Yet Another Day in the Life of the Jerome Gambit

Sometimes it is fun to go easy on the analytics, and simply play through a Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game. It is usually a roller coaster ride, with lots of thrills and chills for both players.

 


Darthnik - GregOakPark
blitz, FICS, 2011


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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.f4

Wow.

This "TN" (no examples in The Database) says "Yes, I know that I just sacrificed two pieces, but I still want to play the game my way, starting with the 'Jerome pawns'."

As they say, "no guts, no glory."

6...Ng6 7.d4 Bb6 8.e5 Qh4+

Black is skeptical, an attitude all defenders should have when facing the Jerome Gambit.

9.g3 Qh3 10.Be3 N8e7 11.Qd2 Nd5 12.Bf2 Qg2

Tough times for the gambiteer! As they also say, though, "It ain't over 'till it's over!" (especially in blitz).

13.Rg1 Qxh2 14.Nc3 Rf8

Preparing to castle-by-hand. Does Black overlook the loss of a piece here, or is he unconcerned? Oddly enough, the King never quite does get "castled".

15.Nxd5 c6 16.Ne3 Re8 17.0-0-0 d5

Black's difficulties continue. This center pawn strike manages to both activate White's "Jerome pawns" and overlook the threat to his Queen.

18.Rh1 Qxh1 19.Rxh1 Nf8 20.f5 g6

21.fxg6+

Blowing up Black's King's shelter. Both 21.e6+ and 21.g4 were playable as well. Go, Jerome pawns!

21...hxg6 22.c3 Bf5 23.Nxf5 gxf5 24.Qf4 Ke6

25.Rh6+ Kd7 26.Qxf5+ Kc7 27.Be3 Rad8 28.Bf4 Kb8

29.e6+ Bc7 30.Bg5 Rd6  31.Qf7 Rdxe6 32.Rxe6 Nxe6 33.Qxe8+ Bd8 34.Bxd8 a6 35.Qxe6 Ka7 36.g4 Black resigned

Cool. Now we have some idea why Darthnik sticks with the Jerome Gambit!

Huh?

Looking through a recent blitz game played at FICS, starting with the nameless variation that can become very Jerome Gambit-ish, I came to the last move and said "Huh?"

I searched for another, similar game, hoping that it would explain things to me. When I came to the last move I shouted "Eureka!"

I probably should have said "Huh??"

Zoogin - Rampenplan
blitz, FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Na5

I think I started my coverage of this move with "Offside!"

While it is true that White's best response is 4.Nxe5, for some players a Jerome-ish response, instead, is irresistible.

4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8

This King retreat may look safe, but it is not.

6.Qh5+ g6 7.Nxg6 Nf6 8.Qxa5

Here, Black resigned, which left me quite puzzled.

True, he should have played 7...hxg6 instead of developing his Knight.

However, White's capture of the offside Knight was less strong than 8.Qe5+ as in cathexis - NOEL NOEL, blitz, FICS, 2010: 8...Be7 9.Nxh8 Nc4 10.Qc3 Nxe4 11.Qxc4 Bh4 12.Qf7 checkmate.

In the last position in today's game Black can play 8...hxg6 and, with a piece for three pawns, be content with a roughly equal game.

I looked around in The Database for a recent game that might somehow explain Black's resignation.

I found the following miniature, played by someone with experience with the 3...Na5 variation: 

Tigrann - NOELNOEL
blitz, FICS, 2011


1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Na5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Nxg6 Nf6 8.Qxa5 Qe7 Black resigned

WELL THAT EXPLAINS... absolutely nothing.

Neither does the fact that Black scored only 29% in the 49 games in The Database with that last position.

Huh???

Sunday Tournament Update

With over 80% of its games completed, the ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament continues to be a monstrous battle between its top two competitors.

AsceticKingK9 leads with 24 points out of 24 games. Can he go all the way to 28/28 ?

Mckenna215 is close, with 22.5 points out of 26 games. If he wins his remaining 2 games, he will still need to receive some help from a handful of other players to overtake AsceticKingK9 and take the crown.

It is clear that the player who does not take first place will garner second.

There is an interesting battle shaping up for third place, however, between braken (18.5 points out of 27 games), Knight32 (18.5 points out of 28 games) and Rikiki00 (15.5 points out of 23 games). Braken's last game is against Rikiki00, and the winner would be the odds-on favorite to scramble to the top of the heap.

Draws continue to be almost non-existant, making up less than 2% of the completed games!

A Game for the Skeptics

Another game from the "Netherlands collection" shows White facing a "theoretical novelty" (there are so many ways to face and defeat the Jerome Gambit!) with some creativity of his own – leading to a miniature that probably pleased the first player (and anyone else looking on).

Jabbaman - HrDoctor
HCL-B1994 www.playch (6), 2003

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

The Semi-Italian Opening.

4.0-0 Bc5 5.Bxf7+

The Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Ne7

TN. Developing another piece, giving a piece back. No other examples in The Database.

8.Qh5+ N5g6

With all those pieces available, it still is probably best to react to White's Queen check with 8...g6.

9.Qxc5 Re8 10.f4 Kg8

Black has castled-by-hand, and White has mobilized his "Jerome pawns". The position is close to even.

11.f5 Nf8 12.f6

Wasting no time breaking into the King's position.

12...gxf6 13.Qh5

This is the kind of position that produces Jerome Gambit skeptics: White has been giving away pieces, and playing with his pawns and his Queen; while Black has gotten his King to safety and developed three pieces...

Only, the game is even, or White might be a bit better; as he has (or will have) enough pawns to compensate for his sacrificed piece, and his developing pieces will pose more threats to Black's King than Black's already-developed pieces will pose to White's King.

13...Nc6 14.Bxh6 Rxe4 15.Bxf8 d5 16.Qg6+ Black resigned

After 16...Kxf8 White will win Black's Queen with 17.Rxf6+.

Counterplay!

Sometimes the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) can be just plain fun: sacrifice a couple of pieces, create a crazy-mixed-up position, and confuse the opponent enough that he can be defeated.

But, what if your opponent fights back – hard?

That is what the following game is about, as we see Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member Bill Wall overcoming some serious counterplay.

Wall,B - Letsplaychess
blitz 10 0, FICS, 2011
notes by Bill Wall [and Rick]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Bc4 Bc5

[Italian Four Knights Game]

5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Qe2

[I was always curious about the attraction of this move. The game continuation shows one reason to play it. - Rick]

6...d6 7.Qc4+ Be6? 8.Ng5+

[There's that pesky Ng5+ again! Letsplaychess has been officially identified as someone who does not read this blog, or he might have been forewarned. According to The Database, an FICS player named hinders pulled off this maneuver a half dozen times in 2000-2002. - Rick]

8...Kg6 9.Nxe6

[Black has returned the sacrificed piece, but he is not content to shiver and shake in the dark. Hinders had it easier. - Rick]

9...Bxf2+ 10.Kxf2 Ng4+ 11.Kg1 Qf6

Threatening ...Qf2 mate

12.Nd1 Na5 13.Qc3 Qxe6 14.Qxa5 Qc4

Threatening 15...Qe2

15.d3 Qxc2

Threatening 16...Qxc1+ 17.Qe1 Qxe1 mate

16.Qd2 Qc5+ 17.Nf2 Rhf8

Threatening 18...Qxf2+

18.Qg5+ Kf7

Threatening 20...Qxf2 mate

19.Qxg4 Kg8

Threatening 20...Qxf2 mate

20.Qe2 Rf7 21.Be3 Qb5 22.Qc2 c6 23.h4 Raf8 24.h5

24.Bxa7? b6 traps the Bishop

24...d5 25.h6 d4 26.hxg7 dxe3 27.gxf8Q+ Kxf8 28.Ng4 Qb6

Threatening 29...e2.

29.Qe2 Rg7 30.Rf1+ Kg8 31.Nh6+ Kh8 32.Rf8+ Black resigned

It's A Small World After All (Part 2)

Of course [continuing from "It's A Small World After All (Part 1)"] there would not be much of a story if "fluffybunnyfeet" did not turn out to be National Master James Marfia after all.

He did.

We swapped emails. Jim remembered his opponent and the game. Of the Jerome, he noted "It was, indeed, not much of a gambit."

All of which is a light-hearted introduction to a game that is of significant interest for the serious Jerome Gambiteer.


Marfia,J - Stelter,J
Offhand Game, 1964

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

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

7.Qxe5 d6

Blackburne's "generous" offer of a Rook.

Those slightly familiar with Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1885, will remember the game ending in a crush of White.

Those a bit more familiar will recall that later analysis suggested that White was winning.

Regular Readers will know, however, that the move actually leads to a complicated draw. (See "Flaws" Part 1 and Part 2.) 

8.Qxh8 Qh4 9.d4

The Database has only 5 other games with this move, including perrypawnpusher - bakker, blitz, FICS, 2007 (1-0, 33).

9...Qxe4+

Black's best was 9...Nf6, as detailed in "Traps and Zaps", leading to a complicated mess that favors the second player.

The text is tempting, but losing.

10.Be3 Qxc2

Houdini recommends 10...Qxg2 11.Qxh7+ Kf8 12.Rf1 Bb6 13.Nc3 Bf5 14.0-0-0 Qh3 15.Qxh3 Bxh3 16.Rfe1 Bf5 17.f3 Ba5 18.Bd2 Nf6 when White is better.
11.dxc5 dxc5 12.Qc3

Withdrawing the White Queen from mischief, guarding the White King, and offering a safety-making exchange.

12...Qxc3+ 13.Nxc3 Bf5 14.Bxc5 Re8+ 15.Be3 Re5 16.0-0 Bd3 17.Rfd1 Bc2 18.Rd7+ Re7 19.Rxe7+ Nxe7 Black resigned

A Rook is, after all, a Rook.

It's A Small World After All (Part 1)

I would like to share another typical Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) story. "Typical" in that, of course, it has several rather odd features...

A Reader from the Netherlands requested a copy of The Database the other day.

Like my book, The Marshall Gambit in the French and Sicilian Defenses, which was more popular in Europe than in the USA, this blog has a decent international following. (There is nothing quite like watching a player from Moldova, in the current ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, successfully play a move that I have championed, and others mostly have ignored.)

I was happy to oblige.

I was even happier when the Reader offered, in return, his Jerome Gambit (and related openings) collection. Although The Database has over 25,500 games, it is focused largely on FICS games and those that I have discovered in my historical research. I know that there are many, many other games out there.

One of my new aquisitions was the 1964 "offhand game" between "Marfia, J" and "Stelter, J".

I wondered: was that Jim Marfia, author of four books on the U.S. Open in the 1980s; author of Queen's Gambit with Bf4 and Queen's Indian with 4.g3; and translator for Botvinnik's 15 Games and Their Stories and Botvinnik on the Endgame, as well as Korchnoi's Persona Non Grata, Nimzovich's Carlsbad International Chess Tournament 1929, and Bronstein's Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953 (among others)?

After some searching, I discovered that "the" Jim Marfia was involved in West Michigan Chess. Further searching oncovered a recent game and the fact that he was playing games online at queenalice.com and GameKnot.com under the handle "fluffybunnyfeet".

As my wife said, "You can't make this stuff up..."

[to be continued]