Jerome Gambit: White (Part 2)

                                           

[continued from the previous post]

Notes in black are from the bot. Notes in blue are from me.

perrypawnpusher - Yoko Ono bot

Chess.com, 2026

9.fxe5+

Together, we are creating a world of Peace, Love and Freedom by being conscious of the Power of Togetherness.

9...Qxe5

Throw a stone into the sky high enough so it will not come back.

10.Qf3 Nf6 11.d3 

I am with you in all your dreams and fears.

I was mostly dreaming of playing 12.Bf4, winning the Queen.

11...g5

Look at a star in the sky not as something unreachable but as a planet you would visit one day.

A blunt, but sufficient way to frustrate my idea, although 11...Kc6 was an alternate way to save Her Majesty.

12.Nc3 

Don't be a slave to your old dreams. Just move on and see what dreams will come to you. 

12...g4

You and I are the same element. Only the container is different. So that's why I understand you and you understand me.

13.Qe2 b6 

Concentrate your mind on giving, loving, and thanking. 

14.Rf1 

On revient toujours à ses premières amours.

14...Ba6 

The only sound that exists to me is the sound of the mind. My works are only to induce music of the mind in people.

Alas, Black's play here is unsound.

15.Bf4 

It's advisable to always keep your head empty so a wind can pass through. 

15...Rae8

Watch the sun until it comes into your body and stays as a tiny sun. It will keep your face shining even in the coldest of winter. 

The comment is inspiring; the move, not so bright.

16.O-O-O 

Knowing that the enemy Queen is not going anywhere, but missing 16.Bxe5+ Rxe5 (16...Kxe5 17.d4+ Bxd4 18.Qxa6) 17.Rxf6+. 

16...g3 17.Bxg3 

See my previous note.

17...Bd4 18.Bxe5+ 

Was that my Queen or your Queen or our Queen?

18...Bxe5 

It's time for action, and action is peace.

With a Queen and a couple of pawns to balance my opponent's Bishop pair, action does seem warranted.

[to be continued]

Jerome Gambit: White (Part 1)

I was wandering around Chess.com (I have a few games going there) when I discovered that they had a new chess bot available to challenge - Yoko Ono.

Really? A bot based on the artist, musician, activist, and filmmaker, who was married to the Beatles' John Lennon?

Sure, I'll play a game...

When the chessboard appeared, all 64 of the squares were white.

Likewise, all 34 of the pieces were white.

Do you recall the name of the Beatles' last album, before the band broke up?

The White Album. Of course.

As happens with Chess.com bots, when you look at the moves of the game after it is over, there is commentary by your particular bot opponent.

A Jerome Gambit game, assessed by Yoko Ono.

Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore. (As far as I know, Chess.com does not have a Dorothy or a Toto bot.)

So, here is the game. Notes in black are from the Yoko Ono bot. Notes in blue are from me.

perrypawnpusher - Yoko Ono bot

Chess.com, 2026

1.e4 e5

I wanted to create a new chess game, making a fundamental rather than decorative change.

2.Nf3 Nc6

It's called Play It By Trust.

According to the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis

Yoko Ono’s Play it by Trust (1966/2011) is an all-white, interactive chessboard that functions as a metaphor for the futility of war and extends the artist’s interest in the expressive potential of chance. By eliminating the color-based opposition of one side versus another, Ono dooms any attempt to successfully “play” the game beyond a series of initial moves to ultimate failure. She thus encourages us to consider the aspects of humanity that unite rather than divide. Play it by Trust joins the many conceptual, musical, and performative works that Ono has created for over 40 years that evoke her dedication to the promotion of peace in our society.

3.Bc4 Bc5

Play it for as long as you can remember who is your opponent and who is your own self.

4.Bxf7+

This is like a life situation, where you have to play it by convincing each other. 

4...Kxf7 

Whisper your dream to a cloud. Ask the cloud to remember it.

5.Nxe5+ 

The white chess set is a sort of life situation. Because the chess pieces on both sides are white, you always have to be aware of which are your pieces.

Yes, indeed; a bit of a challenge.

5...Nxe5

It is not winning that interests me but rather exercising my own brain.

Would that I might achieve both.

6.Qh5+

If you are the same, you don't have a war. Who are we fighting? And why? 

6...Ke6

Find Peace in your heart and it will spread over the world.

7.Qf5+

Well, hello to you, too.

7...Kd6 8.f4 Qf6

It's so nice to slow down the rhythm of the whole world just to make it peaceful.

So far, so good.

After the game, I checked with The Database. I had reached this position in 27 previous games, scoring 85%.

[to be continued]

Scotch Gambit: Be Very Careful

 

It is only fair to give your opponent who is defending against the Jerome Gambit and related openings the advice from baseball player Yogi Berra

You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there.

In the following game, Black is on the road to success - until suddenly, as the Talking Heads sing, he was on the road to nowhere.

Ouch.

LSCLegend13 - Herculean_Widhynovich

10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2026

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 

The Scotch Gambit.

4...h6 

To keep enemy pieces off of g5, even at the cost of time and possibly weakening the e8-h5 diagonal.

5.O-O Bc5 6.Bxf7+ 

Comparing the sacrifice in this game with LSCLegend13's earlier one against hughtough230, White has added the helpful 0-0, while Black has spent time with ...h6

We have already reached the point that there are no games with this position in The Database.

The closest game has 6.c3 dxc3 and then continues with 7.Bxf7+, i.e. 7...Kxf7 8.Qd5+ Kf8 9.Qxc5+ d6 10.Qxc3 Nf6 11.Nbd2 Qe8 12.b3 Qf7 13.Ba3 Be6 14.Nd4 Nxd4 15.Qxd4 g5 16.e5 Nd5 17.exd6 Kg8 18.dxc7 Nxc7 19.Bb2 Kh7 20.Ne4 Rad8 21.Nf6+ Kg6 22.Qe4+ Bf5 23.Qf3 g4 24.Nxg4 Bxg4 25.Qxg4+ Kh7 26.Qe4+ Kg8 27.Qe5 Qh7 28.Qg3+ Kf8 29.Ba3+ Ke8 30.Rfe1+ Kd7 31.Qg4+ Black resigned, Viner,William - Siebenhaar,Willem, Perth 1905. 

It is fun, if a bit off task, to add the following about each player

From the Australian Dictionary of Biography

Interested in chess from the age of 15, Siebenhaar had won a divided 3rd prize in the Dutch Chess Federation's annual tournament in 1881. He continued this pastime in Perth and became the unofficial Western Australian champion following a match with Ernest Hack in 1892; he took over Hack's chess column in the Western Mail. In 1894 he lost his honorary champion's title but remained an active player. Suffering from ill health, he again visited Britain and attended the Scheveningen chess tournament in the Netherlands in 1913.

From Wikipedia

Viner was the West Australian champion in 1900, 1901, 1903 and 1905, and won the Perth Chess Club's handicap tournament three times. He also won the Australian Chess Championship four times (1906, 1912, 1913, 1924) and once New Zealand Chess Championship in 1907. 

Ahem.

6...Kxf7 

Suddenly, through the magic of transposition, The Database has 46 games with the position, with White scoring 45%. (Some of the games even start with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+)

7.Ne5+ 

Very Jerome-ish - capturing a non-existant Knight.

7...Nxe5 8.Qh5+ Ng6 9.Qxc5 

Black has an extra piece. Still, he has to be careful.

9...N8e7 10.Qxd4 d5 

Textbook play.

11.f3 dxe4 

Careless, but not losing.

12.fxe4+ Kg8 

As Yogi said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."

Black chooses the wrong fork. Instead, 12...Ke8 would have maintained his advantage.

13.Qxd8+ Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: Ideas vs Ideas

Chess is a conflict between the ideas of one player and the ideas of his opponent.

In the following game, we see Black rolling out some of his ideas about how to treat the game - only to be rolled up by White's ideas, that counter them.

Wall, Bill - Danny

internet, 2025

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

 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.f4 Qf6 8.Rf1 g6 9.Qh3+ Ke7 10.Nc3 Nd3+ 

Black decides to return one of his two extra pieces. It is an interesting idea: after 11.cxd3, White's forward d-pawn would block his original d-pawn, which would block his Bishop, which blocks the King from castling Queenside.

However, White can capture with his offside Queen, when the position is equal.

Black should have considered the more relevant 10...d6. 

11.Qxd3 Qh4+ 

Another forcing move by Black: White must move his King, forfeiting the right to castle, or give up the h-pawn.

12.g3 Qxh2 

13.b4 

Bill has ideas of his own. This pawn offer must be declined (13...Bxb4 14.Nd5+ followed by 15.Nxb4), and White gains some time.

13...Bb6 14.Nd5+ 

White will collect the dark square Bishop, anyway.

And more.

14...Kd8 15.Nxb6 axb6 16.Bb2 

Black resigned

White's Bishop will win the Rook at h8.

White can also castle, if he so wishes.

Jerome Gambit: Scotch Gambit

I recently received a friendly email that I would like to quote from

I came across a chess video on YouTube by GM Aman Hambleton in 2020 where he played the Jerome Gambit. He was apparently inspired by your research into this wonderfully strange and unusual opening.

Readers can check out posts "Jerome Gambit: All In Good Fun" and "Jerome Gambit: New Games Coming" for Grandmaster Hambleton's encounter with the Jerome Gambit, and his influence on the opening's popularity.

Ever since then, I have always wanted to try it and finally it happened. I am rated 884 and my opponent was rated 729. The game ended after 9 moves to my surprise. It seems obvious that my opponent had never seen the Jerome before and was completely unprepared for it. I would venture to say that that surprise factor is what makes the Jerome so enticing to play. 

Exactly! 

Take a look at a stark exposition of this impact in "Sac a pawn, or a piece, or a..."

The email continues

I usually play the Scotch Gambit as White. So the Jerome in this game transposed out of the Scotch gambit. Attached is the PGN. Please let me know if this game is worthy of being added to your database. I would be so honored to hear back from you. If I am successful in future games, please let me know if you would like to continue to receive them from me.

I am always interested in receiving Jerome Gambit and Jerome-related games and analysis. In the case of the aforementioned game, it provides an opportunity to touch on earlier discussions as well. 

LSCLegend13 - hughtuff230

5 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2026

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4

The Scotch Gambit. 

4...Bc5 5.Bxf7+ 

The earliest example that I have of this position in The Database is Wright - Hunn, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, 1874 (0-1, 18).

Presented in the November 1874 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal, it garnered the overall assessment "Brilliant but not sound."

Further, the Dubuque Chess Journal continued

An unsound variation of Jerome's double opening.

Note that it is the P at Q5 [d4] that gives the second player such a wonderfully harassing position later in the game.

5...Kxf7 6.Ne5+ 

According to the 1874 Dubuque Chess Journal "SK5 [Ne5] à la Jerome is better than SS5 [Ng5]." 

In 2026, Stockfish 17.1 disagrees, rating 6.Ng5+ higher than 6.Ne5+, but it actually prefers 6.c3, with a possible transposition to the Goring Gambit.

6...Nxe5 7.Qh5+

7...Ke6 

Save that Knight.

8.f4 g6 

Kick that Queen.

9.Qxe5+ 

Black resigned

That was fast.

The Bishop will be taken, too. Material will be even, but Black's King will still be unsafe.

I think, though, that hughtuff230 should have played on for one more move. If he played 9...Kf7 and White responded with 10.Qxh8, Black could push back with 10...Qh4, when the first player would only have a small edge.

Of course, I am sure that LSCLegend13 would have captured the Bishop, and, later, the pawn on d4, settling things.

Jerome Gambit: Secrets of International Chess Champion

              

Journeying through the Google Books website, searching for "Jerome Gambit", I came across Karri Raju's self-published 

Secrets of International Chess Champion: A Journey to Mastery (2025), which includes light coverage [and very large diagrams] of the Jerome in the "GAMBITS OF CHESS GAME" chapter.

It is unclear which "International Chess Champion" the book's title refers to, but it is not likely the author, who appears to be rated similarly to the creator of this blog.

Mr. Raju, is a bank credit analyst who is "very passionate about playing chess with various extraordiary tricks with my friends". 

He has a short blog online, focused on his two books (the other is Principles of Working Capital Finance), and pointing out

The most important gambits are 

1. JEROME GAMBIT

...[W]hile it may be "useful" as a surprise weapon at lower levels or in casual play, it rarely leads to success against more experienced, knowledgeable opponents.

Positives of the Jerome Gambit, according to the author, include surprise value, practical chances, and fun and experimentation.

Joining most other titles that cover the Jerome Gambit, the one game that Secrets includes is Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1885. 

Readers are encouraged to check out the links given in this post, and then compare what they have learned with, say, Jerome Gambit: Book (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7). Although I have always been a supporter of self-published and small publisher chess books, I have to admit that there is much more for the Jerome Gambiteer in the latter, than the former. Still, if you are collecting resources for this opening - here is another.

Jerome Gambit: Happy Valentine's Day

 

Happy Valentine's Day

from Jerome