MrJoker

One of the joys of hosting this jeromegambit.blogspot.com blog is the contact that I have with adventurous chess players from all over the world.

I recently received an email from a modern Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) Gemeinde member. Of course, he sent along a file of games that included almost 100 Jerome Gambit games!

Hello Richard,

I don't know if you remember me. We exchanged Jerome Gambit games some time ago, but we lost contact, and I just happened to find your blog today. Since last time I played many more games on ICC (time control 2 12) under the nickname mrjoker.

My current blitz rating is 1703, with a peak of 1885. My recent result is 57-25-5 [68%] with this gambit, slightly better than my overall result 1695-853-289 [65%] with all openings.

Surprise value is not the only factor, as shown by my 12-3 result against Phlebas, who virtually tried everything against the Jerome Gambit, without finding anything good...

Your blog is very interesting. I have only a minor criticism: perhaps you insist too much on the "unsound" character of the opening. I consider myself as a serious player, and would never play anything unsound. Even though 4.Bxf7+ may not be the very best move in the Italian, it seems to me that White gets reasonable compensation and a more or less playable game in all variations. I still have to try the opening in tournament games with slow time controls against 1700-2100 players (my usual opponents), but it will come when I feel ready.

I tried to find pgn files on your blog. Are there any? If so please let me know.

I hope you will enjoy the games.

All the best,

Louis Morin
Of course, I sent him the file of all of the games given here in the blog's first year of existence.
And I'm working my way through the 100 games, too...