Jerome Gambit: A Bit of A Puzzlement

I can figure out some Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games, but certainly not all of them.

The following game is a bit of a puzzlement, especially the end.

Perhaps a Reader can explain it.

Robov - sajadbahar

15 10 rapid, lichess.org, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.f4 g6

White should have been happy with this move. There are 174 games with it in The Database. White scores 75%. 

8.Qxe5+ Kf7 9.Qxh8

Capturing the Rook is not much weaker or stronger than capturing the Bishop. 

9...Qh4+ 10.g3 Qh3 11.Qc3 

Pulling the Queen back. Later in the year, Robov tried 11.d4 Qg2 12.Rf1 Bb4+ 13.c3 Qxe4+ 14.Kd1 Qd3+ 15.Bd2 Qxf1+ 16.Kc2 Bf8 17.Qxh7+ Bg7 18.Qh4 d5 19.Qg5 Bf5+ 20.Kb3 Qf2 21.g4 Bxb1 22.Qxd5+ Kf8 23.Qc5+ Ne7 24.Rxb1 Qxd2 25.Rf1 Qg2 26.f5 Qxf1 27.fxg6 c6 28.h4 Qb5+ 29.Qxb5 cxb5 White resigned, Robov - Omgl, lichess.org, 2023. 

White's best move here might have been the novelty 11.f5!?, hoping to open the f-file against the enemy King. That would have convinced Stockfish 16.1 that the first player was better, while the text move supports the second player. 

11...Qg2 

Black's Queen slips behind enemy lines.

12.Qc4+ 

Rolling the dice, as the alternative, 12.Rf1 Qxe4+ 13.Kd1 d5 is clearly worse for him. 

12...Ke8

In turn, Black falters. With the thematic 12...d5 he could have stayed on top. 

However, here White resigned. This was unfortunate, as he had the obvious 13.Qxg8+, or 13.Rf1 d6 14.Qxg8+, or even 13.Qf1 Qxe4+ 14.Qe2, in each case with advantage.

Mephisto Polgar

The Mephisto Polgar chess computer (1980s-90s) had a program written by Ed Schroeder. It was one of the strongest 8-bit chess programs available at the time. It played at about a 2200 USCF rating.

However, as we saw in the previous post, it had trouble with the human’s Krejcik Gambit. Like many early chess computers, it tended to grab material, despite the risk (which it may not have seen), and it would occasionally “develop” its King into danger.

It’s “intuition” in taking the e-pawn was correct, as evidenced by the evaluation of the line in the 1982 Batsford Chess Openings (“winning advantage” for Black) and the 1985 Encyclopedia of Chess Openings (“decisive advantage” for Black).

Still, players interested in trying their luck, or in finding a speed surprise, or in simply enjoying the chaos, might check out the YouTube video “Attacking Chess Gambit - 10 (Krejcik Gambit)” by GJ_Chess.

By the way, I have found 43 blitz and bullet games played online by Boterhoofd (rated 2000+, mostly 2200+) scoring 66%. Impressive.

Josef Krejcik

Chessfriend and blog contributor Yury V. Bukayev recently asked

Could you remember, please, if it is not so difficult, does any chess engine with the following "style" of play exist? Thus, this "style" is to get a maximum possible material without care of its own King. Have you ever met such chess program (without the word "bot" in its name, preferably)? 

While I was searching, Yury added

Thank you! These hours I have found such one (I have checked first two games in this database, the first of them is Jeromeish!):  https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=177398 ! Probably, it is not bad to play JG against such style. The next question for me is: where is it available for free playing? 

The game mentioned at ChessGames.com is 

R Arnold vs Mephisto Polgar (computer), offhand game, 1990

Alekhine Defense: Krejcik Variation. Krejcik Gambit

1.e4 Nf6 2.Bc4 Nxe4 3.Bxf7+ Kxf7 4.Qh5+ Kf6 5.Qf3+ Ke5 6.d4+ Kxd4 7.Ne2+ Ke5 8.Bf4+ Ke6 9.Nd4+ Kd5 10.Nc3+ Kxd4 11.Qxe4+ Kc5 12.Be3+ Kd6 13.O-O-O#

The Krejcik mentioned is Josef Krejcik (1885 - 1957), an Austrian chess master known for his chess writing, including three books.

The sacrificial attack can be drawn from one of Krejcik's games

Krejcik - Gottleib, Germany, 1922 

1.e4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d6 3.Bc4 Nxe4 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe4 e5 6.Qf3+ Kg8 7.Qb3+ Be6 8.Qxe6# 

See also "I Want My Jerome Gambit!", "Another Krejcik" and "Jerome Gambit Inspired Play (Parts 2 and 6)"

Yury suggested that the Mephisto Polgar computer would fit his criteria, and we will look at that tomorrow.

Merry Christmas

 

Merry Christmas!

May all your sacrifices be accepted, and all of your plans fulfilled.

Best wishes,

Rick

How to Get an Advantage or to Win with JG (4.Bxf7+) against Maestri: the Collection of Practice (Part 1)

 

How to Get an Advantage or to Win with 

                       JG (4.Bxf7+) against Maestri: 

                     the Collection of Practice (Part 1)

                                                                 (by Yury V. Bukayev)

Dear readers, these my new posts about White's advantage and wins in such chess games are dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's publications with 4.Bxf7+ in Giuoco Piano. Now the world chess history knows a lot of cases, where White got an advantage or won here against grandmasters and other extremely strong defenders!

We should start from the game 

Amateur - GM Aman Hambleton ( dontcallmelab - ChessBrah, 3 min blitz, Chess.com, 2021, the video "Aman DECLINES the Jerome gambit": https://youtu.be/QR-1VQcPlGY?si=Diu1BqZ1DS0EvARz ),

where after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Black has played 4...Kf8 intentionally - to give "a handicap" to his opponent. After 5.Bb3 White got a large advantage. Then after not careful mutual play 5...Nf6 6.Nc3 d6 7.d3 Bg4 8.h3 Bh5 9.O-O Nd4 10.g4 Nxg4 11.Nxd4 Bxd4 White could get an extra piece with the trivial possibility 12.hxg4!. It's not the most interesting case for us, but the first of Black's sacrifices is, in my opinion, slightly similar to the following famous one.

Mr. Milner - Joseph Henry Blackburne, England, 1884:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 d6 . White accepted this Rook sacrifice 8.Qxh8 and got a serious advantage by this way. Thus, Black could choose a much more solid known plan instead, without a sacrifice of his Rook: 6...Kf8 7.Qxe5 d6. 

Further, we'll remind the first of two games between the following grandmasters:

Top GM Hikaru Nakamura - GM Dmitrij Kollars (3 min blitz, Chess.com, 2020),

where after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qh4+ 9.g3 Qf6 10.fxe5+ White got an enormous advantage on time, because Black played too slowly. As a result, later Black started to make mistakes, including the key blunder, and lost the game by checkmate. I think, after the possible 10.Qh5 Black could lose more rapidly, because it requires more analysis to find a good answer here.

Further, we'll remind the game 

NM Koosha Jaferian - Top GM Hikaru Nakamura ( Mrkooshaj - GMHikaruOnTwitch, 3 min blitz, Chess.com, 2021), 

where after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qf6 9.fxe5+ Qxe5 10.Qxe5+ Kxe5 11.b4 Bd4 12.c3 Bb6 13.d4+ Kxe4 14.O-O Nf6 15.Bg5 d6 16.Nd2+ Black has made a key blunder 16...Kd3, so White got the won position as a result of 17.Rf3+ and won this game extremely rapidly.

(to be continued)

Jerome Gambit: Numbers, We Got Numbers (Part 2)

 

Reflecting on the numbers drawn from The Database - see the previous post - I wanted to give the evaluation of the main lines, courtesy of Stockfish 16.1 (30 ply).

The line Jerome Gambit players have been most successful against, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6, is rated by the computer as being about 2 1/3 of a pawn better for Black.

The line Jerome Gambit players have played most frequently, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+Ke6, is rated by the computer as being about 3 pawns better for Black.

The line Jerome Gambit players have played nearly as often, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 , is also rated by the computer as about 3 pawns better for Black.

The line Jerome Gambit players have played the least, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8, is rated by the computer as being  2 3/4 pawns better for Black.

It all amounts to the first player being comfortable with giving up significant material (remember, 3 pawns = 1 piece), meaning finding the right time control and the right opponent to unleash the Jerome Gambit.

Jerome Gambit: Numbers, We Got Numbers (Part 1)

I regularly refer in my blog posts to "The Database", which is my collection of Jerome Gambit and related games. It has grown over the years, due to my searching out the games, and also due to receiving many games from Readers.

A peek at The Database today shows:

The regular line of Jerome Gambit play, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+     38,295 games         White scores 52%

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+      7,763 games          White scores 57%

The Abrahams Jerome Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+                               18,980 games           White scores 51%

A quick breakdown of the four main lines of play is interesting

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8                  3,453 games           White scores 47%

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+Ke6                    4,814 games            White scores 55%

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6                3,053 games            White scores 70%

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4             4,249 games              White scores 55%