Back to the Wall

Truth be told, not all of Bill Wall's early efforts involving the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) and Jerome-ish openings saw him on the side of the angels.

Nilsen,E - Wall
Taylorsville, NC, 1978

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Qe2

Without the Knights developed, the idea behind this Queen placement is at least as old as Greco. Here, White will soon transpose into one of the "modern Jerome Gambit" lines, as explored in "Home Cooking" and "Adolf Albin Plays the Jerome Gambit (Part 1)" and (Part 2).

4...Nf6 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7

This position can be reached by the move order 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Qe2 Nf6

6.Qc4+ d5 7.Qxc5 Nxe4

8.Qb5

Or 8.Qe3 Re8 9.0-0 (9.d3 Nf6 10.0-0 Bg4 11.Ng5+ Kg8 12.h3 Bh5 13.f4 h6 14.Nf3 d4 15.Qf2 e4 16.dxe4 Nxe4 17.Qh4 Qxh4 18.Nxh4 Ng3 19.Rf2 White resigned, Mahmoud - Wahls, Novi Sad Ol, (men) 1990) 9...Kg8 10.c4 Nf6 11.cxd5 Nxd5 12.Qe4 Nf6 13.Qa4 e4 14.Ne1 Nd4 15.Nc3 a6 16.Nc2 c5 17.Ne3 Be6 18.Qd1 Bf7 19.Kh1 Bh5 20.f3 exf3 21.gxf3 Qd7 22.Kg2 Re5 23.h4 Rf8 24.d3 Ne8 25.Ng4 Ref5 26.f4 Nf6 27.Nxf6+ R8xf6 28.Qd2 Rg6+ 29.Kf2 Rf8 30.Ke1 Qh3 31.Ne4 Rg2 White resigned, Albin - Schlechter, Trebitsch Memorial Tournament, Vienna 1914.

8...a6 9.Qd3 Nxf2

10.Qc3

White needed to take the piece and allow the fork: 10.Kxf2 e4 11.Qc3 exf3 12.Qxf3+ Kg8 with only a small disadvantage.

10...Nxh1 11.Nxe5+

White's counter, but he has overlooked something.

11...Nxe5 12.Qxe5 Re8  White resigned.