The Kentucky Opening (Part 3)

Readers who have been following the saga of the Kentucky Opening (see Part 1 and Part 2) may have already found themselves protesting: but I never knew that 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 was called the Kentucky Opening!

Likely they are more familiar with references like the one below, from Bill Wall, chess author and investigator of both games short and openings unusual (and, at least on one occasion, someone willing to play the Jerome Gambit!)

Danvers Opening - 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5
by Bill Wall

The opening 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 was probably first named in the early 20th century as Danvers Opening. It is mentioned in the American Chess Bulletin with that name in 1905. The Danvers opening was named after a hospital.

The opening also has names such as the Queen's Attack or Wayward Queen's Attack or Queen's Excursion or the Patzer Opening or the Terrorist Attack. In Indiana, it is Parham's Opening, named after former Indiana State Champion Bernard Parham, who plays 2.Qh5 on almost any Black reply. ECO name is C20.

The attack with the queen is tried mostly by beginners. It is really not very good to bring out the queen early, and many beginners do, hoping for an early mate.

The first game with this opening may be the following:

Adov - Borisov, St Petersburg 1889

1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 g6 4.Qf3 Nf6 5.Qb3 [5.Ne2] Nd4 6.Qc3 [6.Qd3] d5 7.Bxd5? [7.exd5] Nxd5 8.exd5 Bf5 9.d3 [9.Na3 Bxa3 10.bxa3 Qxd5] Bb4 0-1

Well, as we've already seen, there have been earlier, if not well-known, examples of the Kentucky / Danvers Opening.

What about Wall's reference to the opening being named after a hospital? The March 1920 issue of the American Chess Bulletin carried a remembrance of "The Late Dr. Elmer E. Southard" – "The famous Harvard varsity [chess] player, who was assistant professor of psychology at Harvard"

Dr. Southard attained distinction in his chosen profession, as a writer of books and assistant editor of the Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, and will be remembered as the most brilliant player who ever represented Harvard in the annual tournaments with Columbus, Yale and Princeton in New York and who, in the days of two-men teams, played for the Crimson in 1895, 1896, 1897 and 1898...

In due course of time Dr. Southard took his place in the front rank of Boston's chess experts, and more than once was nominated substitute on the American teams which played in the Anglo-American cable matches. The Danvers opening (1. P-K4, P-K4; 2.Q-R5, etc.) was originated by him during the period of 1906-9, when he was assistant physician and pathologist in the Danvers State Hospital for the Insane.

The Kentucky Opening (Part 2)

Further looking into Blackburne's quote – "1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Note - I used to call this the Kentucky opening..." – (see "The Kentucky Opening (Part 1)") I found another reference in the September 1875 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal.

GAME NO. 513 (Kentucky Opening.)

Contested lately in Danville, Kentucky.

Fields - J. K. Young

1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nf6

In case the adversary takes the pawn, thus left exposed, his defeat is both swift and sure; and if he refuses to take it, he loses a whole move, and transfers the attack to his opponent.

3.Qxe5+ Be7 4.Bc4 0-0 5.d3 Re8 6.Qg3 d5 7.Bh6 Nh5 8.Qf3 g6
The game was already won, and the move was made to tempt the adversary to capture the pawn, thereby permitting a very neat and pretty ending.

9.Bxd5 Qxd5 10.exd5 Bb4+ 11.K moves R mates

Later in the same issue of the Journal, was this news story:

...A lively Chess Column has also just been inaugurated in the Lebanon (Tenn.) Herald. As an exponent of Southern and South-Western Chess doings, its influence will be great. The Lebanon Chess Club is at present conducting several telegraphic games with Ohio, Tennessee and Mississippi Clubs, and will soon be heard from, having already won a fine "Kentucky Opening" from Nashville...

The Kentucky Opening (Part 1)

I was doing a little bit more "tidying up" (see "Jerome Gambit Blog: Tidying Up", "Jerome Gambit Blog: More Tidying Up" and "Jerome Gambit Blog: Still More Tidying Up" for earlier efforts) the other day, and I was able to come up with the answer to a question that has been challenging me since the first days of my involvement with the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+).

As I had written in "Jerome Gambit Blog: Tidying Up":

In "Nobody expects the Jerome Gambit!" I mentioned that Blackburne, in Mr. Blackburne's Games at Chess (1899) referred to the Jerome Gambit as "the Kentucky Opening." I have yet to discover how it is that the British master came up with that name.

The full quote from Blackburne's book is:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Note - I used to call this the Kentucky opening. For a while after its introduction it was greatly favored by certain players, but they soon grew tired of it.

What I recently discovered, taking up the complete page 250 of the May 1875 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal, without introduction or explanation, analysis of what was titled "KENTUCKY OPENING". Reformatted and translated from descriptive notation to algebraic notation, and taken out of columnar form, it looked like this:

1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Qf6

2...Nc6 3.Bc4 g6 4.Qf3 Qf6 5.Qb3 Na5 6.Qc3 Nxc4 7.Qxc4 Ne7 8.Nc3 ( 8.Qxc7 Nc6 9.d4 Bd6 g.g.) 8...c6 9.Nf3 g.g. d6

3.Nc3

3.Nf3 d6 4.Bc4 Be6 and the second player has a good game. ( 4...g6 5.Qg5 Bh6 6.Qxf6 Nxf6 7.Nc3 Bg4 8.Be2 Nbd7 good game) ;

3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Nf3 d6 5.Nc3 c6 6.d3 g6 7.Qg5 h6 8.Qg3 Be6 good game

3...c6 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.Nf3 d6 6.d3 g6 7.Qg5 h6 8.Qg3 Be6 9.Bxe6 Qxe6 g.g.

It is significant to note that the format and presentation of the Kentucky Opening analysis was very similar to that on page 38 of the January 1875 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal, where analysis of "Queen's Gambit in Jerome's Double Opening" had been given. (The latter was part three of Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's introduction of his gambit, the first two having seen print in the April 1874 and July 1874 issues of the Journal.)

The reference to "Queen's Gambit" was odd, having nothing to do with 1.d4 d5 2.c4, or even the sacrifice of a Queen – it referred to the sally of the Queen at move 5 of the Jerome Gambit, i.e. 5.Qh5.

In fact, the Queen move in the Jerome Gambit, and the Queen move in the Kentucky Opening are an outstanding – but similar – feature in each opening, something which likely caught Blackburne's eye.

Eyes Wide Open

Remember that line from Spiderman? With great power comes great responsibility. Right?


When it comes to playing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), however, the story is different: With great foolishness comes even greater risks.

Or, as I put it in "Rx: Jerome Gambit":

WARNING: The Jerome Gambit is quite disreputable and has quite a few refutations. Its use should be restricted to "fun" games or as a manner of offering "odds" to weaker opponents. The author is not responsible for any disasters that might come from using the Jerome Gambit (although he remains interested in learning about and staring at the wreckage).


So today I'm at FICS (Free Internet Chess Server) playing some light-hearted 3 0 blitz chess with the Black pieces, listening to the B-52s, and as "Eyes Wide Open" starts to play, the following game unfolds...


sammakkon - perrypawnpusher
blitz 3 0, FICS, 2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 Nf6 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.Bxf7+


Wow. For three moves we had a Ponziani, and at move four we had a Giuoco Piano – but now at move five we've got a Jerome Gambit, Modern variation: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.c3 Nf6.

Gutsy. The guy's rated 300 points below me. Maybe he's never heard of perrypawnpusher or the Jerome Gambit.
I hope he went into it all with his eyes wide open.

Crazy planet, no alignment
Rise above
Hit the jet stream
Rocky road, got my assignment
Rise above, ride my dreams...

5... Kxf7 6.Qb3+ d5
7.Ng5+

...I don't wanna clash
I don't want to rehash the past...

7.d3 Bb6 8.Nbd2 Rf8 9.h3 Kg8 10.c4 dxc4 11.Qxc4+ Kh8 12.Nb3 Be6 13.Qxe6 Qxd3 14.Nxe5 Qxe4+ 15.Be3 Qxe5 16.Qxe5 Nxe5 17.0-0 Bxe3 18.fxe3 Nc4 19.Rfc1 Nxe3 20.Rxc7 Rab8 21.Re1 Ned5 22.Rc5 Rfc8 23.Ra5 a6 24.Re5 Nb4 25.Nd4 Nc6 26.Nf5 Nxe5 27.Rxe5 Re8 28.Rc5 Rbc8 29.Rxc8 Rxc8 30.Nd6 Rc7 31.Kh2 Kg8 32.Kg3 Kf8 33.Kf3 Ke7 34.Nf5+ Ke6 35.Nd4+ Ke5 36.Ke3 Nd5+ 37.Kd3 Nb4+ 38.Ke3 Nxa2 39.Nf3+ Kf6 White resigned, Kevin the fruitbat - perrypawnpusher, JG3 thematic, chessworld, 2008

7...Kg8 8.exd5 Qxd5
9.0-0 Qxb3 10.axb3 h6 11.Nf3 Bg4

I'm tossing out moves, racing Cindy, Fred, Kate and Keith to the end. (Advantage: me – I think the song is 5:30; I have only 3 minutes for my game.)

12.Ne1 Kh7

Ok, so my King's living on the periphery. Sharper was 12...Be2, winning the exchange.

13.Nd3 Bb6 14.Nb4 Nxb4 15.cxb4 Rad8

16.Nc3 Rhe8 17.Nb5 a6 18.Nc3 e4 White lost on time.

Ah, the Jerome Gambit:
It's so bad,
So bad it's... good.

Huntin'

I guess it's a good thing that I read this Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) blog – every once-in-a-while there's something here that I can use in my own games...

perrypawnpusher - avgur
blitz 5 5, FICS, 2009

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 Nf6
10.0-0
Up to here, this is the same as perrypawnpusher - peroneal, blitz, FICS, 2009, which I analyzed a few days ago. My hope was that I had learned something.

10...Be6 11.f4 Bc4
This Bishop maneuver is reminiscent of perrypawnpusher - Kotimatka, blitz, FICS 2009, (also covered less than a week ago) but in that case I had already played d2-d4, so I didn't have the helpful reply I have here.

12.d3 Bb5 13.c4
A bit of over-thinking, here. The idea was to chase the enemy Bishop off of the a6-f1 diagonal, so I could play f4-f5 and answer Black's ...Ne5 with d3-d4. Ooops! That would leave the same c4-pawn vulnerable to capture... Luckily, I figured that out – right after I played the move, of course.

I probably would have had the same success (or more) with 13.Nc3, which also attacks the Bishop.
13...Bc6 14.f5 Ne5 15.Nc3 Qd7 16.b3 Qf7 I'm not sure what Black is doing with his Queen maneuvering, but I'm ready to get the "Jerome pawns" moving.

17.d4 Neg4 18.Qe2
Wouldn't you know it, after the game Rybka 3 preferred 18.Qg3! (Am I ever going to put the Queen on the right square?) Then Black can't win the White e-pawn without leaving his Knight on g4 hanging, while the protective 18...h5 lets White get in 19.e5. Thank you, Rybka.

18...Qe7 19.Bg5 h6 20.Bxf6
Keeping the pin with 20.Bh4 was stronger.

20...Nxf6 21.Rae1


Getting the last piece into place before advancing the pawns. White is close to even.

21...h5

Understandably, Black does not want another pawn joining the party with g2-g4, but moving the King (21...Kf7) might have been safer. Also, if the center opens up, Black's Rooks will wind up there, which means that later the h-pawn could be at risk.

It's not just White who can have a hard time choosing moves!

22.e5 dxe5 23.dxe5 Ng4 24.h3 Nh6
White finally gets the advantage. Black had an interesting save of his Knight, instead of the retreat: 24...Qc5+, since after 25.Kh1 the g4 Knight can't be captured because White would get checkmated.

25.Qf2
White should have grabbed the pawn at h5 instead.

25...Kd7

Black's King and Queen have had a horrible time deciding where to go. This continues to help White.

26.Qd4+
One of the things that I've discovered while going over this game and the several prior ones is that getting the "Jerome pawns" to the 5th (or 5th and 6th) rank is more of a strategic victory than a tactical conclusion – White has more space, and can use it; he can even conjure up threats; but there's still a lot of work to do.

26...Ke8

Taking refuge with 26...Kc8 was relatively safer, but Black is still troubled.

27.f6 Qe6 28.fxg7 Rg8 29.Rf6 As per the note after White's 26th move.
29...Qd7 30.Qxd7+ Kxd7 31.e6+ Kd6 32.e7+ Kc5
Wandering off. The fresh air doesn't help.

33.Rxh6 Rxg7 34.Rxh5+ Kd4
His Majesty has his own plans.

35.Nb5+ Kd3 36.g4 Rag8
Black's counter-attack comes too late.

37.Rhe5 Rh7 38.e8Q Bxe8 39.Rxe8
Time was running down on our clocks. Time to wrap the game up.
39...Rgg7 40.Rd8+ Kc2 41.Re2+ Kc1 42.Na3 Rxh3 43.Rc2 checkmate

Race to the Finish

With 80% (169 out of 210) of the games in the 15-player, double-round robin Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) Thematic Tournament at ChessWorld completed, the Jerome Gambit has scored 37%.

Piratepaul (19 points out of 23 games completed) maintains his lead. DREWBEAR 63 (17 points out of 28 games), who had been first throughout most of the play, was the first to complete his games; and shares second place with Sir Osis of the Liver (17 points out of 26 games completed).

Sitting behind them are GladtoMateYou (14 points out of 24 games), then blackburne and eddie43 (13.5 points out of 26 games), and stampyshortlegs (13 points out of 17 games).

Only one player, because of the number of games he has yet to complete, has a statistical chance of topping Piratepaul's (current) 19 points: stampyshortlegs (maximum score possible - 24).

From a practical point of view, it looks like it will be a race between Piratepaul (maximum score possible - 24) and stampyshortlegs for top honors.

Out of sight, out of mind

When I was putting together yesterday's Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) post – a long game with analysis and diagrams can take a couple of hours – I noticed that I had referenced a game that was in my database, but had not yet shown up on this blog. Playing through the game, I could understand the oversight: it's another bad game.

I suppose that I can take some comfort in the fact that I scored 2.5 point in those 3 bad games – that almost makes up for the poor play.


perrypawnpusher - episodeninetynine
blitz 10 0, FICS, 2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 The Semi-Italian opening.


4.0-0 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ 5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.Qh5+ Ng6
Some of my games have goen otherwise: 7...Ke6 8.Qf5+ Kd6 9.d4 Bxd4 ( 9...Qf6 10.dxe5+ Qxe5 11.Rd1+ ( 11.Bf4 Qxf4 12.Qxf4+ Kc6 13.e5 d5 14.b4 Nf6 15.bxc5 Ne4 16.Qf7 Nxc5 17.Qxg7 Be6; 11.Bf4 Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - joejox, FICS 2009) 11...Bd4 12.Qf8+ Ke6 13.Qe8+ Kf6 14.Qf8+ Ke6 15.Qe8+ Kf6 drawn, perrypawnpusher - Joyus, FICS, 2007) 10.Rd1 c5 11.c3 Ne7 12.Qh5 Kc7 13.cxd4 cxd4 14.Qxe5+ d6 15.Qxd4 Nc6 16.Qxg7+ Bd7 17.Bf4 Rg8 18.Qxh6 Qe7 19.Bxd6+ Qxd6 20.Qxd6+ Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - Lakritzl, FICS 2009;

And 7...Kf6 8.Qf5+ Ke7 9.Qxe5+ Kf7 10.Qd5+ Kf6 11.e5+ Kg6 12.Qxc5 d6 13.exd6 Qxd6 14.Qxd6+ cxd6 15.Nc3 Bf5 16.d3 Rc8 17.Be3 a6 18.Bd4 Nf6 19.Rae1 Rhe8 20.f3 Kh7 21.Bxf6 gxf6 22.Rxe8 Rxe8 23.Kf2 Kg6 24.Re1 Rc8 25.Re7 Rb8 26.Ne4 Bxe4 27.fxe4 b5 28.Rd7 Rb6 29.c3 b4 30.c4 b3 31.a3 f5 Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - bergeruw, FICS 2007

8.Qd5+

As I've said (see "Ugly"), I continue to play this nudge; few others do. For example: 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qc4+ Be6 10.Qe2 Nf6 11.f4 Re8 12.f5 Bxf5 13.Rxf5 d5 14.e5 Qd7 15.Qh5 c6 16.Nc3 Qc7 17.d4 c5 18.Nxd5 Qd8 19.exf6 gxf6 20.Rxf6+ Qxf6 21.Nxf6 Black resigned, abhailey - cumelen, net-chess, 2008

8...Kf6

Or 8...Kf8 9.Qxc5+ d6 10.Qe3 N8e7 11.d4 Kg8 12.Nc3 Kh7 13.f4 Rf8 14.f5 Nh8 15.g4 Kg8 16.g5 hxg5 17.Qxg5 Nf7 18.Qg3 Nc6 19.f6 g5 20.Bxg5 Nxg5 21.Qxg5+ Kf7 22.Qg7+ Ke6 23.d5+ Ke5 24.Qg3+ Kd4 25.Qd3+ Ke5 26.Qg3+ Kd4 27.Qd3+ Ke5 28.Qg3+ Kd4 29.Qd3+ Ke5 30.Qg3+ Kd4 31.Qd3+ Ke5 32.Qg3+ Kd4 drawn, perrypawnpusher - pascalwilliams, blitz, FICS, 2007;

Or 8...Ke8 9.Qxc5 Qe7 10.Qe3 Nf6 11.Nc3 c6 12.f4 b6 13.f5 Ne5 14.d4 Ba6 15.dxe5 Qxe5 16.Re1 Kf7 17.Qf3 Rhe8 18.Bf4 Qc5+ 19.Be3 Qb5 20.Bd4 Qxb2 21.e5 Nd5 22.e6+ Kg8 23.Qg4 Nxc3 24.Qxg7 checkmate, perrypawnpusher - Cibola, blitz, FICS, 2009

9.Qf5+ Ke7 10.Qxc5+ Ke8 11.f4 d6 12.Qe3

Too much of a reflex action. One subtle difference between the regular Jerome Gambit and the Jerome Gambit coming out of the Semi-Italian opening is that here I had the option of 12.Qh5, pinning and eventually winning the Knight on g6.

That's worth remembering for next time.

12...Qf6 13.f5 Ne5 14.d4 Nc4

Now, where should the Queen go?

15.Qg3

What made sense was 15.Qd3, not this move which drops a pawn.

15...Qxd4+ 16.Kh1 Kd7 17.Nc3 b6

As long as Black is behind in development, White has hope.

18.Bf4 Ba6


This move is consistent, but turns out not to be good. I wish I had realized how not-good it was.

19.Rad1 Qc5


Sometimes there are things going on in a game that neither player recognizes. I was totally unaware that the Black Queen had to go to f6 to stay out of trouble.

20.Qxg7+ Ne7 21.e5

This seemed consistent and good to me, but Rybka later saw it as a blunder, preferring 21.b4 Rag8 22.Qxg8 Nxg8 23.bxc5 bxc5.

21...Rag8 22.e6+ Kc6


On the other hand, Rybka didn't like this move one bit, either, preferring 22...Kd8.

Offsetting blunders, and White is now better.

23.Qxe7 Re8 24Qd7+Kb7 24.b3

Ah, the irony: Rybka shows how "simple" the position actually was – 25.Rd5 Qc6 26.b4 Na3 ( 26...Qxd7 27.exd7 Rd8 28.b5) 27.b5 Nxb5 28.Nxb5 Qxd7 29.exd7 Re7 30.f6 Rxd7 31.Bxh6 Rf7 32.Bg7... I think I'll leave the computer out of the discussion for a while.

25...Nd2 26.Bxd2 Bxf1 27.Rxf1 Qd4

28.f6 Rhf8

In the face of the advancing pawns, Black's play is deteriorating.

29.Nb5 Qxd2 30.Qxc7+ Ka6 31.Qxa7+ Kxb5 32.Qd7+


Overlooking the mate (that I paid two good pieces for!) with 32.Qa4+ Kc5 33.Qc4.

Well, I'm down a Rook now, but those advanced pawns have to count for something.

32...Ka6 33.e7 Qe2 34.Rg1

34...Rxf6 35.Qxe8 Rf1

Threatening mate-in-2, but it is Black's last hurrah...

36.Qa8+ Kb5 37.e8Q+ Qxe8 38.Qxe8+ Kb4 39.Rxf1 Black resigned