Jerome Gambit: More Bullets

Bullet chess: know your openings, watch out for tactics, punish your opponent's errors.

Quickly.

angelcamina - sugerlove
1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

The Jerome Gambit, not the "quiet game".

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Ng6 

Black realizes he has to give back a piece, and "volunteers" the Bishop. The computers suggest that White take the offer, although the (limited) practical results of The Database back the next move in the game: 8.Qxc5 scored 3 - 2; 8.f5 scored 2 - 0.

In bullet chess, there has to be extra value in distressing the enemy King.

8.f5+ Ke7 9.fxg6 Nf6 

It is tempting to follow C.J.S. Purdy's advice to find a move that "smites", but it is always best to check your own situation, first. 

10.Qxc5+ d6 11.Qe3 Kf8 12.gxh7 Rxh7 13.O-O Kg8

Both sides have castled (one, by hand), and White has a 2 pawn edge.

14.d4 Bg4 15.Nc3 Qd7 16.Bd2 Re8

Taking time to build their positions.

17.Qg3 Nh5 18.Qf2 Nf6 19.Rae1 

White declines the offer to pursue a draw with 19.Qg3 Nh5, etc. He is almost immediately rewarded.

19...Qc6 20.e5 Nd5 21.Qf7+ Black resigns

After 21...Kh8 the Queen sac finishes: 22.Qf8+ Rxf8 23.Rxf8 checkmate.

Jerome Gambit: Faster Than A Speeding Bullet

If Alonzo Wheeler Jerome played bullet chess - one minute a game, no increment - his gambits would probably look something like the following game from Angel Camiña...

angelcamina - zorosyria00 
1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019 

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ 

The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Bxd4 8.Qxd4 Nc6 

9.Qc4+ d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 

A slip - perhaps Black was counting on his next move to regain the piece. If so, at the speed he was playing, he didn't see that White could slip out of trouble.

11.Nxd5 Be6 12.Qf4+ Ke8 

13.Nxc7+ Kd7 14.Nxa8 Qxa8 

White is up the exchange and a couple of pawns, but he wants more.

15.Be3 Rf8 16.O-O-O+ Ke7 17.Bc5+ Ke8 18.Qxf8 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: The Pawns, Again

In the Jerome Gambit, White may get "only" a couple of pawns in exchange for his sacrificed piece, but, if he gives his pawns a chance, they can prove very helpful in the outcome of the game. The following contest is an example.

White's calmness in the face of aggression at the end of the game is exciting, too - why become upset, if you can checkmate your opponent, first?

vlastous - ADELAZIZ
internet, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8

The Jerome Defense, presented by Alonzo Wheeler Jerome in his earliest published analyses.

7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qf4+ Qf6 

This is a perfectly logical move, offering to exchange Queens to blunt White's attack; and although it does not show up in early Jerome Gambit analyses, The Database points out that it is played twice as often as 8...Nf6.

9.d3 Qxf4 10.Bxf4 Nf6 

11.Nc3 Kf7

This looks like a slight improvement over 11... a6, which was seen in vlastous - Nyanyiwa, internet 2017, (1-0, 34) 

12.h4 Rf8 13.f3 Nh5 14.Bh2 Bb4 15.g4 Nf6 16.O-O Be6 

The "Jerome pawns" already take on a menacing look, but Black is still doing fine. His problem will be finding and executing a successful defense and counter-attack.

17.Bg3 a6 18.Ne2 Rad8 19.Nf4 Rfe8 20.c3 Bc5+ 21.d4 Bb6 22.Kg2 d5 

The move ...d5 is frequently good against the Jerome Gambit (and 1.e4 e5 openings in general) but here the move gives White's Kingside ambitions encouragement. Stockfish 10 suggests the quieter 22...g6.

23.e5 Ng8 24.Nxe6 Rxe6 25.f4 c5 

The right idea, hitting back at the growing center.

26.f5 Rc6 27.e6+ Ke8 28.Be5 cxd4 

This move looks like a slip, according to Stockfish 10, which suggests, instead, 28...Kf8 29.dxc5 Bxc5 30. g5 Bd6 31.Bd4 Bc5 and a draw by repetition.

The computer is not yet impressed by the "Jerome pawns", but the problem with the text move is that White does not have to recapture at d4 - he can take the g7 pawn, instead, opening the way for the connected passed pawns that have suddenly grown fierce.

29.Bxg7 dxc3 30.bxc3 d4 

To open lines, but his King's castle has already been breached.

31.g5 dxc3 32.f6 Rd2+ 33.Kh1 Rc4 

Black's counter-attack looks scary, but White has one move at his disposal that brings home the point - by implementing his own mating attack.

34.f7+ Ke7 35.f8=Q+ Kxe6 36.Rae1+ Kd7 37.Qe8+ Kc7 38.Be5+ Black resigned

Beautiful!

Jerome Gambit: Noticing A Tactic

Here we have another 1-minute bullet game from Angel Camiña, who notices a common tactic in the Jerome Gambit - 
the Queen check that also attacks an unprotected minor piece. Black could
have continued in the game, but he would have done so a pawn down.

angelcamina - hpmck
1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ 

The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Bxd4 8.Qxd4 d6 

9.O-O Rf8 10.f4 Nc6 11.Qc4+ Be6 12.Qe2 Kg8

13.f5 Bd7 14.Bf4 Nd4 

Black can not resist harassing the Queen.

15.Qc4+ Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: My Opponent Knows What He Is Doing (Part 4)

[continued from previous post]

perrypawnpusher - warwar
"Italian Battleground", Chess.com, 2019

At this point in the game, I was still thinking about moving my King to the center to help advance the pawns, although I couldn't figure out exactly how. In the mean time, my Rook on f8 was designed to keep Black's King away from interfering in the center.

Here, my opponent took several days "vacation" from the site, and I worked on my portable chess set like it was a crystal ball (the time control was 3 days per move). For starters - what was the reasoning behind my opponent's last move? (In hindsight, I can see that he missed a decent drawing line - by returning material - but what was he trying to do with his Bishop on c3?)

38...Bd7

It turns out that my Rook pins down its opposite, and forces Black's light square Bishop to stay on the a4-e8 diagonal, for protection. With that paralysis of pieces, it was possible to see that Black's other Bishop was now going to be stuck on the wrong side of the pawn chain. (It had arrived on the a5-e1 diagonal to forestall b3-b4.)

39.Bc5 

The key. Now my Bishop can escort the pawn through b4, on the way to promotion. My King can stay at home and mark his counterpart, after all.

39.Bc5

The Bishop can reach out and help.

39...Bc6 40.b4 h5 41.b5 Bd7 42.b6 Black resigned

Once again, saved by the "Jerome pawns", but only after some difficult play.

Hats off to warwar for a challenging game. 

Jerome Gambit: My Opponent Knows What He Is Doing (Part 3)

[continued from previous post]

perrypawnpusher - warwar

"Italian Battleground", Chess.com, 2019

I had reached this point in the game, figuring that I probably had a draw, wondering if I could develop more than that.

My first thought was to bring my King to the center to support the advancing pawns.

31.Kg1 Bd4+ 32.Kh1 Bf6 

Okay, that solved two problems for me. Trying to get my King out of the corner would lead to checks by the Bishop - so, maybe that wasn't the best plan after all - and Black's willingness to repeat positions, splitting the point, suggested that maybe my position was better off than I realized. 

33.Bc5

Stopping a check from d4, and drawing a bead on the a7 pawn.

33...axb3 34.axb3 Rb8 

Black targets the base of my pawn chain, but the danger was at the head. This definitely shifted the game in my favor.

35.d6 Re8 

Black cannot afford to play 35...Rxb3, after all, because 36.e7 Rb8 37.d7 and White will promote both pawns, winning a Bishop and a Rook for them.

36.e7

A "blunder", according to the Chess.com post-game analysis. Stockfish 10 agreed, preferring 36.Rxf6+ gxf6 37.d7 Rxe6 38.d8/Q Re1+ 39.Bg1.

36...Bc8 37.Bxa7 Bc3

Here, Black could have returned his extra piece for two pawns and drawing chances: 37...Bxe7 38.Re1 Kf7 39.dxe7 Rxe7 40.Rxe7+ Kxe7 when, despite being down a couple of pawns, the Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame would give him drawing chances. We both missed this.

38.Rf8 

With 4 connected, passed pawns for the piece, I was pretty sure that I could find a way to win.

[to be continued]

Jerome Gambit: My Opponent Knows What He Is Doing (Part 2)

[continued from previous post]

perrypawnpusher - warwar

"Italian Battleground", Chess.com, 2019

10.O-O Re8 11.d3 Kg8 12.Na4

My dad used the expression "fat, dumb, and happy" to describe someone who was content and clueless. All of that is reflected in my 12th move.

Black has castled-by-hand, he is at least even in development, and he still has his annoying dark squared Bishop. What would be more reasonable for White than to swap his Knight for that Bishop? After all, in many "quiet" Jerome Gambit games, Bill Wall has gone after the "minor exchange", hasn't he?

As the game unfolds, it will be clear that I should have tried the thematic move 12.Bg5.

By the way, the after-game computer analysis from Chess.com passed by this move without comment. It is interesting to note that the computer analysis at lichess.org, looking at the game Chess-for-All - Sveti14, blitz, lichess, 2017 (0-1, 30), had criticized its 12.h3?! as an "inaccuracy", and recommended 12.Na4. (I wish I could blame my move choice on this - but, no.)

12...Bd4

As I mentioned in the previous post, this current game and my Round 3 game against Abhishek29 had started out with the same 8 moves. Curiously, though, I had also tried the Knight-for-Bishop swap in that game, after my opponent had similarly advanced his Bishop to d4 before retreating it to b6: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qg3 Nf6 9.Nc3 Be6 10.O-O Kf7 11.d3 Rf8 12.Na4 Bd4 (a novelty, according to The Database) 13.c3 Bb6 14.Nxb6 axb6, etc. 


13.c3 Be5

I had expected, as a matter of course, 13...Bb6 14.Nxb6 axb6, again being happy that my opponent had wasted a move advancing his Bishop. I was now even happier that my opponent had trapped his own Bishop.

14.f4 Nh5

An unpleasant surprise - possibly prepared beforehand.

15.Qf3 Nxf4 16.Bxf4 Rf8 

I was not expecting this, either. Clearly, things were getting out of hand. (There was also nothing wrong with the simple 16...Bxf4.)

After some consideration, I decided my best chance was to give up any thought of "attack" and enter an endgame where Black would be objectively better, but, at club level, where my extra pawns would give White chances against the extra piece. 

17.Bg5 Rxf3 18.Bxd8 Rxf1+ 

Sensible and consistent, but he might have tried 18... Rxd3.

19.Rxf1 b5 20.Bxc7 bxa4 

It turns out that Black's dark square Bishop was safe, after all. My Knight was the piece in danger.

21.d4 Bf6 22.Bxd6 Ba6 23.Re1 Re8 

Black's Bishops are scary, but White's pawns should be able to cause some trouble, as well. Things unfold in an orderly manner.

After the game, Stockfish 10 still gave Black an edge, although it preferred 23...Bc4 to the text.

24.b3 Kf7

Moving the King toward the center of action. There was nothing wrong with throwing in 24...axb3 25.axb3, and then choosing 25...Bd3 instead.

25.e5 Bg5 26.c4 Bd2 27.Rf1+ Kg6 28.d5 Be3+ 29.Kh1 Bd4 30.e6 Bf6 

What gives the advantage, the piece or the pawns?

I started to breathe easier when I realized that Black's light square Bishop was blocked in by my pawns, balancing things out. Drawish? I hoped so.

After the game, Stockfish 10 suggested that by this point I had actually gained the advantage. I'm still a bit skeptical. There is no question, however, that in club play, the chances of the pawns have to be better.

[to be continued]