Jerome Gambit: From Mirage to Reality

In the following game you can almost hear the defender starting out with "You don't have anything!", progressing to "You don't have enough!", and then on to "You might have something" before arriving at "I have nothing!"

angelcamina - chess9656

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 

7.Qxe5 Qe7 8.Qf4+ 

Or 8.Qg3 Nf6 9.d3 d6 10.O-O Kf7 11.Nc3 Rf8 12.Be3 Kg8 13.Bxc5 dxc5 14.f4 Nh5 15.Qf3 Nxf4 16.Qxf4 Rxf4 17.Rxf4 Be6 18.Raf1 Re8 19.h3 c6 20.g4 b6 21.Kg2 Qh4 22.Ne2 a6 23.Ng3 b5 24.Nh5 c4 25.d4 c5 26.d5 Bc8 27.c3 b4 28.Ng3 bxc3 29.bxc3 Bb7 30.a3 Bc8 31.Rf7 Qg5 32.Nh5 Qd2+ 33.R1f2 Qd3 34.Rxg7+ Kh8 35.Rff7 Bf5 36.gxf5 White won on time, angelcamina - Trajche1980, lichess.org, 2022. 

8...Nf6 

Or 8...Ke8 9.Qxc7 Bxf2+ 10.Kxf2 Nf6 11.d3 Ng4+ 12.Kg3 h5 13.h4 Rf8 14.Bg5 Nf6 15.Nc3 d6 16.Qxe7+ Kxe7 17.Nd5+ Ke8 18.Nc7+ Kd7 19.Nxa8 Nxe4+ 20.dxe4 b6 21.Nxb6+ axb6 22.Rhf1 Bb7 23.Rxf8 Black resigned, angelcamina - mistrustful, lichess.org, 2021. 

9.e5 

Also:

9.d3 d5 10.e5 Kg8 11.O-O Nd7 12.d4 Bb6 13.Nc3 h6 14.Nxd5 Black resigned, angelcamina - plutonia, lichess.org, 2019; and

9.Nc3 Bd6 10.Qe3 Kf7 11.O-O Rf8 12.f4 Kg8 13.e5 Bc5 14.d4 Ng4 15.Qg3 Bxd4+ 16.Kh1 Nh6 17.Nd5 Qd8 18.Nf6+ Rxf6 19.exf6 Bxf6 20.f5 d6 21.Bxh6 c5 22.Rae1 Bd7 23.Re2 Qa5 24.Bxg7 Bxg7 25.Re7 White won on time, angelcamina - MysteryMate, lichess.org, 2019

9...d6 

Black is not troubled by the pawn attack on the pinned Knight, because the pawn, itself, is pinned. But this is a bullet game, and things can quickly change from mirage to reality.

10.d4 Bb6 

More accurate - and more humorous - would have been 10...dxe5 11.dxe5 Bd6, when the pinned e-pawn would then have been faux attacking two of Black's pieces, to no avail.

In a 1-minute game, reflexes kick in, and the text move looks safe enough to the defender.

11.O-O dxe5 12.dxe5 g6 

The idea behind this error is unclear. Black could have castled-by-hand instead with 12...Kf7 and 13...Re8.

13.exf6 Qf7 14.Qe5 Qe6 15.Bh6+ Kf7 16.Qf4 c6 17.Nc3 Bd8

Black targets the annoying pawn at f6. If he can capture it, he would be down only a pawn, which would be somewhat mitigated by having the two Bishops.

White, in turn, will protect the pawn. 

Stunning is the opportunity, instead, to play 18.Ne4!? with thoughts of a fork with 19.Ng5+. White would be crushing, Black could not save his Queen.

18.Bg5 Qf5 

Swapping Queens would solve a lot of Black's problems.

19.Qc4+ Be6 20.Qb4 Qxg5 21.Qxb7+ Ke8 22.Qxa8

Suddenly the game has become one of King safety - or the lack of it for Black. In doing so, White has grabbed the exchange. Next he will grab the enemy King.

22...Kd7 23.Qb7+ Kd6 24.Rad1+ Kc5 25.Ne4+ Kc4 26.Qb3 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: Off-Setting Errors

Bullet chess is a major arena for the maxim The winner is the player who makes the next-to-last mistake. The Jerome Gambit can be very effective in helping your club opponent to find mistakes, even if you manage a few, yourself. The following example by angelcamina illustrates.

angelcamina - MysteryMate
1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8

The Jerome Defense to the Jerome Gambit.

7.Qxe5 Qe7 8.Qf4+ Nf6 9.Nc3 

A small improvement over 9.d3, seen in angelcamina - plutonia, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019 (1-0, 14).

9...Bd6 10.Qe3 Kf7 11.O-O Rf8 12.f4 Kg8 

Black has castled-by-hand; because of the unfortunate placement of his Bishop and Knight, his opponent has tactical chances. Also note: the Bishop blocks the pawn which blocks the other Bishop which locks in the Rook. This often spells trouble for Black.

13.e5 Bc5 14.d4 Ng4 15.Qg3 

A slip (remember: this is a 1-minute game). White attacks the unprotected Knight, but leaves his pawn on d4 at risk.

15...Bxd4+ 16.Kh1 Nh6 17.Nd5 Qd8 18.Nf6+ 

White attacks. It is scary, Black can defend - but that will take thinking time.

18...Rxf6 19.exf6 Bxf6 20.f5 d6 

Returning the favor, slip-wise.

21.Bxh6 c5 22.Rae1 Bd7 23.Re2 Qa5 24.Bxg7 Bxg7 25.Re7 
White won on time (he was also threatening mate in 2).

Jerome Gambit: Mystery (not quite)

The following game appears to end too soon. The position is equal, which should not bring on feelings of loss - unless the defender was troubled at having moved from a "won" game at move 4 to an even one, and decided to let the game go.

The answer, as with many 1 0 bullet games, probably lies with the clock, as we shall see. 


angelcamina - plutonia
1 0 bullet, lichess.org

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 

7.Qxe5 Qe7 8.Qf4+ Nf6 

9.d3 d5 10.e5 Kg8 11.O-O Nd7 12.d4 Bb6 13.Nc3 h6 14.Nxd5 Black resigned 

White has 3 pawns for his sacrificed piece. Black's King has found relative shelter. Balance. Why the resignation?

My guess is that Black realized that he had only 17 seconds left on his clock, while White had 39 seconds. Black would have to make "ordinary" moves in a rather ordinary position, twice as fast as White, to have a chance to win the game. That probably wasn't an attractive option.