Saturday, September 17, 2016

The Jerome Gambit: "Somewhat Problematic For Black"


I recently enjoyed watching the short YouTube video by chessthisout on "italian game for black less popular lines" which covers 7 less popular lines in the Giuoco Piano ("for players of ratings up to 1600 in FICS") - including the Jerome Gambit (unnamed in the video), "which can be somewhat problematic for Black if he doesn't play it properly".

The two main Jerome lines covered are 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.0-0 and 5.d4, but not 5.Nxe5+, which means the move might come as quite a surprise for the unprepared defender. For that matter, 5...Bxd4 is the recommended response to 5.d4; the more challenging 5...Qh4 is not mentioned, which means the move might come as quite a surprise for the unprepared attacker.

I was shocked to see that chessthisout covered the alternative 4.Nxe5, and I told myself that certainly there wouldn't be any game examples of that move in The Database. I was wrong, there are 22 games - almost all of them transposing to the main line Jerome Gambit after 4...Nxe5 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7?! (better is 5...Nxf7). Whew!

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