Sicilian Jerome Gambit Redux

 

Although the focus of  this blog is the Jerome Gambit - 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ - I have occasionally examined the sacrifice Bxf7+ in other openings.

For example, about 15 1/2 years ago, in "Sicilian Jerome Gambit", I looked at the game Jyrki Heikkinen - Timo-Pekka Lassila, Tampere, Finland, 1987 (1-0, 26,) which started 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.Nf3 e5 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.Bxf7+, a Sicilian Defense that took on Jerome-ish quality.

Recently, chessfriend Yury V. Bukayev pointed me toward another Jerome/Sicilian hybrid. It was chosen "Game of the Day" at ChessGames.com.

Rhine, Frederick - NN

blitz, lichess.org, 2018

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 

So far, we have a Smith-Morra gambit in the Sicilian.

4...e5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Bc4 Na5 

This can't be good. Black looks to win the "minor exchange" of Bishop for Knight, but this is a time-waster. Compare the move to the outcome of 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Na5, where White scores 71%.

7.Bxf7+ 

Even Stockfish 16.1 prefers the Bishop shot over the quiet alternative, 7.Nxe5 Nxc4 8.Nxc4. 

7...Kxf7 8.Nxe5+ Ke6 

Black's King advances to his doom.

Better was 8...Ke8, although then 9.Qh5+ g6 10.Nxg6 Nf6 11.Qe5+ Be7 12.Nxe7 Qxe7 13.Qxa5 would be winning for White, too. 

9.Qd5+ Ke7 10.Qf7+ Kd6 11.Nb5+ 

This gets the job (checkmate) done, but faster was 11.Bf4 Qg5 12.Nxd7+ Qxf4 13.Nb5+ Kc6 14.Qd5#

11...Kxe5 

Or 11...Kc5 12.Qd5+ Kb6 13.Be3+ Bc5 14.Bxc5+ Ka6 15.Qd3 Nc4 16.Nxc4 Kxb5 17.Na3+ Kxc5 18.Rc1+ Kb6 19.Qb5#.

12.Bf4+ 

White can see his way to a pretty end. Impatient Readers can try 12.Qf5#. 

12...Kxe4 13.Nc3+ Kd3 14.O-O-O  checkmate

Alonzo Wheeler Jerome would be pleased.

Jerome Gambit: Countering the Counter

How to counter the counter-Jerome gambit?

Bill Wall has enough experience, he could do it with his eyes closed. Take a look.

Wall, Bill - Basiq

SparkChess.com, 2024

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 

Here we go again: "Jerome Gambit: What About the Rook?"

So, the warning is - be aware, defenders, that 6...g6 means you want to sacrifice your Rook. Play becomes awkward without this awareness.

7.Qxe5 Bxf2+ 

As mentioned in "Jerome Gambit: Still Waters Run Deep"

The "Counter-Jerome Defense" or the "Counter-Jerome Gambit". See "Jerome Gambit: How Bad Has It Gotten?", "Jerome Gambit: Tactical Awareness" and "Jerome Gambit: Be Careful, Look Both Ways".

For more recent examples, see "Nobody Expects the Jerome Gambit (Part 3)" and "Jerome Gambit: Psychology".

Black gives up a piece in a way that disturbs White's King. There are 560 games in The Database, with White scoring 72%.

The second player would do better with the more frequently played 7...d6, or possibly the strongest move, 7...Qe7; neither of which looks as scary as the text move.

8.Kxf2 Nf6 

In other games, Black has exchanged Queens with 8...Qf6+ 9.Qxf6+ Nxf6 (or 9...Kxf6 as in Wall,B - Kumar, internet, 2024 [1-0, 22]):

Wall,S - Guest658246, PlayChess.com 2013 (1-0, 34); Wall,B - Guest4380606, PlayChess.com 2015 (1-0, 15); Wall,B - SCMJ, FICS 2020 (1-0, 24); and Wall,B - Naren, SparkChess 2024 (1-0, 19). 

Black can also throw in 8...Qh4+ first, as in Wall,B - Guest1443273 PlayChess.com 2012 (1-0, 36); Wall,B - Guest2115687, PlayChess.com, 2014 (1-0, 21); and Wall,B - Guest592370, PlayChess.com 2017 (1-0, 30).

9.Rf1 d6 10.Qg3 Nxe4+ 

This looks scary - for a second.

11.Kg1+ 

The check makes all the difference.

11...Kg7 12.Qf3 Bf5 13.g4 Qg5 14.d3 Qxg4+ 15.Qxg4 Bxg4

But, wait, there is one more move...

16.dxe4 Rae8 17.Nc3 a6 18.Nd5 Rxe4 19.b3 Bh3 20.Bb2+ Re5 21.Rfe1 Black resigned

Black will lose too much material.

Jerome Gambit: Bad Luck

Nothing but bad luck befalls Black after his 7th move. This could have been foretold by his 6th.

It did not help that Bill Wall had plenty of experience in the line.

Wall, Bill - Benaj

SparkChess, 2024

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Nf6 

Returning for a moment to the post "Jerome Gambit: What About the Rook?"

So, the warning is - be aware, defenders, that 6...g6 means you want to sacrifice your Rook. Play becomes awkward without this awareness.

I mentioned 7...Bd6, 7...d6, and 7...Qe7. I should have added 7...Nf6.

8.Qxc5 

The game Wall, B - Guest3151819, PlayChess.com, 2014 ended here as a win for White. 

8...Nxe4 

Instead, 8...Qe8 was a bad idea in Wall,B - NN, internet, 2020 (1-0, 15) 

Not much better was 8...Qe7 in Wall,B - Pakyaw, internet, 2024 (1-0, 27) 

He could have tried 8...d6 9.Qe3 Nxe4 with White still for choice. 

9.Qd5+ Kf6

This is not an improvement on 9...Kg7 in Wall,B - Sigmon,A. Palm Bay, FL 2012 (1-0, 32). 

10.d3 Nd6 11.Bg5+ Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: Peering Back

Today I was peering back at Jerome Gambit: A New Look at an Older Line, where I looked at the game Cristopher_Sonido13 - Stefcho2020, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2024: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.Qf7#

Here are some of my comments, with updates, and updates of updates...

It is interesting to review what I wrote back then. Modern comments are in red. [Today's 2025 comments are in pink.]

6.Qh5+

At the time that I played this move, I knew that the "right" choice was 6.Nxc6, [today's The Database shows 102 games, White scores 73% { In 2025, this is now 110 games, White scores 72%}] since either 6...dxc6 or 6...bxc6 would allow White to play 7.Qh5+ followed by capturing the Bishop; for example, as in perrypawnpusher - rodrigojalpa, blitz, FICS, 2008 (1-0, 25) and Wall,B - Qwerty, chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 9).

Looking at 6.Nxc6 now, I still think that it is best for White, but I wanted to point out two untested responses that might surprise the first player.

a) 6...Bxf2+ (as long as Black is going to lose this piece, he decides to get a pawn for it) 7.Kxf2 Qf6+ 8.Qf3 Qxc6 (avoiding doubled c-pawns) when White is a bit better. He has to be careful because of the loose pawn on c2 and the King and Queen being on the same file (vulnerable to ...Ne7 and ...Rf8).

[Today's The Database shows 4 games with 6...Bxf2+, all wins for White, including one by mwafakalhaswa and two by chessriddler. Stockfish 16.1 shows White to have a winning position. {Unchanged in 2025}]

Black also has the untried counter-attacking

b) 6...Qh4, (which I mentioned about 3 years ago in this blog) may be better than the capture of the Knight at c6, as well. White's best response is 7.d4, and after 7...Qxe4+ 8.Qe2 Qxe2+ 9.Kxe2 Bb6 material is even, i.e. 10.Nb4 Bxd4.

The Database in 2025 has 9 games with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Nxc6 Qh4, with White scoring 4 - 5. 

Thus, 6...Qh4 remains the strongest response for Black to 6.Nxc6. Stockfish 16.1 agrees, assessing the position as slightly better (+/=) for White.

Impatient vs Inattentive

Sometimes Black uses the Two Knights Defense to side-step the Jerome Gambit.

Sometimes it does not matter, as the following game shows

thunder_84 - chanegti11

3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 

The Two Knights Defense.

4.Bxf7+

Stockfish 16.1 evaluates this position as about a pawn worse for White than it evaluates 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ for White. 

This game brought "impatience" to mind again. I had touched on the topic as recently as 3 months ago, in Jerome Gambit: Impatience 

Four years ago, in the blog post "Unasked Questions" I looked at the Two Knights line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Bxf7+ and commented 

This line doesn't have a name, as far as I know, but it might as well be "the impatient Jerome Gambit". The earliest game that I have with it in The Database is from 2001, but it has to be much older than that. My research is lacking here.

Subsequently (see "Jerome Gambit: Facing Up to 4.Bxf7+ in the Two Knights [Part 2]"), thanks to Dr. Timothy Harding's UltraCorr 3A (2010) collection of correspondence chess games, I uncovered Draper, Dr - Child, AW., Belfast - Dublin team correspondence match-2 1891-2, an earlier game with that "impatient" line.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Ng6 

7.e5 Nd5 8.Qf3+ 

I suspect that one attraction of playing 4.Bxf7+ in the Two Knights Defense is that an inattentive defender might now slip with 8...Kg8, falling to 9.Qd5 checkmate. There are 89 such games in The Database.

8...Ke6 9.c4 Nb6 

In a 3-minute game it is possible to overlook 9...Bb4+ 10.Kf1 Qh4!? as 11.Qxd5+ can be met by 11...Ke7 and Black's King would be remarkably safe, while his extra piece would outweigh White's two extra pawns, e.g. 12.Nd2 c6 13.Qe4 Bxd2 14.Qxh4+ Nxh4 15.Bxd2 Nf5.

10.d5+ 

White is down two pieces, but this sacrifice leads to victory.

10...Kxe5 

If 10...Ke7 then 11.Bg5+ will win the Queen.

11.O-O 

11...Nxc4 12.Re1+ Kd6 13.Nc3 Qf6 

A slip, perhaps the clock.

14.Ne4+ Black resigned

Black's Queen is lost.

Happy New Year!

 

Dear Readers, 

Here we have an old Soviet New Year's Day postcard. 

The taxis and drivers and cold weather remind me of my own life in the USA, more than a half-century ago. 

Jerome Gambit: Overwhelmed

In the Jerome Gambit, White hopes to quickly overwhelm his opponent with a winning attack on the King.

If the first player is not careful, he can find himself the victim of an attack, as the following game shows.

NB_Chess44 - Mnakib90

10 0 rapid, lichess.org, 2024

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6 

Here we have a typical Jerome Gambit position, as old as Charlick - Mann, correspondence, 1881 (1-0, 72).

The Database has 1,044 examples, with White scoring 63% - despite Stockfish 16.1 rating the position (32 ply) as almost 1 2/3 pawns better for Black.  

10.f4 Ng4 

It is always tempting to attack the Queen.

11.Qf3 

I suspect that White avoided 11.Qg3 because of 11...Qh4 12.Qxh4 Nxh4 but, after 13.O-O that would have been better than the text. 

11...Qh4+ 12.g3 Qh3 

13.Nc3 

Black's Queen is up to no good, and White needed to address that immediately with 13.Qf1, even though exchanging Queens would reduce his attacking chances.

13...Rf8 

This move is good, but 13...Nxf4!? would cause even more problems after 14.Qxf4 Rf8. 

14.d4 Nh4 White resigned

Black's force on the Kingside is overwhelming, and he will break through, e.g

If 15.Qe2, then 15...Ng2+ 16.Kd2 Nxf4 17.gxf4 Rxf4.

Or 15.Qf1 Ng2+ 16.Ke2 g5.