I have been a bit busy lately, so this email hit me by surprise:
Dear Rick, how do you do! My warmest congratulations with 10 years of your nice blog!!! It's an enormous and a noble work! Thank you a lot for it!!! I'm going to post congratulations on my Facebook-page "Newchessrevolution Bukayev" too.Best wishes!Yury
Wow! That's right. June 10, 2008 was the date of the first post on this blog.
For the record, the next post will be number 2,600.
And Yury has been contributing ideas and support for at least 8 years, if my figuring is correct. Many, many thanks!
A profound "Thank You!" to all Readers, and especially those who have contributed analysis, games and ideas, over the last decade.
I play chess. I do not play golf. My guess is that facing a "refuted" chess opening in chess - say, the Jerome Gambit - is kind of like hitting a long shot to the green in golf. In the end, you still have to sink the putt. Likewise, even against 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+, Black has to still go on and finish the "win".
The following game is yet another example of Black coming up short.
Wall, Bill - Guest5607084
PlayChess.com, 2018
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Qh4
An excellent response, very much like a pie in the face. (You can tell it is strong, as, in 33 games, Bill has scored "only" 86%.)
7.O-O Ng4
Wow. Looks scary.
8.h3 N4f6 9.dxc5 d6
Opening a line for another piece to enter the attack.
10.cxd6 cxd6 11.Nd2 Qh5 12.Nf3
12...Ne8
A move that is difficult to comprehend. I would guess that Black originally planned 12...Nxe4, but at the last moment saw that the move would be well met by 13.Ng5+. Still...
13.Ng5+ Kg6
14.g4 Qh4 15.e5
15...h6 16.Qd3+ Bf5 17.Qxf5 checkmate
Nyuk nyuk nyuk...
Earlier this year I posted a game - see "Jerome Gambit: Two English Amateurs" - from R.M. Baird's May 11, 1901 "OVER THE CHESSBOARD" column in The Evening Star.
It turns out that the game had appeared earlier, in the March 17, 1899 chess column (by Samuel Tinsley) in the Kentish Mercury.
It is also quite possible (see "Violet Apple The Life and Works of David Lindsay) that the player of the white pieces was David Lindsay, an early fantasy and science fiction writer (A Voyage to Arcturus [1920], The Haunted Woman [1922], Sphinx [1923], Adventures of Monsieur de Mailly [1926], Devil's Tor [1932]) who appears to have influenced C.S. Lewis and J.R. Tolkien.
There is something "right" about the Jerome Gambit being played by someone caught up in fiction and fantasy.
Things move slowly in the "Italian Battleground" tournament at Chess.com. By my count, there are 11 games to be completed - although 2 of those cannot be started until a couple of ongoing ones are finished. Still, it is possible to identify those in each group who will move on.
In Group 1 there are a couple of games to complete, but Marek_Sturmvogel, warwar and Iliwo will make it to round two.
Group 2, with two games to go, will see perrypawnpusher (that's me), JohnDuh2 and Abhishek29 move on to the next round.
Group 3 will see 275Jukka, manospawn and either thejamch, Alfonso10, Tarongrig or Asdksafa (yes, that is everyone else) progress. Seven yet-to-be-finished games keep that third spot in competition.
In Group 4, xtfabio, vasbur and XristosGikas will make it to round 2.
The Jerome Gambit is often presented as some kind of bashi-bazouk attack, referring to, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, "mercenary soldier[s] belonging to the skirmishing or irregular troops of the Ottoman Empire, notorious for their indiscipline, plundering, and brutality."
Yet some Jerome games move along placidly, largely balanced, with White content to develop his pieces and advance his "Jerome pawns" - until. A sudden imbalance brings a sudden end.
Wall, Bill -Guest5296006
PlayChess.com, 2018
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bxd4 7.Qxd4 Qf6
A move that has the threat of either winning or exchanging the enemy Queen. White notices, but doesn't seem to mind.
8.Be3 Ne7 9.O-O Rf8 10.Nc3 c6 11.Rad1 Kg8
Black has castled-by-hand, and has a piece for a pawn. If this distresses his opponent, it is not apparent.
12.f4 Ng4
13.Qxf6 Nxf6
14.Bc5 Re8 15.Bd6
Black's Bishop is at home, currently blocked in - and it, in turn, blocks his Rook (a dilemma we have seen many times before). His solution is to advance the Queenside pawns, which drains away his advantage.
15...b5 16.f5 a5 17.e5
In the meantime, White moves in the center. The position is about even.
I am reminded of something GM Andy Soltis wrote in Grandmaster Secrets Openings (2000), that at some point a player has to decide if he is going to go for a small advantage, or a large advantage. Black can keep things balanced, here -but he wants more.
17...Nfd5
He should have relied on 17...Ned5 18.exf6 Nxf6.
18.f6
At first, a bit of a surprse, as Black is threatening the Knight fork of two Rooks with 18...Ne3, but White can meet this with 19.f7+ Kf8 20.Ne4!? giving up the exchange, as 20...Nxf1 21.Rxf1 requires that Black return the Rook, with 21...h6 22.fxe8/Q+, because 21...Rd8 22.Ng5 would be even worse.
18...gxf6 19.exf6
Now Black can try to struggle on after returning the Knight with 19...Nxf6 20.Rxf6, possibly reaching a Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame, but he thinks he can do better. He can't.
19...Nxc3 20.f7+ Kf8 21.bxc3
You know that White's game is powerful when he doesn't have to capture the Rook at e8,
21...Rd8 22.Rde1 Black resigned
Not only does White threaten to win the Knight at e7, with check, then pick up the Rook at d8, he also has a forced checkmate, e.g. 22...Kg7 23.Rxe7 Rf8 (What else?) 24.Re3 h6 25.Bxf8+ Kxf8 26.Re8+ Kf7 27.f8/Q+ Kg6 28.Qf5+ Kg7 29.Qf7#
I have mentioned before National and FIDE Master Dennis Monokroussos' thoughtful website, The Chess Mind, where he once asked "Is there even a single trap for Black to fall into in the Jerome Gambit?"
With due respect to Dennis, at the club level the entire Jerome Gambit can be considered a "trap" - especially if we consider psychological aspects. Black must pay attention, even as he treasures his advantages, or they will evaporate.
Wall, Bill - Guest5436627
PlayChess.com, 2018
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bxd4 7.Qxd4 d6
8.O-O Be6
Or 8...Nf6. See "Jerome Gambit: Tactic Fatigue" for a discussion.
9.f4 Nc6 10.Qa4 Nf6
Black is doing well. He has attended to his development, and can protect his King in short order.
White, on the other hand, has to continue to find ways to sow disorder.
11.f5 Bd7 12.Qb3+ Ke7
I am not sure about this. Perhaps the King should go to f8.
13.Nc3 Re8 14.Nd5+ Nxd5
Of course, Black should have moved his King away, instead, with 14...Kf8, but it's no big deal, right?
15.exd5 Ne5
Suddenly Black's King feels a draft along the e-file, and so he blocks it off with his Knight. Sadly, to keep the position about level (White would have an edge) he needed to give up his extra piece with 15...Nd4 16.Qe3+ Kf8 17.Qxd4).
Now, danger comes from another direction.
16.Bg5+ Black resigned
"Cliff Hardy" has lit up the chessboard again with a 1 0 Jerome Gambit game that highlights the rapid ups and downs - and eventual up - that come with playing a "refuted" opening.
Below is the game, with notes by Cliff, and an occasional diagram (and note, in blue) by me - Rick.
Hardy, Cliff - NN
1 0 lightning, lichess.org, 2018
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5
Lichess has a new "Opening explorer & tablebase" feature, which reveals that 12,217 games in its database have reached this position.
4.Bxf7+
But, interestingly, zero games in its database have reached this position!
(By the way, since those of us who play the Jerome live in an alternate reality - where, in contrast to the lichess database, our opponents do occasionally play 4...Kf8 - I checked the move out in "our" The Database and found 281 games. A bit puzzlingly, white scores only 55%. Of course, that reflects a bit on who actually is playing the game [we are mostly club players] - remember, The Database also says White scores only in the mid 40s with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ to begin with. YMMV. - Rick)
4...Kf8!?
Unsurprisingly, Stockfish is not a fan of this innovation and says that White has a winning advantage now.
5.Bxg8?!
Keeping the bishop with 5.Bb3 made a bit more sense but I was a little flustered by his last move!
5...Kxg8 6.c3 d6 7. d4 exd4 8. cxd4 Bb6
9.Be3 Bg4 10.h3?
10.Qb3+ was better, I had missed that after 10.h3 (as played in the game) 10...Bxf3! I would have to double my pawns with 11.gxf3.
(To redo David Foster Wallace's lament, "Move in haste, annotate at leisure." Remember, this is a 1-minute game - Rick)
10...Bh5? 11.Nc3 h6 12.g4 Bg6
13.Qb3+?
Stockfish prefers to simplify by getting pieces off with 13.d5.
13...Kh7?
13...Bf7 was a much more active defence.
14.O-O-O?
Allows Black equality but 14.h4!, intending to push the bishop on g6 back with 15.h5 or to attack Black's king with 15.Ng5!+ hxg5 16.hxg5+, would have led to White retaining his winning advantage.
14...Rf8?
White is now winning again but 14...Qf6! would have equalised as White could then not have saved both his knight on f3 and pawn on d4.
15.Ne1 Qf6 16.Nd5 Qd8 17.Nxb6??
This allows 17...cxb6!, opening the c-file to attack White's king, and surprisingly yields him a winning advantage; whereas 17.f3 would have been a solidifying strong move for White.
17...axb6? 18.f3 Bf7 19.Qc2??
Losing the pawn on a2 is disastrous for white but, of course, 19.d5 would have been strong for me.
(Ah, but a private eye often runs into serious danger before solving his case - Rick)
19...Rxa2 20.Nd3 Qa8 21.d5 Ne7 22.Nf4 Ng6 23.Nxg6 Bxg6 24.h4??
White could at least have held on to his f-pawn with 23.Rhf1, though White would still have been completely lost, since the white king would still have been too vulnerable.
24...Rxf3 25.h5 Bf7 26.e5+ Kg8 27.Qe4 Rf2??
Whoops! He couldn't notice in time that g3 was the only square available for the rook e.g. 27...Rg3 28.Bf2 Rxb2! 29.Kxb2 (29.Bxg3 Qa1+ checkmates) 29...Qa3+ 30.Kc2 Qa2+ 31.Kc1 Rc3+ 32.Qc2 R/Qxc2 checkmate.
(Each player has averaged about 2 seconds of thinking time per move - they were in "time trouble" from the first move, and it is impressive how well they have done. Ah, but as the game gets closer to flag fall, things get dicier - Rick)
28.Bxf2 Ra1+ 29.Kc2 Ra2 30.e6 Be8 31.Bd4 Ba4+ 32.Kc3
Bxd1 33.Rxd1 Qa5+ 34.Kd3
34..Rxb2??
OK lol, it is apparent that we were in (more) time trouble here, since 34.Bxb2 was possible, but Black is lost in any case.
35.Ke3 Qa3+ 36.Kf4 Rb4 37.Qf5??
Amazingly, after this move, Black could have forced a perpetual check with 37...Rxd4+! 38. Rxd4 Qc1+ e.g. 39.Ke4 Qe1+ 40.Kf4 Qf1+ 41.Ke3 Qe1+; whereas if 37.e7 had been played, White could have won in just a few moves.
37...Qh3 38.Qf7+ Kh8 39.Qxg7 checkmate
