Do you care about today's GM games and tourneys?

Last month Robert Pearson's Chess Blog started an interesting discussion on "Do You Care About Today's Grandmaster Games and Tournaments?" 

Mark Weeks, at Chess for All Ages followed up with a thoughtful reply.

Especially attractive to me was Mike Goeller's "comment" at the bottom of Weeks's post. He refers to his own essay on "Chess Amateurism"

This is the new age of the amateur... The amateur game is getting more interesting for amateurs (certainly more worth looking at and commenting on)...

He also has an interesting point-of-view on "amateur openings" like the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+).

Thoughtful stuff.

Through the Looking Glass...

I was playing my way through some of Bill Wall's chess games when I suddenly felt like Alice must have felt, after moving through the Looking Glass. What I found on the other side was not quite a Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) and I wasn't sure quite what to call it.

Wall,B - Danyum
Chess.com, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6

So far, we have a Petroff Defense.

3.Bc4 Bc5

Okay, maybe this is a symmetrical Bishop's Opening.

4.Nc3 

A Vienna Game? A Russian Three Knights Game headed toward an Italian Four Knights Game?

4...Ng4

And what is that? A Jabberwocky?

5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.Qh5+

This looks remarkably like a Jerome Gambit, only Black has a Knight at b8, not g8; and White has a Knight already on c3.

7...Ke6

Or, as in the only other example that I have been able to find of this line: 7...g6 8.Qxe5 d6 9.Qf4+ Ke8 10.0-0 Rf8 11.Qh6 Bxf2+ 12.Rxf2 Rxf2 13.Kxf2 Qf6+ 14.Kg1 Nd7 15.Qxh7 Nf8 16.Qxc7 Ne6 17.Qxd6 Qg5 18.d4 Qg4 19.Bd2 Ng5 20.Qe5+ Kf7 21.Bxg5 Qh5 22.Qf6+ Ke8 23.Qe7 checkmate Jeng, - Hatcher, San Jose, 1994.

8.d4 Bxd4

9.Nb5 Nbc6

A reasonable move, but one that loses. Rybka recommends: 9...Bxf2+ (the Bishop is lost, anyhow) 10.Kxf2 d6 (so that Black will have a counter to White's Bishop's attack on his Queen) 11.Bg5 g6 12.Qh3+ Kf7 13.Qb3+ Be6 14.Bxd8 Bxb3 15.axb3 Rxd8 16.Nxc7 Nbd7 17.Nxa8 Rxa8 when Black will have two Knights against a Rook and a pawn; and probably an edge.

analysis diagram







10.Qf5+ Ke7 11.Bg5+ Black resigned

'Twas brillig...

Tomorrow is another day...

When I play the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) I stay with the main lines and let my opponent do the innovating. Often he'll play a "Theoretical Lemon" (TL) rather than a "Theoretical Novelty" (TN).

The times when my opponent improves on past theory and play? Well, as they say, tomorrow is another day...

perrypawnpusher  - frencheng
blitz 10 0, FICS, 2010

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8

As recently noted, this response has the highest success rate (56%) for Black in the games in the New Year's Database.

The move appeared first in Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's 1874 analysis of the Jerome Gambit in the Dubuque Chess Journal. The article contained an interesting caveat:

It should be understood that Mr. Jerome claims in this New Opening "only a pleasant variation of the Giuoco Piano, which may win or lose according to the skill of the players, but which is capable of affording many new positions and opportunities for heavy blows unexpectedly."

7.Qxe5 Qe7

A strong choice. An earlier game with the same opponent continued: 7...d6 8.Qg3 Qe7 9.d3 d5 10.0-0 dxe4 11.Re1 Qd6 12.Bf4 Qd4 13.Be5 Qd7 14.Rxe4 Qf5 15.Qxg7+ Ke8 16.Bg3+ Qxe4 17.dxe4 Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - frencheng, blitz FICS, 2010.

8.Qf4+

A similar idea (with a different response) was seen in blackburne - JFRAY, ChessWorld,  2004: 8.Qf5+ Ke8 9.0-0 d6 10.Qf3 Be6 11.Nc3 c6 12.d3 h6 13.Be3 Bxe3 14.fxe3 Nf6 15.d4 Rf8 16.e5 Nd5 17.exd6 Rxf3 18.dxe7 Rxf1+ 19.Rxf1 Kxe7 20.Nxd5+ Bxd5 21.b3 Rf8 22.c4 Rxf1+ 23.Kxf1 Be4 24.Kf2 Bb1 25.a3 Ba2 26.c5 Bxb3 27.e4 Ke6 28.Kf3 b6 29.Kf4 bxc5 30.dxc5 g5+ 31.Ke3 Ke5 32.Kd3 a5 33.g3 h5 34.h3 h4 35.g4 a4 36.Kc3 Bd1 37.Kb4 Kxe4 38.Ka5 Kd5 39.Kb4 Bxg4 40.Kxa4 Bxh3 41.Kb4 Bf1 42.a4 h3 43.a5 h2 White resigned 

A fundamental alternative at this point is for White to exchange Queens, something that Louis Morin ("mrjoker") has explored in a number of games.

An early experiment did not go well: 8.d4 Qxe5 9.dxe5 Ne7 10.Nd2 Ng6 11.Nf3 b6 12.0-0 Bb7 13.Re1 Re8 14.b3 Nxe5 15.Nd2 Ng4 16.Re2 Ke7 17.h3 Nxf2 18.Rxf2 Rhf8 19.Nf3 Bxe4 20.Bb2 Bxf3 21.gxf3 Rxf3 22.Re1+ Kd8 23.Ref1 Rxf2 24.Rxf2 Re2, White resigned, guest393 - guest664, ICC, 2001.

Morin is quite comfortable playing Queenless middlegames and endings with two pawns for a piece, as further games showed: 8.Qxe7+ Nxe7 (8...Bxe7 9.d4 d6 10.0-0 Nf6 11.Nc3 c6 12.f4 Ke8 13.h3 Be6 14.b3 d5 15.e5 Ne4 16.Nxe4 dxe4 17.f5 Bd5 18.c4 Bf7 19.e6 Bg8 20.Be3 h6 21.Rf4 Bh7 22.g4 Bf6 23.Rd1 Ke7 24.d5 cxd5 25.Bc5+ Ke8 26.cxd5 b6 27.Ba3 Rd8 28.d6 Be5 29.Rxe4 Bxd6 Black resigned, mrjoker - tomnoah, ICC, 2008) 9.c3 (9.0-0 d6 10.c3 Bb6 11.d4 h6 12.f4 g6 13.Be3 Kg7 14.Nd2 Bd7 15.Rae1 Rae8 16.Nf3 Bb5 17.Rf2 d5 18.Ne5 dxe4 19.c4 Ba6 20.b3 Nf5 21.Nd7 Bxd4 22.Bxd4+ Nxd4 23.Ne5 c5 24.Rxe4 b6 25.Re3 Rhf8 26.Rg3 Re6 27.h4 Rxf4 28.Rxf4 Ne2+ 29.Kh2 Nxf4 30.Nf3 Bb7 31.Nd2 Re2 32.Nf1 Rxg2+ 33.Rxg2 Nxg2 34.Ng3 Nxh4 White resigned, mrjoker - blunt7569, ICC, 2008) 9...Kf7 (9...d5 10.d4 Bb6 11.e5 Be6 12.0-0 Ke8 13.Na3 c5 14.Nb5 Kd7 15.Be3 cxd4 16.Nxd4 Nc6 17.f4 Nxd4 18.Bxd4 Bf5 19.h3 Bxd4+ 20.cxd4 Rac8 21.Rac1 Rxc1 22.Rxc1 Rc8 23.Rxc8 Kxc8 24.g4 Bb1 25.a3 g6 26.Kf2 Kd7 27.Kg3 Kc6 28.h4 Kd7 29.h5 Ke6 30.Kh4 gxh5 31.Kxh5 Bg6+ 32.Kh6 Be4 33.f5+ Kf7 34.Kxh7 Bf3 35.g5 Black resigned, mrjoker - Epimacus, ICC, 2009; 9...b5 10.d4 Bb6 11.0-0 d6 12.Be3 g6 13.Bh6+ Ke8 14.Nd2 Bd7 15.Rae1 Kd8 16.f4 Kc8 17.Bg5 Re8 18.h3 Kb7 19.g4 Ng8 20.Kg2 Rf8 21.f5 h6 22.Bf4 g5 23.Bg3 Rae8 24.e5 Bc6+ 25.Kh2 dxe5 26.dxe5 Rd8 27.Nb3 a5 28.Rd1 a4 29.Nd4 Bxd4 30.cxd4 Bd5 31.a3 c6 32.Rfe1 Ne7 33.Rd2 Rde8 34.e6 Nxf5 35.gxf5 Rxf5 36.e7 Kc8 37.Bd6 Kd7 38.Bc5 h5 39.Ree2 g4 40.Rf2 Rf3 41.Rxf3 gxf3 42.Rd1 Rg8 43.Rg1 f2 44.Rxg8 f1Q 45.e8Q+ Kc7 46.Qc8 checkmate, mrjoker - PhlebasP, ICC, 2008) 10.d4 Bb6 11.Be3 Rf8 12.Nd2 d6 13.0-0 Kg8 14.f4 c6 15.Rae1 Bd7 16.h3 Rf7 17.Kh2 Raf8 18.g4 c5 19.dxc5 Bxc5 20.Bxc5 dxc5 21.f5 Ng6 22.fxg6 Rxf1 23.gxh7+ Black resigned, mrjoker - PhlebasP, ICC, 2009.

8...Nf6 9.d3

In a relevant, correspondence game, Jerome himself faced his own gambit and survived: 9.Nc3 c6 10.d3 d6 11.h3 h6 12.0-0 g5 13.Qg3 Qe5 14.Ne2 Qxg3 15.Nxg3 Ke7 16.c3 Be6 17.a4 a5 18.Be3 Ba7 19.d4 Rag8 20.f4 gxf4 21.Bxf4 d5 22.Be5 Rf8 23.exd5 cxd5 24.Rae1 Rhg8 25.Nf5+ Kd7 26.Nxh6 Rg6 27.Nf5 Ne4 28.Ne3 Rxf1+ 29.Rxf1 Bb6 30.g4 Bd8 31.Kg2 Kc6 32.b3 Bg5 33.Nd1 Nd2 34.Rh1 Bh4 35.b4 axb4 36.cxb4 Nc4 37.Nc3 Nxe5 38.dxe5 d4 39.Ne4 Bd5 40.Kf3 Rg8 White resigned, Jaeger - Jerome, correspondence 1880.

9...d6 10.0-0 Kf7 11.Nc3 Rf8 12.Nd5

12...Qd8

A significant improvement over 12...Qe5 of perrypawnpusher - jonathankochems, blitz FICS, 2010, which continued 13.Nxc7 Qxf4 14.Bxf4 Rb8 15.Nd5 Nxd5 16.exd5 Bf5 17.Rae1 Bb4 18.Re2 Rbc8 19.a3 Bc5 20.b4 Bd4 21.Bxd6 Rfe8 22.Rfe1 Bc3 23.Rxe8 Rxe8 24.Rxe8 Kxe8 25.Bc5 a6 26.Kf1 Bb2 27.a4 Bd7 28.a5 Ba4 29.c4 Bc2 30.Ke2 Bc3 31.Ke3 Kd7 32.Ke4 Be1 33.f4 Bc3 34.Bd4 Bxb4 35.Bb6 Kd6 36.f5 Bc3 37.g4 Bf6 38.Ke3 Ke5 39.Bc7 checkmate

13.Bd2

Stronger was 13.Be3, although Black would still have the advantage.

13...Kg8

Black has castled-by-hand, has the two Bishops, and plans to swap off White's advanced Knight, leaving doubled pawns.

White needs to stir up some trouble before the game simply settles down to being bad for him.

14.Qg3 Nxd5 15.exd5 Qf6 16.Bc3

16...Bd4 17.Rae1 Bxc3 18.bxc3 b6

19.c4 Bb7

Black's Bishop will "bite on granite" here, but the move connects his Rooks.

20.Re6 Qc3 21.Re7 Rac8

The first good news that I've had in a while: my opponent is uneasy with my Rook on the seventh. How uneasy?

22.Rfe1 Qf6

That's uneasy enough for me.

It clearly was time to go for the draw by offering to repeat the position, before my opponent thought otherwise. 

23.R1e6 Qd4 24.Re4 Qf6 25.R4e6 Qd4 26.Re4 Qf6 27.R4e6 Qd4 28.Re4 Qf6 29.R4e6 Qd4 30.Re4 Qf6 31.R4e6 Qd4 Game drawn by repetition
 
I was happy to split the point here – tomorrow, after all, is another day.

Losing – and Then Winning – the Won Game

It has been said that in chess "the hardest thing to win is a won game." I'm not sure that I  fully agree – it's hard to win a lost game – but I understand the thought. Once you achieve a significant advantage – especially playing a disreputable opening like the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) – there's a tendency to act as like the game will play itself.

perrypawnpusher - sarenn
blitz 5 12, FICS, 2010

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6

This move appears frequently, as if by reflex: White has sacrificed recklessly and now brings out his Queen too early? I'll kick it!

7.Qxe5 d6

 

Blackburne's Variation.

8.Qxh8 d5

My opponent spent time on his moves, and I wondered if he was familiar with the Jerome Gambit. Was he simply double-checking the lines? His move says "no", but I'm not sure: after the correct 8...Qh4, recommended for White is 9.d4; so perhaps sarenn merely mis-remembered?

9.Qxh7+ Kf8 10.Qxg6 dxe4 11.Qxe4 Nf6 12.Qe2

White is ahead the exchange plus four pawns.

Black is about to unleash a counter-attack, but it should be possible to survive it.

12...Bg4 13.f3

13...Bf5

More in the style of Blackburne was 13...Qd7, as 14.fxg4 is met by 14...Re8, and after 15.Nc3 Qxg4 16.d3 Rxe2+ 17.Nxe2 Qxg2 18.Rf1 White's advantage has shrunk considerably.

analysis diagram






14.d3 Nd5

15.Nc3 Nxc3 16.bxc3 Qh4+

17.g3 Qf6 18.Kd2

Just what my opponent was hoping for.

I was worried about 18...Re8, winning my Queen for a Rook (as in the note to move 13, above). I overlooked the defensive gem 18.d4, which blocks out Black's dark-squared Bishop, allowing me to castle and also to play Bc1-e3 (in response to ...Ra1-e8) to protect my Queen. 

For his boldness, Black now has the advantage.

18...Re8 19.Qg2

Approaching panic. Sadly, White's best was to give up his Queen and work on development: 19.Re1 Rxe2+ 20.Rxe2 Bd7 21.Bb2 Qxf3 22.Rae1 Qf6 23.d4 Bd6 24.Kc1 although even then, Black would be better.

analysis diagram

19...Be3+ 20.Kd1 Qxc3

This looks scary, but I was lucky that my opponent missed the shot 20...Bh3.

It's hard to believe, but Rybka now sees the position as even.

21.Rb1 Bxd3

After he finishes destroying me, my opponent can tell his pals that all those Kingside pawns of his were "sacrificed," not "lost".

22.Bxe3 Bxc2+

Since this move loses for Black, the question is: what else did he have?

After the game Rybka suggested 22...Rxe3 23.Qd2 Bxc2+ 24.Qxc2 Rd3+ 25.Kc1 Qa3+ 26.Rb2 Rc3 27.Rf1 Rxc2+ 28.Kxc2. White would have two Rooks and a pawn vs Black's Queen, which looks about equal.

analysis diagram







23.Qxc2 Rd8+

24.Kc1

An error that prolongs Black's attack. Giving back a Rook was the way: 24.Bd2 Qxf3+ 25.Kc1 Qxh1+ 26.Kb2. With White's King safe, the extra piece would be very helpful in attacking Black's King.

analysis diagram





24...Qxe3+ 25.Kb2

25...Qd4+

In the heat of the moment, Black gives up his last chance to keep the game even by settling for a Q vs 2R ending: 25...Rd2 26.Rbc1 Rxc2+ 27.Rxc2 Qxf3.

26.Qc3 Qf2+ 27.Ka1 Qxf3 

An error that ended the game, even after my inaccurate reply.

28.Rhf1 Black resigned

Declining the Jerome Gambit - Légally

Given that my favorite opening, the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+)has so many refutations, I'm constantly amazed at the number of people who go out of their way to decline the fool thing.

I need to have a whole new set of ideas if I want to win my games!


perrypawnpusher - NN
blitz 10 0, FICS, 2010

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 f6

No Jerome Gambit today.

4. d4 d6

Seriously: no Jerome.

5. O-O Bg4

Pinning my Knight. I get it, I get it: no Jerome.

6. dxe5 fxe5 7. Nc3

7...Nd4

Punishing me, on top of everything else, for my mis-placed Bishop on c4.

Clearly my opponent – whose name I have omitted for fairness' sake – is not a regular reader of this blog, or he would know how riled up I get when facing ...Nc6-d4.

8. Nxe5 Bxd1

Goodbye, Queen.

9. Bf7+ Ke7 10. Nd5 checkmate

Goodbye, King.

This well-known opening trap is credited to the French player M. de Kermar, Sire de Légall (1702-1792). It also is sometimes called the Blackburne Trap, since the English player Joseph Blackburne (1859-1951) used to catch so many players in it! It can arise in a number of different move orders, and it's one of those traps you need to be aware of so you don't fall victim to your own greed! Learn to recognize the pattern you see in the following examples.

The rest of David Surratt's article on Légall's Mate is at Chessville.