Chessexpress

I just noticed a nice post on the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) at the very impressive Australian blog, chessexpress, (mentioned before here). 

Shaun Press reasonably asks, "Up until what level would you play this?" and relates a concern that he has as a junior club coach, about a player who plays the Jerome (or 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+, see "The Abrahams Jereome Gambit" part 1 and 2) regularly; and, worse, "it works against almost all of his opponents."

Do check it out.

Move Along... Two Challenges

My opponent laid down two challenges in the following game, one in the opening and one in the endgame. I was very glad to take each of them up. 

perrypawnpusher  - zadox
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit

4.Bxf7+

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

4...Ke7

I have classified declining the Bishop in this way, followed by returning the Black King to e8 (with the hopes of luring White into complacently playing Nxe5), as some sort of "Jedi mind trick".

My opponent may simply have been unwilling to go along with my plan, playing a psychological gambit ("if you want me to take the bishop, I won't take the bishop").

In any event, The Database has 11 games with zadox playing this move; showing a single win for Black (a time forfeit when White was a bit better). Perhaps it is time to move along to another line of play?

5.Bxg8

Also possible was 5.Bb3, as in perrypawnpusher - Roetman, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 12) and 5.Bc4, as in perrypawnpusher - vlas, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 84), perrypawnpusher - zadox, blitz, FICS 2010 (1-0, 14) and perrypawnpusher - PlatinumKnight, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 9).

5...Nxf3+

This was a switch from 5...Ke8 in  perrypawnpusher - zadox, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 29) and 5...Rxg8 in perrypawnpusher - TheProducer, blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 16).

6.Qxf3 Rxg8

Here is the first challenge: we are playing neither a "normal" Jerome Gambit nor a "normal" Blackburne Shilling Gambit, can I make something of the extra pawn.

I think so.

7.Nc3 d6 8.Nd5+ Kd7 9.Qh3+ Kc6 10.Qxh7 Be6

Okay, it is nothing spectacular, but I am now up two pawns.

11.d3 Be7 12.Nxe7+ Qxe7 13.Qh5 b6 14.Bg5 Qf7 15.Qxf7 Bxf7

The outline of the second challenge is forming: do I think that I can take the game into a Bishops-of-opposite-colors ending and find more than half a point?

I think so.

We both raced through the next series of moves.

16.0-0-0 a5 17.b3 b5 18.Kb2 a4 19.Be3 axb3 20.axb3 Ra6 21.Ra1 Rga8 22.Rxa6+ Rxa6 23.Ra1 Rxa1 24.Kxa1

It is well-known that this kind of ending is very drawish, and an extra one, two, or even three pawns may not be enough for White to win.

In this particular ending, however, I was confident that I could convert. Readers are asked to point out a defense for Black that holds.

24...Bh5 25.f4 exf4 26.Bxf4 Bd1 27.Kb2 Be2 28.Kc3 Bd1 29.d4 d5

This is part of a strategy to get all of Black's pawns on the light squares, the same color as that of his Bishop, so that the drawish nature of the endgame can be enhanced; but the result, here, is a White pawn at e5 that is both passed and protected.

Might it have been better to hold the Black d-pawn back and wait for White to play e4-e5, exchanging at e5 and leaving the resulting passer without pawn protection? 

30.e5 Kd7 31.Kd2 Bh5 32.h3 Ke6 33.g4 Bf7 34.h4 g6

Black's King very effectively blockades the e5 pawn.

To win, White needs another passer.

35.Bg5 c6 36.b4 Be8 37.Ke3 Bf7 38.Kf4 Be8 39.Bd8 Bf7 40.Kg5 Be8 41.h5 gxh5 42.gxh5

42...Kd7 43.Bf6

This move wins, as planned, but I was amused later to see that I could have simply played 43.h6 and continued to advance the pawn to the end line. Better for Black would have been 42...Kf7, but White would still succeed.

43...Bf7 44.h6 Bg8 45.Kg6 Ke8 46.h7 Bxh7+ 47.Kxh7

Mission accomplished.

47...Kf7 48.Kh8 Ke6 49.Kg7 Black resigned

Steady as she goes...

The following game was a rather steady affair: I pursued my attack, and my opponent had very clear ideas on how to defend. I was fortunate to produce a "scary" move (which should have led to an exchange of pieces and a likely draw) which tilted the game in my favor.

perrypawnpusher - abedinejad
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

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

7.Qd5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+ d6 9.Qe3 Nf6

10.f4

Or 10.0-0 as in perrypawnpusher - hogmaster, JG3 thematic, ChessWorld, 2008 (1-0, 37) and perrypawnpusher - Mences, blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 38).

10...Bg4

Looking for trouble; he has something in mind.

11.h3 Bh5 12.g4 Bxg4 13.hxg4 Nxg4

Black has returned the piece and made Kingside castling dangerous for White. Under certain circumstances, ...h7-h5 could prove to be useful.

14.Qg3 Qe7 15.Nc3 Nf6 16.d3 d5 17.e5 d4

18.Ne2 Nd5 19.Bd2

After the game, Rybka 3 preferred 19.Qxg6, with the idea of winning two Rooks and a Knight for the Queen. I am not sure that this is best, however.

After 19...hxg6 20.Rxh8+ Kf7 21.Rxa8 Black has 21...Qh4+ 22.Kd2 Nxf4 and Black would draw by repetition after 23.Nxf4, 23.Nxd4 or 23.e6+.

White can be sneaky and toss in 21.e6+ Qxe6 before capturing the final Rook with 22.Rxa8, but Black still seems to finagle a draw after 22...Qh3, for example 23.b3 g5 24.Rd8 Nxf4 25.Nxf4 Qg3+ 26.Kd2 Qxf4+ 27.Ke1 Qg3+ draw.

Black's resources are based on White's insecure King and undeveloped Queenside – where have we seen that lately?

19...c5 20.0-0-0 Qf7

Still hammering away at the backward White pawn at f4, but it seems somewhat risky to put the Queen in front of the King, on a half-open file. 

21.f5 Nge7 22.e6 Qf6 23.Bg5

This was my idea behind advancing the "Jerome pawns", to harass the Black Queen.

After the game, Rybka preferred 23.Qd6, on one hand adding pressure to the enemy King's position, and on the other hand planning to grab the pawn on c5, and possibly the one on d4 as well. 

23...Qxf5

Panic.

It was time for Black to liquidate the position with 23...Nxf5 24.Bxf6 Nxg3 25.Bxg7+ Kxg7 26.Nxg3 Ne3 27.Rdg1 Rag8 when White might have an edge, but only a small one.

24.Rdf1 Qxf1+ 25.Rxf1+ Ke8 26.Bxe7 Kxe7 27.Qxg7+

Black resigned

Sunday Book Review: The Future of Post-Human Chess

The Future of Post-Human Chess

Peter Baofu, PhD
Cambridge International Science Publishing Ltd. (2010)
hard cover, 440 pages
http://www.cisp-publishing.com/



[Having received a communication from the author that "there are a few comments in the reviews which are not correct or questionable" I have removed the review. - Rick]

It's A Small World

I mentioned a little while ago that this blog site has had visitors from over 100 different countries. For the little old Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+)?

Today I checked the statistics that my website provides for the top ten most frequent visitors of the week, and, not surprisingly, discovered that the top four locations of readers are: the United States, Great Britain, Canada and Brazil.

However, #9 and #10 surprised and pleased me: Iran and Serbia. Sure, Readers from the two countries have visited before, but in numbers to place them in the "top ten"?

So, Salâm, xošbaxtam. And Zdravo, dobrodošli.

Genus una sumus, as is said at FIDE, the World Chess Federation.

Update: 8...Qf6

Repeating the "comments" that follow a recent blog post (see "Slaughter"):




Guido De Bouver said...
     8...Qf6 seems like a killer black reply in the position you described ? [after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4]
     What has been tried here ?

Rick Kennedy said...
Guido,
     You are right, 8...Qf6 is strong for Black. It is at least as old as A.W. Jerome - W. Shinkman, USA, 1874 (0-1, 21).
     The Database is somewhat misleading in this regard, as it has 50 games with 8...Qf6, with White scoring 58%.
     After 9.fxe5+ Qxe5 The Database has 53 games (it picked up two games with 8...Qe7 and one with 8...Qe8) with White scoring 59%.
     White has tried 10.Qxe5+, 10.Qf8+, 10.Qg4, 10.Nc3, 10.c3 and 10.Qf3 with different degrees of success.
     10.Qf8+ scores worst (0%, 3 games) and 10.Qg4 scores best (100%, 1 game); with 10.Qf3 being the currently recommended move (71%, 27 games)
     This topic certainly deserves a post or two -- and soon! I will get to work on it.
     Thanks.




billwall - benstoker
standard game, 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 Qf6

9.fxe5+


The most recent coverage of the 8...Qf6 line in this blog was in the game axykk - bromby, blitz, FICS, 2011: 9.fxe5+ Qxe5 10.Qxe5+ Kxe5 11.b4 Bb6 12.Bb2+ Kxe4 13.Bxg7 Black resigned

9...Qxe5 10.Qf3

After 10.Qf3, Black has to avoid falling into the "Disdainful Defender Defense", for example, 10...Nf6 11.d3 Rf8 12.Bf4 and the Black Queen is lost. This is one of those apparent "optical illusions" that appear from time-to-time in the Jerome Gambit, and in this case it has accounted for 9 wins for White.

Instead, 10.Qf3 Nf6 22.d3, and as Jerome wrote of his last move in the April 1874 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal, "Compelling either K or Q to move as White threatens Bf4; or Black can play ...g5" [translated to algebraic notation].

10...Nf6 11.d3 Kc6 12.c3

White has only one pawn for his sacrificed piece, and he is currently behind in developement. He works with what he has available, however: the central "Jerome pawns" and Black's misplaced King. Something will come up (see "Like the Big Boys").

12...Re8 13.b4 Bb6 14.Bf4 Qh5 15.a4 d5 16.Nd2

16...Bg4 17.Qg3 dxe4 18.d4 e3 19.Nc4 Qf5 20.0-0 Nh5

21.Nxe3 Nxg3 22.Nxf5 Nxf5 23.b5+ Kd5 24.a5 Nxd4 25.axb6 Ne2+ 26.Kh1 Nxf4 27.Rxf4 axb6 28.Rb1 Be6  White resigned

Wait a minute... White resigned?

Yes, good Readers, it is true. Losses by Bill Wall in The Database are rarer than hens' teeth, but they occasionally happen. (Cherish this one; you will probably not see another.)

Every once in a while I have to point out that the Jerome Gambit is, "officially", a refuted opening – no matter how many times we win with it! 

Crash and Burn

If a chess game were a rocket, then the opening moves would be the first stage of the vehicle, designed to boost further stages and the payload into orbit. In the following game the Jerome Gambit does its duty and propels the game to equality. Shortly afterward, though, everything crashes and burns...

perrypawnpusher - roccovargas
blitz, FICS, 2011

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+ Kg8

I was surprised to see that this move was not in The Database.

8.Nxc6 dxc6 9.d3 Bg4

The two Black Bishops remind me of the game Lowe-Parker, correspondence, 1879 as well as two of my contests against MRBarupal.

10.Qe1 Bb4 11.f4 Kh7

Black has castled-by-hand. White's "Jerome pawns" are sufficiently robust as to suggest an even game.

But that "problem" can be "fixed".

12.h3 Bd7 13.g4 Rf8 14.g5 hxg5 15.fxg5

White is "attacking", but the problem is similar to several previous debacles (see "Slaughter") where I left my King insufficiently guarded.

15...Nh5 16.Rxf8 Qxf8 17.Qh4

Still "attacking". Combine this with criminal neglect of defense, and my game falls apart quickly.

17...g6

More painful would have been 17...Bc5+, which my opponent and I both overlooked.

18.Be3 Qf3 19.Qf2 Qxf2+ 20.Kxf2 Bxh3 21.Rh1 Rf8+ 22.Ke2 Ng3+ White resigned