wadada).

8.Qxe5 Bd6

A new kind of counter attack. I like it.

9.Qd4 Qh4 10.g3

A nervous move, since the thematic 10.f4 was ok, i.e. 10...Bxf4 11.g3.

10...Qh5 11.Qe3 c6
Black has the advantage of a piece for two pawns. He needs to develop quickly and safeguard his pawn. If White is to have a chance, he needs to develope even quicker.
12.d4 b6 13.e5 Bc7 14.f4

This pawn play is all very Jerome-ish, but Rybka 3, after the game, suggested instead 14.b3 followed by 15.Ba3 with more attention to the Black King.

14...Ne7 15.Nc3 b5

Probably 15...d5 was better, although that would give White an advanced, protected passed pawn.

16.Ne4 Bb7 17.Nc5 Bc8 18.f5 d6 19.Ne6+ Kg8


Black has a defense, but it begins with 19...Bxe6. This oversight swings the game towards White.

20.Nxc7 Nxf5 21.Qf4 Rb8 22.exd6 Bd7


23.Bd2 Rf8 24.Rae1 Kh7

The clocks are ticking. LethHansen is untangling. I'm hoping not to blunder.

25.Qe5 Qh3 26.Bf4 Black lost on time.

graphic by Jeff Bucchino, "The Wizard of Draws"