Folie à deux

The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+) is one of the "modern" Jerome Gambit lines where White obtains one pawn in exchange for his sacrificed piece.

In a recent game, after much ado, having gained nothing more and lost nothing more, I arrived at the following endgame position.


perrypawnpusher - OudeKwakkelaar, blitz, FICS, 2011

I had the delusional notion that the game could be draw by moving the White King to the Queenside and eliminating Black's pawns.

The funny thing was, my opponent had the same idea.

43.Kf5 Nd3 44.Ke6 Nc1 45.Kd6 Nxa2 46.Kc6 Nb4+ 47.Kb7 Nd3 48.Kxa7 Nc1 49.Kxb6 Nxb3 50.Kb5 Kh6

Black's King can not help on the Queenside until he takes care of the White h-pawn.

51.Ka4 Nd2 52.Kb5 Nb3 53.Ka4 Nd2 54.Kb5

I was happy with a repetition of position.

54...Ne4 55.Kc6 Kh5 56.Kd5 Nc3+ 57.Kxc5 Kh4 58.Kd6 Kxh3 59.c5 Nb5+ 60.Kd7 Kg4 61.c6 Kf5 62.c7 Nxc7

drawn, as neither player has mating material

But, wait a minute! Let's go back to Black's move 51 (or 53) and try 51...Nd4 instead:

 
analysis diagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Now Black's Knight and pawn cooperate perfectly, and White's King can only race around foolishly, taking a stab at the pawn, then the Knight, then the pawn...
 
Eventually Black's King joins the dance and the game is over: 51...Nd4 52.Ka5 (going after the pawn) Kh5 (Black has time to head toward the h-pawn) 53.Kb6 Nb3 54.Kc6 Kh4 55.Kb5 (might as well go after the Knight again) Kxh3 56.Ka4 Nd4 57.Ka5 (back to the pawn) Kg4 58.Kb6 Nb3 59.Kb5 Kf4 60.Ka4 (attacking the Knight) Nd4 61.Ka5 Ke5 62.Kb6 Nb3 63.Kb5 Kd4 64.Ka4 Kxc4. Black will simply escort his pawn to its Queening square.
 
The final irony is that while the leap of the Black Knight to d4 was a winner on move 51 and move 53, even if the second player had finally discovered the idea it would not be so on move 55: Black would need to play 54...Nb3, and that would allow 55.Ka4, repeating the position for the third time and allowing a draw, anyway...

Such things are bound to happen in blitz play.

Flounder

I have slowly been increasing the rating of the players I try the Jerome Gambit on, and this has had a marked impact on my games. While once I could play my "regular" game, and pounce on my opponent's big errors, now I have to try to make something out of much lesser errors... This will continually push me to improve my game, or more results like the following will occur.

perrypawnpusher - truuf
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8

The Jerome Variation of the Jerome Gambit, played by Alonzo Wheeler Jerome against David Jaeger in correspondence, 1880.

7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qg3 Nf6

Pete Banks ("blackburne") faced 8...Qe7 over-the-board in Banks -Dunne, Worcestershire vs Derbyshire, 2010, (1-0,35);


Bill Wall has seen both 8...Qf6 (Wall,B - GoldCoinCollector, Chess.com, 2010 [1-0,17]) and 8...h5 (Wall,B -Thieveyen, Chess.com, 2010 [1-0,61]).

9.Nc3

A tiny bit better might be 9.d3, although transposition is likely.

9...Kf7 10.d3 Rf8 11.0-0 Kg8

Black has castled-by-hand and is simply better. His Bishop at c5 holds back the f-pawn, causing a change in White's strategy.

12.Bg5 Nh5

Better was 12...Be6, but who can resist attacking the Queen? 

13.Qh4 Qe8 14.Nd5 Qf7

15.c3 Be6

A reasonable move, but it has a tactical hole, so better was 15...h6.

16.Ne3

Missing a chance to grab a pawn with 16.Nxc7 Qxc7 17.Qxh5 and allowing Black to correct his last move.
16...h6 17.Bxh6 gxh6 18.g4

From here on out, my moves become more and more desperate. 

18...Qg6

An inaccuracy, although giving back a piece (he has two to spare) to exchange Queens pretty much seals my fate.

19.Qxh5 Qxh5 20.gxh5 Bh3 21.Rfe1 Kh7 22.Kh1 Rxf2 23.d4 Bb6 24.Rab1 Raf8

25.a4 R8f3 26.b4 a6 27.a5 Ba7 28.Rbc1 Rd2 29.Nd1 c5 30.dxc5 dxc5 31.e5 cxb4 32.e6 Bg2 checkmate

It is worth checking out the game references, above (all are in The Database), but this outing was not one of my better ones. 

Paint-by-Number Defense

While the Jerome Gambit has different refutations and strategies for Black to use in confronting it, it would be a mistake to consider such knowledge to be similar to a paint-by-number set. The defender needs to do more than just dab a bit of color here and dribble a bit of color there...

jfhumphrey - PlatinumSurfer
blitz, FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.Bxf7+

A delayed Jerome Gambit, or a transposition to a "modern" variation.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 d6

Black understands that returning one of the two sacrificed pieces is a sound way to turn back the Jerome Gambit.

8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Qe2 Rf8

Wise, too, is finding shelter for Black's King, as in castling-by-hand.

10.Qc4+ Be6 11.Qxc5

Not quite as the second player planned it. But attacking White's wayward Queen is frequently a good idea for the defender, so...

11...Nxe4 12.Qxe5

White is not playing along.

12...Nf6 13.Bg5 Kg8

Safe at last!

14.Qxe6+

Not another one... Black resigned.

I wonder how that happened...

Sunday Book Reviews

Long-time readers are no-doubt aware that over the last few years I have written 125 - 150 chess reviews, posted at the Chessville.com site. That is also the location for my short story fiction, from Sherlock Holmes to Perry the PawnPusher to The Kennedy Kids.

Unfortunately, Chessville has not posted new material in the last 5 months, and I am unsure when it will become active again. Therefore, I have decided to start posting reviews here, in "Sunday Book Reviews".

For the most part I will cover unorthodox or aggressive chess openings, as I did at Chessville, which should be of interest to many readers. For example, I have reviewed a number of books in the Secrets of Opening Surprises series (#4, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12), and it seems reasonable to give a look at #13.

I have reviewed books about openings less travelled (examples: Starting Out: d-pawn Attacks - the Colle-Zukertort, Barry and 150 Attacks by IM Richard Palliser; Starting Out: The Dutch Defense by Neil McDonald; and The Trompowsky by Nigel Davies), openings off of the beaten path (examples: Tango!  A Dynamic Answer to 1.d4 by Richard Palliser; Tiger's Modern by Tiger Hillarp Persson; and Chess On the Edge Volume 1, 2 and 3 - 100 Selected Games of Canadian Grandmaster Duncan Suttles, by FM Bruce Harper, GM Yasser Seirawan, with contributions by IM Gerard Welling,) and openings to which there is hardly a path at all (examples: Two Books by Richard Moody Jr. - Magic: Black to Move and Win! and Universal Chess: The Search For Truth And Beauty; Winning with the Krazy Kat and Old Hippo, by Gary K. Gifford, Davide Rozzoni and Bill Wall; and Challenging the Sicilian with 2.a3!? by Alexei Bezgodov).

I have even reviewed books on openings that challenge the Jerome Gambit in outrageousness, and which have inspired me to write my own tome on that duckbilled platypus of chess openings (Unorthodox Chess by Some Loser and In Your Face Chess Novelties by Andrew Tocher).

Please take a minute to let me know what you think about this idea.

Coming next Sunday Book Review: Captain Jack Sparrow!

Fish

I was going to just quietly add the following sad Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit game to The Database, but then I decided that it had a worthwhile point or two. Also, sharing it on the blog would give my opponent (and others) a chance for a good laugh at my expense. Fair is fair.

perrypawnpusher  - pblond
blitz, FICS,2011

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

The Semi-Italian Opening.

By the way, it turns out that I had played my opponent a few months before, and I didn't remember it at the time of this game.

4.0-0 Bc5 5.Bxf7+

The Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit.

Apparently I had played this against pblond before, and didn't remember that, either.

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

There is a lot that I could write about this line, but it turns out that I have already written much of it in my coverage of perrypawnpusher - pblond, blitz, FICS, 2011. I wish that I had remembered it. So much for being prepared or booked-up!

8.Qf5+ Kd6 9.d4 Bxd4 10.Rd1 c5

At first glance, the addition of ...h6 for Black and 0-0 for White seems to be in the first player's favor in the Semi-Italian variation of the Jerome Gambit. In the 7...Ke6 line, however, the presence of Black's Bishop on c5 means that White cannot play f2-f4, so he must, instead, fumble around with d2-d4.

Perhaps it is time to look into 9.b4!? (I almost wrote "I am sure that Bill Wall could play 9.Kh1 followed by f2-f4 and get away with it," but I think 9...Qf6 would be a very good, disruptive answer for Black.)

11.c3 Ne7 12.Qh3 Kc7

In this way Black gets out of the pin along the d-file and finds some shelter for his King, at the cost of returning one of his two extra pieces.

13.cxd4 d6

Giving me a chance.

Not quite as strong as 13...cxd4, from our earlier encounter, which continued 14.Rxd4 d6 15.Qc3+ N7c6 16.Bf4 Qf6 17.Bxe5 Qxe5 18.Rc4 Be6 19.Qxe5 dxe5 20.Rc1 Rac8 21.b4 Kb8 22.Nd2 Nd4 23.a4 Ne2+ White resigned, perrypawnpusher - pblond, blitz, FICS, 2011.

Now 14.Qc3 Nd7 15.dxc5 Nxc5 16.Bf4 b6 17.b4 Kc6 was perrypawnpusher - tuffmom, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 17), but 14...Nf7 would be a bit of an improvement: after 15.dxc5 Nc6 16.cxd6+ Kb8 White's pawns balance out Black's extra piece.

Nine wins and two draws from the position in the third diagram. You would think that I would remember the one loss, and who I lost to. Nope. As Forrest Gump said, Stupid is as stupid does.

14.dxe5 Bxh3

Ooooops...

Oh, well, that's the story of the Jerome Gambit: live by the blunder, die by the blunder.

White resigned

Blog's Best Friend

In preparing games for presentation on this blog I use ChessBase to extract games from The Database; and Rybka 3, Houdini 1.2 and Fritz 10 (occasionally Fritz 8) to provide insight and guidance into what was happening in the play. 

Most of the time the computers are faithful friends. Sometimes they seem to mislead.

perrypawnpusher - bnxr
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

The Jerome Gambit.

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

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

I've faced this position a half-dozen times without surrendering a half-point.

Black wants his King's Knight developed in a way that does not impede his King's Rook, which in turn will come into place as he castles-by-hand.

From White's point of view the development at e7 puts less pressure on the "Jerome pawns" in the center, but creates an additional possibility when considering returning a piece for two pawns when one of the White foot soldiers advances to f5.

10.f4 Rf8 11.0-0 Kf7

To castle-by-hand, as noted above. My response: " 'Jerome pawns', advance!"

By the way, a "position search" here in The Database is confounding,  making it of less use, a similar situation to the one I mentioned in Monday's "Checking Back" post. In this line of play, I like the intermediate "nudge" 7.Qd5+, instead of the immediate capture of the Bishop with 7.Qxc5, so my game has reached this position along with four games by Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member Petasluk and an earlier game, erik - jimi, blitz, FICS, 2001; but here it is White's move, while in their games it is Black's.

12.f5 Ne5 13.d4 Nc4 14.Qd3 d5

15.Nc3 h6

Black wants to keep White's Bishop off of g5, but a better move was to pull back his advanced Knight to d6.

16.g4

Supporting the advanced f-pawn, but this is too stereotyped.

As Rybka 3 instructed me after the game, White could already grab a pawn with 16.Nxd5; and after 16...b5 he could move in on Black's King with 17.Nxe7 Qxe7 18.f6 (a clearance sacrifice) 18...gxf6 19.e5 f5 20.Qf3 (a nice move, as the loose Rook at a8 gives the Queen the tempo she needs to continue on to the Kingside) 20...Bd7 21.Qh5+ Kg8 22.Bxh6 Qh7 23.Qg5+ Kf7 24.Bxf8 Rxf8 when White would have a Rook and three pawns for two pieces, and the advantage.

That's a nice line of play, something some readers may have seen. One reason that I turn the post mortem over to the silicon brains is so that I can see what I should have seen.

Certainly I should have seen the gain of the pawn at d5, but I'm still working on having the feel for the kind of sacrifice that 18.f6 would be. The Queen transfer via f3 was nice, but I'm not ready to say that I would have played 17.Nxe7 because I saw the coming win of the exchange with 24.Bxf8.

16...Kg8 17.e5

Instead, 17.Nxd5 was still the right move for White, as he can answer 17...Nxd5 with 18.Qxc4 threatening a discovered check.. After 17...Nd6 18.Nf4, according to Rybka 3 White's advanced "Jerome pawns" balance out the missing piece.

17...b6

Black's plan is to post the Bishop on the a6-f1 diagonal where the White Queen and Rook are currently residing.

Looking at the diagram, I get the feeling that White needs a dose of developed pieces, but Rybka and Fritz give the first player the edge.

18.b3 Ba6 19.Qg3

Slow. White probably could have gone all-out with 19.f6 or played it safe with 19.Rf2.

19...Na5 20.Ba3

Two can play at this game, was my thought, but certainly  20.Rf2 was more to the point.

20...Bxf1 21.Rxf1 Rf7

Black is now up a Rook for two pawns. Frankly, I was amazed that I wasn't having an anxiety attack. It is true that I didn't mind giving up the exchange on f1; after all, look at Black's parked Queen Rook and his offside Queen's Knight. Also, the "Jerome pawns" look scary, but are they a Rook's worth of "scary"?

Rybka and Fritz seem to think they are, and they rate the position about equal. It is easy to follow their suggested line of  play, 22.e6 Rf8 23.Bxe7 Qxe7 24.Nxd5, gaining a pawn, but the question remains: Where does White's counter come from? Especially since what is recommended as best for Black is now the exchange of Queens, 24...Qd6 25.Qxd6 cxd6. 

analysis diagram








Can anyone spot the hidden Rook?

Back to the game...

I decided that I needed to attack Black's King before he got his forces together. As we have seen, this is not the recommended direction. 

22.f6 Nec6 23.Qe3 gxf6 24.Qxh6

24...fxe5

Occasionally it is important for me to remind myself that if a position is complicated for me, it is usually complicated for my opponent, too.

Here, according to Rybka, my opponent overlooks his chance to transition into a better endgame where he has a piece for two pawns... 24...Rh7 25.Qd2 fxe5 26.dxe5 Qh4 27.Qg2 Rg7 28.Nxd5 Rxg4 29.Nf6+ Qxf6 30.Qxg4+ Qg7 31.Qxg7+ Kxg7 32.e6 Re8 33.Rf7+ Kg6 34.Rxc7 Rxe6

analysis diagram








Instead, Black's move is an error.

25.Rxf7 Kxf7

26.Qh5+

How annoying it was to see after the game that if I had played 26.Qh7+  I had a win: 26...Kf6 27.dxe5+ Nxe5 28.Be7+ Qxe7 29.Nxd5+. Wow.


26...Kg8

It seems a bit of hard luck that my opponent let me off of the hook here, when 26...Kg7 would give him a better game; or so the computers say.

Now I saw the draw and went for it. After all... I was a Rook down.

27.Qg6+ Kh8 28.Qh6+ Kg8 29.Qg6+ Kh8 30.Qh6+ Kg8 31.Qg6+ Kh8 32.Qh6+ Game drawn by repetition

More Updating

Following "Checking Back", it is time to use a recent Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit game to look at one of its more exciting variations.

 

pigsfeet - jantonacci
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.c3 Kxe5 7.cxd4+ Kxd4

Black's King has gone far afield to grab extra material. Why did he do that? Some chess players see the board as an all-you-can-eat buffet, and chow down on everything. Others might compare development, White vs Black, and as the first player has no pieces developed compared to the second player's one (the King) what appears to be the problem?

Safer was heading for home with 7...Ke6 as in richiehill - RVLY, FICS, 2009 (1-0,24).

8.d3

This is the recommended move, although White has also played 8.b3 (8.b4 is a variant) in jonyfin - jantonacci, FICS, 2009 (0-1, 16).

For 8.Nc3, see perrypawnpusher - PunisherABD, blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0,14) and billwall - apollyon2010, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0,12).

DragonTail scored quickly with 8.Qc2 Qg5 9.Qc3+ Kxe4 10.0-0 Bd6 11.d3+ Kf5 12.Bxg5 Kxg5 13.Qxg7+ Black resigned, DragonTail - tcharge, FICS, 2009.

8.Qa4+ is an interesting idea which will be covered in a later post. 

8...Bb4+

Retreats such as 8...Ke5 in perrypawnpusher - PunisherABD, blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 27) and 8...Nf6 9.Be3+ Ke5 from perrypawnpusher - RVLY, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 26) have been seen.

Best for Black seems to be 8...Kc5 with only a slight disadvantage.

9.Nc3

Playable also is 9.Kf1!? or 9.Ke2!? although the text is natural and even allows Black further gluttony, if he wishes.

9...d5

"Luft!" says the Queen.

Also played has been 9...Bxc3+ 10.bxc3+ when taking the c-pawn is fatal after 10...Kxc3 11.Qb3+ (The Database does not have any examples, but Edisce - nkm, FICS, 2005 came close with 11.0-0 Qf6 12.Be3 Kb4 13.Rb1+ Ka5 14.Qb3 c5 15.Qa3 checkmate).

perrypawnpusher-AdamRou, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 28) saw 9...Bxc3+ 10.bxc3+ Ke5 11.Qh5+ Ke6. 

10.Be3+

Again, a very reasonable move, although White may try to weave a mating net by putting his Queen on b3 and his Bishop on f4. Black might give up his Bishop to buy White off.

10...Ke5 11.Qh5+

The Queen must commit herself, as the enemy monarch is making his escape.

11...Kf6

Rybka 3 recommends 11...Kd6, when, if Black can survive the scary, pawnful middlegame, he can then take a few swipes at White and enter an endgame, down a pawn and the exchange: 12.Qxd5+ Ke7 13.Qg5+ Nf6 14.Qxg7+ Ke6 15.f4 Rg8 16.f5+ Kd6 17.Qf7 Bxc3+ 18.bxc3 b6 19.Bd4 Kc6 20.Qc4+ Kb7 21.Bxf6 Qxf6 22.Qxg8 Qxc3+ 23.Ke2 Qc2+ 24.Ke3 Qc5+ 25.Kf3 Bxf5 26.Qc4 Qxc4 27.dxc4 Be6.

analysis diagram





In the game, Black gives up his Queen, and then his King.

12.Bg5+ Ke6 13.Bxd8 d4 14.Qd5 checkmate