I recently read on a lawyer's website what he referred to as "rubbernecking"
What is it about a car accident that makes people want to stop and stare? Do we have some morbid desire to experience suffering, as long as it’s through other people?
Oh, my.
And, here I was planning to do an update on the infamous Face Palm Variation of the Jerome Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+.
Call it rubbernecking.
I stumbled over the line in the early months of this blog (August, 2008), when, in "Carlos Azcarate Topping Ninja Knights T3" I reported the winner of a Jerome Gambit tournament at ChessWorld
The tournament winner uncorked the most surprising opening move of all, not once, but twice, when he followed the routine 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 with 5.Ng5+
While I await detailed analysis, it is possible to point out precedents, the earliest of which in my database is an internet blitz game from a decade ago, lar - babylyub (1/2-1/2, 27).
Back in 2015, when this blog was 7 years old, I wrote in PSA 2.0
The Database has 473 examples of 5.Ng5+, with White over all scoring 24%.
In 2016, in "Another Way to Sacrifice the Knight" I shared
5.Ng5+
I would like to attribute this move to a "mouse slip" or a lack of caffeine, but I notice that there are 507 games with 5.Ng5+ in The Database.
Odder, still, White scored 24% in those games.
In 2020, in "Jerome Gambit: The Face Palm Variation" I was more expansive
This line does not have a name that I am aware of [until I gave it one - RK]. It is based on a tactical shot that may be clever, but not convincing. (I gave a warning about a decade ago in the post "Public Service Announcment".)
The Database has 568 games with the line, with White scoring 23%. The earliest games that I have (6 losses) feature TiFoZi, at FICS, in 1999. [Obviously, I had forgotten lar - babylyub, internet, 1998 - RK] I will try to message him there, but, according to the site, the last time he visited was October 22, 2001.
I can understand that a Jerome Gambit player might try the line on a lark, especially at blitz or lightning time controls; I noticed Jerome regulars such as COMTIBoy, DragonTail, drumme, HauntedKnight, JKELSEY, majorminor, MyGameUMove, Petasluk, snthor, sTpny, superpippo, Teterow, thmavz, ZahariSokolov, and yorgos, have given it a try. [Add deusmach, Jagulep, ToFoZi and Bill Wall - RK ]
That brings us to today, when The Database has 854 games with the line, with White scoring 27%.
So, is 27% good or bad for White? Stockfish 16.1 (33 ply) sees Black as over a Rook ahead after capturing the Knight with 5...Qxg5.
(Actually, if we look at only the games with 5...Qxg5 [in almost 1/3 of the games Black does not capture the Knight?!] White scores even worse, with 21%.)
Under what conditions is it a good idea to give your opponent (according to the computer) what amounts to "Rook odds"?
Again: is 27% good or bad?
I can't find the quote, but there was something about it not being so surprising that someone's dog sings so badly, but that it sings at all...
Happily, I can report that by comparison, today's Database shows White scoring almost twice as well - 53% - in the Jerome Gambit proper, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.not-Ng5+.
Just in case you were ever thinking of trying the Face Palm.
