Quick Peeks

Looking at some of the recent games played at FICS, I came up with a few snapshots of play from Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) and related games.




After a lot of conflict, two players reached the safety of the Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame, drawing in over 70 moves

JMonson-Waveylines, blitz, FICS, 2011

A couple of others players showed that it was not that hard to reach the same result in 64 moves, with less material

BBendingR - cortijlo, standard, FICS, 2011

In the following position White lost on time, which is a pity, as the position, odd as it is, is drawn: White checks repeatedly with his Rook or uses it in cooperation with the King to hold the pawns off (which advance at their peril).

KCOLD - bohnster, blitz, FICS, 2011

In a related position, White won on time, although, objectively his opponent was better (Black promotes his a-pawn to draw White's King away, and then advances his King to escort the remaining pawns).

JMonson - Tseatsy, blitz, FICS, 2011

Finally, a drawn position that brings to mind a quote attributed to Alexander Alekhine

The fact that a player is very short of time is, to my mind, as little to be considered an excuse as, for instance, the statement of the law-breaker that he was drunk at the time he committed the crime.

GeorgeCool - xadrezedificil, blitz, FICS, 2011
Black ran out of time and White has no material to mate

Warning: a1 & h8

Chessfriend Welton Vaz has again generously provided a collection of recent (July 2011) Jerome Gambit (and related) games from the FICS database. One game, in particular, holds a warning for those who would meet the Blackburne Shilling Gambit with 4.Bxf7+!?


albgameiro - Alekingg
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Nxg6 Nxc2+

Points of relevance:

1) The Blackburne Shilling Gambit is a fun way to try to bamboozle White with trappy play.

2) The Jerome Gambit treatment of the BSG, 4.Bxf7+, leads to an objectively even game, although White has great practical chances if Black is taken unawares.

3) Black's defense with 5...Ke8 as played in the game, is good, especially if he is happy with a draw; providing that he answers 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Nxg6 with 7...hxg6. See "Incomplete" for a recent examination.

4) The text move for Black risks little, as long as the second player is aware of all of the consequences, and especially if he avoids the punishment for greed by returning to the ...hxg6 line on his next move (if White plays 8.Kd1).

5) The tactical play is more complex than If-you-take-my-Rook-then-I-will-take-your-Rook, requiring some planning (preferrably before the game).

8.Kf1

The wrong direction. 

Correct was 8.Kd1 as in perrypawnpusher - lourotors, blitz, FICS, 2009 (0-1, 37);  perrypawnpusher - robertpthom, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 32); and perrypawnpusher - ZekeTheWolf, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 30).

The difference is that after 8.Kd1, 8...Nxa1 leads to mate (see "The Somnambulists"). White gets a bit of an edge after 8.Kd1 Nf6 9.Qe5+ Be7 10.Nxe7 Qxe7 11.Qxe7+ Kxe7 12.Kxc2.

After 8.Kd1 hxg6 9.Qxg6+ Ke7 10.d4 White has threats that Black did not meet in three games in The Database, but 10...Bh6!? seems to hold after 11.Kxc2 or 11.Bg5+, with White's extra pawns balanced by Black's extra piece.

However, in the game, White's King moved away from the marauding Knight.

8...hxg6

Rybka 3 suggests that after 8...Nf6 9.Qe5+ Be7 10.Nxh8 d6 11.Qc3 Nxa1 12.b3 Be6 13.Qxa1 Kd7 14.Qd4 Qxh8 White does not have enough compensation for his missing piece.

The text is a test of White's greed.

9.Qxh8

The players could have arrived at this position through the move order 7...hxg6 8.Qxh8? Nxc2+ 9.Kf1?! When Black, likewise, would be better.

Taking the Black g-pawn with 9.Qxg6+ would have reduced, but not eliminated, Black's advantage, especially if the second player utilized a timely ...Bh6.

9...Nxa1

This is a complicated position, played at blitz speed, so it is not fair to go too hard on either player; but White's a1 Rook wasn't going anywhere, so 9...Kf7 first would have spared Black's King Knight. 

10.Qxg8 Qf6

11.e5

The idea here seems to be 11...Qxe5 12.Qxg6+ and a balanced game.

11...Qa6+

Seeking to free his Knight with ...Qxh2, perhaps, but achieving a whole lot more than that.

12.d3

Maybe White, wishing the Knight at a1 dead and gone for so long, thought it had by now departed.

12...Qxd3+ 13.Ke1 Nc2 checkmate

Not the Sunday Book Review

This Sunday's Book Review has been replaced by an attractive screen shot of a Chinese language website, where the comment on 4.Bxf7+ in the Jerome Gambit seems to suggest that it is a good move, but one played too early...

Shorter and Even More Unbecoming

I just meant to check on my opponent, but I hit the "play" button instead of the "history" button, and wound up inflicting another annoying game on him. Perhaps it was his extravagant use of time, again, but for the second game in a row my play was sad, sad, sad. 


perrypawnpusher - Conspicuous
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

The Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8

A strong and practical defense: Black decides that he has enough material to win, and takes no further risks.

6.Nxc6 dxc6 7.d3 Qf6

Commanding the dark squares and targetting f2.

8.0-0 Nh6 9.Be3 Bd6

10.f4 Ng4 11.e5

This move apparently scared my opponent, but it is a disaster-in-the-making for me. Sadly, I was clueless at the time.

11...Nxe3

Instead, Black should escape the fork with 11...Qh6 and after 12.h3 (to stop mate) administer one of his own with 12...Nxe3.

12.Qe2

Horrible. Instead, 12.Qf3 would have kept Black's advantage to a minimum.

12...Nxf1

Lucky for me Black was seeing as much (or as little) as I was, or he would have simply played 12...Bxe5, since 13.fxe5 Qxf1+ 14.Qxf1+ Nxf1 15.Kxf1 Ke7 would leave him a Rook ahead.

13.exf6 Black resigned

I don't think I dare play Conspicuous again!

Short and Unbecoming

The following Jerome Gambit game is short and unbecoming, a collection of moves on my behalf which look like a multiple choice test where the answers are all a) best, b) good, or c) barely adequate and I keep selecting c) as my choice.


perrypawnpusher - Conspicuous
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6

With the promise of an exciting game ahead.

7.Qxe5 Bxf2+

Or not. The text is a counter occasionally seen: there are 63 games in The Database, with White scoring 67%.

8.Kxf2 Qf6+ 9.Qxf6+ Nxf6

At the cost of exchanging a won game for one in which he is a pawn down, Black has reached a Queenless middlegame that is not what every Jerome Gambiteer wishes for.

On the other hand, I figured that it would not be difficult to grind this one out.

10.Nc3 Re8 11.d3 c6 12.Rf1

More energetic was 12.Ke2, as in Ghandybh - brownplant, Chess.com, 2009 (1-0, 20).

12...Kg7 13.Kg1 Rf8 14.Bg5 Nh5

This leaves Black open to a tactical shot, but I was only thinking "exchange with tempo".

If you compare Queensides, you can see that White's development advantage is significant.

15.Rxf8

Fine, but why not 15.Bh6+ ?

15...Kxf8 16.Rf1+ Kg7 17.g4 h6 18.Bh4

I had figured out the following line of play, but where would Black's Knight go after 18.Be3, instead?

18...g5 19.gxh5 gxh4 20.Rf4

Winning a rather meaningless pawn, as Black's remaining Kingside pawn holds back two of White's, anyhow.

20...h3 21.Rg4+

Making more sense was 21.e5

21...Kf6 22.Rg6+ Black resigned

Yes, White is better, but who's to say that Black didn't expire of boredom? 

Still Instant

Last year I pointed out that a position in the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit should have spelled "Instant Victory" for White – in which the first player had a forced checkmate – it had in fact yielded only a 66% score in 155 games in The Database.

The number of examples has grown since then by about 20, but the score for White remains the same.

Lucky for me, I read and remembered that post, and I recently scored my second "instant" victory.

perrypawnpusher - theferno
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+ Ke8

Last year my opponent played the sharp 5...Ke6  in Ronels - theferno, FICS, 2010, (1-0, 34).

6.Qh5+ Ke7

This is the position to recall.

Last year my opponent played the correct 6...g6 against me and I had to out-play him from a roughly equal position in perrypawnpusher - theferno, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 28).

7.Qf7+ Kd6 8.Nc4+ Kc6

Or 8...Kc5 9.Qd5+ Kb4 10.c3+ Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - Raankh, blitz, FICS, 2010.

9.Qd5 checkmate

Relayed Deaction

I was doing a internet search for Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games when I found the following example. I give it mostly for historical reasons, as my guess is that it is a U8 game. Further information is requested.

Karlaevi,N - Basilaia,B
Nana Alexandria Cup
4th International Children's Chess Festival
Poti, Georgia, 2009

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

4...Kxf7 5.Ng5+

Go ahead and laugh, but The Database has 355 games with this move.* (Okay, White scored only 23%, but that still includes 78 wins!)

A few examples can be seen at "Eyeblink Chess: Crash", "Opening Tale", "Death of A Variation" and "Re-Inventing the Flat Tire".

5...Ke8

I don't think that Black was trying to avoid 5...Qxg5 6.d4, with the simultaneous pawn attack on the Bishop at c5 and the uncovered Bishop attack on the Black Queen (it can be easily dealt with by playing 6...Qxg2) – I think that he simply overlooked the possible capture of the Knight.

That would go a long way toward explaining the end of the game.

6.d3 Qf6 7.f3 Black resigned

My guess is at this point Black realized "Wait a minute! I could have had that Knight for free!" and decided that this just wasn't going to be his game... despite the fact that he had an extra piece.

I have to mention that 7.f3 appears to be a "TN", a "theoretical novelty". Of the 5 games in The Database that have the position after 6...Qf6, White scored  60%.


(* One of the strengths of The Database is its inclusiveness: it contains over 24,000 games to draw ideas and inspiration from. One of its weaknesses, as this example illustrates, is its lack of exclusiveness: just about any game – good, bad or ugly – can find its way in there. YMMV. By the way, the title is a Spoonerism.)