Analyzing positions and play from recent Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games has gotten me thinking again about my theories of club chess play and improvement.
Time Bombs
As reflected in the blog post "Jerome Gambit: Boom!"
I have long subscribed to the "time bomb" notion in club chess: that players are apt to play reasonable chess until, suddenly, a cognitive "time bomb" goes off, and they make a blunder. The frequency of these "explosions"/blunders depends upon the level of skill of the player: strong players may slip only once a game (or even less often) while more "average" club players can have their "time bombs" go off much more often, even every other move.
Players improve as they catch their blunders before they play them, and as they begin to notice and punish their opponents' blunders. Hanging a piece (or overlooking an opponent's hanging piece) and missing an easy checkmate (falling into or delivering) are two of the biggest failings.
Improving your tactical skills can help you combat "time bombs". Fortunately, there are many sources for problems to work on and practice with, either in software for your computer or in book form. A "golden oldie" is Fred Reinfeld's 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations (yes, I know that there are problems with some of the problems), which many public libraries have, and which can be obtained as a used paperback for well under $10.
There are a number of free or low cost chess programs available that can be used to analyze your games after they are finished. (You should be going over all of your games, win or lose.) They can be very helpful in catching basic tactical oversights.
Increasing your understanding of the traps and dangers associated with the openings that you play is another way to begin to spread out your "time bombs". Following this blog, and playing over the games presented, should alert you to some of the Jerome Gambit's strengths and pitfalls. It also should help you understand various strategies behind the Jerome, and that will serve as a general guide to keep you out of some of the weeds.
It is useful to look at some of the quotes from a Chess.com article by penandpaper0089 titled "Amateur Chess is Mostly Tactics and That's Unfortunate For Me"
GM Magnus Carlsen when asked about what is important to breaking the 2000 barrier quotes:
"Studying tactics, I would say. Up to that level, most games are still decided by someone hanging a piece...or blundering a checkmate - haha"
But there's more:
"Until you are at least a high Class A player: Your first name is 'Tactics', your middle name is 'Tactics', and your last name is 'Tactics'." - FM Ken Smith
“Most class players are not triangulating each other to death”. - FM John Jacobs
The most striking however is this one:
"Thirty years ago, Teichmann said that chess is 99% tactics. And despite the enormous strides of chess theory since then, his percentage can only be reduced a few points
Many amateurs think that master games are usually decided by some deeply-laid plan covering all possibilities for at least ten moves.. That is what they conceive the grand strategy of tournaments to be. Actually, however, strategical considerations, while quite important, do not cover a range or depth at all comparable to the popular notion. Very often, in fact, sound strategy can dispense with seeing ahead at all, except in a negative or trivial sense. And it is still true that most games, even between the greatest of the great, are decided by tactics or combinations which have little or nothing to do with the fundamental structure of the game". - GM Reuben Fine
