Lion Tamer

While Bill Wall and I were exchanging emails the other day, I was looking for a way to illustrate the risk that the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) player takes. Eventually, as the graphic on the left shows, I settled on the lion tamer putting his head in the mouth of a lion – dangerous, yes, but the tamer knows what he is doing.

Later, I thought about the stage hypnotist, whose success lies not only in his skill in mesmerism, but in his ability to choose the right volunteers to come up front and perform.

Bill has reminded me on more than one occasion that he selects his Jerome Gambit victims with care. By the time they realize "I should have..." the game is over, and Bill has moved on.

Wall,B - Mathieubuntu
blitz 10 0, FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Qe7

This is Whistler's Defense, an improvement over Blackburne's 7...d6. It is supposed to be one of the "final words" on the Jerome Gambit, as (unlike in the Blackburne gambit) it is clear that White cannot take the Rook and survive.

8.Qxh8

I suspect that this was quite a surprise for Black.

What now??

Would it help the second player to point out that Wall - Sepoli, Chess.com, 2010 continued 8...Qf6 9.Qxh7+ Kf8 10.0-0 Black resigned. Probably not.

Mathieubuntu decides to avoid further ontoward revelations and sues for peace.

8...Qxe4+ 9.Kd1 Qxg2 10.Re1 Qf3+ 11.Re2 Qh1+ 12.Re1 Qf3+ 13.Re2 Qh1+ 14.Re1 Qf3+ draw

Again, someone learns that the Jerome Gambit is a forced draw...


Readers are encouraged to imagine themselves as Black, and fill in the blank: I should have...