Yesterday's post (see "Still An InterestingGame") got me thinking about an early d2-d4 for White in the Jerome Gambit and related openings. That, in turn, got me thinking about the Italian Gambit (see "Brilliant but not sound" too) and helped me turn up the following game.
Darrenshome - WildErmine
blitz, FICS, 2006
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d4
The Italian Gambit.
All three of Black's captures of the d-pawn can lead to a roughly equal game, but the second player should remain attentive.
4...Nxd4 5.Bxf7+
Transposing to the Jerome Gambit, i.e. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d4 Nxd4.
5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Ke6
Black either does not believe in what he sees, or he is careless and does not watch where he is going. In either event, it is risky to wander too far from home...
7.Qg4+ Kxe5 8.Bf4+ Kxe4 9.Nc3 checkmate
Here is the latest Jerome Gambit game from Bill Wall, who writes
After seeing your article on Utterly Fascinating, I decided to play the 5.d4 line as well, but my opponent took with the bishop instead of the pawn. Still an interesting game.
Wall,B - Guest1366999
Playchess.com, 2011
notes by Bill [comments by Rick]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.d4!?
[The Database has over 1500 games with this move. White scores 38%. Also check out "A Closer Look At the Big Picture (Part 3)"]
5...Bxd4
This may be better than 5...exd4
[See "Brilliant but not sound".]
6.c3 Bc5?
This gives me the piece back.
6...Bb6 should be played, then I may play 7.Qb3+.
7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 Qe7
9.Qc4 Nf6 10.0-0 d6 11.Be3 Be6 12.Qb5 Qd7
12...Nxe4 13.Qxb7
13.Ng5
13.Qxb7 Rb8 14.Qa6 Rxb2
13...a6?!
Now not as effective as I will have more threats and win another pawn; perhaps 13...Nd8
14.Qxb7 Rb8 15.Qxa6 Ke7
Not 15...Rxb2 16.Nxe6 Qxe6 17.Qxc6+ winning a piece.
16.Nxe6 Kxe6 17.Qc4+ Ke7 18.a4
Passed pawns must be pushed.
18...Rxb2 19.a5 Ra8 20.a6 Ng4 21.Bg5+ Nf6
Not 21...Ke8?? 22.Qg8#
22.Nd2 h6 23.Bxf6+ gxf6 24.Nf3 Rb6
25.Nh4 Qe6 26.Nf5+ Kd7 27.Qd3 h5 28.Ne3 Qb3 29.Nd5 Qb5
30.Qh3+! Kd8 31.Qe6 Rbb8 32.Qg8+ Kd7 33.Qf7+ Kd8 34.Qf8+
34.Nxf6 may have been quicker, but I was in time pressure with 30 seconds left.
34...Kd7 35.Qg7+ Kd8 36.Nxf6 Ne7 37.Qf8+ Qe8 38.Qxe8 checkmate
graphic by The Wizard of Draws
Little has changed at the top of the standings in the ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, where almost 90% of the games have been completed.
AsceticKingK9 remains the un-catchable winner with 25 points out of 28 games.
He is followed by mckenna215, with 23.5 points out of 28 games.
Rikiki00 has snagged a point in the race for third, fourth and fifth place, now having 16.5 points in 24 games. He is hoping to bypass Knight32 with 18.5 points out of 28 games and Braken with 18.5 points out of 27 games.
White surprises Black.
Black surprises White.
Sometimes it is not only "who surprises who" that counts, but who recovers from the surprise first, as the following game from the soon-to-be-finished ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament shows.
braken - klonka59
ChessWorld
Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kf8
The Jerome Gambit Declined, a rare bird.
White surprises Black with the gift of what is, objectively, a won game. Black, in turn, surprises White by preferring to be a pawn down, with an ill-at-ease King.
5.Bd5 Nf6 6.Ng5
This attacking move opens the diagonal for White's Queen while preparing a fork of Black's heavy pieces. Nonetheless it has its downside.
6...Nxe4
Perhaps Black has become disoriented, overlooking, for starters, that the White Bishop that should have disappeared at f7 is now protecting the pawn he just grabbed.
Or, perhaps he was aware that the Bishop was still on the job, and expected, after 7.Bxe4, to play 7...Qxg5.
In either case, he missed the more effective 6...Nxd5 7.exd5 Qxg5.
7.Nxe4
Saving the White Knight, and putting the heat on the Black King.
7...Ne7 8. Qf3+ Black resigned
Black will lose his Knight and Queen, for starters.
I started a new job recently, and I am firmly convinced that my hiring was helped by my discussion of this blog as an "ongoing study of errors in thinking". The following game is an excellent example: White disturbs the Black King, keeps it in the middle of the board, pins a piece to it, and then wins the piece. All that shaking leaves Black quite rattled, so the game suddenly ends...
Victus - Bennysah,
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.d4
One of the "modern" Jerome Gambit (not-5.Nxe5) variations, offering a pawn for more open lines.
5...exd4 6.Ng5+ Ke8
Black decides that his King will be safer in the center at e8 than if blocking development at f8. This could be true, but it will take due dilligence.
7.Qf3 Nf6 8.0-0 d5 9.e5 Nxe5
An unprotected piece on an open file, shielding the King? Not a problem.
Yet.
10.Re1 Bd6 11.Bf4 Bg4
Chases the Queen to where she wants to go. Now Black will have to return a piece.
12.Qg3 h5
13.Bxe5 Bxe5 14.Qxe5+ Kf8 15.Ne6+
Fearing the loss of his Queen from the Knight fork, Black resigned
Utterly fascinating.
Blackmar-Diemer Gambit
Method of Operating
by Eric Jégo
TheBookEdition (2011)
ISBN: 978-2-9536013-1-2
softcover, 164 pages
figurine algebraic notation
http://ericlediemerophile.blogspot.com/
http://gambit-blackmar-diemer.cabanova.fr/
The English-language version of Eric Jégo's French-language Gambit Blackmar-Diemer Modus Operandi has a number of changes and improvements.
In addition to "Acknowledgements", "Dany Sénéchaud’s [of Emil J. Diemer, missionnaire des échecs acrobatiques] Preface" and "Eric Jégo's Preamble" there is a selection of "Reviews of the French edition".
As readers of the first edition requested, games now have the ratings of the players given, as well as the time control (i.e. correspondence, classical, blitz, etc.)
To save some space, each chapter starts with a main line (say, "Bolgoljubow Defense 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 g6") and then the games are given, each "starting" from that point on. The author has "boxed" the first moves of the games (say 6.Bf4) to make them stand out a bit more visually, and allow the readers' eyes to better pick up on the continuity.
It is easier to keep track as to what line the game is following, as additional data (e.g. "6.Bc4 Bc7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Qe1 Nc6 9.Qh4 Ng4 Kloss Variation") is given at the bottom of the page.
There is a player index at the back of the book.
The print is somewhat smaller, allowing for the above additions, but producing 164 pages instead of the original 188 pages.
Of course, the book still has 287 annotated Blackmar-Diemer Gambit games, many of which you have probably not seen before (even if you have several BDG books). It still has the 14 "Elementary Principles" of BDG play outlined at the front, and referred to in the notes of each game.
Yesterday on this blog I asked
How far will the members of the Blackmar Diemer Gemeinde go in pursuit of esoteric knowledge? Brush up on their German so they can read Diemer’s original Vom Ersten Zug An Auf Matt! ? Freshen up their French, so they can appreciate Dany Sénéchaud’s, Emil J. Diemer, missionnaire des échecs acrobatiques ?Actually, if you are a BDG fanatic, that’s not a bad idea. And I have just the place for you to start: Eric Jégo’s new Gambit Blackmar-Diemer.
If they do so, they will have games and analysis unavailable to others who are unwilling to work that hard to improve their game. They will also experience more of the joy that is the Blackmar Diemer Gambit.
In making his second edition an English translation, Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Method of Operating author Jégo has gone a step further than Diemer and Sénéchaud, making the steps that an adventurous English-speaking reader needs to take a little less burdensome. Meeting him in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, as it were (at least for American readers).
Yet, this boldest move is also the riskiest, for the result is often something akin to the "Frenglish" that automated translation services such as Babelfish can produce. Sometimes the going is easy, as with phrases such as "e6 allows White to arrange the Kingside" and "the sole interest of such a development is to accelerate the protection of the Black King." Sometimes the going is shaky, such as "the White Knight may well not stand the offensive in the Kingside but self removes a useful piece for defense, does not develop the Black play and enhances the White play." (Reading Sénéchaud’s references to J.P. Sartre in his "Preface" are extraordinarily painful.)
As I wrote to the author,
In my Chessville review of your book's French language edition, I told readers that if they really wanted an edge in the BDG, they would have to do some work.
Do I speak German? No. Do I have a German - English dictionary, and have I bought Diemer's classic work? Of course! Playing over his games, even the Ryder Gambits, is pure magic. I learned a bit of German, too.
Do I speak French? Sure -- like a Spanish cow! But -- I am willing to work to improve my BDG game. So I have your book, and Dany Sénéchaud’s, Emil J. Diemer, missionnaire des échecs acrobatiques as well. Is it work the effor to struggle to understand? Sure it is!
The true English-speaking BDG-phile is not afraid of a German language or French language book. There are treasures to uncover!
In my mind, it is very much worth the effort to pick up Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Method of Operating and work with it, even if you decide that the games are the most important content of all; and they are in simple figurine algebraic notation.
Eric Jégo has come out with a second, English-language edition of his Blackmar Diemer Gambit, Method of Operating, Accepted - Declined - Avoided.
Today I want to share my review (from Chessville) of his first, French-language edition. Tomorrow, I will address what improvements he has made in the new edition.
Gambit Blackmar-Diemer Modus Operandi
TheBookEdition (2010)
ISBN: 978-2-9536013-0-5
softcover, 188 pages
figurine algebraic notation
http://ericlediemerophile.blogspot.com/
http://gambit-blackmar-diemer.cabanova.fr/
Serious chess players are always looking for an edge. Bobby Fischer learned Russian to keep up with magazines coming out of the U.S.S.R. Later, grandmasters grabbed each issue of Chess Informant as it came out – as they do today with New In Chess.
The advent of computer chess game databases meant getting the largest and the newest – and keeping it up-to-date with games from internet sources such as "The Week in Chess." Internet sources like "Chess Vibes Openings" and "Chess Publishing" keep subscribers up-to-date on the latest opening wrinkles.
Serious followers of the Blackmar Diemer Gambit are no different. As Ken Smith wrote:
For every White initiative a better defense always seems to present itself for Black, and for every refutation the Black side recommends improvements are found for White.
Where do you find those improvements?
While it’s nice to have FM Eric Schiller’s Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, for example, it’s important to have IM Gary Lane’s The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit as well. Have Tim Sawyer’s Blackmar Diemer Gambit Keybook? His The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Keybook II is much bigger! You say you have Tom Purser’s entire run of “BDG World” magazine on CD? What about Tejler’s and Kampars’ “Blackmar Diemer Gambit / Opening Adventures” magazine?
And so it goes.
How far will the members of the Blackmar Diemer Gemeinde go in pursuit of esoteric knowledge? Brush up on their German so they can read Diemer’s original Vom Ersten Zug An Auf Matt! ? Freshen up their French, so they can appreciate Dany Sénéchaud’s, Emil J. Diemer, missionnaire des échecs acrobatiques ?
Actually, if you are a BDG fanatic, that’s not a bad idea. And I have just the place for you to start: Eric Jégo’s new Gambit Blackmar-Diemer. Even if you speak French like a Spanish cow, it’s time to get out your Petite Larousse English-French dictionary (or download a free copy to your iPhone) and start discovering.
Or you can simply bypass the language for now and just play over the 287 games that Jégo presents in figurine algebraic notation. More than half of them were played in 1999 or more recently – check your bookshelf, how many BDG titles do you have from the new millennium?
Eric Jégo is a serious member of the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Gemeinde, as even a few minutes on his web pages (given at the top of this review) will show you. His enthusiasm is contagious.
Several things set Gambit Blackmar-Diemer apart (aside from being the only whole book in French devoted to the opening). For starters, it is one of the most attractive and well-laid out books that I have seen on the BDG, easily bypassing the efforts of Schachverlag Rudi Schmaus, for example, in their Das moderne Blackmar-Diemer-Gambit series. Props must be given to the author and the people at TheBookEdition (a print-on-demand publisher) for their efforts toward perfection.
Inside a glossy cover with a picture of the Black King lying on its side, signifying surrender, the book arranges its games in 28 chapters, by variation. Each chapter starts with the title, the opening moves, and a short strategic description. A “thermometer”-style bar is then given, showing the percentage of wins by White, draws, and wins by Black in the author’s database.
There is a diagram of the starting position for the variation, and then the games follow, with words for annotations, not merely Informant symbols. (Each game “starts” from the diagram, so that the initial moves are not given; this accommodates transpositions from other openings into the BDG, and likely saves space as well.)
At the beginning of Gambit Blackmar-Diemer, after a striking "Preface" by Dany Sénéchaud (it’s not often that you see Jean Paul Sartre referred to in a chess book; my comparison of IM Ilya Odessky’s writing to Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky hardly counts) and a "Preamble" by the author, readers encounter Jégo’s 14 “Elementary Principles” of play in the Blackmar Diemer Gambit.
For example, “After Black castles, the White King Bishop will to to c4 against …g6, or d3 against …e6” and “White’s Queen Bishop will ideally be placed on g5, to pin or eliminate the Black Knight on f6.” Thereafter, the author can simply refer in a discussion in his annotations to the relevant principle, e.g. “PE8.” (BDG enthusiast Rev. Tim Sawyer lists all 14 Elementary Principles in his review on Tom Purser’s blog – another fine BDG resource.)
At the end of the book there is a short list of BDG references (here is a long, albeit incomplete, list) and a very nice list of internet resources.
I have a few, basic, suggestions for a second edition of Gambit Blackmar-Diemer. I know that it was probably done to conserve space, but identifying a game solely by the players’ names and the year it was played – e.g. “Le Goff F. X. – Guinovart J. 2005” – is too spare; at least the location of the match, if not the name or kind of tournament, would be informative additions. A Players’ Index would be nice, as well.
In the meantime, here is one of the 287 games in the book – the only one that doesn’t start from a diagram, but has all of its moves; and given that White was played by Gary Kasparov, no wonder...
Kasparov – Carneiro
2004
(I discovered that this game was played in a simultaneous exhibition in Sao Paolo, Brazil - RK)
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bf4 d5 4.f3 Nf6 5.e4 dxe4 6.Nc3 exf3 7.Nxf3 Bg4
(Via the Trompowsky Attack, Kasparov has made his way to the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, Teichmann Defense – actually, a move up for White.
A little research shows that if instead 7…e6, we would transpose to Jansa – Sosonko, Amsterdam 1975 – a BDG, Euwe Defense, again a move up. For that matter, 6…e3, instead of 6…exf3, would have transposed to Milov – Gelfand, Biel, 1995 – a BDG declined, Langeheinecke Defense, likewise a move up.
Perhaps the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit is just a tempo away from making it big with the Grandmasters? - RK)
8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 c6 10.O-O-O e6 11.Bc4 Nbd7 12.d5 cxd5 13.Nxd5 Nxd5 14.Bxd5 a5 15.Bxb7 Ra7 16.Rxd7 Qf6 17.Rhd1 Be7 18.Rxe7+ Qxe7 19.Qc6+ Kf8 20.Bd6 g6 21.Bxe7+ Kxe7 22.Qc5+ Kf6 23.Qxa7 Rf8 24.Qd4+ e5 25.Qd6+ Kg7 26.Qxe5+ Kg8 27.Qf6 h5 28.Bd5 Kh7 29.Bxf7 1-0
So: if you’ve made the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit your secret weapon, go one more step and make Eric Jégo’s Gambit Blackmar-Diemer your ultra super secret weapon – only your opponents will regret that you did so!
