A Distant Relative?

While the origin of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) appears to have been some time after Alonzo Wheeler Jerome was mustered out of the army as a 2^nd Lieutenant in August 1865, at Hilton Head, North Carolina (he returned to Mineola, New York, where he worked in a factory that manufactured agricultural machinery); and before "New Chess Opening" appeared in the April 1874 edition of the Dubuque Chess Journal, it is possible that the inventor was influenced by contemporary or past games and analysis.

The spectacular game Hamppe - Meitner, Vienna 1872, has been explored in this column as a possible inspiration: see "Godfather of the Jerome Gambit?" Parts I, II, III, and endnote, as well as "Hamppe - Meitner Revealed" and "Godfather of Oz?".

To this I would like to add an "offspring" game, clearly a decendent of "Hamppe - Meitner", and therefore related, if only by analysis, to the Jerome Gambit.

The game receives coverage in one of Edward Winter's "Chess Jottings" which notes

The game was published in the March 1957 BCM [British Chess Monthly], page 59, the source being Leonard Barden’s The Field column of 17 January 1957. That must mean that Le Lionnais’ ‘1957’ was wrong. The BCM (D.J. Morgan’s Quotes and Queries column) gives ‘1956 Swiss Boys’ Championship’ and states that the players were R. Frauenfelder and M. Gschwend.  

Rudolf Frauenfelder – Max Gschwend

Oerlikon, July 1956  

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Qe2 Na5

Although this is not a Giuoco Piano game, readers have seen both the Qd1-e2 and ...Nc6-h5 themes covered here. The following move is no surprise, either.

4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Qh5+

White's two Queen moves have "reversed colors" for the opening, and what follows are the moves of Hamppe - Meitner.

5...Ke6 6.Qf5+ Kd6 7.d4 Kc6 8.Qxe5 Kb6 9.Na3 a6 10.Qxa5+ Kxa5 11.Nc4+ Kb5 12.a4+ Kxc4 13.Ne2 Bb4+ 14.Kd1 Bc3 15.b3+ Kb4 16.Nxc3 Kxc3 17.Bb2+ Kb4 18.Ba3+ Kc3

Drawn by perpetual check.