Nadir 2.0

I have finally played a Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) that is so bad that I will not even bother to share it with readers (something that has not happened for over 1,000 days). Far beyond the simple reversal of move orders, as in Friday's game against Cibola, it contained a flock of inexplicable errors – topped off with mouse-slip that lost the Queen... There is no need for me to take a vacation, as when "a case of the stupids" struck before, though: from now on, such games will go directly into The Database, and the time that I would have spent analyzing and preparing the disaster for posting here will be spent on either more historical research into the Jerome Gambit or on assembling information for my forthcoming book, The Worst Chess Opening Ever: The Jerome Gambit in Black and White. 

We now return you to regularly scheduled posting.

The Long and Winding Road

The following game takes its time getting where it's going. In fact, it probably could have taken even longer, if my opponent had not forseen the future and decided to stop travelling.

perrypawnpusher - VGxdys
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

The Semi-Italian Opening.

4.O-O Bc5 5.Bxf7+

The Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.Qh5+ Ng6 8.Qd5+

Interestingly, Rybka 3 (at a depth of 20 ply) sees this "nudge" as 1/2 pawn better than the immediate capture, 8.Qxc5.

8...Ke8 9.Qxc5 d6 10.Qe3 Nf6

A standard Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit position, although Black has also played 10...Qf6 in perrypawnpusher - saltos, blitz FICS 2009 (1-0, 28); 10...Ne5 in perrypawnpusher - Kotimatka, blitz FICS, 2009 (1-0, 21) and perrypawnpusher - Eferio, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 24); 10...Qe7 in perrypawnpusher - Macgregr, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 23); and 10...N8e7 in perrypawnpusher - apinheiro, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 59), perrypawnpusher - VGxdys, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 32) and perrypawnpusher - apinheiro, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 25).

11.f4

Or 11.d4 and then 12.f4 as in perrypawnpusher - KenWhitaker, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 27).

11...Kf8

Taking the King off of the dangerous e-file, if temporarily putting him on the dangerous f-file. Black's plan is to castle-by-hand, with the King ending up on h7. Instead a center strike with 11...Qe7 12.d3 d5 occurred in perrypawnpusher - LeifPetersen, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 30).

12.f5 Ne5 13.d4 Nc4

It was probably safer to play 13...Nf7, but who can resist harassing the Queen?

14.Qd3 b5

Oddly similar to our earlier game, referred to above.

15.b3 Nb6 16.Nc3 Kg8 17.Qxb5 a6 18.Qe2 Kh7

White has grabbed a Queenside pawn while Black has castled-by-hand on the Kingside. The game is about even.

19.e5 dxe5 20.dxe5 Nfd5 21.Bb2

Good enough, although with White's forces focusing on the f6 square, 21.Ne4 would have been even better.

21...Re8 22.Rad1 Qg5

This was Black's idea, attacking White's King.

25.Rd2 a5 26.Qf2 Ba6 27.Rfd1 Rad8 28.Rxd8 Rxd8 29.Rxd8 Qxd8

30.Qd4 Qg5 31.e6 Bb7 32.Qf2 Be4 33.f6 gxf6 34.Bxf6 Qc1+

The game has taken on some of the annoying aspects of the typical Jerome Gambit Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame. Still, I was willing to exchange Queens and try my luck. Too, exchanging Queens was Black's best chance.

35.Qf1 Qe3+ 36.Kh1 Bxc2 37.e7 Bd3

A slip, which should have been punished by 38.e8/Q, winning the Bishop.

38.Qg1 Qe6 39.Bh4 Qf7

40.Qe1 Bb5 41.Qe4+ Kg7

Another slip: White can now check the King and win the Bishop.

My opponent seems to have been a bit too comfortable with his assessment of the endgame as drawish. That made two of us.

42.Qg4+ Kh7 43.Qe4+ Kg8 44.h3

A small idea, but a useful one. With the back-rank checkmate prevented, my Queen can wander more successfully, not just limiting herself to offeres to exchange or checks on the enemy King.

44...Bd7 45.Kh2 Qe8

White's e-pawn is effectively blockaded, his Queenside pawns will not produce a passer on their own, and creating one on the Kingside will expose the White King to plenty of attacks. A win for for me, if it is there, is a long way down the road.

46.Qc4+ Kh7 47.Qxc7 Black resigned

With my King safe, however, my pawns do not have to do it on their own. The Queen will soon pick off Black's a-pawn, and then White's Queenside pawns will begin to advance and assert themselves.

My opponent decided that there was no need to let things go that far.

23.Nxd5 Nxd5 24.Rxd5 Bb7

Ouch Chess

The Database has over 1,350 games by DragonTail. It would have even more if it included games where Black played ...Be7 instead of ...Bc5.

DragonTail - REDEF
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

The Semi-Italian Opening.

4.Bxf7+

Why even wait for Black to play ...Bc5?

4...Kxf7 5.d4 d6 6.dxe5 Nxe5

Played without much consideration. The Black d-pawn is pinned.

7.Nxe5+ Ke8 8.Qh5+ Black resigned

Ouch!

Two Endgames

I recently played two endgames that had the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) style imbalance of a piece vs two pawns. Both taught me something about what chances I would have, should my games last until there were only a few pieces on the board. Advantage: piece.

This position is from perrypawnpusher - zulugodetia, blitz, FICS, 2011. Although I had the White pieces, it was not a Jerome Gambit (notice Black's f-pawn). I had just exchanged Queens, being pleased to have the extra piece, not the extra pawns.

34.Nf2 f5

Black would do better to start his h-pawn running. White's plan would be to use his King to stop the Kingside pawns while using his Knight to nab a couple of Queenside pawns. Once White's Queenside pawns can take care of themselves, then the Knight will travel to the Kingside to capture those pawns. Then: back to the Queenside to promote a pawn...

35.Nd3 h5 36.Ke2 Kf7 37.Nxc5 Kf6 38.Nd7+

A change of plans. Simpler would have been 38.Nb7, planning to grab Black's a-pawn; as the Knight can still get back in time to help his King.

38...Ke6 39.Ne5 g5 40.fxg5

Yes, the Knight is expendable. That is why it came back instead of grabbing another Queenside pawn.

40...Kxe5 41.Kf3 h4 42.g6 Kf6 43.c5

43...h3 44.Kg3 f4+

A great try at a swindle: now 45.Kxf4?? loses to 45...h2 and Black Queens a pawn.

45.Kxh3 f3 46.Kg3 f2 47.Kxf2 Black resigned

The g-pawn cannot be captured without allowing the c-pawn to promote.

 

This position is from perrypawnpusher - Cibola, blitz, FICS, 2011, a Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit.

In some time trouble, I decided on the simple (if not best) plan of exchanging my Bishop and weak Queenside pawns for Black's Knight and Kingside pawn, leaving me with two connected passed pawns in a Rook endgame...

34...Nxc3 35.Ra6+ d5 36.Rxh6??

Simply reversing my planned moves. After 36.Bxc3 Rxc3 37.Rxh6 Black can clean up the Queenside with 37...Rxc2+ 38.Kf3 Rxa2 but my two passed pawns on the Kingside will eventually decide the game in my favor.

36...Kxd4

Ooops...

In contrast to my game against zulugodetia, above, White has the extra pawns against Black's extra piece.

Perhaps a master could convert the win for either side, but I could only see a draw. My opponent eventually agreed.

37.Rh4+ Kd5 38.Rh5+ Kc4 39.Rh4+ Kb5 40.Ke3 Nxa2 41.Kd2 Nb4 42.c3 Nc6 43.Re4 Rd8+ 44.Kc2 Rg8 45.Re2 Kb6 46.Kb3 Na5+ 47.Kb4 Rg4+ 48.Ka3 Rc4 49.Re6+ Nc6 50.Kb3 Rg4 51.Re2 Na5+ 52.Kb2Nc4+ 53.Kb3 Na5+ 54.Kb2 Nc4+ 55.Kb3 Na5+ 56.Kb2 Nc4+ 57.Kb3 Na5+ Game drawn by repetition

No Getting Around This Wall

Here is the latest Jerome Gambit game from Bill Wall. It is another example of an opponent deciding, if you want me to play that, I won't! As usual, this means that Black exchanges a theoretically won game for one where he is immediately worse...

 Wall,B - Buster
Chess.com, 2011

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

4...Kf8


Declining the Bishop. Buster has already shown in an earlier game against the same opponent (see "The Anti-Bill Wall Gambit") that he has his own ideas about the Jerome Gambit, and they do not include cooperating with White's plans.

5.Qe2

A move that Richard Moody, with his interest in early Queen creeper moves, would fully enjoy.

5...Qf6

The only other example that I have with 4...Kf8 5.Qe2 in The Database continued: 5...d6 6.Nc3 Bg4 7.Bd5 Nd4 8.Qd1 c6 9.0-0 Bxf3 10.gxf3 Qh4 11.d3 Nf6 12.Bxc6 bxc6 13.a3 Kf7 14.b4 Bb6 15.Na4 Qh3 16.c3 Nxf3+ 17.Kh1 Qxh2 checkmate, hinders - pvm, FICS, 2001.

6.Bb3 Nd4

Black has only a tempo (and a misplaced King) for his lost pawn. The text does not look like an efficient use of that "compensation".

7.Nxd4 Bxd4 8.0-0 d6 9.c3 Bb6 10.d3

10...Ke7

Black appears nervous about having his King and Queen on the same file as White's Rook, but expending a tempo to put his monarch further into the center only encourages White to offer a pawn to open lines of attack.

11.d4 Nh6

Black wants no part of something like the pawn grab 11...exd4 12.cxd4 Bxd4 13.Nc3 which could only go horribly wrong after a second helping of pawn: 13...Bxc3 14.bxc3 Qxc3 15.Bb2 and White's position looks like a Danish Gambiteer's dream. 

12.dxe5 Qxe5

Keeping the d-file closed at the cost of having his Kingside pawns broken up.

13.Bxh6 gxh6

14.Nd2 h5 15.Nc4 Bg4 16.Qd3 Qc5 17.e5

17...Raf8

Black's pieces are developed, with pressure on the White King, but it is too late.

18.exd6+ cxd6 19.Rae1+ Kd8 20.Nxd6

This is more than just another pawn captured: it is another line opened against the enemy King.

20...Kc7 21.Re7+ Kb8 22.Rxb7+ Ka8 23.Qe4 Rxf2 24.Rxb6+ Black resigned

The Equalizing Injustice of Chess

Blitz. You can play a refuted opening against an opponent who has out-prepared you. You can make tactical mistakes and fall even further behind in material. You can be a move or two away from being summarily executed. And then you can win.

It's not fair.
 

perrypawnpusher  - dkahnd
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

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

I was pretty sure that I had played my opponent before, but after the game I consulted The Database and found that this was our fourth matchup.

Last year dkahnd had chosen 6...Kf8 against me in perrypawnpusher - dkahnd, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 20).

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6

dkahnd was taking his time on his moves. He was not going to do anything silly.

10.0-0 Rf8 11.f4 Ng4

Or 11...Rf7 12.f5 Ne5 13.d4 Neg4 as in perrypawnpusher - dkahnd, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 30).

12.Qg3 h5

Varying from 12...Qf6 as in perrypawnpusher - dkahnd, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 37)


I had expected 12...Qh4 like perrypawnpusher - MRBarupal, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 47).

It appears that in the current game, ...Rh8-f8 was not a preparation for castling-by-hand but a move in support of a Kingside attack!

13.h3

Fritz10 sees this as a tiny improvement over 13.d4, but it would have been nice to be able to answer 13...h4 with 14.Qd3 as I did in perrypawnpusher - lorecai, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 47).

My opponent continued to play slowly, seriously and strongly. 

13...h4 14.Qb3

I had no idea how terrible this move was at the time. Of course, I had no idea how terrible my position had become, too.

After the game Rybka 3 recommended 14.Qe1, when White is barely able to survive Black's attack: 14...Nxf4 15.d4 (instead, 15.hxg4 can be answered by 15...Qf6 and 16...Nxg2) Qf6 16.e5 Nxh3+ (As someone once said: I'm up a piece? Great! Then I have two that I can sacrifice!) 17.gxh3 Qxf1+ 18.Qxf1 Rxf1+ 19.Kxf1 Nh6 20.Kg2 dxe5 21.dxe5 Bd7 22.Nc3 Bc6+ 23.Kf2 Ke7 24.Bxh6 Rf8+ 25.Ke2 gxh6 26.Rg1 Rf3 27.Rg7+ Kf8 28.Rxc7 Rxh3 29.Rh7 Rg3 30.Rxh6 h3.

analysis diagram





With luck, White might be able to grovel himself to a draw... Or not.

14...Nxf4 15.hxg4

Overlooking Black's response. Actually, for a move, Black overlooked his response, too.

15...Bxg4

This is good. As Black discovers a move later, ...Ne2+ is even better.

16.d4

I was still pretty clueless, but Rybka 3 later showed a tortuous route to completing my development: 16.Kh2 Be6 17.Qf3 h3 18.g3 Ng6 19.Qe2 Ne5 20.Rxf8+ Kxf8 21.d4 Bg4 22.Qf2+ Nf3+ 23.Kh1 Kg8 24.Be3 Qe7 25.Nc3 Rf8

analysis diagram







Gruesome, Black is still better. As if I could think as strong or as quick as a computer, anyhow...

16...Ne2+ 17.Kh2 Rxf1

I was now down a Rook. Could my Queenside look any more ridiculous?

My only "hope", such as it was, as my opponent prepared to wrap up the game, was that he had used up a lot of time and was now playing on the increments.

18.Qg8+ Rf8 19.Qxg7 Be6 20.Bg5 Qd7 21.Qg6+ Bf7 22.Qf6

Certainly not the objectively best move, but when your only chance left is an opponent's time error, you go for concrete threats. 

22...Ng3 23.Nc3 Qg4

Zeitnot.

24.Qe7 checkmate

Whew! This game is going to get a lot of in-depth study from me before I try the Jerome Gambit again!

Greed Is Not Good

In a simple Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit game, Black realizes that just as his counter-attack relies on his opponent's greed for success, his own play crashes when he starts looking for "too much."


Ghandy - marlbo
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit. White can safely play 4.Nxd4, 4.c3, 4.d3 or 4.0-0 with advantage. He just has to stay away from the complications that come with the greedy 4.Nxe5.

4.Bxf7+

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit. At best White should only get an even game out of it, but he gets a game where he is attacking, not Black.

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

Recommended as best is 6.c3 (see "Crime and Punisher", "Read This Blog" and "Scared to Death" for starters), but the text can stir up some trouble, especially if Black is greedy.

6...Nxc2+

Going after the big fat Rook at a1. Instead, 6...Nf6 led to a complicated, but better game for Black.

7.Kf1 Nxa1

This seems simple and consistent enough, but 7...Nf6 or 7...g6 were the right way to go. In blitz, though, it can be tempting to grab material and then sort it all out later.

8.Qf5+ Kd6

Already Black has to avoid 8...Ke7 9.Qf7+ Kd6 10.Nc4+ Kc5 11.Qd5+ Kb4 12.a3+ Kb3 13.Ne3+Ka4 14.Nc3 checkmate. This kind of finish should be familiar to those who have read "Instant Victory" and "Instant Victory Redux".

9.Nf7+ Black resigned

Black is losing his Queen, and after 9...Ke7 10.Nxd8 Nf6 (not 10...Kxd8 11.Qxf8 checkmate) 11.e5 Kxd8 12.exf6 Black has only a Bishop and a Rook in exchange – and the safety of his Knight on a1 is not assured yet, to boot.