Saturday, December 18, 2021

Anatoly Karpov & Jerome Gambit (Part 1)

 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 yearNow 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 iour first game 

 

BukayevYury  –  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)    BukayevYury 

 

                         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.      

 

BukayevYury  –  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!    

Friday, December 17, 2021

Jerome Gambit: Scary



Sometimes the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) can be scary enough that the defender surrenders prematurely. 

Take a look at the following game.

MSMDOIPE - geldi

10 0 Blitz, lichess.org, 2021


1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.f4 Qf6 8.f5+ Black resigned


Odd. What to make of it?

The computer's evauation easily gives Black the advantage of over 4 pawns.

On the other hand The Database shows White scoring 10 - 4.

Pure Jerome Gambit.

Thursday, December 16, 2021

Jerome Gambit: On the Trail of the Snipe



Regarding yesterday's post, I have not yet heard back on Reddit about the game that featured "[S]ome kind of reverse Jerome Gambit in the Bishop's in a blitz tie-break in 2004".

I did find a game from the 2004 World Championship Knockout Tournament that was a tie-break game, and was either a Vienna Opening or Bishop Opening by transposition - but it featured 4.Bxf7+, not a ...Bxf2+.

For the time being, let me present the game - featuring an interesting endgame battle between 2 Knights and 2 Bishops.


Ni Hua - Vladimirov, Evgeny Yuryevich

FIDE World Championship Knockout Tournament, 2004

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nxe4  

Tim Harding, in his Bishop's Opening (1973) wrote

The possibility of 3...Nxe4 was recognized by such early nineteenth century theoreticians as Jaenisch and Staunton, who believed however that White simply got the advantage by 4.Bxf7+, disturbing Black's king position at no material cost. But Morphy was to show that this sort of position is often favourable to the second player (e.g. the famous Meek - Morphy game in the Scotch Gambit) since he is left with central control and the two bishops and can usually perform a slow castling. This lesson was slow to be learned, however, 4.Bxf7+ still being seen some 30-40 years after Morphy's retirement.

4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Ng3 Nc6 7.d3 Be7 8.Nf3 Rf8 9.O-O Kg8 10.h3 Qd6 11.Re1 Bd7 12.b3 Rae8 13.Bb2 Bf6 14.Rb1 g6 15.c4 Bg7 16.cxd5 Qxd5 17.Ne4 Nd4 18.Bxd4 exd4 19.Rc1 Bc6 20.Qd2 Qd7 21.Qg5 Rf5 22.Qg3 Re7 23.Rc2 Rf8 24.Rce2 Ree8 25.Nc5 Qd6 26.Rxe8 Rxe8 27.Rxe8+ Bxe8 28.Qxd6 cxd6 29.Nxb7 Bb5 30.Ne1 Bf8 31.Kf1 Kf7 32.a4 Bd7 33.Nf3 Ke6 34.Nxd4+ Kd5 35.Nc2 Bg7 36.Na5 Bc3 37.Nc4 Kc5 38.Ke2 d5 39.Nd2 a5 40.Nf3 Kd6 41.Nfd4 Kc5 42.Ke3 Bb2 43.Ne2 Bf6 44.f4 g5 45.g4 gxf4+ 46.Kxf4 h6 47.Kf3 Kd6 48.d4 Be8 49.Ne3 Bg6 50.Nf5+ Kc6 51.Nxh6 Bc2 52.Kf4 Bxb3 53.g5 Bh8 54.Nf7 Bg7 55.Ne5+ Kd6 56.Nc3 Bxe5+ 57.dxe5+ Ke6 58.g6 Bc2 59.Kg5 d4 60.Nb5 d3 61.g7 Kf7 62.Kh6 d2 63.Nc3 Bf5 64.h4 Kg8 65.h5 Kf7 66.Kg5 Bc2 67.h6 Bxa4 68.e6+ Kg8 69.Ne4 Black resigned