Thursday, June 12, 2014

The Jerome Gambit is Going to Drive Me... (Part 1)


Occasionally, I like to turn to the internet to search for "Jerome Gambit" or "1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+", just to see if something new or old turns up. Mostly, I find links to this blog (of course) but occasionally I find games or analysis or comments that are worth sharing. For a recent example, see "Evergreen?"

Sometimes, however, I find references that drive me to distraction. For example, there was the poster, years ago, who referred to the above series of moves as the "Salvio Gambit"...

And I don't know how many times I have been excited to see someone post that the Jerome Gambit is their "favorite" opening - only to contact that person and learn that he or she has not saved any of their games...

Recently, I encountered an old post by fat lady at the TimeForChess website.


08 May '06An opening which is much worse [than the Halloween Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nxe5) ], but still better than the one which started this thread, is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7 Kxf7 5.Nxe5. I played through a game of Alekhine's once where an amateur tried this against him. Alekhine tried sucessfully to hang onto both the pieces.


Really? 

Alekhine playing 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 - my guess as to what was referred to in the "hang[ing] onto both the pieces" line.

Show me the game!

Give me a reference!

An opponent!

A date!

A location!

Anything...

That would be awesome!

I'm afraid that it's not going to happen, though...

Alekhine??

Anyhow, I've posted on the site's forum, and have emailed fat lady. I'm not holding my breath, though waiting for a response.

I don't expect to learn anything more.

Still... I looked in Alekhine's My Best Games of Chess; The Games of Alekhine by Caparrós and Lahde' and Alexander Alekhine's Chess Games, 1902-1946, by Skinner, Alekhine and Verhoeven - just in case.

Sometimes my devotion to the Jerome Gambit truly drives me to distraction.

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