Zombie Chess

If I am not careful and focused on my play, I tend to play "zombie chess", choosing moves with little thought or analysis, because they "look right" for the position. The result is often a shallow game that misses tactical shots, as if I were just mindlessly shuffling along.

perrypawnpusher - alekbb

blitz, FICS, 2010

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

The Semi-Italian Opening.

4.0-0 Bc5 5.Bxf7+

The Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.Qh5+ g6

8.Qxe5 Qf6

As I've mentioned, Black's best is 8...Bf8 when after 9.Qg3 (the Rook is poisoned) Ne7 10.d4 Bg7 11.d5 d6 12.Nc3 Rf8 13.Be3 Black has an edge.

Previously seen: 8...Nf6 9.Qxc5 d6 10.Qe3 as in perrypawnpusher - wadada, blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0,19) and perrypawnpusher - islanderchess, blitz, FICS, 2008 (1-0,46); or.8...Be7 9.Qxh8 Nf6 10.Qxd8 Bxd8 as in perrypawnpusher - PravinMamania, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0,50)

9.Qxc5 d6 10.Qd5+  

I could have grabbed a pawn with 10.Qxc7+ instead.

10...Kg7 11.Nc3 Ne7 12.Qc4 c5 13.f4 Be6 14.Qe2 Rhf8 

15.d3 Qd4+ 16.Qe3

Better was 16.Be3, but, typically, I was looking toward a better endgame.

16...Qxe3+ 17.Bxe3 a6 18.Rae1 b5

19.h3 c4 20.d4 b4 21.Ne2 h5 22.c3 b3 23.a3 a5 24.Kh2 a4

Just shuffling along... After all, I have two extra pawns. A simple position means that I will win, in time. Yawn.

25.Ng1 d5 26.e5

Running the risk of a completely blockaded position.

26...Bf5 27.Nf3 Bd3 28.Rf2 Nf5 29.g4

29...Nxe3 30.Rxe3 hxg4 31.hxg4 Rh8+ 32.Kg3 Be4

33.Ng5 Rh1 34.Nxe4 dxe4 35.Rxe4 Rah8

36.Rg2

I was feeling a bit nervous about the Rooks, which I am sure was Black's idea. After the game, Rybka suggested the straight forward 36.f5 gxf5 37.Rxf5 R1h3+ 38.Kf4 Rh2 39.e6.

36...R8h3+ 37.Kf2 Rd3

He had much better with 37...Rxc3, although when the smoke clears, White will still be on top, e.g. 38.e6 Kf8 39.Re2 Rd3 40.f5 g5 41.f6 Ke8 42.d5 Rhh3 43.Re4 c3 44.bxc3 Rdf3+ 45.Kg1 Rxf6 46.Rxa4 Rfh6 47.Rb4 Rh1+ 48.Kf2 Rd1 49.Rxb3 Rxd5 50.Rg3 Rxe6 51.Re3 Rd2+ 52.Kf3 Rxe3 53.Kxe3 Rg2 54.Kf3 Rc2

analysis diagram




38.f5 Rd2+

39.Re2 Rd3 40.f6+ Kf7 41.e6+

Triumph (at long last) of the "Jerome pawns."

41...Kxf6 42.e7 Rdd1 43.e8Q Rdf1+ 44.Ke3 Rh3+ 45.Ke4 Kg5 46.Qe7+ Kh6 47.g5+ Black resigned

Against Blackburne with the Blackburne

The best-known (or half-known) defense to the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is the Blackburne Defense, named after J.H. Blackburne in honor of his 1885 devastating counter-attack, sacrifices and checkmate.

Time has moved on, the Blackburne Defense is known to lead to a draw – but few players are aware of that. And "drawn" or not, the defense is still very dangerous for White to play against. 

So it is fun to see long-time Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member blackburne (Pete Banks) twice utilize the Blackburne Defense in the current ChessWorld tournament. As he shows, danger is just a step away for White – be forewarned! 

Luke Warm - blackburne
Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, ChessWorld, 2010

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

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

7.Qxe5 d6

The Blackburne Defense. 7...Qe7 is the Whistler Defense. Both involve sacrifice and sharp play.

8.Qxh8 Qh4

The key to the Blackburne Defense: attack White's King while trapping White's Queen.

9.g3

Inviting disaster.

The proper response is 9.0-0, as seen in another blackburne game in the tournament, stampyshortlegs - blackburne, Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, ChessWorld, 2010: 9...Nf6 10.d3. A mistake.

analysis diagram








10...Ng4. The problem with this move is that White has 32 possible responses: 31 lead to an advantage (most of them mate) for Black. However, 1 leads to a win for White. Instead, Black had the Blackburne style 10...Bh3

analysis diagram






11.Qxf6+ best (Of course not 11.Qxa8 Qg4 12.g3 Qf3 and mate is unavoidable) 11...Kxf6 12.gxh3 Qxh3 13.Nc3 Kg7

analysis diagram






And White has a Rook, Bishop and pawn for his Queen – not enough, given the placement of Black's pieces. Without the 10...Bh3 shot, Black faced collapse: 11.Bf4 Nxf2 12.Bg3 Qh6 13.Bxf2 Bf5 14.Bxc5 Rxh8 15.Bd4 Re8 16.exf5 gxf5 17.Rxf5+ Ke6 18.Rf6+ Qxf6 19.Bxf6 Kxf6 20.Nc3 c6 21.Ne4+ Ke5 22.Re1 Kd4 23.Kf2 d5 24.Nd6 Rb8 25.Re7 Kc5 26.Nxb7+ Kb6 27.Rxh7 Rxb7 28.Rxb7+ Kxb7 29.h4 Black resigned

9...Qxe4+

10.Kf1 Bh3+ White resigned

He doesn't have to worry about losing the Rook, as it will be checkmate.

Why must he lose to this idiot?

Not every chess player wakes up and says to himself (or herself) "I think I'll destroy a Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) today!" In fact, not many chess players even know what the Jerome Gambit is – so, it can be a puzzlement to not only be playing against it, but to find yourself losing against it...

perrypawnpusher  - Kovrad
blitz, FICS, 2010

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

In our first attempt at a game, my opponent disconnected here, and FICS aborted the game. This was probably all beyond Kovrad's control, as he has this explanatory message posted at FICS "Please note that at times I can have a very bad internet connection. Therefore don't be surprised when I 'disconnect'. I will always try to come back and finish the game (though sometimes it's impossible). If my position is lost I will resign. Sorry for inconvenience."

Fair enough.

So I signed on again and challenged Kovrad again.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5

I found a couple of other games with my opponent defending against the Jerome Gambit:

5.d4 Bxd4 6.Ng5+ Ke8 7.c3 h6 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Qxg6+ Black resigned, DragonTail - Kovrad, FICS, 2009; and 
5.0–0 d6 6.c3 Ke8 7.d4 exd4 8.cxd4 Bb6 9.Ng5 Bxd4 10.Qh5+ g6 11.Qf3 Bf6 12.h4 Ne5 13.Qb3 Qe7 14.Nc3 c6 15.Bf4 h6 16.Bxe5 hxg5 17.Bxf6 Qxf6 18.hxg5 Qxg5 19.e5 Qh4 20.exd6 Qh1 checkmate, sebya - Kovrad, FICS, 2008.

6.Qh5+ Ng6

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 N8e7

Not as popular as 9...Nf6, but very clear: Black wants play on the f-file.

10.0-0 Rf8

Provocative was 10...Be6, as in 11.f4 d5 12.f5 d4 13.Qg3 Bc4 14.d3 Bxd3 15.cxd3 Nf8 16.Qxg7 Rg8 17.Qe5 c5 18.f6 Nfg6 19.f7+ Kf8 20.Bh6+ Rg7 21.Qxg7 checkmate, perrypawnpusher - perama, blitz, FICS, 2010.

11.f4 c6

Or 11...Nc6 as in perrypawnpusher - taman, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1–0, 35).

12.f5 Ne5 13.d4 Ng4 14.Qg3

 14...Nf6 15.Qxg7

Despite appearances, everything is under control for Black. He can play the prepared 15...d5, and after 16.exd5 Qxd5 he is prepared for 17.Bg5 which he can meet with 17...Nxf5 18.Rxf5 Bxf5 19.Bxf6 Qf7 20.Qxf7+ Kxf7 21.Be5 Bxc2 when Black has an edge.

Instead, he played a reflexive move – and then resigned in apparent disappointment.

15...Rg8 16.Qxf6 Black resigned

Black is down three pawns, and the open lined to his King and the white "Jerome pawns" will cause more grief.

I am sure Kovrad was much too much a gentleman to exclaim, as Nimzowitsch once did, "Why must I lose to this idiot??"

graphic by Jeff Bucchino, The Wizard of Draws

Closer... But not there yet

I keep playing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), especially one particularly risky variation, knowing that someday one of my opponents will know enough about the wild defense to sacrifice his Queen and destroy me...

I make my moves, remembering Gary K. Gifford's re-naming of the opening as the "Jerome Gamble" – and breathe a sigh of a relief as someone gets closer... but not there yet.

perrypawnpusher - intssed
blitz, FICS, 2010

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+

The alternative in this 6...Ke6 variation (one of the many Jerome Gambit refutations) is 7.f4, although 7...d6 – a favorite of computers – presents its own problems.

7...Kd6 8.f4 Qh4+

Not the first move a naive defender would think up. So – how much does intssed know??

9.g3 Nf3+

Closer. "Getting warmer..." as the kids say in their game.

10.Kf1

Better-known is 10.Kd1 – which is why I played this alternative. Also, there is a built-in distraction for Black.

10...Nxh2+

This is a how-do-I-get-out-of-this-mess style move. I first saw it when I was reviewing Unorthodox Chess, by Some Loser (no joke, check out my review at Chessville.com).

11.Kg2

Now Some Loser's analysis continues with the smart 11...Qg4, when 12.Qd5+ Ke7 13.Qxc5+ d6 14.Qf2 Nf6 15.Rxh2 Nxe4 16.Qe3 Qe6 is about even. 

analysis diagram







Instead, my opponent recoiled from the whole situation, moving his Queen away from the attack by my pawn. We've seen this kind of reflexive move before, and it can lead to disaster.

11...Qe7 12.Qd5 checkmate

Death of a Variation

DREWBEAR 63's only loss to date in the ongoing Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament at ChessWorld came with the White pieces against his primary rival, Daves111, under unclear circumstances.

DREWBEAR 63 - Daves111
Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, ChessWorld, 2010

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

4...Kxf7 5.Ng5+

Outrageous, even by Jerome Gambit standards. On the surface, White hopes to exchange his Knight for Black's Bishop at c5 – but the game quickly becomes too chaotic for that.

I was astonished to find 254 games with this move in the updated New Year's Database. White scored 21%, which seems fortunate for the first player, to me.

The earliest examples that I have of the line are a quartet of losses by TlFoZl in play at FICS in 1999, but I am sure the idea has been tried previously. (It is fun to report that when Carlos Azcarate won the 2008 Ninja Knights T3 Jerome Gambit Tournament at ChessWorld, with 19 wins and 5 losses, he did so with the "help" of the 5.Ng5 variation, scoring 1 win and 4 losses.)

What was DREWBEAR 63 thinking? Did he expect to bamboozle his opponent at the outset?

Perhaps he simply mis-played the move. In three other games in the current tournament DREWBEAR 63 played the "Wright attack" (named after the game Wright - Hunn, Arkansas, USA, 1874, scoring 37% in the New Year's Database) with 5.d4 exd4 6.Ng5+ and scored 3 wins.

5...Qxg5 6.d4

The "point" of the variation. Sadly, White's best, instead, was 6.0-0, with one pawn as compensation for two pieces sacrificed.

6...Qxg2 7.Rf1 Qxe4+ 8.Qe2 Qxe2+ 9.Kxe2 Nxd4+ 10.Kd1 d6 11.f3 Bh3

White resigned.

This game bears no resemblance to the rest of DREWBEAR 63's play in the tournament!

Big Bad Wolf

The other day I ran into a big, bad wolf – a higher-rated player who tried to surprise me with the Blackburne Shilling Gambit. Instead, I surprised him with the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.


perrypawnpusher - ZekeTheWolf
blitz, FICS, 2010

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

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Nxg6 Nxc2+

Tempting, because it delivers a check, forks White's King and Rook, and generally messes the position up.

Still, 7..hxg6 is better, and after the game Rybka suggested the line: 8.Qxg6+ Ke7 9.Qg5+ Nf6 10.Qc5+ Kf7 11.Qxd4 d5 12.d3 c5 13.Qc3 dxe4 14.dxe4 Qd4 15.Qxd4 cxd4 16.f3 Be6 17.c3

analysis diagram








when Black is slightly better, although someone comfortable with the Jerome Gambit would probably be comfortable with the White pieces. 

8.Kd1 Qf6

Played too quickly. Better was 8...Nf6 as in perrypawnpusher - xenoglot, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 21) and perrypawnpusher - lourotors, blitz, FICS, 2009 (0-1, 37); but not the suicidal 8...Nxa1 9.Nxh8+ Ke7 10.Qe5, checkmate, perrypawnpusher - mbranimir, blitz, FICS, 2009.

9.Nxh8+ Ke7 10.Kxc2

I was surprised when I checked the updated New Year's Database after the game and saw that my opponent had played this line before: 10.Nc3 c6 11.e5 Qxh8 12.Kxc2 Qg7 13.d3 h6 14.Qh4+ Ke8 15.Qh5+ Ke7 16.Bf4 Qxg2 17.Bg3 d6 18.exd6+ Kd8 19.Rae1 Bd7 20.Qf7 Bxd6 21.Qxg8+ Kc7 22.Qxa8 Bxg3 23.hxg3 Qxf2+ 24.Re2 Qxg3 25.Qxa7 Qf3 26.Qa5+ Kc8 27.Qa8+ Kc7 28.Rxh6 Qxe2+ 29.Nxe2 Black resigned, DragonTail - ZekeTheWolf, FICS 2007

Still, the stronger reply that both DragonTail and I overlooked was 10.Qxh7+  as in 10...Qg7 11.Qh4+ Nf6 12.Kxc2 d6 13.Nc3 Be6 14.Re1 Kd7 15.d4 Be7 16.d5 Rxh8 17.dxe6+ Kc8 18.Qf4 Kb8 19.e5 dxe5 20.Rxe5 Bd6 21.Nb5 Bxe5 22.Qxe5 Qg6+ 23.Kb3 Rc8 24.Bf4 Ka8 25.Nxc7+ Rxc7 26.Qxc7 Qe8 27.Rc1 Qxe6+ 28.Kc2 Qc6+ 29.Kd3 Qxc7 30.Bxc7 a5 31.Bxa5 Ka7 32.b4 Nd5 33.Kd4 Nxb4 34.Bxb4, Black forfeited on time, stemplarv - hitijnar, blitz, FICS, 2008.

10...Qxh8

White is ahead the exchange and two pawns, a winning advantage if he can develop and press his attack, while keeping his own King safe.

11.Qg5+ Ke8 12.Nc3 c6 13.f4 Be7 14.Qh5+ Kd8 15.Qf3 Nf6 16.d3 d6

17.Be3 Bg4 18.Qf2 Bd7 19.h3 Kc7 20.g4 a6

Black's last move weakens the b6 square. Perhaps he was preparing to move his Rook without losing his a-pawn. After the game Rybka recommended 20...Be6, instead.

21.g5 Nh5 22.Bb6+

Taking a short break from the Kingside advance to force Black's King to block his Rook.

22...Kc8 23.f5

This pawn sacrifice was not necessary – I could have prepared for this advance with 23.Rhg1 – but the open g-file is useful. 

23...Bxg5 24.Rag1 Bf6 25.Qf3 Ng7

26.Rg2 Bd8

To get rid of the annoying Bishop at b6. Rybka's suggestion shows how difficult Black's position is, as White's Rooks infiltrate along the g-file: 26...Qf8 27.Rhg1 Ne8 28.Rg8 Qe7 29.Qe3 a5 30.Bd4 Kc7 31.Bxf6 Qxf6 32.R1g7.

analysis diagram








 27.Bxd8 Kxd8 28.Rhg1 Kc7

This slip frees up the Rook, but drops the Knight.

29.Rxg7 Rf8 30.Qh5 Kb6 Black resigned