The other day I woke up too early, and said to myself, "Let's have a chess game, and then a cup of coffee." Wrong. I needed the coffee first. perrypawnpusher - igisr blitz, FICS, 2015 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 The Semi-Italian Opening. 4.0-0 Bc5 5.Bxf7+
I have played games where Black has chosen 8...Ke8, 8...Kf8 and even 8...Kf6, but the text move was new to me. (There is only one game example in The Database.) There is something significant about the placement of the Black King, but in the morning mental fog, it eluded me. 9.Qxc5+ d6 10.Qe3 Nf6 11.f4 Re8 Instead, the game mrddblack - ammagamma (1-0, 32), continued 11...Rf8. 12.f5 Ne5 13.d4 Nc4
Routine, but probably better was 13...Nc6. 14.Qd3 b5 15.Nc3 After the game, Stockfish recommended the straight-forward 15.b3 Nb6 16.e5 dxe5 17.dxe5 Qxd3 18.exf6+ Kxf6 19.cxd3 with a slight advantage for White. The text move is not "wrong", but it reflects the fact that I believed that e4-e5 was not currently playable because it allowed the exchange of Queens - missing, as Stockfish showed, that White can use thezwischenzug exf6+ after ...Qxd3 to regain his sacrificed piece. 15...a6 16.b3 Nb6 17.Ba3
Hoping that the pin on Black's d6 pawn will allow White's e-pawn to advance, but this is cloudy thinking, and easily evaded. Better was the simple 17.e5 dxe5 18.dxe5 Qxd3 19.exf6+ Kxf6 20.cxd3 as we have seen. 17...Kf7 18.Rae1 A standard move in this kind of position, but I could not escape the feeling that I had missed something... 18...Bb7 19.Bb2 b4
White's pawn center is now crumbling under the pressure of Black's pieces (and the b-pawn), but I was confident that I had everything under control. 20.Qc4+Nxc4 Or not.White resigned. I had a cup of coffee while I did the post mortem.
As updated in "Shelter in Place", I raced to the top of my first round group (without playing a Jerome Gambit) in an Italian Game tournament at Chess.com, completing my games - only to have to wait until others in my group finished theirs. Lvercotti surged ahead of me, eventually taking first place in the group with a score of 10-0-2. Next came mikerj, galloping by with 8-2-2. I managed a draw off of each of them. At 7-2-3 I could only wait for the outcome of the last-to-finish game in our group, FedorMarkov - Lvercotti, to see if White won, also reaching 8.5 points, possibly knocking me out of third place - and a chance to advance to the second round of the tournament - on tiebreaks. Curiously, in a R + 5Ps vs R + N + 2Ps, where the position was balanced, but White seemed to have all the winning chances - the first player lost on time. Given that the time limit was 3 days per move, something must have gone wrong for him... Group 2 has yet to finish, although it is already clear that will_thrash, 7thSon and Diogenes_of_Sinope will all advance to the second round, in some kind of order, as the trio has broken away from the rest of the pack. With luck, Round 2 will see some Jerome Gambits.
Playing over lost games, or games where I played poorly, provides plenty of lessons for my chess improvement. The following game has a shelf-full of lessons for both me and my opponent - especially when it comes to middle game play. perrypawnpusher - genericme blitz, FICS, 2015 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+
The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit. I have 57 examples of this position in my games in The Database, scoring 73%. (That seems pretty good, but it's below the 81% I have scored with the regular Jerome Gambit; the 89% with the Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit; and the 92% with the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.) 5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Nd3+
This is a creative idea from my opponent, and a TN according to The Database. It is the kind of "shocking" move that can be found in blitz games, and I admit that I was expecting the regular (and stronger) 7...Bxd4. 8.Qxd3 Bb4
Black moves the threatened Bishop, and puts pressure on White's e-pawn. Ceteris paribus, such an idea should work - but "all things" are not "equal" here, as White's sacrifice of a Bishop at f7 has moved Black's King. Concrete analysis is important, even in blitz.
After 8...Bb6 9.e5 Ne8 10.O-O d6 11.f4 White could feel that his "Jerome pawns" would balance out Black's extra piece. 9.Qc4+ Kg6
Playing over this game afterward, I am sure my opponent will decide that 9...d5 10.Qxb4 Nxe4 would have been better than exposing his King further. 10.Qxb4 Re8
I had expected 10...Nxe4 11.Nxe4 Re8 when I planned on castling, although now, after the game, it seems that 12.f3 d5 13.O-O dxe4 14.Bf4 is the way to go. 11.O-O Ng4 After the game, I looked at 11...Nxe4 with Stockfish, which recommended for White something I had not considered: 12.d5!?
analysis diagram
The strength of the move - among other things, threatening to win the Knight at e4 - slowly becomes apparent. For example, Black cannot simply hope to exchange with 12...Nxc3, as 13.Qg4+ Kf7 14.Bg5 would allow White to win the exchange (as well as recapture on c3). Protecting the Knight with 12...Qe7 seems best, but, again, after 13.Qxe7 Rxe7 14.Re1 Nxc3 15.Rxe7 Nxd5 16.Re5 Nf6 White has won the exchange. And if Black simply retreats the Knight with 12...Nf6, Stockfish recommends the consistent 13.d6!?
analysis diagram It will be a long while before I play chess like that, though! 12.Bf4Qh4
I am afraid that me playing the Jerome Gambit (giving "Jerome Gambit odds") seemed to have convinced my opponent that I was even less skilled than I actually am. Here he goes ahead with an attack that I had already prevented with my last move. Instead, 12...d6 would have been better, but White would have the advantage. 13.Bg3 Qh5 14.f3 The text move consolidates White's position - which was the psychological need I had at the time - while Stockfish, later, suggested that 14.Nd5!? would have deeply troubled Black's. The closer you look, the stronger it appears. 14...Ne3
This is about as good as any other move. Black's game unravels from here, as he seems to give up hope. 15.Rf2 Nxc2 16.Rxc2 a5 17.Qc4 d6 18.Nd5 Be6 19.Nf4+ Kg5 20.Nxe6+ Kg6 Everything leads to material loss and checkmate. 21.Nf4+ Kg5 22.Nxh5 Black resigned.
In past posts we have looked at reversed Jerome Gambits, currently referred to as the Busch-Gass Gambit (see "Worth A Second Look" Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3; as well as "Busch-Gass Gambit"); and a variation calledChiodini's Gambit. The most recent look at the latter came in "No Fun Against the Pawns". I wanted to share a SCID (Shane's Chess Information Database) Opening Report I recently ran across, which has games and analysis on Chiodini's. (For an older Report on the Jerome Gambit, start here.)
A propos the "Sarratt Attack" which I have looked at in a few posts on this blog, I should have mentioned the three-part series of articles at chess.com by "mikrohaus2014" which gives excellent historical and analytical coverage: Parts 1, 2, and 3.
A game I recently saw at quebecechecs.com got me thinking: can you "Jerome" everything? Dorion,Francois - Ouellet,Paul-G 1993 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nce7
An extravagant move that calls out for some kind of response. Of course, 4.Nxe5 comes to mind, first... It is not clear what Black's idea is - likely he has been away from the game for a while. Yet, I have uncovered two more games with the move (see below). 4.Bxf7+ Understandable. White would like to end the game quickly. 4.Nc3 c6 5.d3 d5 6.exd5 cxd5 7.Bb3 Nf6 8.Nxe5 Ng6 9.Nxg6 hxg6 10.Bg5 Bb4 11.h3 0-0 12.0-0 Bxc3 13.bxc3 Qa5 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.c4 Be6 16.Qf3 Rad8 17.Qxf6 Qc5 18.Rfe1 d4 19.Re4 Rd6 20.Rh4 Qh5 21.Rxh5 gxh5 22.Qg5+ Kh7 23.Qxh5+ Kg7 24.Qe5+ Black resigned, Boyer,M - Miller,D, Blackpool, 1993. 4.0-0 Nh6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.d3 d6 7.Bg5 f6 8.Be3 Bg4 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 g5 11.Rad1 g4 12.hxg4 Nf7 13.g5 fxg5 14.Qh5 (14.Qxf7#) 14...Ne7 15.Nd5 (15.Bxf7+ Kd7 16.Qg4+ Nf5 (16...Kc6 17.Bd5+ Nxd5 18.exd5#) 17.Qxf5+ Kc6 18.Bd5#; 15...Ng6 16.Nb4 Nf4 17.Qxf7 checkmate, Oberhofer,C - Fürst,Lm Österreichische Meisterschaften, 2011. 4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+
Very Jerome Gambit-ish. Black would do well to withdraw his King with 5...Ke8 now, but his monarch is never really going to feel comfortable. 5...Ke6 6.Qg4+ In for a penny, in for a pound. White sacrifices another piece to make the position even more terrifying for the enemy King. In the cold light of day, however, and psychology aside, 6.d4 was "objectively" more sound. 6...Kxe5 7.d4+ Kf6 8.Qf4+ Kg6 9.e5 d6 10.Nc3
Black had defended remarkably well. He only has to think of "castles-by-hand" for his next move, and he should weather the storm. 15...Kg6 Tempting fate. The move-to-make was ...Kg8. 16.dxe5 Surprisingly, White overlooks 16.h5+ Kf6 (16...Kh6 17.Nf7#) 17.Qxe5 checkmate. 16...Nd5 Black could fight on a bit longer with 16...h5, but there would be no joy in it. 17.h5+ Kh6 18.Nf7 checkmate
