Fire Exit

Of the 17,615 games in the updated New Year's Database, only 4% are draws.

Although my personal statistic is a bit higher (9%), I have always thought of a draw as a "fire exit" for me, to escape from a game that has gone bad. I don't usually think of my opponents of being interested in splitting the point – they're usually too busy trying refute or destroy my plans to bother.

All of which explains some of the following game.

perrypawnpusher - frencheng
blitz FICS, 2010

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 Qe7

It's always a good thing if Black can get in ...Qf6 or ...Qe7 in a meaningful way.

9.Qe3 Nf6 10.Nc3 Kf7 11.0-0 Rf8

Black has just about castled-by-hand. As always, White has to make something of his "Jerome pawns" to keep in the game.

12.f4 d5

13.e5

White achieves less than nothing with the alternative 13.exd5 Qxe3 14.dxe3 Bf5.

After the game Rybka suggested a line to keep Black's advantage slight: 13.f5 Ne5 14.Nxd5 Nxd5 15.exd5 Qf6 16.d4 Nc4 17.Qd3 Nd6 18.Bf4 Kg8 19.g4 Bd7 20.b3 Rae8.

analysis diagram





13...Nh5

14.h3 Nxe5

Giving back the piece, rather than continue to deal with the penned in Knights. I think completing castling by 14...Kg8 was less committal.

15.fxe5+

First 15.Nxd5 was better. 

15...Kg8 16.g4

It looks like White has found a way to capture the second Knight as well – but this move is actually a blunder. He would have done much better with 16.Rxf8+ Qxf8 17.d4, getting some development in before chasing the randspringer. 

16...Rxf1+ 17.Kxf1 Bxg4 18.hxg4 Rf8+ 19.Kg2

19...Qd7

A solid move, but missing the direct and very useful pawn sacrifice 19...d4, as after 20.Qxd4 Black's attack builds with 20...Qh4 since the White g-pawn is pinned to its Queen. If White defends then with 21.Ne2 Black has the simple 21...Nf4+ followed by 22.Nxf4 Qxg4+ winning.

The un-supported ...d5-d4 isn't easy to see at first, but I am sure that my opponent would have been happy had he found it. Me, not so much.

20.gxh5

The position would still be complicated, but in White's favor, after 20.e6 Nf4+ .

20...d4

This was frencheng's plan to recover a piece.

He would have done better to sue for peace with: 20...Qg4+ 21.Qg3 Qf5 when White's three Queenside pieces look silly standing by doing nothing while Black's Queen forces repetitions of position.

21.Qg5

Willingly giving back one of the two pieces, but this was not the way to do it!

Simply 21.Qe4 dxc3 22.bxc3 and White is OK.

analysis diagram







21...Qc6+

Black is right – White's King is vulnerable – and the proper entry to the attack wins White's Queen (and more): 21...Qf7 22.Qg3 Qf1+ 23.Kh2 Rf2+ 24.Qxf2 Qxf2+ 25.Kh1 dxc3.

At the time the game was being played, I was clueless of the danger that my King was in.

22.Kg1 dxc3 23.bxc3 Qf3

24.Qg2

This is funny.

If I had seen 24.Ba3, opening up my Rook's protection along the first rank, I'd have found the win. 

24...Qxh5

Temporarily missing the fire exit.

25.d4

Okay, this is ridiculous: it is the same error.

Again, 25.Ba3 wins.

25...Qd1+

My opponent heads for the exit and the safety of a draw.

26.Kh2 Qh5+ 27.Kg1 Qd1+ 28.Kh2 Qh5+ 29.Kg3 Qg6+ 30.Kh2 Qh5+ 31.Kg1 Qd1+ 32.Kh2 Qh5+ 33.Kg1 Qd1+ 34.Kh2

Game drawn by repetition.

graphic by Jeff Bucchino, the Wizard of Draws

Still Krazy after all these years...

It is always good to hear from other chess players, especially those who have an appreciation for creative and off-beat lines of play.

I recently received an email from Garry Gifford, editor of the Unorthodox Openings Newsletter and co-author (along with Davide Rozzoni and Bill Wall) of Winning with the Krazy Kat and Old Hippo. Nowadays, Gary is doing well with the New Hippo as well as the Krazy Kat

Marty [Martin Frère Hillyer, author of Thomas Frère and the Brotherhood of Chess: A History of 19th Century Chess in New York City] and a few club guys took me to the Marshall Club in NY as a going away present (I am moving to Austin).

I played the Krazy Kat against a 2098 player. I took a drawing line, but later realized I had a forced win! [International Master] Calvin Blocker verified that for me last week... though I already knew.

I also use the Krazy Kat in round 4 to defeat a psycologist in just 18 moves.

I used a modern Hippo on Saturday to defeat Marty's Colle....

A few words about Austin, Texas, by the way: when you are in town and hungry, check out the legendary Torchy's Tacos... It's also hard not to mention that in a Christmas-time tag-team match between two of the "Kennedy Kids" (known as they made their way from Houston to Austin as "the locusts") and The Salt Lick all-you-can-eat Bar-B-Que restaurant, the visitors were held to a draw ("Pack the rest up. We'll have it for breakfast...")

Send in the Clones...

One of the values of playing (and then analyzing) an opening repeatedly – especially a dubious one like the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) – is that the time needed to "think" over-the-board about the first dozen or so moves generally decreases, which can have a psychological impact on an opponent and be doubly useful in a blitz game.

perrypawnpusher - pwr
blitz FICS, 2010

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

The Semi-Italian Opening.

4.0-0 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bc5

The Semi-Italian Four Knights Game.

6.Bxf7+

The Jerome Gambit way, just like yesterday.

6...Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.d4

Before this game I'd only seen this position in my games 5 times – and lost 3 of the games. Well, maybe having a bit more time this time around will be helpful.

8...Bxd4 9.Qxd4 d6

10.f4 Nc6 11.Qd3

So far, just like yesterday's game.

11...Rf8

Instead, perrypawnpusher - HRoark, blitz FICS, 2010 continued 11...Be6 12.Bd2 Nb4 13.Qg3 Nxc2 14.Rac1 Nd4 15.f5 Bd7 16.Qg6+ Kg8 17.Be3 Be8 18.Qg3 Nc6 19.Bf4 Nh5 20.Qe3 Nxf4 21.Rxf4 Qg5 22.Qf2 Ne5 23.h4 Qh5 24.Rd1 a5 25.f6 Ng4 26.Qg3 Qc5+ 27.Kh1 h5 28.Rxg4 hxg4 29.Qxg4 Rh7 30.Rd5 Qf2 31.h5 Qf1+ 32.Kh2 Qxf6 33.Rf5 Qd4 34.Qf3 Bd7 35.Rd5 Qf6 36.Qxf6 gxf6 37.Kg3 Rg7+ 38.Kf3 Bg4+ 39.Kf4 Be6 40.Rd2 Rg5 White resigned

12.Bd2 Kg8 13.Rae1

Black has castled-by-hand. White has developed his pieces.

White does not have enough compensation (a pawn, better center control, better development) for his sacrifice (a piece).

Eventually I am going to have to stop playing this position.

13...Nb4

This move caught me by surprise: What's this? I thought my Queen was safe at d3...

Then I remembered that odd game ontocaustic - defjavid, FICS, 2009 that I had looked while studying my game against HRoark: 11.Qd1 Bg4 12.Qd3 Nb4 13.Qc4+ Kf8 14.Qxb4 Qe7 15.e5 Nh5 16.f5 Qe6 17.fxe6+ Black resigned

Of course my opponent would have kept his advantage with 13...Be6, similar to the HRoark game.

14.Qc4+ d5 15.Qxb4

15...Ng4

Very energetic! Almost enough to make me wonder if my opponent had sacrificed (returned) his Knight to draw my Queen further out of position – so that he could attack on the Kingside...

The more routine 15...dxe4 16.Nxe4 Nxe4 17.Rxe4 Bf5 would have left White better.

16.Nxd5 Qh4

Here we go...

17.h3 Nf6

Well, that didn't last long. I hastened to undo the attacker.

18.Nxf6+

After the game Rybka gave me a chuckle by recommending 18.Ne7+ instead. It's a move worth appreciating.

analysis diagram







Black's King can now go one of three places, and 18...Kh8 is out of the question as it's followed by the fork 19.Ng6+, winning the Queen. The problem is that both 18...Kf7 and 18...Kh7 are answered by 12.Ng6, anyway – and after 12...Kxg6 White captures the Rook on f8, winning the exchange.

18...Rxf6

19.e5

I intended to follow up with f4-f5. It turns out that the pawns would have worked better if I had moved them in the opposite order.

19...Rg6

20.Qb3+

It was only after I chose this move that I realized that 20.f5 was playable (and better) because White's Queen was protected by the Bishop on d2. 

20...Be6 21.Qf3 Bxh3

Attack, attack, attack!

A scarier try would have been 21...Rg3, as after 22.Qe2 Black has the creepy 22...Qxh3. Stil, White would have held it together with 23.Rf3.

22.Rf2 Rg3

23.Qxb7

What, me worry??

23...Rf8 24.e6 Rf6

The Black Queen needed to come back to f6, but my opponent wanted to add yet another piece to his attack.

25.e7 Bd7 26.e8Q+ Bxe8 27.Rxe8+

Triumph of the Jerome pawn.

27...Kh7 28.Qe4+ Rgg6

29.Qd3

Even stronger was 29.Qa8.

29...Qg4 30.Ree2 h5

pwr is still attacking!

31.f5 Rd6 32.fxg6+ Rxg6 33.Qf5

33...Qd4 34.Qxh5+ Rh6 35.Bxh6 gxh6 36.Re7+ Kg8 37.Qg6+ Kh8 38.Re8 checkmate

 

Hung Over

I lose chess games every day, but I hate losing Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) style games.

perrypawnpusher - HRoark
blitz FICS, 2010

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

The Semi-Italian Opening. We're on speaking terms – barely. Or should I say "bear-ly"?

4.0-0 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bc5 6.Bxf7+

The Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

6...Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.d4

8...Bxd4 9.Qxd4 d6

10.f4

I like this move, but a couple of games have gone differently: 10.0-0 c5 11.Qd1 b5 12.Nxb5 Ba6 13.a4 Nxe4 14.Qd5+ Ke7 15.Qxe4 Bxb5 16.axb5 Qb6 17.Be3 Qxb5 18.f4 Qxb2 19.fxe5 Qxe5 20.Qxe5+ dxe5 21.Bxc5+ Ke6 22.Rxa7 Rac8 23.Ra6+ Kd5 24.Bf2 Rxc2 25.Ra5+ Ke6 26.Re1 Rd8 27.Raxe5+ Kf6 28.Re6+ Kf7 29.h3 Rcd2 30.Re7+ Kg6 31.Bh4 Kh7 32.Bf6 Rg8 33.Bh4 Kh8 34.Re8 Rxe8 35.Rxe8+ Kh7 36.Kh2 Rd4 37.Bg3 h5 38.Re7 Kh6 39.Be5 Ra4 40.Bxg7+ Kg5 41.Bf8 Ra5 42.Rg7+ Kf6 43.Rg3 Black resigned, benaval - Castled, FICS 2006;

and 10.Nd5 Nxd5 11.Qxd5+ Be6 12.Qxb7 Re8 13.f4 Ng4 14.f5 Bd7 15.Qd5+ Kf8 16.f6 Nxf6 17.Qc4 Be6 18.Qb4 Kg8 19.Qc3 Nxe4 20.Qe3 Nf6 21.Qg3 g5 22.b3 Kh7 23.Bb2 Ne4 24.Qd3 d5 25.c4 c6 26.Qd4 Re7 27.Ba3 Rf7 28.Rxf7+ Bxf7 29.Bb2 Qg8 30.Rf1 Rf8 31.h4 dxc4 32.Qe5 Ng3 33.Rf6 cxb3 34.a3 Nh5 35.Qe4+ Bg6 36.Qe7+ Rf7 37.Qd6 Nxf6 38.Bxf6 Rxf6 39.Qxf6 Qg7 40.Qxc6 Qa1+ 41.Kh2 gxh4 42.Qb7+ Qg7 43.Qxb3 h3 44.Kxh3 Qe5 45.a4 Bf5+ 46.g4 Bxg4+ 47.Kxg4 Qg7+ 48.Kf3 Qg6 49.Ke3 Black resigned, yorgos - ambaradann, FICS, 2009.

10...Nc6 11.Qd3

In going over my game with HRoark afterward, I discovered the odd alternative move 11.Qd1 from the odd game ontocaustic - defjavid, FICS, 2009: 11...Bg4 12.Qd3 Nb4 13.Qc4+ Kf8 14.Qxb4 Qe7 15.e5 Nh5 16.f5 Qe6 17.fxe6+ Black resigned.

I was happy to have that game in mind the next time that I played the Semi-Italian Four Knights variation of the Jerome Gambit.

11...Be6 12.Bd2

Focusing upon development of my pieces, and avoiding 12.f5 – the move that Rybka, after the game, suggested that I should have made. Then White would be only a pawn and a quarter worse after 12...Bd7 13.Qc4+ Kf8.

analysis diagram







Rybka may be right, but Black's Knight easily hops to e5 to help blocade White's "Jerome pawns" and it will take a lot of good moves by the first player to keep from falling further behind.

12...Nb4

The computer preferred: 12...Re8 13.f5 Bd7 14.Nd5 b5 15.Rae1 Ne5 16.Qb3 Kf8 17.Nf4 Qe7 18.Ng6+ Nxg6, when Black's advantage would be clear.

analysis diagram







13.Qg3

The game is complex enough that inaccuracies by Black might keep him from speedily increasing his advantage, but his his King is safe, and White is not in a position to force concessions.

13...Nxc2 14.Rac1 Nd4 15.f5 Bd7 16.Qg6+

It would be nice if this led to something.

16...Kg8 17.Be3 Be8 18.Qg3 Nc6

19.Bf4 Nh5 20.Qe3 Nxf4 21.Rxf4 Qg5

22.Qf2 Ne5 23.h4

A hint of desperation by White.

23...Qh5 24.Rd1 a5 25.f6

Simply searching for something that will work. This won't. 

25...Ng4 26.Qg3 Qc5+ 27.Kh1 h5

The position remains complicated and clearly in Black's favor. HRoark continues to outplay me.

28.Rxg4

Another desperate move. This was a blitz game, so all sorts of strange things were possible...

28...hxg4 29.Qxg4

The White pawn on f6 still looks troublesome, but White was a Rook behind at this point.

29...Rh7 30.Rd5 Qf2 31.h5 Qf1+ 32.Kh2 Qxf6

It was time for the gentlemanly "Good game!"

I played on, looking for a miracle. My opponent was pretty much a step ahead of me the whole time.

33.Rf5 Qd4 34.Qf3 Bd7 35.Rd5 Qf6 36.Qxf6 gxf6 37.Kg3 Rg7+ 38.Kf3 Bg4+ 39.Kf4 Be6 40.Rd2 Rg5 White resigned

Hats off to HRoark, for a well-played game!

I could only hope that I had learned something... and it turned out that I had.

(Un)Seen Before (sort of)

I was surprised to meet my opponent so soon after out last game (see "More Than Meets the Eye") but he didn't seem surprised to see my Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) again.

Although udofink had played a workable defense the first time, he switched up on me for our second game.

Unfortunately, he wandered into what I've casually referred to as an "optical illusion" – Bill Wall correctly does not include this "name" in his "Jerome Gambit Nomenclature" – that I've posted about before: see "Optical Illusion (I)" and "Optical Illusion (II)".

perrypawnpusher - udofink
blitz 10 0, FICS, 2010

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

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

The earlier perrypawnpusher  - udofink,  blitz FICS, 2010 continued 6...Ng6 7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Be6 10.f4 Qh4+ 11.g3 Qg4 12.f5 Bf7 13.fxg6 Bxg6 14.d3 Kd7 15.0-0 Nf6 16.Nc3 c6 17.Qf4 Qe6 18.Bd2 Rhf8 19.Qg5 Rf7 20.Rae1 Raf8 21.e5 dxe5 22.Qxe5 Qh3 23.Bf4 Ne8 24.Qd4+ Kc8 25.Qxa7 Nd6 26.Qa8+ Kd7 27.Qa3 Nc8 28.Qc5 b6 29.Qd4+ Black resigned

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qf6

Racing the Queen to the Black King's defense, a wise idea mentioned as early as in Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's analysis ("New Chess Opening") in the April 1874 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal. Black gives back a piece, but he adds to his development and threatens a Queen trade, which could break White's attack.

9.fxe5+ Qxe5 10.Qf3 Nf6 11.d3

From the Dubuque Chess Journal

compelling either K or Q to move as White threatens Bf4; or Black can play ...g5

Or at least you would think so.

Over the years Jerome faced 11...Ke7 (Amateur, Brownson, Kinnieu, Pane and Shinkman) and 11...Kc6 (Neufville and Charles).

This is the sixth time that I have reached this position, having seen 11...Ke7, 11...Bd4, 11...Re8, 11...Bb4+ and

11...Rf8 

12.Bf4 Black resigned

I can't explain Black's oversight, except to guess that it had to do with the time limit or that he was facing an opening that was so terrible that it didn't require all of his attention. 

Maybe he just didn't see my move.