Theory From the Thematic Tourney (3)

One problem with a refuted opening like the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is that it is refuted... That means that there are lines that Black can play that lead to equality – or more. In some of those lines White can complicate things and hope to take advantage of the confusion. In other lines it is not so easy for White to "find something".

Luke Warm - Daves111
Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament,
ChessWorld, 2010

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 d6 8.fxe5 dxe5

This defense, a favorite of computer chess programs, gives back a piece to drain the dynamism out of the position.

In the gruelling "Jerome Gambit: Drilling Down" matches between human RevvedUp (a pseudonym) and Hiarcs 8, Shredder 8, Yace Paderborn, Crafty 19.19 and Fritz 8, the flesh-and-blood player twice scored draws with Black from this position against opponents rated 1,000 points higher than him. 

The updated New Year's Database shows that White has tried 9.b4, 9.c3, 9.d3, 9.d4, 9.Nc3, 9.Rf1, 9.Qe2, 9.Qf5+, 9.Qg4+ and 9.Qh3+.

In the current game, Luke Warm decides to try a Queenless middlegame, but he finds nothing but trouble.

9.Qf5+ Kd6 10.Qf3 Qh4+ 11.g3 Qg4 12.Qxg4 Bxg4

13.Nc3 Rf8 14.d3 Bh3 15.Bd2 Bg2 16.Ke2 Bf3+ 17.Ke1 Bxh1 18.Ke2 Rf2+ 19.Ke1 Rxh2

20.Nb5+ Kd7 21.b4 Bf2+ 22.Kd1 Bxg3 23.c3 Bf3+ 24.Kc2 Nf6 25.a4 a6 26.Na3 Bf4 27.Rd1 Bxd1+ 28.Kxd1 Rxd2+ 29.Ke1 Black resigned

Slippage

In our previous Jerome Gambit game, my opponent seriously out-played me and well deserved the full point. In this game, I didn't play any better, but my opponent didn't keep pace. 

perrypawnpusher - mjmonday
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 Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

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

8...Bxd4 9.Qxd4 d6 10.f4 Nc6 11.Qd3 Re8

Black is very business-like in his play, staying out of mischief and preparing to castle-by-hand.

I also had difficulties after 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 perrypawnpusher - HRoark, blitz FICS, 2010.

12.Bd2 Kg8 13.Rae1 Nb4

All of a sudden my opponent falls for an optical illusion... Attacking that Queen is so tempting.

Instead, 13...Kh8 was just fine for Black, as in perrypawnpusher - DeDaapse, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 24) and perrypawnpusher - JohnBr, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 31)

14.Qc4+ d5

Previously I had seen 14...Be6 in perrypawnpusher - Angstrem, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 35) and perrypawnpusher - amirelattar, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 50).

15.Qxb4 dxe4

16.Bc1 b6 17.Nxe4 Bb7 18.Nxf6+ Qxf6 19.Bd2 c5 20.Qc4+ Kh8 21.Bc3 Qg6

22.g3

The Bishops-of-opposite-colors are not yet drawish; instead, the player with the attack has the advantage. The move played is a blunder. White should not have further weakened the a8-h1 diagonal, and instead focused upon protecting g2.

22...Qg4

A missed chance: 22...Qc6 is deadly. 

23.Qd3 Rxe1 24.Rxe1 Qh3

This looks like it puts pressure on White's King, but it allows the shot 25.Bxg7+. Too bad I missed it.

25.Qe2 a5

Black continues his play on the light squares, preparing for ...Ba6.

26.Qf2

Totally focused on defending, instead of the mentioned Bxg7+.

26...Kh7

Allowing me to finally bring an end to the game by glueing Black's Rook to g8 and exchanging Queens.

27.Re7 Rg8 28.Rxb7 Qg4 29.Qd2 Qf3 30.Qd3+ Qxd3 31.cxd3 Re8

An oversight.

32.Rxg7+ Black resigned

Such Foolishness

I've pointed out before (see "Worth the time?") that sometimes defending against the Jerome Gambit isn't worth a person's time...




perrypawnpusher - MrNatewood
blitz, FICS, 2010

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

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

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Ng6

Not a common reply: there are 15 games in the updated New Year's Database. Black retains a small edge, even though White scored 67% in those games.

9.Qd5+ Ke7 10.Qxc5+ d6 11.Qe3

11...Be6

Thoughtless development. After the game Rybka recommended 11...c5 12.d4 cxd4 13.Qxd4 Nf6 14.Nc3 Qb6 15.Qxb6 axb6 16.0-0 Kf7 17.Rd1 Rd8 18.f5 Ne5 19.Bg5 Ra5 and Blackhas an edge.

12.f5 Black resigned

Black will lose a piece for a pawn, leaving him down a pawn. That is not a horrible situation, but perhaps annoying enough to want to just start over with a new game.

Theory From the Thematic Tourney (2)

Looking further at some of the theoretical implications of the ChessWorld Thematic Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) Tournament, I was sure that the 5.Ng5+ line of the Jerome Gambit (after 4...Kxf7) had been finally disposed of by the game DREWBEAR 63 - Daves111 (see "Death of a Variaton").  

A quick glance at the updated New Year's Database, however, shows that this is not so: there are five games that have appeared after my "concluding" post on the topic, including two wins with White by digitalthunder, against (slightly) higher rated opponents:

digitalthunder - funkonfusion
blitz, FICS, 2010

1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 e5 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+ Qxg5 6.0-0 d6 7.d4 Nxd4 8.Bxg5 Black resigned




digitalthunder - kakaStain
blitz, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+ Ke7 6.Nf3 Nf6 7.d4 exd4 8.e5 Ne4 9.Qe2 d3 10.Qxe4 Kf7 11.Ng5+ Kf8 12.Qd5 Bxf2+ 13.Kxf2 dxc2 14.Qf7 checkmate

What can I say??

Never say Never...

graphic by Jeff Bucchino, the Wizard of Draws

Theory From the Thematic Tourney (1)

The Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament at ChessWorld is only about 80% complete, but it is already possible to start drawing some conclusions about what it has to say about the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) play and theory.

For starters, as is usually the case, the Bishop sacrifice was accepted (4...Kxf7) in 155 of the 156 games being played. 

The "modern" variations of the Jerome (those not including 5.Nxe5+) remain far more popular than "classical" variations, making up 78% of the games. In fact, the "classical" lines were tried by only four of the thirteen players: blackburne (12 games),  stampyshortlegs (12 games), Luke Warm (9 games) and anbeks (2 games).

The likely tournament winner, Daves111, showed that success depended upon beating the Jerome Gambit (he won 11 games out of 12 with the Black pieces) as well as being successful with it (he won 10 games out of 12 with the White pieces). Daves111 played 5.d3 (seven times), 5.0-0 (twice), 5.Nc3 (twice) and 5.Qe2 (once).

As is consistent with "modern" play of the Jerome Gambit, with the White pieces Daves111 did not force play along thematic lines as much as he developed consistently, played carefully, and waited to take advantage of his opponents' errors – a good strategy in any game situation, especially when you are the top-rated player.

graphic by Jeff Bucchino, the Wizard of Draws

Never Mind...

Except for the occasional Jedi Mind Trick (see "Jedi Mind Tricks", "Jedi Mind Tricks / Rematch" and "Sith still and don't move...") there doesn't seem to be a lot to support Black's choice of 4th and 5th moves.


perrypawnpusher - Roetman
blitz, FICS, 2010

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

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit, sometimes devastating against those who have never seen it before.

4.Bxf7+

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit. Although objectively the best that White should get out of the line is a draw, I have scored 90% with it in 25 games (not counting this one).

The updated New Year's Database indicates that my opponent had faced this move 6 times previously.

4...Ke7

Other than the erronious idea "White wants me to take the Bishop, so I won't take the Bishop" it's hard to see the "why?" here.

Roetman had played this move twice (unsuccessfully) in 2004, and then moved on to the standard 4...Kxf7. I've faced 4...Ke7 three times (starting with "Opening Disaster") without a loss.

I suppose from a literary point of view, that's called "foreshadowing."

5.Bb3

Both 5.Bxg8, as in perrypawnpusher - TheProducer, blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 16) and perypawnpusher - zadox, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 29), and 5.Bc4, as in perrypawnpusher - zadox, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 14) are good alternatives.

5...Ke8

Again, I am at a loss to explain this. All I can do is punish it severely, and hope that a lesson is learned.

6.Nxd4 exd4 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Qe5+ Qe7 9.Qxh8

9...Nf6

Hoping to trap White's Queen.

The sharper 9...Qxe4+ displaces White's King to f1, but the extra Rook that the first player has is bound to tell.

10. d3 d6 11. Bg5 Kd7 12. Qxf6 Black resigned

Capturing with the Bishop was even stronger, but I thought that the game would be simpler with the ladies off of the board.

One step forward...

In preparing yesterday's post, I noticed that I had not yet presented the following game.


perrypawnpusher - kinghh
blitz, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.0-0 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bc5

The Semi-Italian Four Knights Game.

6.Bxf7+

The Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

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

8...Bxd4 9.Qxd4 Qe7 10.f4

Not as effective as the text is 10.Bf4, perrypawnpusher - philippemuurmans, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 28).

10...Nc6

Simple, safe, and preserving Black's advantage. Instead, 10...c5 led to mishaps in perrypawnpusher - jaymen, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 40) and perrypawnpusher - louarn, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 21). 

11.Qd3 Re8

Preparing to castle-by-hand.

12.e5 Ng8

After the game Rybka suggested that it was time for Black to give back the sacrificed piece: 12...b6 13.exf6 Qxf6 and White has an edge.

13.Bd2

Missing the shot 13.Nd5, winning the exchange, as 13...Qd8 would allow 14.Qf5+ winning a piece.

13...d6 14.Rae1 dxe5

Overlooking the fact that White's reply comes with check. After the game Rybka suggested 14...Kf8  leading to an equal game. 

15.fxe5+

This should be enough to win, but in the followup I choose a lot of second or third best moves, and prolong the game.

15...Nf6 16.exf6 Qc5+ 17.Be3 Rxe3 18.Rxe3 gxf6

White is ahead only the exhange, but his massive lead in development and Black's unsafe King are decisive. For example, there is now a mate-in-two, that I missed, because I wanted an advantageous endgame... 

19.Qd5+ Qxd5 20.Nxd5 f5 21.g4 Be6

22.Nxc7 Rg8 23.Nxe6 Rxg4+ 24.Kh1 Kf6 25.Nf4 Nd4 26.c3 Kg5 27.cxd4 Rxf4 28.Rxf4 Kxf4

29.Re1 h5 30.d5 Kf3 31.d6 Black resigned