A New Opening?

Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member, chess opening maven and book author Bill Wall sent me a copy of the September 1958 issue of the Precita Valley Chess Herald ("A Monthly Chess News Bulletin Published by the Precita Valley Chess Club Representing The San Francisco Bay Area Chess League") which had an interesting article. 

A New Opening?

During the U.S. Open at Rochester, Minnesota, there was a small tourney taking place on the side. In it was one man named John Ishkan, who, during one round as White, played 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ After White's fifth move his opponent went up to George Koltanowski and asked, "What opening is this?". Kolty said that he did not know but that he would feed the moves to the IBM machine and find out. A little later the player of the Black pieces asked George, "Did the machine have the answer?" "Yes," was the reply, "It's the ASHCAN OPENING!" -- To complete the story, by the way, Ishkan won the game!

A few comments:

The July 1958 cover story of Chess Review was on "A Chess Playing Program for the I.B.M. 704" by Alex Bernstein. This is likely the "IBM machine" that George Koltanowski was joking about consulting with.

I was surprised that Kolty was unfamiliar with the Jerome Gambit, but there was little written about it in the 1950s (I can think only of L. Elliott Fletcher's 1954 Gambit's Accepted that had a game and analysis), certainly nothing in the recently released (1957) Modern Chess Openings, 9th Edition.

My files show a Koltanowski game from a 1953 blindfold simultaneous display in Brussels, which, while a Philidor Defense, has abit of a Jerome touch to it:

Koltanowski,G - NN
blind simul Brussels, 1953

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nd7 4.Bc4 h6 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Kf6 8.Qd5 Ne7 9.Qf7+ Kxe5 10.Bf4+ Kd4 11.Na3 b5 12.Qe6 Kc5 13.Be3+ Kb4 14.Qb3+ Ka5 15.Qxb5 checkmate

It is interesting to note that the same opening line appeared in a game between Alexandra Kosteniuk and Almira Skripchenko (both rated 2400+ at the time) over 50 years later, only this time it was drawn.

Kosteniuk,A - Skripchenko,A
PWPW S.A Chess Cup, Warsaw, POL (7), 20.06.2004

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nd7 4.Bc4 h6 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Kf6 8.Qd4 c5 9.Nxd7+ Ke7 10.Qxc5+ Kxd7 11.Qb5+ Ke7 12.Nc3 Kf7 13.Be3 Nf6 14.e5 Ng4 15.0-0 Qh4 16.h3 Nxe3 17.fxe3+ Kg8 18.Qb3+ Kh7 19.Nd5 Qg5 20.Rf7 Bxh3 21.Qd3+ Kg8 22.Nf4 Kxf7 23.Nxh3 Qxe5 24.Rf1+ Kg8 25.Qc4+ Kh7 26.Qd3+ Kg8 27.Qc4+ Kh7 28.Qd3+ Kg8 29.Qc4+ drawn


(By the way, you might want to check out Bill's new chess magazine White Knight.)

License to Steal

It is sometimes said that "being lucky is better than having a license to steal." Cyberkid, who recently had the white pieces against elmasgrande in the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit game, below, can appreciate that...

Drawn game.

Black ran out of time and White has no material to mate.

graphic by Jeff Bucchino, the Wizard of Draws

From Tragedy to Farce

Having decided to stop playing the Jerome Gambit until I found more balance with analysis and study (see "Busted"), I nonetheless tried to sneak in a game today... It should be no surprise that the results were completely disastrous, moving beyond tragedy to farce.

perrypawnpusher  - MrScrumps
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.Qf4

A mouse slip (I intended, of course, my standard 8.f4), not surprising given that I was trying to make a move while shooing the dog away from me...

 8...Qf6 White resigned

Actually, I asked to abort the game, but my opponent declined.

Ghosts

We are approaching Halloween, that day for ghosts and ghouls and all things scary. Maybe my opponent in the following game got into the spirit of the day early, as he seems to have seen some kind of a ghost...

perrypawnpusher - hklett
blitz, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5

The Italian Four Knights Game.

5.Bxf7+

The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4

7...Bxd4

Often played, although 7...Bd6 8.dxe5 Bxe5 is best.

8.Qxd4 d6 9.f4 Nc6 10.Qd3 Be6

Perhaps not the best move here, but at least it prevents Black from falling into the "optical illusion" variation. 

11.0-0 Rf8 12.f5 Bd7 13.Qc4+ d5

The alternative, 13...Ke8, the move I was trying to force (to prevent castling-by-hand) was actually better.

14.exd5

Rybka prefers the Knight to capture here, but I am not sure that I understand why.

14...Ne5 15.Qd4 Re8 16.Bf4 c5

Planning 17.dxc6 Nxc6, safeguarding the Knight. 

17.Qxc5 b6

Rybka says that the Queen should go to that square.

18.Qd4 Black resigned

This is somewhat reminiscent of my recent game against molerat, in that I cannot see why my opponent resigned.

Perhaps he thought he was losing his Knight on e5, but 18...Neg4 19.h3 Nh6 20.Bxh6 gxh6 led to a relatively even game, where White has three pawns for his sacrificed piece.

In any event, this game squared us with one win apiece. Rather, one loss apiece, as we have now each given away a game to the other (as I did in our earlier match).

Into Each Life Some NimbusReign Must Fall...

A suspect opening.

A complicated game.

I got-out played.

It's amazing how easy it is to explain the following game.

perrypawnpusher  - NimbusReign
blitz, FICS, 2010


1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5

The Italian Four Knights Game.

5.Bxf7+

The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gamit.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 d5

An adventurous move I had just recently first faced.

8.dxe5 Ng4

Two alternatives, one a little better and one a whole lot worse:

8...Nxe4 9.Qf3+ Kg8 10.Nxe4 dxe4 11.Qxe4 Qd4 12.Qxd4 Bxd4 13.f4 Kf7 14.c3 Bb6 15.Ke2 Bg4+ 16.Kd3 Rad8+ 17.Ke4 Ke6 18.f5+ Bxf5+ 19.Kf4 Rhf8 White resigned, Simavo - SeaDonkey, FICS, 2009; and

8...Bxf2+ 9.Kxf2 dxe4 10.exf6 Qxf6+ 11.Ke1 Re8 12.Rf1 Qxf1+ 13.Kxf1 b6 14.Qh5+ g6 15.Qxh7+ Kf6 16.Qh4+ Kg7 17.Bh6+ Kf7 18.Re1 Bf5 19.Nxe4 Rad8 20.Qf6+ Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - Marcym, blitz, FICS, 2010

9.0-0 dxe4

After the game Rybka suggsted that Black bring more pressure t the f-file with 9...Rf8, giving a line that ends up still good for Black: 10.h3 Nxf2 11.Qxd5+ Qxd5 12.Nxd5 Ke8 13.Be3 Bxe3 14.Nxe3 Nxe4 15.Nd5 Rxf1+ 16.Rxf1 Rb8 17.Nxc7+ Ke7 18.Rf4 Nc5 19.Rc4 b6.

analysis diagram




10.Qe2 Bd4

This leads to about an even game. Rybka preferred 10...Qh4.

11.Nxe4 Qd5 12.c3 Bxe5

Rybka sees this position as roughly equal, and suggests the aggressive line of play: 13.h3 h5 14.c4 Bh2+ 15.Kh1 Qe5 16.g3 Bf5 17.Ng5+ Kg6 18.Qxe5 Nxe5 19.Kxh2 Rhf8 20.f4 Nxc4 21.b3.

analysis diagram

I was not thinking that deeply...

13...Ng5+ Kg6 14.h3 Re8

15.Qd2 Qxd2 16.Bxd2 Bf6 17.Nxh7 Kxh7 18.hxg4 Bxg4

The piece-down endgame holds no prospects for White, especially against the two Bishops.

19.f3 Be6 20.Kf2 Rad8 21.Rfd1 Kg6 22.b3 Bh4+ 23.g3 Bf6

24.Rac1 Rh8 25.Ke3 Rh2 26.f4 Bg4 White resigned

When I checked the New Year's Database to see if NimbusReign had ever played or faced the Jerome Gambit, I found no mention of him at all. Hats off to my opponent for delivering such a pounding on perhaps his first opportunity to do so!

Artificial Stupidity

How do you make a computer chess program play not-so-strongly? You can limit the amount of time that it analyzes any position, or you can limit the depth to which it will analyze. Or, you can cause it to blunder every once-in-a-while... 

perrypawnpusher - MiloBot
standard game, FICS, 2010

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

My "opponent", a chess-playing program at FICS, was not rated highly, and I wanted to see how it would do against the Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 d6

Fascinating! MiloBot is playing the Blackburne Defense! To uphold my honor and that of the Jerome Gambit, I must take the Rook!

8.Qxh8 Qh4 9.0-0 Nf6

Slam! The White Queen is locked in, just like Blackburne played! MiloBot must still be in its opening "book".

10.Qd8

The "escape clause" for White, who now has the advantage, but Black should be able to draw.

10...a5

Yipes! Suddenly Black's "brain" goes haywire.

Necessary was 10...Bb6, and after 11.e5 dxe5 White's Queen escapes with 12.Qd3. I knew the line, but I guess that MiloBot was now out of its book. 

11.Qxc7+ Ke8 12.d4 Bb4 13.c3 Ra6

If this was the "idea" behind Black's last move, then the game is largely over already...

14.cxb4

Taking the other Bishop was even better. 

14...Be6 15.Qxb7 Qg4 16.Qxa6 Bc8 17.Qxd6 Be6

18.f3 Bg8 19.Qxf6 Qxg2+

I have no idea what the computer was doing.

20.Kxg2 axb4 21.Bg5 Kd7 22.Rc1 Bc4 23.Rxc4 Ke8 24.Qe7 checkmate

Well, that was a bit of a mis-match...

Closing the Door

Thanks to a difficult loss for CheckmateKingTwo to eddie43, Daves111 was able to close the door on the one remaining rival for first place in the current ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament.

A dozen games remain unfinished in the 156-game tournament.

Daves111 leads with 21 points out of 24 games and cannot now be caught.

Second place remains a battle between DREWBEAR 63 with 17.5 points out of 22 games and CheckmateKingTwo with 12 points out of 16 games.

Next are blackburne with 15 points out of 23 games and TWODOGS with 13.5 points out of 21 games.