Something New in Something Old

There is a phrase in chess, "annotation by result", which refers to the practice of judging a move or a series of moves by the outcome of the game. Won game? Good move! Lost game? Bad move!

Strong, inquisitive and creative players work against this tendency and are often rewarded with new ideas and positive results over-the-board.

Consider Yury V. Bukayev, whose opening discoveries have been mentioned here before. Recently, Yury has been looking at the Fritz Variation in the Two Knights Defense.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6  4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nd4

To quote from "Having Fun with the Two Knights" from Chess Asia, Volume 11, Issue 3, 1995, by Bobby Ang,

By way of a short historical background, this is known as the Fritz/Schlechter Variation, used by Hans Berliner extensively in his rise to first place in the World Correspondence Championship. Indeed, it seems to be a lot more logical than the usual 5...Na5 which locks the knight out of play on the edge of the board.

Some of our readers might be wondering how this opening got its name. In fact, if you are in possession of the excellent book by Warren Goldman on Carl Schlechter which is a biography and a collection of most of the wins of "The Austrian Chess Wizard", you might have noticed that this variation does not even appear even once. Lest you think that he lost all his games with this line we hasten to note that this Defense was suggested by the German player Alexander Fritz to Schlechter who analysed it in Deutsche Schachzeitung in 1904, thus the name.

6.d6

This line has largely been dismissed by the sources that I consulted.

6...Qxd6 7.Bxf7+ Ke7 8.Bb3 Nxb3 9.axb3 h6 10.Nf3

Black has good play for his sacrificed pawn in Bogoljubov - Rubinstein, Stockholm, 1919. He enjoyed his "two Bishops" and transitioned to one of those Rooks-and-pawns engame that he was famous for winning. What else did Bogoljubov expect? seemed to be the concensus of the observers.

Yury, in an email he sent me, enthused 

I think this new gambit is a distant relative (!!) of the Classical Jerome Gambit. Thus, the difference of Black's and White's material in my gambit and in Classical Jerome Gambit is the same after the acceptance of these gambits; the initial position (3.Bc4) is the same; White plays Bc4xf7; White plays without the white-squared bishop in result; Black's king is on f7 a in variant of acceptance of gambits etc.

I think that the line is interesting enough that I would point it out, even if it were not "Jerome-ish", but I can't resist sharing an odd line from the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit Declined: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 c6 3.Bc3 Nd4 4.Bxf7+ Ke7 (we have seen this before) 5.Ng5 (a bit unusual, but many people play the move in many Jerome variations) Nf6 6.Bb3 Nxb3 7.axb3 d5 8.exd5 h6 9.d6+ Qxd6 10.Nf3 and, indeed, we have reached that position from Bogoljubov - Rubinstein, above!

10...e4 11.Ng1

A gloomy retreat. An unkind annotator might say White is already lost.

An Italian correspondence game between Antritter and Balletti in 1969 introduced 11.Nh4, but White lost in 18 moves. A rather obscure game played in Tennessee in the United States, 15 years later, R. Carpenter - S. McGiffert, tried an improvement, but White lost in 13 moves.

Yet, Antritter and Carpenter were on the right trail.

I will leave it to readers to visit Yury's website and learn about the "Nh4-Bukayev-gambit" which gives White new hope! 

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.