Jerome Gambit: Slip?

I will get back to opening and middle game adventures in the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) next post, but for the moment I would like to share another endgame with the caveat, that just as a blitz time control can limit what players see (analytically) in the opening (to the benefit of the Jerome Gambiteer), so too can it limit what players can see when they have fewer pieces on the board (and fewer minutes on the clock).  

As Tartakower said "The mistakes are all there, waiting to be made". It's a shame he never played the Jerome Gambit.

Also, internet chess has a different "feel" from over-the-board chess.

tacticgod - QuangTung2D

10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2022

White has a Queenside pawn majority. Black has a Kingside pawn majority. Balanced game? No. The g-pawn will serve as a distraction for the White King, while the Black King pursues mischief on the Queenside.

40.b4 

Is White trying to convert his Queenside pawn advantage? Or is this just the best that he has in the position?

Computers have improved their endgame play immensely over the last decade or so. Stockfish 15 sees Black as almost a Queen better.

40...b6

This is a blitz game, and Black quickly opts to balance things on this wing, relying on his advantage on the other wing. 

He could have clarified the situation on the board instead with 40...axb4 41.cxb4 Ke5 and then just let things play out, e.g. 42.Kg4 Kd4 43.b5 cxb5 44.axb5 Kxd3 45.Kxg5 Kc4 46.Kf4 Kxb5 47.Ke3 Kb4 48.Kd2 Kb3 49.Kc1 b5 50.Kb1 b4. One extra pawn is enough 

41.bxa5 bxa5

Things have changed: the position is equal. The Kings will take over.

42.Kf3 c5 43.Kg3 g4 44.d4 cxd4 45.cxd4 Ke4 46.d5 

After 46...Kxd5 47.Kxg4 Ke4 Black's King will mark White's and keep it from the pawns, ensuring the draw. It is not the that win he had a few moves ago, but he will have salvaged a half point.

46...Kd4 

This can only be a mouse slip. (I suppose such things happen in over-the-board chess - Ooops, I dropped the piece - but they have to occur less often.)

Now White's pawn can run away and promote to a Queen. 

47.Kxg4

Mental inertia. Perhaps White has been focusing on equalizing the game so much that he misses the winning 47.d6.

White returns the game to even.

47...Kxd5 48.Kf4 Kc4 49.Ke4 Kb4 50.Kd3 Kxa4 51.Kc2 Ka3 52.Kb1 Kb3 53.Ka1 a4 54.Kb1 a3 55.Ka1 a2 drawn by stalemate

Jerome Gambit: Endgame Maze

 

I got a chuckle out of the following endgame position from a Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game. I do not know the time control, but I suspect that it was blitz.

scwymstr - divegeester

RedHotPawn.com, 2022

Black has retained his extra piece. 

Stockfish 15 says he has a checkmate in 20 moves. Of course, a computer would say that.

45.Kf6 

White's best practical chance is for his King to go after the pawns.

What should Black do?

My first thought was the crude 45...Bxh5, since 46.gxh5 would unblock the g-pawn and let it run toward the Queening square with 46...g4.

No, 45...Bxh5 should be met by 46.Kg7!, and although Black gets to gobble up the enemy pawns first, after 46...Bxg4 47.Kxh6 White will be able to eliminate the enemy pawns as well, leading to a draw.

45...Bd7 

Black's plan is to attack the pawns another way. Indeed, after

46.Kg6 Bxg4 47.Kxh6 Bh3

the game was drawn, as White can grab the g-pawn and Black's Bishop has time to position itself on the b1-h7 diagonal to intercept the White pawn, e.g. 48.Kxg5 Bf1 49.h6 Bd3.

Fair enough.

However, both  players probably figured out after the game - when the clock was no longer ticking - that Black could win if he did not play 45...Bd7, but instead hustled his King over to the pawns 

45...Kd2 46.Kg7 Ke3 47.Kxh6 Kf4 

Just in time! 

48.Kg7 

To the strains of Supertramp, "Take the long way home" 

48...Bc6 

Careful! 48...Kxg4 would lose to 49.h6 because the Bishop can not intercept the pawn, so White wins. And 48...Bxh5 should only lead to a draw after 49.gxh5 g4 50.h6 g3 51.h7 g2 52.h8/Q g1/Q.

Instead, the Bishop heads for the critical b1-h7 diagonal.

Now 49.h6 Be4 50.h7 Bxh7 51.Kxh7 Kxg4 is a clear win for Black, as would be 49.Kf6 Kxg4 followed by either capturing the White pawn or 50.Be4.  

Once again we see that the endgame is important, even in wild attacking games like those featuring the Jerome Gambit.

Jerome Gambit: More of A Stumble Than A Nudge

Following up on the previous post, a discussion about another mental "tool"...

Although the Jerome Gambit is not particularly known as a "subtle" opening, it has a few lines that feature a light touch. For example, in the line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6

White can now simply capture the Bishop with 7.Qxc5.

White can also first "nudge" the Black King back with 7.Qd5+, (followed by 8.Qxc5) hoping that the King's placement will later interfere with development of his Rook. Subtle - and as old as Jerome - Brownson, Iowa, 1875 (1-0, 28).

(For the record, The Database has 2,794 games with the direct capture of the Bishop and 2,492 games with the "nudge" first.)

There are some positions in the Jerome Gambit, however, where the "nudge" does not work. Take the following position

In Sahuaripa - Dilmurod777, 3 2 blitz, "35th Lichess Mega A Team Battle", lichess.org, 2022, White now played 7.Qf5+ and promptly resigned after 7...Qf6 as the Knight is protected and White will remain 2 pieces down. Sometimes in a blitz game we grab the wrong tool from the box.

Of course, since this was a game played online, there is also the possibility that 7.Qf5+ was a "mouse slip" and not a thinking error at all. An earlier example of such a slip was Wall,B - Guest2208830, PlayChess.com, 2013 (1-0, 31).

Overall, The Database has 16 games with 7.Qf5+, with White scoring a surprising 25%. Although, seeing as we are talking about the Jerome Gambit, perhaps that is not so surprising after all.

Jerome Gambit: An Idea Is A Tool

 

As I have noted before

Gerald Abrahams wrote in his book, The Chess Mind, that the smallest unit in a chess game was not the move, but the idea.

Ideas in chess are like tools in a tool box, the more you have, the better your pattern recognition, the faster you can identify candidate moves and the better your chances for success.

Consider the following blitz game. Remember that blitz time controls often make it more difficult to find the "tool" that you need.

psatpute - rs_pecoraro

10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2022.

14.f3 Qd4+ 15.Kh1 Nf2+ 16.Kg1 Nxe4+ 17.Kh1 Nf2+ 18.Kg1 Nh3+ 19.Kh1 Nf2+ 20.Kg1 Nh3+ 21.Kh1 Nf2+ draw

There you go.

You could say that White escaped from the "refuted" Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) that he started with.

You could say that Black escaped from the horrible onslaught that often accompanies the Jerome Gambit.

But - if your mental "tool set" contained the idea of a "smothered checkmate", you might have found 

16...Nh3+ (the double check is important) 17.Kh1 Qg1+! 18.Rxg1 Nf2# or

18...Nh3+ 19.Kh1 Qg1+! 20.Rxg1 Nf2# or

19...Qg1+! 21.Rxg1 Nf2#

21...Qg1+! 22.Rxg1 Nf2#

I give the above, somewhat repetitive, lines to help reinforce the idea of a "smothered checkmate", as well as the following diagram

Jerome Gambit: Round Four Begins

Round 4 of the Chess.com "Giuoco Piano Game" tournament has started.

In Group 1 I am facing auswebby, graintrader 69, and joshuagasta. Of course, with White, I am playing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+).

Group 2 includes DouglasEngle, joro_videv, xyz7, and i1slamov.

I wish Good Chess to all of my opponents.

Jerome Gambit: Balance

Bullet chess requires players to constantly balance different factors against each other very quickly. In the following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game we see both sides calculating to balance time, material and King safety.

angelcamina - Nieto01

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 Qf6

This placement of Black's Queen is seen in defenses to the Jerome Gambit, so I was surprised to find only 8 games with this position in The Database.

White scores 94%, which suggests that the move is weak; indeed, Stockfish 15 indicates that the move decreases the evaluation of Black's position 2 pawns' worth. 

9.O-O Nh4 

This year angelcamina also faced 9...N8e7 10.Qxc7 d6 11.Nc3 b6 12.f4 Be6 13.Qb7 Bc8 14.Qxa8 Kf7 15.f5 Nf4 16.d4 Black resigned, angelcamina - aNKansEn, lichess.org, 2022.

10.f4 Qg6 11.g3 

A split second decision, to keep his Queen active, instead of defending with 11.Qf2. 

11...d6 12.Qb5+ Bd7 

In a bullet game, which is more important, not wasting time or grabbing material? Black offers the b-pawn, White takes it. Otherwise, 12...c6. 

13.Qxb7 Rd8 14.f5 Qf6 

Black offers the Knight, which could have been protected by 14...Qg4.

White could take the piece, but he prefers to develop.

15.Nc3 g6 16.fxg6 

Overlooking Black's response. What was needed was the reinforcing 16.d3. 

16...Qd4+ 

17.Kh1 Nxg6 18.d3 Bh3 

The position is more complicated than it appears at first glance. With Black's King stuck in the center, development with 18...N8e7 would have safer than moving an already placed piece. 

19.Bg5 

You attack my Rook, I will attack your Rook.

With 1 minute for the whole game, it probably wasn't possible - or even necessary - to fully examine the offer of a piece with 19.Be3!?. If 19...Qxe3 then 20.Nd5, with threats at c7, is overwhelming. A Queen retreat like 19...Qg7 is still not enough against 20.Nb5, e.g. 20...Rd7 21.Bg5 N8e7 22.Rf6 with threats such as 22...Rf8 23.Qb8+ Rd8 24.Nxc7+ Kd7 25.Rxd6+!?

Black's game now crumbles.

19...Bxf1 20.Rxf1 Rd7 21.Qc8+ Rd8 22.Qxd8 checkmate

Busch-Gass Gambit Standard Bearer

From time to time this Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) blog has looked at "reversed" Jerome and Jerome-ish Gambits, most notably the Busch-Gass Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5) - earlier known as the "Charlick Gambit" - and its relatives Chiodini's Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Nxe5 Nc6) and the Stafford Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nc6).

FIDE Master William Graif is the current standard bearer for the Busch-Gass Gambit, and he has a series of educational and entertaining videos on YouTube.com, including

"Busch-Gass Gambit: The GREATEST Gambit Ever???"

"BUSCH-GASS GAMBIT: Tricking and winning FAST vs titled players | New opening theory & traps in BGG!"

"I can't stop CRUSHING with the Busch-Gass Gambit!"

"Destroying Busch-Gass Gambit Deniers: FULL REPERTOIRE"

"Busch-Gass Gambit DENIERS?! Punish with checkmate in 15 moves!"

"Can the Busch-Gass Gambit defeat a strong STOCKFISH-PREPARED viewer???"

"Stockfish LOSES ITS MIND versus my Busch-Gass Gambit!"

If you are disappointed that you can't always be White in your chess games - and thus be able to go for the Jerome Gambit every time - you might consider the Busch-Gass Gambit for those times when you are Black.

(Of course, if you are familiar with this blog, you might remember Yury V. Bukayev's thoughts on Jerome play as Black in "GM#1 vs you: Wing gambit bombs, BC & history: 1", too. Check that post out!)