Just Plain Annoying

The Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) can be just plain annoying. Black has his mind on playing an interesting line that he has prepared, and then, suddenly, What is this?? Who wants to bother with this?

Yet, the nagging question also arises in the second player's mind: Who wants to lose to this junk? (Okay, so what do I do now?)

I think that helps explain the sudden end of the following game. It is as if Black, rated about 250 points above his opponent, realizes that he missed a move to finish off White, and decided: Phooey! I didn't really want to play this game, anyhow...

MyGameUMove - cqs
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

4...Kxf7 5.0-0 Nf6 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Bxd4 8.Qxd4 Nc6

Black has a comfortable, better, winning position. Of course.

9.Qc4+ d5 10.exd5 Qxd5 11.Qe2 Re8 12.Be3 Kg8

More material, better development, safe King... yadda, yadda, yadda...

13.Nc3 Qe5 14.Rae1 Qd6 15.Nb5 Qd8 16.Rd1 Qe7 17.Rde1 a6 18.Qc4+ Qf7

Oh, rats! If I had played 18...Be6, it would be "Game over!"

Of course, it should have been "Game over!" after move 4, anyhow.

Why am I wasting my time on this game??

19.Qxf7+ Black forfeited by disconnection

(This might have puzzled White, who could see that after 19...Kxf7 20.Nxc7 Be6 21.Nxa8 Rxa8 he would have a Rook and two pawns against Black's two Knights, at best only a theoretical edge, if any.)

Silicon Jurassic Park

Reader quickturtle must have been browsing back posts on this blog recently (something that I highly recommend, by the way: there are almost 1,300 of them; you can use the "search this blog" Google gadget if you are looking for something special) as he posted a comment to "A Jerome Gambit 'Challenger' ", my tale of a Jerome Gambit-tinged battle against the venerable Chess Challenger 7 chess computer.

Because his comment hints at future adventures, I reprint it here:

Rick, this was a wonderful game and analysis. I still have to give the CC7 a lot of credit considering it's age and the limited amount of info those old machines had. I still have a Fidelity Designer 2100 and a Novag Super Expert and now I'm going to pull them out of the closet and give the Jerome a shot with them :)



Good luck against those silicon dinosaurs, quickturtle.

Be careful, too: remember those "Jurassic Park" movies!

Sunday Tournament Update

The standings of the current ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament

AsceticKingK9                                                  25/26
mckenna215                                                      23.5/28
braken                                                               19.5/28
Knight32                                                           18.5/28
Rikiki00                                                            17.5/26
shm19cs                                                            15.5/27
blackburne                                                          15/28
Magni                                                                 12/26
Haroldlee123                                                      11/27
DREWBEAR 63                                                11/28
pixifrufru                                                             8/27
Baron wd von Blanc, heart pirate                       7.5/26
Luke Warm                                                          6/26
klonka59                                                              4/24
martind1991                                                         1/15

How Long?

I think I have shared before that one chessfriend of mine said he enjoys playing chess at a local bar and he has found that the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is a perfect opening to play there, as, win or lose, the game is usually over quickly...

The other day I was wondering about the other end of the time spectrum: how long can a Jerome Gambit game last, especially a blitz game? I consulted The Database, and found some interesting answers.

MAILMANUK - Buckeyeski, blitz, FICS, 2002

After149 moves, this game was drawn by the "50 move rule" (although it could have been drawn, for the same reason, over 35 moves earlier)



HIARCS 11.1 UCI - Rybka 2.3.1 32-bit, 2008

Here, the two silicon monsters battled for 147 moves. 





DOCTOERDETROIT - jpiza, blitz, FICS, 2009

Here, consistent with our topic, on move 145, Black lost on time.



Good Fortune

The diagram below preserves a lucky moment for White, who, many moves earlier, had started a Jerome Gambit with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.h4, which is not a line you see every day...

MATCHAPULANE - Rachipa, blitz, FICS, 2011

Draw: Black ran out of time and White has no material to mate



A Saving Swindle

The following position is from a Blackburne Schilling Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4) treated in Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) fashion (i.e. 4.Bxf7+).

White has done very well, and is, in fact, a Rook and two pawns ahead. Black is attacking – because that is all that is left for him to do.

When the defender relaxes, if only for a moment, a saving swindle allows the split of the point. 

Coxybleue - Toquino, blitz, FICS, 2011

17.h3 Nxe3 18.fxe3 Bxh3

A sign of desperation, White may have thought.

19.gxh3

White had about 30 moves, starting with 19.Qf3, to keep his sizeable advantage. The text is not one of them.

19...Qg3+ 20.Kh1 Qxh3+ 21.Kg1 Qg3+ 22.Kh1 Qh3+ 23.Kg1 Qg3+ 24.Kh1 Qh3+ 25.Kg1 Drawn

The Cure

White starts off the following game in typical Giuoco Piano fashion, and he seems to be looking for a quiet game – until Black gives him the opportunity to become very loud.




shepherd - garouss
blitz, FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d3 h6

This position is at least as old as Home - Puller, Cambridge, 1860, where White continued in cautious fashion with 5.Be3 d6 6.h3 Qf6 7.a3 (1-0, 25).

5.Nc3 Na5

No doubt looking for more piano after 6.Bb3 Nxb3, but this move allows White to deliver some magna instead. 

6.Bxf7+

Another example of the "Jerome cure."

Sadly, for Black, Fritz suggests that the best now is to not take the piece, but continue with 6...Kf8 7.Nxe5 Bxf2+ 8.Kf1 (a bizarre example of what Yury V. Bukayev might call "the Jerome-Jerome exchange" declined) when 8...Bb6 9.Ng6+ Kxf7 10.Nxh8+ Kf8 gives White a pawn and the exchange advantage. 

6...Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Ke8

"Best" for Black was 7...Ke6, when White has a strong attack after 8.Qg4+ Kxe5 9.Bf4+ although he lost his way, and, eventually, the game, in chumbo - KvanHouten, FICS, 2011 (0-1, 32).

8.Qh5+ Ke7 9.Ng6+ Kd6 10.Qd5 checkmate