Scared to Death

Sometimes the Jerome Gambit (and its relatives) can have a frightening impact on those who face it, causing them to make decisions that they might not make during calmer times... Here are three recent example.

jollygood - kremba
blitz, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.Qh5 Nf6 7.Qg5 h6 8.Qf4 Nxc2+ 9.Kd1 Nxa1 10.d4 d5 11.Re1 Nxe4 12.f3 Bb4 13.Re2 g5 14.Qg4+ Kd6 15.Nf7+ Kc6 Black resigned

It is true that Black's Queen is threatened, and that White will win it with check, 16.Nxd8+. After 16...Rxd8, though, Black will have a Rook, a Knight and a Bishop for his Queen; and after, for example, 17.Qh5 Nd6 18.Qxh6 Bf5 he has already begun to consolidate his position.Verdict: complicated, but too soon to resign.


fianchettosstorm  - fwenkey
blitz, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.Bxf7+

The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

5...Kxf7 6.Ng5+ Kg8 7.c3 h6 8.Nf3 Nxe4 9.d4 exd4 10.cxd4 Bd6 11.Ne5 Nxe5 12.dxe5 Bxe5 13.Re1 Black resigned

It is true that White will now win back a piece, but this will still leave Black up a pawn, and he can add a couple more with 13...Bxh2+ 14.Kxh2 Qh4+ 15.Kg1 Qxf2+ (when he still has a draw in hand via repeated Queen checks).

Declining the Bishop with 13...Bxh2+ 14.Kf1 (14.Kh1? Nxf2+ winning the Queen) still leaves Black up three pawns after 14...Nf6 15.g3 d5 16.Kg2 Bxg3 17.fxg3 Bf5. Verdict: complicated, but too soon to resign.


Petasluk - mihck
blitz, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+

The Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Black resigned

Verdict: complicated, but too soon to resign.

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for... the Jerome Gambit

There's nothing quite like steaming through a 3 0 blitz game with Black on the way to my next Jerome Gambit with White – when I get Jeromed by my opponent.

Sigh.

Be true to the Gemeinde and lose, or play my best and swipe the point?

Hardly a question at all. I'll make it up to the Jerome Gambiteers next post.

vbartenev - perrypawnpusher
blitz 3 0, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nh3 Bc5 4.Bxf7+

Arrgghh! I've been struck a mortal blow!

I note other recent games by my opponent with the Jerome theme:

vbartenev  - papaguy
blitz. FICS, 2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d3 Nf6 6.h4 Bc5 7.c3 Ng4 8.b4 Bxf2+ 9.Kf1 Be3 10.Na3 Bxc1 11.Qxc1 d6 12.d4 Rf8 13.Nc4 Kg8 14.Qc2 exd4 15.cxd4 Nxd4 16.Qd3 Nxf3 17.gxf3 Qf6 18.Ke2 Ne5 19.Nxe5 Qxe5 20.Qc4+ Be6 21.Qxc7 Qb2+ 22.Kd3 Qa3+ 23.Qc3 Rxf3+ 24.Kd4 Qxc3# 0-1


vbartenev - jneid
blitz, FICS, 2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.d3 Bc5 5.0-0 Nf6 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.a3 a5 8.h3 b5 9.Be3 Bxe3 10.fxe3 d5 11.Nc3 d4 12.exd4 Nxd4 13.Nxe5+ Ke6 14.Ng6 Re8 15.e5 Ng8 16.Qg4+ Nf5 17.Qxf5# 1-0


vbartenev - fearlesss
blitz, FICS, 2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 a6 4.d3 b5 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Qxe5 Bg7 9.Qd5+ Ke8 10.Qxa8 Ne7 11.0-0 Nc6 12.Nd2 Qe7 13.a4 Qd8 14.axb5 axb5 15.c3 Rg8 16.Re1 h5 17.Nb3 Be5 18.d4 Bf6 19.e5 Be7 20.d5 Nxe5 21.Rxe5 d6 22.Re2 g5 23.Nd4 Bd7 24.Nc6 Qxa8 25.Rxa8+ Kf7 26.Rxg8 Kxg8 27.Nxe7+ Kg7 28.Bxg5 Bg4 29.Re3 Bd1 30.Nc6 1-0


vbartenev  - Roso
blitz, FICS, 2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.d4 d6 5.dxe5 Nxe5 6.Nxe5 dxe5 7.Bxf7+ Ke7 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Bxg8 Rxg8 10.0-0 Bd6 11.Rd1 g5 12.c4 c5 13.Rxd6+ 1-0


vbartenev  - ChronicKnight
blitz, FICS, 2010
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Bc4 Nc6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxd4 Nxd4 7.Qxd4 Bf6 8.Qd5+ Kg6 9.e5 Be7 10.h4 c6 11.h5+ Kf5 12.g4+ Kxg4 13.Qe4# 1-0

vbartenev may be new to the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde, but I must say: Welcome!

As for our game, it is presented for the record, as long as readers understand that as the time evaporated, we both made some silly moves...

4...Kxf7 5.d3

I'm not much of a fan of 5.Ng5+ in the Jerome, but it might be useful here, to force the Black King to the back rank and hold up the development of his Rook.

Also possible is 5.Qe2, threatening the forking check at c4. Even if Black defends his Bishop with 5...d6, White can try 6.Qc4+, as Black's King is driven back (6...Kg6 is met with 7.f4) since 6...Be6 loses to 7.Ng5+.

5...Rf8 6.Bg5 Kg8 7.Qf3 Nc6 8.Qe2 Nd4 9.Qd2 d6 10.c3 Ne6 11.b4 Nxg5 12.Nxg5 Bb6 13.a3 c6 14.Qa2+ d5 15.exd5 cxd5 16.c4 h6 17.Nf3 e4 18.dxe4 Nxe4 19.O-O Be6 20.cxd5 Qxd5 21.Qd2 Qxd2

Best forget that last bit...

22.Nbxd2 Nxd2 23.Rab1 Nxf3+ 24.gxf3 Rxf3 25.Rfe1 Bxf2+ 26.Kh1 Bxe1 27.Rxe1 Bd5 28.Kg1 Raf8 29.Rd1 Bc6 30.Rc1 Rxa3 31.Re1 Ra2 32.h4 Rd8 33.Rc1 Rg2+ 34.Kf1 Rdd2 35.Rxc6 Rdf2+ 36.Ke1 bxc6 37.h5 Ra2 38.Kf1 Rgb2 White resigned

Not Exactly An Advertisement

The following Jerome Gambit game is not exactly an advertisement for the benefits of the opening. It's just that twice when I stopped to think "what do I do now?" my opponent gave up a piece. Why argue?


perrypawnpusher - yuriko
blitz, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6

The Semi-Italian Opening.

4.0-0 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bc5

The Semi-Italian Four Knights Game.

6.Bxf7+

The Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

6...Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.d4 Bxd4 9.Qxd4 d6 10.f4 Nc6 11.Qd3 Re8

After a rough start – 2 points out of my first 5 games – I have done better with this line – 4 1/2 points out of my last 5 games (including this one).

12.Bd2 Kg8 13.Rae1

White's pieces are developed and Black's King has castled-by-hand. I have very little compensation for my piece. What do I do next?

13...Nb4

Don't laugh – this is the 5th time an opponent has played this move here (and one of those games I lost). Must be some kind of "optical illusion".

14.Qc4+ Kh8

Also possible was 14...Be6, but probably 14...d5 was best.

15.Qxb4 c6

White has an extra pawn and is better developed, but with Black's King safe it will take some work to put these advantages to good use.

Fritz likes the idea of 16.f5 with the plan of containing Black's Bishop and re-deploying his own to f4, but Black can use the time to stir things up on the Queenside: 16...a5 17.Qd4 b5 18.a3 Ba6!? 19.b4 axb4 20.axb4 c5 21.Qd3 Bb7.

analysis diagram








White is better, but Black has interesting counterplay.

16.h3 b6 17.Qc4 c5

After the game Rybka suggested a better way for Black to tussle: 17...a5 18.Rf2 Ba6 19.Qb3 Re7 20.e5 dxe5 21.fxe5 Nd7 22.Bf4 Nc5 23.Qa3 Qd4 24.Bg3 Rae8 25.Rd1 Qb4 26.Rd6 Qxa3 27.bxa3 Bb7

analysis diagram







Black has White's extra, passed pawn under control. Chances exist, too, for a drawish Bishops-of-Opposite-colors endgame.

18.Nd5 Be6 19.Bc3 Nxd5 20.exd5 Bf5 21.Rf2

This is reasonable, but after the game Rybka suggested 21.Rxe8+ Qxe8 22.Re1 Qf7 23.Qe2 as a way to try to squeeze more out of the position.

analysis diagram








Now Black cannot take the d-pawn, as after 23...Qxd5 comes 24.Qh5 Kh7 25.g4 Be6 26.g5 Rf8 27.Bxg7!? Kxg7 28.Qxh6+ Kg8 29.Qxe6+ Qxe6 30.Rxe6 Rxf4 31.Rxd6 leads to a better Rook + pawns endgame for White.

After 23...Bg6 instead, Rybka helps White squeeze his opponent with 24.Qd2 Bf5 25.g4 Bd7 26.f5 Kg8 27.Kg2 Re8 28.Kg3 Rxe1 29.Qxe1 Qxd5 30.Qe7 Qf7 31.Qxd6 Be8 32.b3 Qd7.

analysis diagram






White is better, but "1-0" is still a long way off, and "1/2-1/2" still waits in the shadows.

Not exactly an advertisement for a wild attacking gambit.

21...Qh4

Putting pressure on my position.

22.Qf1 Rxe1 23.Qxe1

Okay, now what do I do?

23...Bxc2

It was nice to see that my opponent was having just as much trouble with the position as I was. He probably saw the Rook "pinned" to my Queen, but only saw my Bishop facing "forward" toward his g7... 

24.Rxc2 Qxe1+ 25.Bxe1 Re8 26.Kf2

Finally I know what to do.

26...g5 27.fxg5 hxg5 28.Re2 Rf8+ 29.Kg1 Kh7 30.Re6 Rf5 31.Rxd6 Rf4 Black resigned

Philidor Defense with a Jerome Touch

As an aside in the post "A New Opening?" which discussed an article from the September 1958 Precita Valley Chess Herald wherin George Koltanowski named John Ishkan's Jerome Gambit the "Trashcan Opening", I presented a Koltanowski game that was a Philidor Defense with a Jerome touch. For extra measure, I added a 2004 Kosteniuk - Skripchenko game with the same line.

It would have been appropriate then to have mentioned a related game and analysis by Francesco Recchia of Italy that had been posted to this blog a year and a half earlier in "A Kind of Jerome Gambit That Wins".

Here is the earliest example that I have found of the opening variation.

Hahlbohm,H - Moorman,L
Chicago, 1917

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nd7 4.Bc4 h6 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.Bxf7+

6...Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Kf6 8.Qd5

Instead, Kosteniuk chose 8.Qd4. Recchia energetically recommended 8.Nc3.

Now 8...Qe8 is Black's only move.

 8...Ne7 9.Qf7+ Kxe5 10.Bf4+ Kd4 11.Qe6 Nc5 12.Be3 checkmate

After posting this, I hoped to try the line in a FICS blitz game. I was not able to reach the exact position, but I put the lessons that I had learned to good use in perrypawnpusher - NN, blitz, FICS, 2010: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 h6 4.d4 Nc6 (4...Nd7 would reach Hahlbohm - Moorman, above. Best was 4...exd4) 5.dxe5 Nxe5 (5...Bg4 is an interesting gambit; otherwise, 5...Qe7 seems necessary) 6.Nxe5 dxe5 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qxd8 Black resigned

A Modern Jerome Gambit With A Retro Twist

Speaking of "modern" Jerome Gambit lines – see "A Closer Look at the Big Picture (Part 3)" – here is a Bill Wall game where White bypasses the "classical" 5.Nxe5+ in modern style, only to replace it with 5.b4!?, an Evans Gambit-style blast from the past similar to Charlick's "Evans Jerome Gambit".

Is the line any good? It certainly is, when Black responds with a variation of the "Anti-Bill Wall Gambit".

Wall,B - WNXR
FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+

4...Kxf7 5.b4

5...Bxf2+

Well, it looks like we'll have to save analysis of 5...Bxb4, 5...Bb6 and 5...Be7 for another day.

Black seems to be following the idea I laid out in "Here's my plan..."

Whatever White gets from his sacrifice at f7, Black will now get from his sacrifice at f2.

I also noted the downside for Black in this "I want what you have" reaction

what White typically gets from his sacrifice at f7 is a lost game

6.Kxf2 Nf6 7.Rf1 Nxe4+ 

Pawn-grabbing does not look like a good idea here.

8.Kg1 Rf8 9.b5 Kg8

Another puzzling move: Black seems intent upon returning all the material that White gives him.

Certainly it is a good idea to castle-by-hand (like White did) but can Black afford a piece in order to do so? Perhaps he was relying on the relatively transparent trap mentioned in the next note.

10.bxc6 dxc6 11.d3

Of course 11.Nxe5? falls to 11...Qd4+. Is that what Black had in mind?

11...Nc5 

In a reversal of traditional Jerome Gambit roles, White has the extra
piece while Black has the extra pawns.

12.Ba3 b6 13.Qe1 Bg4 14.Nbd2 Bxf3 15.Nxf3

15...Rxf3

This has to be a mis-calculation.

16.Rxf3 Qd4+ 17.Kh1 Re8 18.Bxc5 bxc5

19.c3 Qd5 20.Qf2 e4 21.Re1 h6 22.Rxe4 Rxe4 23.dxe4 Qd1+ 24.Qf1 Qc2 25.Rf8+ Kh7 26.Qf5+ g6 27.Qf7 checkmate 

 

A Closer Look at the Big Picture (Part 3)

We continue responding to Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member Pete Banks' (blackburne) request for opening statistics (see his comment on "Another Closer Look"), based on the updated New Year's Database. 

For earlier numbers see "A Closer Look at the Big Picture (Part 1)" and "(Part 2)".

Currently the database contains 7, 074 games that begin 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7, with White scoring 44%.

Modern variations of the Jerome Gambit (which make up 47.4% of the Jerome Gambit Accepted games) are designed to either avoid the classical continuations (and refutations) by not playing 5.Nxe5 or they may represent new ways of conceptualizing the old gambit. 

They can be the choice of a competitor in a Jerome Gambit thematic tournament who simply decides no more sacrifices, or that of a higher-rated player giving "Jerome Gambit odds" who figures one sacrifice is enough to stir up things, let's see what happens now.

Since some lines can transpose into each other, the following statistics may be somewhat confounded, but here they are, nonetheless.

The most popular modern Jerome Gambit idea in the updated database is 5.d4, appearing in 1,318 games. It seems at least in part the offer of a central pawn to open lines, especially the c1-h6 diagonal to allow Bc1-g5 and Nf3-g5+.

Because of tranpositions, Black's best response, 5...exd4, shows up in the database in 1,896 games, with White scoring a difficult 37%. White does better than that against 5...Nxd4 (454 games, 45%) and worse than that against 5...Bxd4 (638 games, 27%).

After 5.0-0, seen in 768 games, White scores 36%. Again, 5.c3 fares better in 699 games with White scoring 47%; but worse in the 645 games in which White plays 5.d3 and scores 32%.

Perhaps White should explore 5.b4, which scores 63%, but in only 8 games.

There are still many variables in play in the modern Jerome Gambit besides move order, as 5.h3 has scored 75% (admittedly, in only 5 games) while 5.a3 has tallied 29% (in 28 games).

As expected, the theory of the modern Jerome Gambit is still evolving. From a practical, as opposed to a theoretical, perspective, the modern lines have not produced a line clearly more successful than the classical lines – at least at this introductory level of analysis.

Likely what is needed some time in the future is a Closer Closer Look at the Big Picture.

A Closer Look at the Big Picture (Part 2)

Yesterday – see "A Closer Look at the Big Picture (Part 1)" – responding to Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member Pete Banks' (blackburne) request for opening statistics (see his comment on "Another Closer Look") I checked the updated New Year's Database for answers. We continue today.

Currently the database contains 7, 298 games that begin 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+, with White scoring 44%.

If we look at the classical Jerome Gambit Accepted line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5 Nxe5 6.Qh5+, which scores 53% in 2,182 games, there are several defenses to investigate.

Most popular (994 games) is blocking the White Queen's check with the Black Knight, 6...Ng6. White, however, scores 49% – a bit below the classical Jerome Gambit Accepted average, but not by much. Black might well be comfortable playing a defense that gives him a better than 1 in 2 chance of winning.

Next most popular (589 games) is moving the King into the fray with 6...Ke6, where White scores 52%. The same might be said about Black's comfort level in playing this defense, even with White's minute edge.

Again, Black has a decent alternative in 6...Kf8 (289 games) against which White scores only 45%. As with 5...Kf8, mentioned yesterday, this is a line which makes intuitive sense (not over-reacting and staying out of trouble) and which deserves to be seen more often.

Most puzzling is 6...g6, appearing in 286 games and against which White scores a whopping 72%. This is the move popularized by Blackburne in his 1885 miniature, and can lead to either the Blackburne Defense (7.Qxe5 d6) or the Whistler Defense (7.Qxe5 Qe7).

Against the former, in 90 games White scores 69%; while against the latter, in 36 games, White scores 57%. This is clearly a reflection of the tactical complications involved as well as the success of the more Jerome-experienced player:  in the Whistler Defense, after the capture of a lethally poisoned Rook (7.Qxe5 Qe7 8.Qxh8) in 28 games, White still scores 57%.

Tomorrow we will take a look at the modern Jerome Gambit lines, as reflected in the New Year's Database.