Or is it??

Longtime blog Readers may know that I used to do a lot of writing for the now very, very quiet Chessville site: lots of short fiction, lots of book reviews. It was a great "neighborhood" to hang out in.

Often when a new book came out, especially if it covered an unorthodox chess opening or was a self-published effort, I got a review copy as fast as possible and shared my impressions with Readers.

I have been able to do only a few reviews here at jeromegambit.blogspot.com. (I plan to review Eric Jego's English-language book on the Blackmar Diemer Gambit as soon as it arrives!)

Imagine my excitement today when I was wandering through Amazon.com and discovered Chess Openings: New Theory, by James Alan Riechel. I was ready to send off for a review copy in an instant!

I mean, who would not be thrilled by

Ten -- count them: ten! -- chapters of brand-spanking new opening theory in the game of chess, including -- believe it or not! -- three brand-new openings in chess never seen before in the long history of the game! (That's hundreds of years, folks!) Also, major contributions -- and all brand-spanking new theory, by the way -- are made in the Benko Gambit, Queen's Gambit Accepted, Center-Counter, Danish Gambit, Scotch Opening, French Defense, and Bird Opening. Major, major, major -- three times over! -- contributions are made in the French Defense. Two difficult lines for Black are repaired, and I offer the world the French Gambit! Each chapter has a one-page introduction, and each chapter has at least one section of brand-spanking new opening theory!

Whoa...!

Of course, one eyebrow went up when I checked out the author's USCF rating (class B, like me) and read his Amazon bio

The author lives in Pasadena, California, and is employed as a math instructor at Mathnasium in South Pasadena, California. He hopes to complete a PhD in computer science at Caltech, with a dissertation in linear-time partial sorting algorithms, and algorithms for searching partially sorted data. On the weekends, he gets to visit his cat, Mr. T-Rex, a purebred Cornish Rex, at his family’s house in Glendale, California. In his spare time, the author works on research, and writes chess books!

The other eyebrow climbed a bit when I learned that the book has all of 30 pages. You do not need a PhD in computer science to figure out that that is, on the average, 3 pages per chapter, with one of those pages being, as advertised, an introduction.

Still, it's tempting, isn't it?

Or is it??

The Seventeenth Man

Eight pawns. Two Rooks. Two Knights. Two Bishops. A King and a Queen. We all start out a chess game with the same number of chessmen. However, as the following game by Dave Black shows, being familiar with and playing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) can give the first player an edge in thinking time; and with the clock as White's "seventeenth man" that can tip the advantage in his favor.

mrddblack - gradivus
blitz, 1011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8

Declining the second piece is a reasonable and time-honored defensive plan.

6.Qh5

The Banks Variation, after Pete Banks ("blackburne") of the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde. In this game Black decides to transition back to main lines.

6...Nxe5 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qg3 Qf6

9.0-0 Ne7 10.c3 Qg6 11.Qf3+ Ke8 12.d4 Bb6 13.Nd2 Rf8 14.Qe2 Bd7

15.f4 Qg4 16.Qe3 Kd8 17.Nc4 h6 18.e5 d5 19.Nxb6 axb6 20.a3 Bb5

Black still has his extra piece, and, hence the advantage. White hopes to get his "Jerome pawns" running to balance things out.

21.Rf3 Nf5 22.Qf2 Kd7 23.Bd2 Rae8 24.h3 Qg6 25.g4 Ne7 26.f5 Qh7 27.e6+ Kc8 28.Bf4 Ng8

Black has stopped the progress of White's "Jerome pawns" at the cost of stifling his Queen and Knight. White decides to open a second front, which has the eventual result of lifting the semi-blockade.

29.a4 Ba6 30.b4 Bc4 31.a5 bxa5 32.Rxa5 b6 33.Ra3 Kb7 34.Qe1 Ra8 35.Rxa8 Rxa8 36.Qe5 Rc8 37.Rf2 Nf6 38.Qe1 Qh8 39.Qa1 Qe8 40.Be5 Ra8 41.Qb2 Qa4

42.Kg2 Qa1 43.Qxa1 Rxa1 44.Kg3

He might have tried 44.Bxf6 gxf6 first.

44...Bb5 45.h4 Ra3

Black needed to keep the pressure on with 45...Rg1+. This may have been the result of increasing time pressure.

46.Rf3 Ne4+

This looks forward-going, always attractive when time is short, but it turns the advantage over to White. Better: 46...Ra1

47.Kf4

Here, with White better (the "Jerome pawns" are about to become unbound), his "seventeenth man" checked in: Black lost on time

Funny?!

Having made a word play with Bill Wall's opponent in my last post (see "Blunder Blunders"), I still was not quite ready when I encountered the following game.





SickJoke - Hena
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

4...Kxf7 White resigned

Harrumph! I thought. What White making fun of the Jerome Gambit, thinking it was some kind of "sick joke"?? The nerve!

Luckily, I decided to look up more of his games.

SickJoke - marcpawn
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Bd3 c5 4.dxc5 White resigned


SickJoke - msmarple
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.c4 White resigned


SickJoke - xake
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Qc3 Bb4 White resigned


SickJoke - jermels
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d6 White forfeited on time


Funny openings. Funny games. Funny guy.

Blunder Blunders

When you have an opponent named "blunder", as Bill Wall does in the following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game, you can always hope that there might be some errors across the board that will help you out.

billwall - blunder2
Chess.com, 2011

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6

10.d4

Following in the footsteps of Charlick - Mann, correspondence, 1881 (1-0, 72).

10...b6 11.0-0 Bb7 12.f3 Kf7

13.Qb3+ Ke7 14.Qa3 Re8 15.e5 Nd7 16.Bg5+ Nf6 17.exf6+ gxf6

White has recovered his sacrificed piece and is a pawn to the good.

18.Re1+ Kf7 19.Qb3+ d5 20.Be3 Qd6 21.Nc3 Re7

22.Ne4 Qe6 23.Nc5 bxc5 24.Qxb7 Rae8 25.dxc5 c6 26.Qb4 Qf5

White is ahead a couple of pawns. If the players move to the endgame, the win is there, providing that the clock does not intervene. (Of course, familiarity with the Jerome Gambit often grants a time advantage.)

27.Qd2 Ne5 28.Bd4 Nc4 29.Rxe7+ Rxe7 30.Qd3 Qxd3 31.cxd3 Ne5 32.Bxe5 fxe5

33.Kf2 Rb7 34.b3 Rb5 35.Rc1 Ra5 36.a4 Ke6

37.Ke3 d4+ 38.Ke4 h6 39.f4 exf4 40.Kxf4 Kd5

41.b4 Rxa4 42.Re1 Rxb4 43.Re5 checkmate

 

Yet Another Day in the Life of the Jerome Gambit

Sometimes it is fun to go easy on the analytics, and simply play through a Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game. It is usually a roller coaster ride, with lots of thrills and chills for both players.

 


Darthnik - GregOakPark
blitz, FICS, 2011


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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.f4

Wow.

This "TN" (no examples in The Database) says "Yes, I know that I just sacrificed two pieces, but I still want to play the game my way, starting with the 'Jerome pawns'."

As they say, "no guts, no glory."

6...Ng6 7.d4 Bb6 8.e5 Qh4+

Black is skeptical, an attitude all defenders should have when facing the Jerome Gambit.

9.g3 Qh3 10.Be3 N8e7 11.Qd2 Nd5 12.Bf2 Qg2

Tough times for the gambiteer! As they also say, though, "It ain't over 'till it's over!" (especially in blitz).

13.Rg1 Qxh2 14.Nc3 Rf8

Preparing to castle-by-hand. Does Black overlook the loss of a piece here, or is he unconcerned? Oddly enough, the King never quite does get "castled".

15.Nxd5 c6 16.Ne3 Re8 17.0-0-0 d5

Black's difficulties continue. This center pawn strike manages to both activate White's "Jerome pawns" and overlook the threat to his Queen.

18.Rh1 Qxh1 19.Rxh1 Nf8 20.f5 g6

21.fxg6+

Blowing up Black's King's shelter. Both 21.e6+ and 21.g4 were playable as well. Go, Jerome pawns!

21...hxg6 22.c3 Bf5 23.Nxf5 gxf5 24.Qf4 Ke6

25.Rh6+ Kd7 26.Qxf5+ Kc7 27.Be3 Rad8 28.Bf4 Kb8

29.e6+ Bc7 30.Bg5 Rd6  31.Qf7 Rdxe6 32.Rxe6 Nxe6 33.Qxe8+ Bd8 34.Bxd8 a6 35.Qxe6 Ka7 36.g4 Black resigned

Cool. Now we have some idea why Darthnik sticks with the Jerome Gambit!

Huh?

Looking through a recent blitz game played at FICS, starting with the nameless variation that can become very Jerome Gambit-ish, I came to the last move and said "Huh?"

I searched for another, similar game, hoping that it would explain things to me. When I came to the last move I shouted "Eureka!"

I probably should have said "Huh??"

Zoogin - Rampenplan
blitz, FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Na5

I think I started my coverage of this move with "Offside!"

While it is true that White's best response is 4.Nxe5, for some players a Jerome-ish response, instead, is irresistible.

4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8

This King retreat may look safe, but it is not.

6.Qh5+ g6 7.Nxg6 Nf6 8.Qxa5

Here, Black resigned, which left me quite puzzled.

True, he should have played 7...hxg6 instead of developing his Knight.

However, White's capture of the offside Knight was less strong than 8.Qe5+ as in cathexis - NOEL NOEL, blitz, FICS, 2010: 8...Be7 9.Nxh8 Nc4 10.Qc3 Nxe4 11.Qxc4 Bh4 12.Qf7 checkmate.

In the last position in today's game Black can play 8...hxg6 and, with a piece for three pawns, be content with a roughly equal game.

I looked around in The Database for a recent game that might somehow explain Black's resignation.

I found the following miniature, played by someone with experience with the 3...Na5 variation: 

Tigrann - NOELNOEL
blitz, FICS, 2011


1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Na5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Nxg6 Nf6 8.Qxa5 Qe7 Black resigned

WELL THAT EXPLAINS... absolutely nothing.

Neither does the fact that Black scored only 29% in the 49 games in The Database with that last position.

Huh???

Sunday Tournament Update

With over 80% of its games completed, the ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament continues to be a monstrous battle between its top two competitors.

AsceticKingK9 leads with 24 points out of 24 games. Can he go all the way to 28/28 ?

Mckenna215 is close, with 22.5 points out of 26 games. If he wins his remaining 2 games, he will still need to receive some help from a handful of other players to overtake AsceticKingK9 and take the crown.

It is clear that the player who does not take first place will garner second.

There is an interesting battle shaping up for third place, however, between braken (18.5 points out of 27 games), Knight32 (18.5 points out of 28 games) and Rikiki00 (15.5 points out of 23 games). Braken's last game is against Rikiki00, and the winner would be the odds-on favorite to scramble to the top of the heap.

Draws continue to be almost non-existant, making up less than 2% of the completed games!