Anatoly Karpov & Jerome Gambit (Part 1)
(by Yury V. Bukayev)
Dear reader, you know that usually I write about new theoretical inventions and psychology in chess openings on this blog, but sometimes I write here about notable chess games which aren’t very important for theory, but have some other importance.
The Part 1 of this my work is about wrong Anatoly Karpov. Thus, it’s a story about my notable training Jerome gambit games against a little boy Tolya (Anatoly) Karpov in Moscow this year. Now he is a very weak chess beginner only, and his father told me about it and asked me to play against him. His father said me: “Dear Yury Vyacheslavovich, could you play, please, not strongly to make a game interesting for my son? Could you not punish him after his mistakes, please, by your winning responses?” I answered him: “Well, I’ll play not strongly on the first stage. I’ll not punish him after his FIRST mistake only”. Thus, here is our first game:
Bukayev, Yury – Karpov, Anatoly (boy)
Game 1
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Ke7 5.Nh4 Kd6 6.Nf5 checkmate.
I understood that boy’s fear of my attack has caused this panic flight of his King. Tolya asked me then about the best White’s possible move after his possible 4…Kxf7, and I answered: “5.Nxe5+”. Tolya asked me to play more, and I turned the chess board. And I said to his father: “Well, in this game I’ll not punish him after his FIRST AND SECOND mistakes only”.
Karpov, Anatoly (boy) – Bukayev, Yury
Game 2
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kf8 5.Nxe5 Qh4 6.Nf3 Qxf2 checkmate.
Tolya became enough sad, and I didn’t permit myself to beat him more that day. But during our next meeting he said me: “My dad said me that my move 6.Nf3 was too silly”. I asked him: “And what was his recommendation instead?” The boy answered: “My dad said only that some other moves could be possible, although my position couldn’t permit me to hope on a win”. I said him with a wide smile: “Let’s repeat that position, but I’ll have White pieces in our Game 3!” And we started to play again.
Bukayev, Yury – Karpov, Anatoly (boy)
Game 3
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kf8 5.Nxe5 Qh4 6.Nd3 Qxe4+ 7.Qe2 Qxg2 8.Qe8 checkmate.
I understood that all these games are notable. The two first of them have created a new record for the Jerome gambit. Thus, Rick Kennedy wrote in his post, where he summarizes the Jerome gambit practice (July 13, 2021), that there are no games with a checkmate at more early move than the 7th one. And all these games show us a rare situation for the practice of JG, where a checkmate is made while White’s Bishop is on f7. Thank you, dear Tolya and your dear father! Dear Tolya, your serious wins are in your future! It maybe, you will be a World Champion too!
