The game Pete Banks ("blackburne") referred to in the last post packs a lot of interesting chess in less than a dozen moves. It blew my mind.
Clark (Halesowen),M - Lloyd (Greenlands),J
Worcester County League D2, 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Bd7
A bit unusual for a Philidor Defense. When I first saw it I figured that Black was planning on answering 4.d4 with 4...exd4 and then 5...Nc6.
4.d4 b5
This is Black's idea, quite unexpected. Now Houdini, analyzing, goes to town, showing White working over the Queenside and then winning a pawn: 5.Bd5 c6 6.Bb3 exd4 7.Qxd4 Na6 8.a4 Nc5 9.axb5 Nxb3 10.cxb3 cxb5 11.0-0 Nf6 12.Bf4 Be7 13.Bxd6.
5.Bxf7+
I am not going to call this a "Jerome" anything - but I like the move. The meanest thing Houdini has to say about it is that it leads to an even game.
5...Kxf7
Of course, Black has to take the sacrifice, as the oppositional 5...Ke7 is met by 6.Bxg8 h6 7.dxe5 Rxg8 8.Qd5.
6.Ng5+
This has the feel of an ad hoc attack, but there are some interesting aspects to the position, starting with the fact that Black is still weak on the light squares, even after White has sacrificed his light-squared Bishop.
6...Ke8 7.dxe5 dxe5
Played too quickly. Houdini suggests 7...Qe7 8.Nc3 c6 (8...Qxe5 9.Nd5 Na6 10.f4) 9.exd6 Qxd6 10.Qe2 h6 = (10...Qg6 11.f4) 11.Nf3 Bg4 12.0-0 Qg6 13.Re1 Qh5 14.e5 Ne7 15.Bf4 Kf7 =.
8.Qd5 Qe7 9.Qxa8 Qb4+ 10.c3 Black resigned.
I will have to keep my eyes open to see if 4...b5 ever shows its face in the Worcester County League again.
In a comment to "Curse You, Red Baron!" Pete Banks ("blackburne") wrote
Hi Rick, you seem to class anything with an early Bxf7 as some kind of Jerome these days. A member of my club recently won an OTB game in 10 moves after saccing on move 5. I would class it as a Philidor, but if you're interested, it's here:
http://www.halesowenchessclub.org.uk/mcvjl.htm
My response -
Hi Pete,
Thanks for the game reference. I'll share the line with Readers in a few posts. (I'm always disappointed when my opponent plays 2...d6.)
I've expanded coverage in this blog from Jerome Gambit games to Jerome-like, Jerome-ish, and Jerome-inspired lines, as many of those who play the "standard" Jerome also like to toss in Bxf7+ elsewhere.
Best wishes,
Rick
Here we have the last of Philidor 1792's adventures with Evans Gambit / Jerome Gambit hybrids - for now. Again, Bxf7+ brings the heat.
Philidor 1792 - guest1899
blitz 3 0, www.bereg.ru, 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4
4...Bxb4 5.c3 Bc5
This time the Bishop goes to c5, not a5.
6.0-0 d6 7.d4 exd4 8.cxd4 Bb6
9.Nc3 Na5 10.Bg5 Ne7 11.Bxf7+
11...Kxf7 12.Nd5 Nac6 13.Bxe7 Nxe7 14.Ng5+ Ke8 15.Qh5+ Ng6 16.Nxh7 Kf7 17.Ng5+ Black resigned
White will pick up the Knight at g6.
As Philidor 1792 continues to expand his creativity in developing the Evans Gambit / Jerome Gambit hybrid, I struggle to keep up with names for the lines...
Here's another 3 0 smasher.
Philidor 1792 - guest2019 [C50]
3-minutes blitz www.bereg.ru (1), 20.10.2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bb6
Declining the pawn.
5.b5 Na5 6.Bxf7+
White will have his gambit, anyway!
6...Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Kf8 8.d3
White's attack began to run down after 8.Qf3+ Qf6 9.Qxf6+ Nxf6 in Castled - perrypawnpusher, blitz 3 0, FICS, 2008 (0-1, 42).
In the current game, 8.Bb2 was probably best.
8...Qf6
Here and on the next move Black misses a chance to cause mischief with ...Bd4.
9.Qf3 d6 10.Qxf6+ gxf6 11.Nf3 Ne7
Black has a piece for two pawns, but he is in unfamiliar territory, and soon loses that advantage in a Queenside skirmish.
12.Bh6+ Kf7 13.Nc3 a6 14.a4 Bd7 15.Ke2 axb5 16.axb5 c6 17.Na4 Bc5 18.b6 Nc8 19.Nxc5 dxc5 20.Bd2 Nxb6 21.Bxa5
21...Ra6 22.Rhb1 Nc8 23.Rxb7 Ke6 24.Bc3 Rxa1 25.Bxa1 Nd6 26.Rb3 Ra8 27.Bc3 Ra2
As time winds down, Black's harassing Rook will trap itself.
28.Rb2 Ra1 29.Nd2 Rh1 30.h3 Rh2 31.Kf3 Nf7 32.Rb1 Ng5+ 33.Kg3 Black resigned
While I enjoyed the earlier examples of the wild Delayed Evans Jerome Gambit, part of me was thinking "Needs more cowbell" - a phrase rather hard to explain - so I was delighted when Philidor 1792 added a Nxe5+ to the already-Jerome-ish Bxf7+ in the following game.
Philidor 1792 - guest343
blitz 3 0, www.bereg.ru, 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.O-O d6 7.d4 Bb6 8.dxe5
Something new.
8...dxe5 9.Bxf7+
The Delayed Evans Jerome Gambit.
9...Kxf7 10.Nxe5+
This is funny. Of course, if Black now blindly plays the Jerome-ish 10...Nxe5 he loses his Queen to 11.Qxd8.
10...Ke8 11.Qh5+ g6 12.Nxc6 gxh5 13.Nxd8 Kxd8
White's "Jerome pawns," Black's uneasy King, and the ever-ticking clock are what Philidor 1792 will count on.
14.Nd2 Nf6 15.e5 Ng4 16.Nc4 Be6 17.Nxb6 axb6 18.Bg5+ Kd7 19.a3 Ra5 20.f4 Rha8
21.f5 Bc4 22.e6+ Ke8 23.Rf4 Bd3 24.h3 Ne3 25.Rf3 Bxf5 26.Rxe3 Rxa3 27.Rxa3 Rxa3
28.e7 b5 29.Re5 Bd7 30.Re4 Ra1+ 31.Kf2 Ra2+ 32.Kg3 Bc6 33.Rf4 Rxg2+ 34.Kh4 Re2
Going after the advanced "Jerome pawn" but a better way was 34...Rxg5 35.Kxg5 Kxe7 36.Kxh5 Be8 37.Kh6 Bg6 when Black still has chances to hold on.
35.Rf8+ Kd7 36.Rd8+ Ke6 37.e8=Q+ Black resigned
Black has to give up his Bishop with 37...Bxe8, only to drop his Rook, as well, after 38.Rxe8+. Ouch.
In the following game, the third Delayed Evans Jerome Gambit played by Philidor 1792 against his opponent, Black comes up with an improvement, getting the Queens off of the board and stifling much of the danger of White's attack.
Alas, Black's game improves at the cost of time on his clock, and that can be critical in a 3-minute game.
Philidor 1792 - guest343
blitz 3 0, www.bereg.ru, 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.b4
The Evans Gambit.
5...Bxb4 6.c3 Ba5 7.d4 d6 8.Bxf7+
The Delayed Evans Jerome Gambit.
8...Kxf7 9.Ng5+ Ke8 10.f4 exd4 11.cxd4 Bb6 12.Bb2 h6 13.e5 dxe5 14.fxe5 Bxd4+
Something new, and an improvement over the previous 14...Nxe5.
15.Bxd4 Qxd4+ 16.Qxd4 Nxd4 17.exf6 hxg5 18.fxg7 Rg8
19.Nc3 c5 20.Nd5 Rb8 21.Nf6+ Kf7 22.Nxg8+ Kxg8 23.Rfe1 Be6 24.Rac1 b6 25.a3 Kxg7 26.h3 Rb7
Black's situation on the board is fine, but his situation on his clock is lethal. Here Black lost on time.
In this rematch between opponents, in another Delayed Evans Jerome Gambit, Black is better able to control his time usage. When White misses a drawing chance - or, maybe, he was going for the win - Black is able to pull his game together and bring the danger to White's King.
There is a whole lot of chess for 3 minutes a side.
Philidor 1792 - guest343
blitz 3 0, www.bereg.ru, 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.O-O Nf6 7.d4 d6 8.Bxf7+
The Delayed Evans Jerome Gambit.
8...Kxf7 9.Ng5+ Ke8 10.f4 exd4 11.cxd4 Bb6 12.Bb2 h6 13.e5 dxe5 14.fxe5 Nxe5 15.Rxf6 gxf6 16.Qh5+ Ke7
In the previous game Black elected to put his King on d7.
17.Ba3+ Kd7 18.Qh3+ Kc6 19.Qc3+ Kd7
It is likely that Black did not realize that his strongest line of play was the scary 19...Kd5 20.Qb3+ Kxd4.
20. Qh3+ Ke8 21.Qh5+ Kd7 22.Qh3+ Kc6 23.Qc3+ Kb5
Black's chance to avoid the draw came with 23...Kd5.
24.Qb4+
Instead, 24.Qb2+ Kc6 25.Qc3+ and White could claim a draw by
threefold repetition. Black's King can not escape the checks by 24...Ka6, and he loses his Queen with 24...Ka5 25.Bb4+ Kb5 26.Be7+ etc., although in the latter case the game is still relatively balanced.
24...Ka6
Now, despite the storm, Black's King will be able to find shelter, and eventually he will counter-attack.
25.Qa4+ Ba5 26.Ne4 b5!?
27.Nc5+ Kb6 28.Qd1 Ng4 29.Bb2 Qd5 30.a4 b4 31.Nd2 Bb7
32.Qe2 a6 33.Nc4+ Ka7 34.Nxa5 Rae8 35.Qf1 Ne3
36.Qf2 Qxg2+ 37.Qxg2 Bxg2 38.Re1 Bh3 39.Nc6+ Kb6 40.Nxb4 Rhg8+ 41.Kh1 Bg2+ 42.Kg1 Bd5+ 43.Kf2 Rg2 checkmate
Wow.
