As far as I know, there was never a strong movement to discard the title "Noa Gambit" and, instead, name the following opening the "Fischer Attack." Go figure. (Of course, Bobby was only 12 when he played this game.)
Robert James Fischer - David Ames
Lincoln ch-US jr Rd: 4, 1955
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bc4 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 6.Nxe4 d5 7.Neg5+ Kg8 8.d4 h6 9.Nh3 Bg4
10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Nf4 c6 12.h3 Nxf3+ 13.gxf3 Bf5
14.Be3 Bb4+ 15.c3 Ba5 16.Rg1 Qe8 17.Nxd5 Qf7 18.Nf4 Re8
19.Qb3 Bc7 20.Qxf7+ Kxf7 21.Nh5 g6 22.Ng3 Bxh3 23.0-0-0 Rd8 24.Rxd8 Bxd8 25.Rh1 Bg2 26.Rxh6 Rxh6 27.Bxh6 Bxf3 28.Be3 draw
(Graphic? Last one. Honest. Check out the Cafe Press website.)
One challenge to naming 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ the "Noa Gambit" as opposed to the "Open Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit" (see "Further Explorations" Part 1, 2, and 3) is the following, earlier, game.
Zoltowski,E - Zukertort,J
Berlin, 1869
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+
5...Kxf7 6.Nxe4 Be7 7.Nfg5+ Bxg5 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Qxg5 d5 10.Qxd8 Rxd8 11.Ng5+ Kg7
12.d3 Nd4 13.0-0 Nxc2 14.Rb1 Re8 15.b3 Bf5 16.Rd1 Nb4 17.Ba3 Nxd3
18.g4 Nxf2 19.Rxd5 Nxg4 20.Rbd1 Ne3 21.Rd7+ Bxd7 22.Rxd7+ Kh6 23.Nf7+ Kh5 24.Bc1 Nf5 25.Ng5 h6 26.Rh7 Rad8 0-1
So, should the title of the line stay with the traditional, or follow the earlier game example, or be based on similarity in tactical themes?
Who was that future World Champion who played the line, anyhow?
(Still grabbing graphics from a the Cafe Press website. Check them out.)
As we continue "Further Explorations" (see Part 1 and Part 2), recall that Tim Sawyer chose the name "Open Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit" over the "Noa Gambit" for the line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+.
Most likely "Noa Gambit" refers to the following game by Josef Noa (1856 - 1903)
Noa,J - Makovetz,G
DSB-07 Kongress, Dresden, 1892
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe4 d5 7.Ng3 e4 8.Ng1 h5 9.d4 h4 10.Nf1 Qf6
11.c3 Ne7 12.Ne3 Kg8 13.Ne2 c6 14.h3 g5 15.Rf1 Bh6 16.f3 exf3 17.Rxf3 Qg6
18.b3 Rh7 19.Ba3 g4 20.hxg4 Bxg4 21.Nxg4 Qxg4 22.Ng3 Rf7 23.Bxe7 Rxe7+ 24.Ne2 Qxg2 25.Rf2 Qg1+ 26.Rf1 Qg3+ 27.Rf2 Rf8 0-1
As distinctive as this game is, the opening-namers (whoever they are) over the years missed an earlier game example.
We will look at that game in the next post, and then look at an example of the "Open Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit" played by a future World Champion...
(Yep, I grabbed another graphic from the Cafe Press website. Check them out.)
Tim Sawyer's "Open Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit" game (See "Further Explorations Part 1") on his "Playing Chess Openings" website comes with an introduction
In a recent Internet Chess Club game, my opponent "jeromed" chose to play a form
of Jerome Gambit. Here White gets the piece back. In that way it is more Queen's
Gambit than King's Gambit, but it has an aggressive feel. Bill Wall lists it as
a "Noa Gambit, Four Knights", but it is so Jerome-ish that I am borrowing that
name, especially in view of my opponent's ICC handle.
The game:
jeromed - Sawyer,
blitz 3 0, Internet Chess Club, 2012
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3
Even after Black side-stepped the Giuoco Piano into the Two Knights Defense, White is looking to play an Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit with 4...Bc5 5.Bxf7+.
It is interesting to give Tim Harding's additional perspective on White's move, from his "Kibitzer" column "Open Games Revisited: The Two Knights" at ChessCafe.com, as he sees more than the "fork trick"
4.Nc3 can also be met by 4...Nxe4; this is possible because if 5.Nxe4 d5 forks knight and bishop and so regains the sacrificed material. However, if White is not a beginner then he has probably played 4.Nc3 with the intention of offering the tricky Boden-Kieseritsky Gambit, 4...Nxe4 5.0-0 Nxc3 6. dxc3, when natural moves don’t work for Black... The gambit should be unsound, but the second player must be very careful in the early stages.
4...Nxe4 5.Bxf7+
Tim notes
The Jerome Gambit idea. Usually White plays 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Bd3 dxe4 (6...Nb4!= Kaufman) 7.Bxe4 Bd6= (7...Ne7!? is an interesting alternative.
5...Kxf7 6.Nxe4 d5 7.Ng3!? Bd6 8.d3 Rf8
9.Bg5
Tim, sympathetically:
White can quickly castle kingside: 9.0-0 Kg8 10.h3 h6 11.c4 Fighting for e4 for the Ng3. 11...Be6 12.cxd5 Bxd5 13.Ne4 Nd4 14.Nxd4 exd4 15.Qg4 with a playable game for White, although it seems Black a little stands better.
9...Qe8 10.Qd2 Kg8 11.0-0-0 Bg4 12.h3 Bxf3 13.gxf3 Rxf3 14.Rhg1 Qf7 15.Nh1 Kh8 16.c3 d4 17.c4 Rf8
18.Bh4? e4 19.dxe4? Bf4 White resigned
(Okay, so I grabbed the "Cheszilla" graphic from a the Cafe Press website, after all. Still worth checking them out.)
Not quite a year ago, Rev. Tim Sawyer began his chess blog, initally focusing on the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.e4!?), but quickly expanding to many other openings. With the title "Playing Chess Openings" he offered his readers
Read stories based on 40 years of chess play. I was a rated expert, a
correspondence master, a blitz player rated over 2200 for over 10 years, and an
author of four chess openings books. See how the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit (BDG)
changed my career!
Readers are encouraged to visit Tim's blog, and visit it often!
A recent post kindly mentions the Jerome Gambit and this blog.
Rick Kennedy lists five Jerome Gambit options and writes about them
passionately:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Jerome
Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ Italian Four
Knights Jerome Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.0-0 Bc5 5.Bxf7+
Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.0-0 Nf6 5.Nc3
Bc5 6.Bxf7+ Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+ Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit
Tim adds a sixth option, which he calls "Open Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit". Before examining that, I want to review the first five lines.
The first, of course, is the Jerome Gambit proper, based on the analysis and play of Alonzo Wheeler Jerome, first published in the April 1874 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal.
The name of the second line reflects the fact that adding the Bishop sacrifice to the Italian Four Knights Game has transformed play into one of the "modern" variations (i.e. not containing 5.Nxe5) of the Jerome Gambit, that is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nc3 Nf6.
Likewise, the name of the third line reflects the fact that adding the Bishop sacrifice to the Semi-Italian Opening (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6) produces another transposition to the Jerome Gambit, that is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.0-0 h6.
The fourth line, the Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit is the conglomeration of the second and third lines. Q.E.D.
I admit that the fifth line, the so-called Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit, is named with tongue-in-cheek. There is no evidence that Alonzo Wheeler Jerome ever played the line, but there is also no evidence that Henry Joseph Blackburne played 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4!? either, despite it being named after him. Play, though, and the attitude behind it, resembles the Jerome Gambit, so I have welcomed the line aboard.
Now 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+, the Open Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit (borrowing from the "Open" Ruy Lopez idea with ...Nxe4), knocks and bids to enter...
(The graphic at the top is from a t-shirt at the Cafe Press website. I chose it over their "Cheszilla" graphic. Check them out.)
I have been adding a number of FICS (Free Internet Chess Server) games to The Database, and I have run across too many games where White is so excited (it seems) to be playing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) that he or she races into danger with both eyes closed... The results are not pretty.
Please: slow down and pay attention; the King (or Queen) you save may be your own.
White - Black
blitz, FICS, 2012
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Ng5+ Ke8 7.Qh5+ 0-1
White - Black
standard, FICS, 2012
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qg4+ Nxg4 0-1
White - Black
standard, FICS, 2012
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.0-0 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.Qf3+ Nxf3+ 0-1
White - Black
blitz, FICS, 2012
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Ng5+ Ke8 7.Qh5+ 0-1
White - Black
blitz, FICS, 2012
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Bc5 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Ng5+ Kg8 7.Qf3 Nd4 8.Qe2 Nxe2 0-1
The following game is part of an unfinished discussion concerning a line in the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc3 Nd4!? 4.Bxf7+!?)
dudzlomo - LDRAGO
standard, FICS, 2012
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4
The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.
4.Bxf7+
The Jerome treatment.
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.c3
More frequently see is the direct 6.Qh5+, although the text shows up 317 times in The Database, with White scoring 57%.
6...Ne6
The wild 6...Qg5 was seen in suzana - Yaman, lightning, FICS, 2011.
7.Qh5+ g6
Black forfeited by disconnection.
Quite possibly this was a case of the "outside world" intruding into the world of the chessboard.
Although White has scored 60% here in the 63 games that appear in The Database, Black is hardly "objectively" worse after 8.Nxg6 Nf6 9.Qh4 hxg6 10.Qxh8 Nxe4, when he has two Knights to White's Rook and two pawns.
