Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit Report Card (Part 4)

 

Here we go again. This post is another in a series developed after I stopped by the lichess.com website and examined a number of Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+) games, only to see that White had scored 1 - 7 in those matches.

I wanted to find out how many of those games were because of information that was missing or overlooked at this site.

Bonaventure - Osvaldo1

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+ 

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

I have pointed out that Black can often "solve" the various Jerome lines if he has enough time - but often he does not.

The games are usually complicated, which means that White has to be careful of his time, as well.

That is his problem in this game. White does well and plays hard - he just runs out of time, first. This is not really the fault of the information present on this blog. 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Nxg6 Nf6 8.Qe5+ Ne6 9.Nxh8 Bg7 10.Nf7 Kxf7 11.O-O Qe7 12.c3 d6 13.Qb5 a6 14.Qe2 Bd7 15.d4 Rg8 16.e5 dxe5 17.dxe5 Nd5 18.Qh5+ Kf8 19.f4 h6 20.f5 Qc5+ 21.Kh1 Ng5 22.e6 Nxe6 23.fxe6+ Ke7 24.Qf7+ Kd6 25.Qxd7+ Ke5 26.c4 Bf6 27.cxd5 Qc4 28.Bf4+ Ke4 29.Nc3+

Kd3 30.Rad1+ Kc2 31.Qa4+ Kxb2 Black won on time

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit Report Card (Part 3)

 

It is tempting to explain the loss in the following game simply to the fact that when you flip a coin, sometimes it comes down "heads", sometimes it comes down "tails".

One-minute bullet games can sometimes feel that way.

Paviles (2317) - efaresco (2346)

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.c3 Nc6 

Well, this looks like a blog fail. After a number of suggestions over the years that "6.c3 is best", there are a couple of unannotated games - TrippL - boggus, FICS, 2008 (0-1, 34) and pigsfeet - steveod, FICS, 2012 (1-0, 27) - and a few short bits of analysis in "Those who cannot remember the past..." and "Clearly Unclear" with not a lot of guidance. 

7.Nc4 

If you looked hard into past blog posts, you could find a few bits of relative comment 

White can withdraw his Knight, 7.Nf3, with an even game; but the recommended move is 7.d4 with a poisoned pawn in the follow-up: 7...Nxe5 8.dxe5 Kxe5? 9.Qd5+ Kf6 10.Bg5+ Black resigned APe-Sali, blitz, FICS, 2009

And also

A calmer follow-up (although the game had its explosive moments) is 7.d4, which SotoG had played a year earlier: 7...Nxe5 8.dxe5 d5 9.Qg4+ Kf7 10.Qh5+ g6 11.Qf3+ Kg7 12.exd5 Bc5 13.Bf4 Ne7 14.c4 Rf8 15.Qg3 Nf5 16.Qd3 Qh4 17.g3 Bxf2+ 18.Kxf2 Nxg3 19.hxg3 Qxh1 20.e6 b6 21.Qf3 Kg8 22.Qxh1 Black resigned, SotoG - Ludek, blitz FICS, 2000...

And 

Rybka (blunder check, 5 minutes per move) suggests: 7.d4 Nxe5 8.dxe5 as well, continuing 8...Kf7 9.e6+ Ke8 10.Qh5+ g6 11.exd7+ Qxd7 12.Qe5+ Kf7 13.Qxh8 Nf6 14.Nd2 Bg7 15.Nf3 Bxh8 16.Ne5+ Ke6 17.Nxd7 Nxd7 18.Be3 b6 19.0-0-0 – absolutely out-of-this-world play for both Black and White... 

There was nothing to find on the text move, despite the fact that there are 8 previous games with it. 

7...Nf6 8.O-O Kf7 9.d4 d6 10.Qe2 Be7 11.Bg5 Re8

 

White has done well, on his own. He has the usual 2-pawns-for-a-piece material balance, slightly favoring Black.

The game continued, and Black's advantage grew, slipped away, and grew again - until he won on time in 30 moves.

Perhaps White would have done better if there had been more information to rely on.

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit Report Card (Part 2)

 

Like I mentioned in the previous blog post, recently, I stopped by the lichess.com website to pick up a few Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+) games. I grabbed the four listed in "Top games" and the four in "Recent games".

I was disappointed to see that White had scored 1 - 7 in those matches.

The first thought I had was: has this blog failed those players?

I had to know.

Mohsen3858 (2219)-  MasterAliFekri (2629)

10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ 

Recommended as a bit stronger is 6.c3, which can lead to a balanced game.

6...g6 7.Nxg6 hxg6 

As I noted in earlier this year in "BSJG Dumpster Fire"

Stockfish 13 prefers 7...hxg6 8.Qxh8 Nxc2+ 9.Kd1 Nxa1 10.Qxg8 Qg5 and gives Black the advantage in a messy position.

This was more of a continued discussion (of 8.Qxh8 vs 8.Qxg6+) after "A Discussion Continued" that occured 6 years ago

A number of years ago I got away with the weaker 8.Qxh8?! after 8...Nh6 when 8...Nxc2+, instead, would have led to an edge (Houdini) or an advantage (Stockfish 6) for Black after 9.Kd1 Nxa1 10.Qxg8 in perrypawnpusher - tampajake, blitz, FICS 2009 (1-0, 12).

 8.Qxh8 Nxc2+ 9.Kd1 Nxa1 10.Qxg8 Qg5 

I was surprised to see that there are 57 games in The Database with this position. Ominously, White scores 37%.

11.d3 

White wants to get his Bishop to h6, but the ugly 11.Rg1 was better.

11...Qg4+ 

Black is clearly better. It is true that he subsequently slipped a few times, giving White chances to draw, before eventually winning by checkmate in 21 moves.

The second player's win, however, was in large part due to his 400+ point rating advantage, and the attacker's choce of less-than-best lines of play.

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit Report Card (Part 1)

Recently, I stopped by the lichess.com website to pick up a few Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+) games. I grabbed the four listed in "Top games" and the four in "Recent games".

I was disappointed to see that White had scored 1 - 7 in those matches.

The first thought I had was: has this blog failed those players?

I had to know.

Here's the first game I looked at.

ElSrEdwardHyde (2563) - Zloy_Grisha2006goda (2436)

3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

Yes, that's right, white is rated 2500+ - and he is playing the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit!

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4Nd4 4.Bxf7+

It is not surprising that the computer at lichess.com (Stockfish, I think) labelled this move a "Mistake". The recommended moves to counter the BSG include 4.Nxd4, 4.c3, 4.0-0, 4.d3, 4.Nc3 - just not 4.Nxe5, which goes along with Black's plan to play 4...Qg5. 

Some players like to Jerome an opening....

4... Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke7 6.c3 d6 7.cxd4 dxe5 8.dxe5 Qd3 9.Qe2 Qxe2+ 10.Kxe2

I took a look at this interesting - and largely even - position 8 years ago, in "Long Lines: Seeing Unclearly" and "Pwned!".

The game continued largely until what appears to be a time-induced error.

 43.Rg7 Bxg7 White resigned

So: 4.Bxf7+ led to an even game. It took almost 40 moves after that to turn the game into "0-1"

Jerome Gambit: Keep It Simple

 

Sometimes, when your plan is to play the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), if your opponent declines, it is okay to settle for a small advantage.

In the following game White looks for a more complicated game, and quickly becomes disappointed when Black doesn't play along like he should.

Intercrosse - mf_kazemi

3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kf8

The Jerome Gambit Declined. If you play the Jerome often enough, you will meet it.

White does best to simply retreat his Bishop to b3 (or c4 or d5) or exchange it for the Knight at g8. He has a pawn advantage, and Black's King can not castle.

White's smash and crash attack will have to wait for another day. 

 5.Nxe5 

White continues, with the hope that the game will somehow transpose into regular Jerome Gambit lines - in which case, he will be a tempo ahead, as Black will have taken two moves to capture the Bishop.

5...Nxe5 6.d4 Nxf7 White resigned

This isn't exactly what White had planned. After 7.dxc5 he will have 2 pawns for his sacrificed piece, as in the regular Jerome Gambit, and play can continue 7...Nf6 8.Nc3 Qe7 9.Qd4 b6 10.cxb6 axb6 11.Bf4 d6 12.0-0-0, but perhaps White was comparing that to the position after 5.Bb3...

The Database: The Long And The Short Of It (Part 3)

 

After looking at long and short Jerome Gambit games - see the previous posts, Part 1 and Part 2 - I got to wondering about how my own games from The Database fit in.

After all, I am supposed to be somewhat knowledgeable about the Jerome, right?

It turns out that my longest game was

perrypawnpusher - alsuarezdi

9 3 blitz, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.O-O Nf6 5.Nc3 Bc5 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.d4 Bxd4 9.Qxd4 d6 10.f4 Nc6 11.Qd3 Re8 12.Bd2 Qe7 13.Rae1 Kg8 14.Nd5 Qd8 15.Bc3 Nxd5 16.exd5 Rxe1 17.Rxe1 Bd7 18.dxc6 Bxc6 19.Qg6 Qf8 20.Re3 Be8 21.Qg4 c5 22.Rg3 Bb5 23.Qxg7+ Qxg7 24.Rxg7+ Kf8 25.Rxb7 a6 26.Bg7+ Kg8 27.Bxh6 Re8 28.f5 Re1+ 29.Kf2 Re2+ 30.Kg3 Rxc2 31.f6 Be8 32.Rg7+ Kh8 33.Rb7 Kg8 34.Rb8 Kf7 35.Bg7 Re2 36.h4 Bc6 37.Rf8+ Kg6 38.h5+ Kxh5 39.Rh8+ Kg6 40.Rh2 Rxb2 41.Kh4 Rxg2 42.Rxg2+ Bxg2 43.Bf8 d5 44.Bxc5 Kxf6 45.Kg4 a5 46.Kf4 a4 47.a3 Ke6 48.Ke3 Ke5 49.Bd4+ Kd6 50.Kd2 Kc6 51.Kc3 Kb5 52.Be5 Bf1 53.Bd4 Bc4 54.Be3 Bb3 55.Bd4 Kc6 56.Kb4 Kd6 57.Kc3 Ke6 58.Kb4 Kf5 59.Kc3 Ke4 60.Bc5 Kf3 61.Bd4 Ke2 62.Bc5 Kd1 63.Bd4 Kc1 64.Bc5 Kb1 65.Bd4 Ka1 66.Bc5 Ka2 67.Bb4 Bc4 68.Bc5 Kb1 69.Bb4 Ka2 70.Bc5 Kb1 71.Bb4 Ka2 72.Kd4 Kb3 73.Bc5 Kb2 74.Bb4 Kb3 75.Bd6 Kb2 76.Bb4 Kb3 77.Be7 Kb2 78.Bb4 Kb3 79.Ke3 Kb2 80.Kd4 Kb3 81.Ke3 Kb2 82.Kd4 Kb3 83.Bf8 Kb2 84.Bb4 Kb3 85.Bf8 Kb2 86.Bb4 Kb3 87.Bf8 Kb2 88.Bb4 Kb3 draw

My shortest game was, of course

perrypawnpusher - Roland_Bollinger

3d/move, "Piano Piano" tournament, Chess.com, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Black lost on time

My quickest checkmate was

perrypawnpusher - platel

10 3 blitz, FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.Qf7 checkmate

The Database: The Long And The Short Of It (Part 2)

 

Yesterday's post, "The Database: The Long And The Short Of It" got me wondering, What is the shortest checkmate in The Database?

Again, if you consider the "Abrahams Jerome Gambit", it is hard to beat this example (there are a dozen identical games)

Eveque - thhZ

blitz, FICS, 2005

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+ Kxf7 4.Qh5+ Ke6 5.Nf3 d6 6.Ng5+ Ke7 7.Qf7 checkmate

Still, coming from the regular Jerome Gambit move order, there are a number of 7-move checkmates, as well, for example

BahatiTheGrandmaster - Mammaen-din

10 5 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.Qf7 checkmate

AndreK - STEPHENSHICHUA

blitz, FICS, 2013

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.h4 Qf6 6.Ng5+ Kf8 7.Nc3 Qxf2 checkmate