Jerome Gambit: Danil Li

My "Google Alerts" found a 2026 chess video by young Danil Li (one his many videos) that proclaimed The Jerome Gambit is one of the wildest openings in chess  

Agreed.

In the following bullet game, Danil finishes his opponent quickly:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.Qf5+ Kd6 

This position is at least as old as Tonetti - Ruggieri, Rome, 1863 (1-0, 23)

8.f4 

Alonzo Wheeler Jerome started 10 of his games this way.

8...g6 

Kicking the White Queen. 

If I were to say that I won from this position in games lasting 17 and 38 moves, and drew one game in 59 - I would also have to point out that in this game Danil concludes his contest quicker.

9.Qxe5+ Kc6 10.Qd5+ Kb6 11.d4 

11...Bb4+ 12.c3 Ba5 

A slip. The Bishop needed to go to f8.

13.b4 Qf6 14.Qxa5+ Kc6 15.Qc5 checkmate

Well done!

If You Are Going to Cross the Stream...

If you are going to cross the stream, it helps to know where the rocks are.

In the following game, angel_camina walks steadily, while his opponent eventually loses his footing and falls into the drink.

angel_camina - p0hanghang

1 1 bullet, Chess.com, 2026

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ 

Quoting from an earlier post, "Not Regarded to Be A Very Good Move (Part 1)"

The Bishop sacrifice goes by different names.

It has been referred to as the Noa Gambit. Charles Thomsas Blanshard, in his Examples of Chess Master-Play (1894) said of 5.Bxf7+ "The text move, a hobby of Dr. Noa, develops Black's game." See Noa,J - Makovetz,G, DSB-07 Kongress, Dresden, 1892 (0-1, 27).

It has also been called the Monck Gambit. In Pollock Memories: A Collection of Chess Games, Problems, &c., &c., Including His Matches with Eugene Delmar, Jackson Showalter, and G.H.D. Gossip (1899), William Henry Krause Pollock gave a crushing 19-move miniature ending in checkmate as "[A] very fine example, known in Dublin years ago as the 'Monck Gambit' ." 

More recently, Rev. Tim Sawyer, of Blackmar Diemer Gambit fame, applied the very apt name "Open Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit".

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe4 d5 7.Neg5+ 

According to The Database, angelcamina has a win with 7.Nc3 and one with 7.Ng3.

He is 12 - 0 with 7.Neg5+.

Playing bullet chess against angelcamina is slippery business.

7...Kg8 8.d4 h6 9.Nh3 Bxh3 10.gxh3 e4 

So far, Black can be happy with his game - but, with his clock? I wonder.

11.Ne5 Nxe5 12.dxe5 c6 13.Rg1 Kh7 14.Qg4 Rg8 

The threat is not to g7, but to g6, as White quickly shows. The loss of time is critical.

15.Qg6+ Kh8 16.Bxh6 Qe7 17.Bg5 Qxe5 

When short on time, grab material.

Not this time.

18.Qh5 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: The Anti-Bill Wall Gambit, Return to Discussion (Part 2)

                                                        

A few years ago, chessfriend Dan Middlemiss sent me some Anti-Bill Wall Gambit games featuring the unusual line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Bf2+ [Updates are in Blue]

At the time, his collection raised the number of Anti-Bill Wall Gambit games in The Database to 30. [Currently there are 73.]

Dan pointed out that after 8.Kxf2 Nc6 Black seems to do well. In fact, Black won 6 of 9 games. [Currently Black has won 9 out of 18 games]

Quoting further from the earlier post

That got me thinking.

The solution for White is hidden in a couple of those losses: 9.d4.

It is clear that the d-pawn can not be taken, e.g. 9.d4 Nxd4  10.Qd5+ followed by 11.Qxd4; although 9.d4 Nxd4 10.Rd1 is interesting as well. None of this has shown up in practice [currently there are still none]

Black can focus on ejecting White's queen. So 9.d4 Nf6 [still no games], although 10.d5+ Ke7 11.Qf3 can lead to a goofy rook sacrifice, 11...Nb4 12.e5 Nfxd5 13.c4 Nc2 14.cxd5 Nxa1 15.f5 and the menacing pawns + the queen give White a clear advantage.

So maybe 9.d4 g6 is the better idea to deal with White's Queen [still no games]. Still, weirdness abounds: 10.d5+ Kf7 11.Qf3 Nce7 12.Rf1 d6 13.Kg1.

The two games I have with 9.d4 were answered 9...d5  (reasonable) and 9...Ke7 (likewise). [Nothing has changed]

Stockfish 15 recommends meeting 9...d5 with 15: 10.Nc3 Nf6 11.exd5+ Kd6 12.Qg5 Ne7 13.Re1 b6 14.Bd2 Nfxd5 15.Qe5+  Kc6 16.Nxd5 Nxd5 17.Qe4 Ba6 18.c4 Bxc4 19.Rac1 Kb7 20.Rxc4 and White is a bit better.

Likewise, the computer recommends meeting 9...Ke7 with 10.d5 Nb4 11.Qd1 Kf7 12.a3 Na6 13.Rf1 d6 14.Kg1, again with a small plus for White. 

Jerome Gambit: The Anti-Bill Wall Gambit, Return to Discussion (Part 1)

Some lines of play in the Jeorme Gambit get me thinking, and researching, and looking up blog posts.

sub_nishanth - dzikasarna

3  blitz, lichess.org, 2025

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.f4 Bf2+ 

The Anti-Bill Wall Gambit, also seen in "Jerome Gambit: A Cautionary Tale" and "Jerome Gambit: Another Reason".

8.Kxf2 

The Database does not have any games where White declines the Bishop.

8...Nf7 

8...g6 was seen in Wall,B - Buster, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 11); 

8...Ng6 was seen in Wall,B - Equa, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 14);  Wall,B - Kumar, SparkChess, 2024 (1-0, 22); and Wall,B - Kumar, SparkChess, 2024 (1-0, 12)  

9.Re1 Nf6 

10.Qh3+ Ke7 11.e5 Nd5 12.f5 d6 13.e6

The "Jerome pawns" are making a problem for the defender.

The question is, what should Black do now?

Stockfish 17.1 (35 ply) suggests 13...Ng5 14.Qg3 h6 15.Nc3 Nxc3 16.Qxc3 Qf8 17.Kg1 c6 when it evaluates White's position as almost 1 1/2 pawns better. If White tries the logical 18.h4, though, Black can sacrifice his Knight, and with 18...Nxe6 19.fxe6 Qf6 20.d4 Rf8 21.Be3 Bxe6 the position is a material-even mess.

13....Nh6 

Avoiding complications - and time may have been a factor, here - but settling for a worse position. 

14.d4 Rf8 15.Bg5+ 

15...Ke8 

Definitely looks like time trouble.

16.Bxd8 Kxd8 17.c4 Nf4 18.e7+ Black resigned

The loss of material will be too large.

Jerome Gambit: Viewership

 

A quick look at statistics from Blogger gives a list of the countries with 

top viewership numbers for this blog:

United States            791K

Singapore                 609K

Brazil                        262K

Hong Kong               197K

Vietnam                    196K

France                       146K

Russia                       113K

Germany                   100K

United Kingdom        80.3K

Canada                       64.2K

Iraq                            51.9K

India                           48.9K

Argentina                   41.7K

Bangladesh                37.7K

Spain                          33.9K

South Korea               33.6K

Mexico                       32.9K

Chile                          31.1K

Ukraine                      29.6K

Other                        838K

It is interesting to compare this list with one from the end of 2010 - early in the life of this blog. See "A World-Wide Phenomenon"

LESS

Quick Tournament Update

 

My tournaments (current, recent) where I have tried to play the Jerome Gambit as often as possible:

The Italian Game - waiting for Round 2 to start

Wal2010's 3rd Thematic Tournament: Community Poll Winner Italian Game - waiting for Round 2 to start

Not only the Italians plays the Italian game - waiting for Round 3 to start

BISHOP'S OPENING CUP 2025 - waiting for Round 3 to start

6th Thematic Quick Knockouts: Italian Game (1401-1600) - eliminated

Italian game - eliminated

Jerome Gambit: Knights Advance Too Quickly

In the following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game, Black's Knights advance too quickly, finding trouble.

Wall, Bill - PlayMe

internet, 2026

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 

Or 8...b6 9.Qc3 Qf6 10.Qxc7 Nf4 11.O-O Ne7 12.d4 Ne2+ 13.Kh1 Rf8 14.Be3 Kf7 15.Qc4+ Black resigned, Wall,B - NRKD, FICS, 2013. 

9.Qa3 

As we have seen in earlier Jerome Gambit games, Bill likes to experiment. There was nothing wrong with the typical 9.Qe3. 

9...N8e7 

Or 9...Nf6 as in Wall,B - Guest2360621,  2013, (1-0, 37); 

Stockfish 17.1 also liks 9...Qh4. 

Or 9...Ne5 as in Wall,B - Guest558550, PlayChess.com 2021 (1-0, 20); 

Or 9...Qg5 10.Qf3 N8e7 11.O-O Rf8 12.d3 Qh4 13.Qe2 Bg4 14.f3 Bd7 15.Nc3 Nf4 16.Bxf4 Qxf4 17.d4 Rf6 18.Rad1 Rh619.g3 Qf6 20.Nd5 Nxd5 21.exd5+ Kf7 22.Rfe1 Re8 23.Qc4 Rxe1+ 24.Rxe1 Qg5 25.Qxc7 Qf5 26.g4 Rg6 27.Kf2 Rxg4 28.Re6 h6 29.Qxd7+ Kg8 30.Re8+ Black resigned, Wall,B - Hell, internet, 2024 

10.O-O Be6 

Calling forth White's next move.

More energetic is 10...Nf4 

11.f4 Bd7 

Avoiding the threatened pawn fork. 

12.d4 Nc6 13.f5

13...Nh4 

Stockfish 17.1 suggests 13...Qf6 with a subsequent draining of the dynamics of the game: 14.d5 Nd4 15.Rf2 Rf8 16.Be3 Qe5 17.Qd3 Nxf5 18.exf5 Rxf5 19.Nc3 Rxf2 20.Bxf2 Kf8 leaving White only an edge.

14.Qg3 

Moving the Queen back to the action.

Instead, 14.g3 would be met by 14...Nxd4, when 15.gxh4 Qxh4 16.Qd3 Bb5 16.c4 Qg4 leaves Black a bit better.

14...Nxd4 

A slip, falling to a fork. 

15.Qxg7 Rf8 16.Qxd4 Qe7 17.Nc3 Bc6 18.g3

18...Rg8 19.Nd5 Bxd5 20.exd5 Qe2 21.Qxh4 Black resigns

White is up a piece and two pawns. Also, his King is safer.