A New Abrahams Jerome Gambit

The following game is typical of Philidor1792: an interesting opening line, pawn play against the extra piece, some sharp tactics - all executed at blitz pace. 

Philidor1792 - guest543
3 0 blitz, www.bereg.ru, 2014

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+ 

I have referred to this as the Abrahams Jerome Gambit (see Part I and Part II), after Gerald Abrahams, who, in his The Chess Mind (1951) and The Pan Book of Chess (1965) referred to the line as the Jerome Gambit or Jerome's Gambit. Other authors may have made this attribution, earlier - I would be glad to hear from Readers.

To date, I have not been able to find a game or analysis by Alonzo Wheeler Jerome with the line. My guess is that Abrahams decided that the presence of Bxf7+ was enough to make it Jerome's.

This kind of mis-attribution has occurred before. Joseph Henry Blackburne, in annotating his famous destruction of the Jerome Gambit (see "Nobody Expects the Jerome Gambit!"), referred to it as the "Kentucky Opening".

After some investigation (see "The Kentucky Opening" Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4, as well as "The Kentucky/Danvers Opening"), I ran across analysis of 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 - "the Kentucky Opening" - published in the Dubuque Chess Journal at around the same time the magazine was introducing the world to the Jerome Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+. My conclusion

[T]he Queen move in the Jerome Gambit, and the Queen move in the Kentucky Opening are an outstanding – but similar – feature in each opening, something which likely caught Blackburne's eye.

3...Kxf7 4.Qh5+ Kf8 5.Qxe5 d6 6.Qg3 Nf6

7.d3 Nc6 8.c3 Kf7 9.Ne2 Re8 10.f3 d5 11.d4 Bb6 12.e5 Nh5

13.Qf2 g6 14.g4 Ng7 15.Na3 Ne7 16.Nc2 h5 17.h3 Be6 18.Bg5 Qd7 19.Kd2 hxg4 20.hxg4 Rh8 

The position resembles an unusual French Defense Advance Variation!

21.Ne3 c5 22.Qg3 cxd4 23.cxd4 Ba5+ 24.Nc3 Rac8 25.a3 Bb6 26.Nc2 Nc6 

27.Kd3 Na5 28.Raf1 Nc4 29.Bc1 Ba5 30.Ne3 Bxc3 31.bxc3 Qb5 32.Kc2 Qa4+ 33.Kd3 Nxa3 34.f4 Qb3 35.Bd2 Nc4 

White is in trouble, and seeks counterplay against Black's King.

36.f5 gxf5 37.gxf5 Nxd2 

Just the break White was looking for! Now he has a forced checkmate, featuring a Queen sacrifice.

38.fxe6+ Kg8 39.Qxg7+! Kxg7 40.Rhg1+ 

Alas! White is short of time, and goes for the repetition of position and the draw. With a few more seconds he would have found 40.Rfg1+ Kf8 41.Rxh8+ Ke7 42.Rg7+ Kxe6 43.Rh6 checkmate.

40...Kh7

Black, in turn, misses the saving 40...Kh6.

41.Rh1+ Kg8 42.Rhg1+ 

See the note to White's 40th move.

Drawn

An Adventure

Researching and playing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is a lot of fun, but I get the most enjoyment out of hearing from others who have discovered Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's impertinent opening, had had their own adventures.

Here's a recent email that I received; you will see what I mean.

Dear Rick,

I played your beloved Jerome Gambit in a real OTB tournament game (8 man 3 round Swiss G/30) at my local chess club last night.

First, a little background.  I played OTB rated chess at a chess club in the mid 1980’s as a young fanatic just out of school.  Then I got married and raised a family.  Chess was a rare occasional pleasure with friends or family.  I became known as sort of the Shane of my chess playing friends, trying to let the past remain in the past but getting called in from time to time to shoot down someone else’s evil black hatted nemesis.  But of course you know there is a world of difference between rated players and casual players.  So there is little real pleasure in beating Uncle Willie’s plumber.  Not even if it includes  a Fischer-esque ego crushing.

So after a 25 year absence I’ve started playing OTB USCF rated chess again.

I discovered your blog while googling “Bent Larsen quotes” and hit on this:

http://jeromegambit.blogspot.com/2011/08/powerful-like-storm.html

LOL.  Not the one I was searching for but fortuitously found out “why chess was invented”.  Truly a gift of the gods to a languishing chess world.  An adrenaline junkie’s wet dream.

In my sixth rated game since my return to chess, and the third game of last evening, I was playing white.  My opponent was rated in the mid-1300’s and my rating is probably comparable at this time.  We reached a Guioco Piano position after three moves.  My planned repertoire was to play the Evan’s Gambit vs GP and Max Lange Attack vs Two Knights Defense.   On a whim, I decided to play 4.Bxf7 and have some fun.

“This is totally unsound and should never be tried!” – GM Raymond Keene

With such an endorsement, who can resist?  Here’s the game.

White: Me

Black:  Mr. SF

G/30

1.e4            e5

2.Nf3          Nc6

3.Bc4          Bc5

4.Bxf7+      Kxf7

5.Nxe5+     Kf8

Unexpected.  Ke7 is the Paulsen variation.  I hadn’t seen this move on your blog….yet, but I’ve only read a few months worth of posts.  So from here, I’m on my own.  “Intelligence guided by experience.”  (OK Mr. Mystery writer - 10 extra credit points if you can identify that quote without google J)

6.Qh5         Nxe5

7.Qxe5       d6

8.Qh5         Qf6

9.d4            Bxd4

10.Be3       Bxe3

11.fxe3

I didn’t want to trade dark squared bishops, and I didn’t want to double the Jerome pawns, but I really, really wanted to open up the f-file for Rf1 pinning and winning the queen.  This is taking on the flavor of a Muzio King’s Gambit.

11. …           Qxb2

How to squirm out of this one?

12.O-O +   

The title of this should probably be “Thank You Mr. Polgar”.  I’ve been going through Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games lately and two themes popped up in my game.

Thank you Mr. Polgar.  The only “mate in one” that I had trouble with in your book was a mate that was delivered by white castling.  So it was fresh in my mind.  This doesn’t deliver mate obviously but it makes my game come alive and saves my rooks.

12. ….          Nf6

13.Nd2        Qc3

14.e5           Qxe3+

15.Kh1        Qxe5

Well done by black.  At this point I’m thinking my game is going nowhere.  I’m down material, my attack is fading, and I don’t have the Jerome big pawn center to shove down black’s throat.  But this is no ordinary game.  This is the Jerome Gambit!  All you have to do is jump on its back and hang on for the ride!  Right?  Right???

16.Qf3          d5

17.Rae1       Qg5

What to do… what to do…. Ah ha!  Let’s sneak in the back door and stir up the hen house.

18.Qa3+      Kf7

19.Qe7+      Kg6

20.Re3

With the intention of Rg3 pinning and winning the queen.  I have to be careful about the back rank mate threats.  I almost played Rf3??

20. …           Re8

21.Rxf6+     Qxf6

22.Qxe8+    Kh6

23.h3

Removing the back rank mate threat and setting up my next two moves.

 

23. …               Qf4

24.g4                b6

He missed the point of g4 entirely.
 

Thank you Mr. Polgar for including a lot of examples in your book of utilizing pawns to help deliver checkmate.  This was the second game of the evening that my pawn pushes put my opponent’s king in peril.

25.Qh5 #

Obviously not a high quality game.  I’m sure we both missed many opportunities.  Just two class C players doing their best.

Thanks for the blog.  Do I have the USCF apply my gained rating points to you?

Sincerely,

Mr. J.E.

Danville, IL

A fine adventure, eh, Readers? Many thanks for sharing, Joe.

(From Danville, IL, huh? That reminds me of Danville, Kentucky, which reminds me of the Danvers Opening and the Kentucky Opening, which the Jerome Gambit reminded J.H. Blackburne of... But I digress. - Rick)

My Old Kentucky... Opening

Anyone familiar with the Kentucky Derby horse race has heard Stephen Foster's "My Old Kentucky Home", its official song.

Many chess players familiar with the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) know that it was referred to by Joseph Henry Blackburne as "The Kentucky Opening".

Blackburne's reference is a bit obscure, but less so since the advent of this blog: see "The Kentucky Opening" parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and "The Kentucky / Danvers Opening".

In any event, I recently stumbled upon a Kentucky Opening /Jerome Gambit tournament played at Chess.com. The tournament is interesting in a number of respects, not the least of which is the winner, GazzaT, was rated 2468.

So, in addition to monthly samplings from FICS, and the games from the ongoing ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, I now have Chess.com games to share with readers!

That is a lot to be thankful for.

The Kentucky / Danvers Opening

The story of "the Kentucky Opening" (see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4), 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 – which Joseph Henry Blackburne, I believe, likened to the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) in his Mr. Blackburne's Games at Chess (after 4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+) – can stand one more chapter.

In a post about the opening, which he referred to as the Danvers Opening, Bill Wall (see "The Kentucky Opening (Part 3) ") wrote

It is mentioned in the American Chess Bulletin with that name in 1905

Indeed, it is:

American Chess Bulletin
June 1905

ALL BOSTON VERSUS NEW ENGLAND

One of the largest gatherings of chess players ever brought together in Boston witnessed the struggle for supremacy between teams representing Boston and vicinity and the rest of New England at the rooms of the Boston Chess Club, 241 Tremont Street, on May 30. Boston won by 29 games to 11, the winning team being headed by such well known players as John F. Barry, A.M. Sussmann and Dr. E. E. Southard...

A special prize was offered for the best game at the "Danvers Opening," viz., 1 P-K4, P-K4; 2 Q-R5, which will probably go to Dr. E. E. Southard, the noted ex-Harvard champion, who adopted it successfully against his opponent.

The following month, the American Chess Bulletin gave the score of the two "Danvers Opening" games from the Boston vs New England event, McClure, - Mathewson (1-0, 42) and Southard - Hill (1-0, 27), which were presented in "The Kentucky Opening (Part 4)".

The Kentucky Opening (Part 4)

Finishing up this episode of the Kentucky Opening (see Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3), the line 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5, which had analysis published in 1874 in the same Dubuque Chess Journal that at nearly the same time was publishing analysis on the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 Bxf7+), it is likely that Blackburne, in his Mr. Blackburne's Games at Chess (1899), was relating the similarity of the two openings' White Queen sally to h5 when he applied the name of the former to a game with the latter "1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Note - I used to call this the Kentucky opening..."

Thirty years later the line from Danville, Kentucky, took on the name of a Danvers, Massachusetts hospital, out of acknowledgement of one of its top (at that time) players, Dr. E.E. Southard.

We finish with two Kentucky / Danvers Opening games from 1905. The first features a counter-gambit that numerous people since have claimed to have invented. The second is a win by the Good Doctor himself.

McClure,G - Mathewson,F

Boston, 1905

1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nf6 3.Qxe5+ Be7 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Qf4 0-0 6.Be2 Bd6 7.Qe3 Re8 8.d3 Be5 9.Nf3 Bxc3+ 10.bxc3 d5 11.Nd2 d4 12.cxd4 Nxd4 13.Bd1 Be6 14.f3 Nc6 15.0-0 Qd7 16.Nb3 b6 17.Bb2 Qe7 18.Qg5 h6 19.Bxf6 Qxf6 20.Qxf6 gxf6 21.c3 Rad8 22.d4 Kh8 23.d5 Bxd5 24.exd5 Rxd5 25.Bc2 Rg8 26.Rfe1 Na5 27.Nxa5 Rd2 28.g3 Rxc2 29.Nc6 Rxc3 30.Nxa7 Rxf3 31.Re7 f5 32.Rxc7 f4 33.Rxf7 Ra3 34.Nb5 Ra5 35.Nd6 fxg3 36.h3 g2 37.Ne4 Rg6 38.Nf6 Rxf6 39.Rxf6 Rg5 40.Rf7 Kg8 41.Rc7 Rg3 42.Rd1 1-0

Southard,E - Hill,H

Boston, 1905

1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 Qf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Nf3 Nge7 6.d3 Qg6 7.Qxg6 Nxg6 8.h4 h5 9.Nd5 Bb6 10.Be3 Nge7 11.Bxb6 Nxd5 12.exd5 Nb4 13.Bxc7 Nxc2+ 14.Kd2 Nxa1 15.Bxe5 0-0 16.Rxa1 a6 17.Re1 b5 18.Bb3 Re8 19.d6 Bb7 20.Ng5 Rf8 21.Bd4 a5 22.Re7 a4 23.Bxf7+ Rxf7 24.Rxf7 Bd5 25.Rxg7+ Kf8 26.Nh7+ Ke8 27.Nf6+ 1-0

The Kentucky Opening (Part 3)

Readers who have been following the saga of the Kentucky Opening (see Part 1 and Part 2) may have already found themselves protesting: but I never knew that 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 was called the Kentucky Opening!

Likely they are more familiar with references like the one below, from Bill Wall, chess author and investigator of both games short and openings unusual (and, at least on one occasion, someone willing to play the Jerome Gambit!)

Danvers Opening - 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5
by Bill Wall

The opening 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 was probably first named in the early 20th century as Danvers Opening. It is mentioned in the American Chess Bulletin with that name in 1905. The Danvers opening was named after a hospital.

The opening also has names such as the Queen's Attack or Wayward Queen's Attack or Queen's Excursion or the Patzer Opening or the Terrorist Attack. In Indiana, it is Parham's Opening, named after former Indiana State Champion Bernard Parham, who plays 2.Qh5 on almost any Black reply. ECO name is C20.

The attack with the queen is tried mostly by beginners. It is really not very good to bring out the queen early, and many beginners do, hoping for an early mate.

The first game with this opening may be the following:

Adov - Borisov, St Petersburg 1889

1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 g6 4.Qf3 Nf6 5.Qb3 [5.Ne2] Nd4 6.Qc3 [6.Qd3] d5 7.Bxd5? [7.exd5] Nxd5 8.exd5 Bf5 9.d3 [9.Na3 Bxa3 10.bxa3 Qxd5] Bb4 0-1

Well, as we've already seen, there have been earlier, if not well-known, examples of the Kentucky / Danvers Opening.

What about Wall's reference to the opening being named after a hospital? The March 1920 issue of the American Chess Bulletin carried a remembrance of "The Late Dr. Elmer E. Southard" – "The famous Harvard varsity [chess] player, who was assistant professor of psychology at Harvard"

Dr. Southard attained distinction in his chosen profession, as a writer of books and assistant editor of the Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, and will be remembered as the most brilliant player who ever represented Harvard in the annual tournaments with Columbus, Yale and Princeton in New York and who, in the days of two-men teams, played for the Crimson in 1895, 1896, 1897 and 1898...

In due course of time Dr. Southard took his place in the front rank of Boston's chess experts, and more than once was nominated substitute on the American teams which played in the Anglo-American cable matches. The Danvers opening (1. P-K4, P-K4; 2.Q-R5, etc.) was originated by him during the period of 1906-9, when he was assistant physician and pathologist in the Danvers State Hospital for the Insane.

London Calling... Ten Months of Blog

Dear Jerome Gambit Gemeinde,

It's time to note that jeromegambit.blogspot.com has had daily posts (over 300 of them) for ten months now – an infant compared to many wonderful chess sites, but almost a toddler beside them. And there is still much room to grow!

We've not only explored the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) on these pages, but thanks to the creativity of many members, we've also taken on a host of loosely-named Jerome Gambit "relatives":

Abrahams Jerome Gambit

Bishop's Opening Jerome Gambit

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit

Boden-Kieseritzky Jerome Gambit

Danvers Jerome Gambit

Evans Jerome Gambit

Fried Jerome Attack

Jerome Elephant Gambit

Philidor Jerome Gambit

Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit

Sicilian Jerome Gambit

Best wishes, all!

Rick Kennedy ("perrypawnpusher")

Perhaps not every opening should be Jerome-ized...

One of these day's I'm going to have to swipe a phrase from past military commercials and say something like "The Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) – it's not a chess opening, it's an adventure!"

But, maybe not an adventure for everyone, every time...

greatapple - perrypawnpusher
blitz game 2 12 FICS, 2009
1.e4 e5 2.Qh5

There are a lot of names for this opening, perhaps the earliest being the Danvers Opening, named after a hospital (an asylum?) in New England.

Master Bernard Parham, of Indiana, has woven the move into an entirely new way of looking at chess, something he calls "the Matrix System."

Actor Woody Harrelson once played the line against Gary Kasparov. On the other hand, Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura has played the opening against at least one GM.

2...Nf6

A fun gambit response. The earliest example I have in my database continued: 3.Qxe5+ Be7 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Qf4 0-0 6.Be2 Bd6 7.Qe3 Re8 8.d3 Be5 9.Nf3 Bxc3+ 10.bxc3 d5 11.Nd2 d4 12.cxd4 Nxd4 13.Bd1 Be6 14.f3 Nc6 15.0-0 Qd7 16.Nb3 b6 17.Bb2 Qe7 18.Qg5 h6 19.Bxf6 Qxf6 20.Qxf6 gxf6 21.c3 Rad8 22.d4 Kh8 23.d5 Bxd5 24.exd5 Rxd5 25.Bc2 Rg8 26.Rfe1 Na5 27.Nxa5 Rd2 28.g3 Rxc2 29.Nc6 Rxc3 30.Nxa7 Rxf3 31.Re7 f5 32.Rxc7 f4 33.Rxf7 Ra3 34.Nb5 Ra5 35.Nd6 fxg3 36.h3 g2 37.Ne4 Rg6 38.Nf6 Rxf6 39.Rxf6 Rg5 40.Rf7 Kg8 41.Rc7 Rg3 42.Rd1 Black resigned, McClure - Mathewson, Boston 1905

3.Qxe5+ Be7 4.Bc4 Nc6



Black has adequate compensation for his pawn, in terms of better development and the uneasy White Queen.

5.Bxf7+


Wow!

I mean, seriously: Wow! Was I shocked!

Some people will try to Jerome-ize just about anything! (See "King of Bxf7+" for some radical examples.)

Stil, in the real Jerome Gambit there is usually an enemy piece hanging around on c5 to be captured in many lines – not so in this game. White gets hardly anything at all for his piece.

5...Kxf7 6.Qf5 d5

6...Nd4 is even stronger, and might have ended the game quicker.

7.Qf3 dxe4 8.Qb3+ Qd5


Being content to extinguish even a spark of an attack by White, I offered to go into an endgame where I had a piece-for-a-pawn advantage – plus better development, and a more active (previously: less safe) King.

Tactical maniacs will quickly see that I missed a chance to play 8...Be6, when 9.Qxb7 would have been a bad idea for White after 9...Nd4 10.Kd1 Nxc2 anyway! 11.Kxc2 Qd3+ 12.Kd1 Qf1+ 13.Kc2 Rhb8 with a crushing position.

9.Qxd5+ Nxd5 10.c3

Keeping a Knight off of either d4 or b4, but simple development with 10.Ne2 was better.

10...Nf4 11.Kf1 Nd3 12.Na3 Bc5 13.f3 Nf2 14.fxe4 Nxh1

This should be enough to win, even if the Knight never escapes.

15.b4 Bb6 16.Nf3 Nf2 17.d3 Nxd3 18.Ke2 Nde5 19.Nxe5+ Nxe5 20.Bf4

White even has an advantage in development now – but it's too late to change things. An oversight ends things.

20...Ng6 21.Rf1 Nxf4+ 22.Rxf4+ Ke7 23.Nc4 Be6 24.Ne5 Rhf8 25.Rg4 Bxg4+ 26.Nxg4 White resigns