Jerome Gambit: Maia Chess Update (Part 2)

 

[continued from the previous post]

A further look at one version of a chess program, annotated by another.  

maia5 - baxali

15 minute rapid, lichess.org, 2026

Although the computer program maia is "particularly good at predicting human mistakes" this sacrifice is playable, and gives White an edge.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 

Or 5...Ke6 6.d4 h5 (6... d6 7. Qg4+ Ke7 8. Qh4+ Ke8 9. Qh5+ g6 10. Nxg6 Nf6 11. Qb5+ Nc6 12. Nxh8 a6 13. Qg5 Qe7 14. O-O Bg4 15. e5 dxe5 16. dxe5 Nxe5 17. Re1 Nfd7 18. Qxe7+ Bxe7 19. Bf4 Nc6 20. Nc3 Bh5 21. Nd5 Kf8 22. Bh6+ Kg8 23. Nxe7+ Nxe7 24. Rxe7 Black resigned,  maia9 - highwatales, lichess.org, 2021; 6... c5 7. Qg4+ Ke7 8. Bg5+ Nf6 9. Qh4 Ke8 10. Nc3 cxd4 11. Nd5 d6 12. Bxf6 gxf6 13. Nxf6+ Ke7 14.Nd5+ Ke8 15. Qh5 checkmate, maia9 - OxySookie, lichess.org, 2021; 6... Bd6 7. Qg4+ Ke7 8. Qxg7+ Black resigned, maia9 - TchefuncteIncised, lichess.org, 2022) 7. Ng6 Rh6 (7...Rh7 8.d5+ Kf7 9.Ne5+ Ke8 10.Qf3 Qe7 11.Ng6 Qf7 12.Qxf7+ Kxf7 13.Ne5+ Ke8 14.O-O d6 15.Ng6 b6 16.b4 Nb7 17.Bb2 Bd7 18.Nd2 Nf6 19.c4 Kf7 20.Nf4 Be7 21.e5 dxe5 22.Bxe5 g5 23.Nd3 Bd6 24.f4 gxf4 25.Rxf4 Bxe5 26.Nxe5+ Ke7 27.Re1 Ng8 28.Ng6+ Kd8 29.Rf8+ Black resigned, maia9 - highwatales, lichess.org, 2021) 8.Nf4+ Kf7 9.Nxh5 Rg6 10. Qf3+ Ke8 11. Nf4 Rf6 12. Qh5+ g6 13. Nxg6 Black resigned, maia9 - highwatales, lichess.org, 2021 

Or 5...Ke7 6.d4 Nf6 7.Bg5 h6 8.Ng6+ Black resigned, maia9 - chessidiote, lichess.org, 2021 

6.Qh5+ g6 

Or 6... Ke7 7. Qf7+ Kd6 8. Qd5+ Ke7 9. Qxa5 c6 (9...Nf6 10.d3 Ke8 11.Bg5 Bd6 12.Nc4 Qe7 13.Nxd6+ Qxd6 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Nc3 Rg8 16.g3 b6 17.Qd5 Qxd5 18.Nxd5 Kd8 19.Nxf6 Rg7 20.Nh5 Rg5 21.Nf4 Bb7 22.O-O-O Ke7 23.h4 Ra5 24.a3 Rc5 25.f3 d5 26.exd5 Bxd5 27.Nxd5+ Rxd5 28.Rhe1+ Kf6 29.Re4 Rf5 30.f4 Rg8 31.Rg1 Rd5 32.g4 h6 33.g5+ hxg5 34.hxg5+ Kf5 35.Kd2 Rh8 36.Ke3 Rh3+ 37.Kd2 Rc5 38.g6 Rh2+ 39.Re2 Rxc2+ 40.Kxc2 Rxe2+ 41.Kc3 Re8 42.g7 Rg8 43.Rg5+ Kf6 44.Kd4 Rxg7 45.Rxg7 Kxg7 46.Ke5 Kf7 47.f5 c5 48.f6 a6 49.b3 a5 50.a4 Ke8 51.Ke6 Kf8 52.f7 c4 53.dxc4 Black resigned, maia9 - rustmonster, lichess.org, 2022) 10.Qxd8+ Ke6 11.d4 d5 12.exd5+ cxd5 13.O-O Be7 14.Qc7 Bd7 15.Qxd7+ Kf6 16.Bg5+ Kxg5 17.Nf7+ Kf6 18.Nxh8 Nh6 19.Re1 Rd8 20.Qxe7+ Kf5 21.Re5+ Kf4 22.Qg5 checkmate, maia9 - Tincu, lichess.org, 2020 

7.Nxg6 Nf6 

Or 7...hxg6 8.Qxh8 Ne7 (8...Nf6 9.d3 d6 10. Bg5 Kf7 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12.Qxf6+ Kxf6 13.Nc3 c6 14.O-O-O b5 15.f4 Be6 16.h3 Ke7 17.g4 Bg7 18.f5 gxf5 19.gxf5 Bxc3 20.bxc3 Bxa2 21.Kb2 Bf7 22.Ra1 Nb7 23.Ra6 Kd7 24.h4 Nc5 25.Raa1 a5 26.h5 a4 27.h6 Rh8 28.Rag1 Ke7 29.Rg7 Kf6 30.Rhg1 Nd7 31.h7 Ne5 32.d4 Nf3 33.R1g3 Nd2 34.e5+ dxe5 35.dxe5+ Kxe5 36.Rxf7 Nc4+ 37.Kc1 a3 38.Rg8 a2 39.Rxh8 a1=Q checkmate, maia9 - vonThurgau, lichess.org, 2026) 9.d3 Nac6 10.Bh6 Black resigned, maia9 - adtrevor, lichess.org, 2021; 

Or 7...Qf6 8.Nxh8+ Qg6 (8...Kd8 9.Nf7+ Ke7 10.Ne5 d6 11.Nf3 Nh6 12.d4 Nf7 13.O-O Bh6 14.Bxh6 Nxh6 15.e5 dxe5 16.dxe5 Qg7 17.Nc3 Bg4 18.Qh4+ Kf8 19.Qf6+ Qxf6 20.exf6 Kf7 21.Ne5+ Kxf6 22.Nxg4+ Nxg4 23.h3 Ne5 24.b3 Rg8 25.Ne4+ Kf5 26.Ng3+ Kf4 27.Rae1 Nac6 28.Re4+ Kg5 29.Rfe1 Kf6 30.Nh5+ Ke6 31.f4 Black resigned, maia9 - Tahirban, lichess.org, 2026) 9.Nxg6 Black resigned, maia9 - KlimtKlee, lichess.org, 2023.

8.Qe5+ Be7 9.Nxh8 Nc4 10.Qd4 

Or 10.Qg3 d6 11.d3 Ne5 12.O-O Be6 13.f4 Neg4 14.f5 Bd7 15.h3 Ne5 16.d4 Nc6 17.e5 Ne4 18.Qg8+ Bf8 19.Qf7 checkmate, maia9 - AGGARWALJI, lichess.org, 2026 

Black resigned

White is up 3 pawns and the exchange. Black's King is stuck in the center, and this will continue to influence play.

Jerome Gambit: Maia Chess Update (Part 1)

 

                                                                 

Over the last few years I have looked at a couple of chess-playing computer programs.

There is Boris-Trapsky. See:

"Jerome Gambit: Boris-Trapsky (Parts 1 & 2)"

"Jerome Gambit: Silicon Miniature (Parts 1 & 2)"

"Boris-Trapsky Makes A Return Visit"

Then, there is maia. See:

"Jerome Gambit: The Human Move (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5)"

"Jerome Gambit: I'm Really Getting Too Old For This Fast Stuff... (Part 2)"

That last post is worth quoting from:

By the way, it turns out that my opponent was Maia Chess, "a human-like neural network chess engine"

Maia’s goal is to play the human move — not necessarily the best move. As a result, Maia has a more human-like style than previous engines, matching moves played by human players in online games over 50% of the time..

Maia is an ongoing research project using chess as a case study for how to design better human-AI interactions. We hope Maia becomes a useful learning tool and is fun to play against. Our research goals include personalizing Maia to individual players, characterizing the kinds of mistakes that are made at each rating level, running Maia on your games and spotting repeated, predictable mistakes, and more...

Maia is particularly good at predicting human mistakes. The move-matching accuracy of any model increases with the quality of the move, since good moves are easier to predict. But even when players make horrific blunders, Maia correctly predicts the exact blunder they make around 25% of the time. This ability to understand how and when people are likely to make mistakes can make Maia a very useful learning tool.

The most recent version of maia chess is Maia9.

Here is a Jerome gambit "avoided" game (a line first mentioned on this blog in  "Offside!") featuring Maia5, with Maia9 in the notes.

Judge for yourself how "human" the computer program's moves are (especially the mistakes).

maia5 - baxali

15 minute rapid, lichess.org, 2026

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Na5 

4.Bxf7+ 

The earliest example that I have of this move in this position is in the game Sidran, Ezra - Vong, John, Compuserve email, 1992 (1-0, 9).

Of course, the game also could have continued 4.Nxe5 Nxc4 (4...Qe7 5.Bxf7+ Kd8 6.d4 Nf6 7.Bg5 d6 8.Nc3 dxe5 9.dxe5+ Nd7 10.Bxe7+ Bxe7 11.e6 Bb4 12.exd7 Bxd7 13.Be6 Bxc3+ 14.bxc3 Black resigned, Chung,M - Bonney,E, corr IECG, 1995; 4...d6 5.Bxf7+ Ke7 6.d4 dxe5 7.Bg5+ Nf6 8.Bd5 c6 9.dxe5 cxd5 10.exf6+ gxf6 11.Bh4 Qd6 12.O-O Bh6 13.exd5 Bf5 14.Re1+ Kd8 15.Qh5 Qf8 16.Qxf5 Black resigned, KnightBiker - torpocso, FICS, 2005; 4...Nf6 5.Bxf7+ Ke7 Here Black resigned in KingSaladdin - mickeyl, FICS, 2006 6.Bb3 Nxb3 7.axb3 d6 8.Nf3 Bg4 9.Qe2 Qd7 10.e5 dxe5 11.Qxe5+ Be6 12.O-O Re8 13.Ng5 Kd8 14.Nxe6+ Rxe6 15.Qa5 a6 16.Nc3 Bd6 17.d3 Kc8 18.Qg5 Rg8 19.Bf4 Bxf4 20.Qxf4Nh5 21. Qg4 g6 22.Rae1 Rge8 23.Ne4 Nf6 24.Nxf6 Rxe1 25.Qxd7+ Kb8 26.Nxe8 Rxf1+ 27. Kxf1 Black resigned, marburgcedric - HoldenHumphreys, FICS, 2008; 4...Bc5 5.Bxf7+ Kf8 6.Qf3 Nf6 7.Bd5 d6 8.Nf7 Qe7 9.Nxh8 Be6 10.O-O Bg4 11.Qf4 c6 12.Bb3 Ke8 13.Nf7 Nxb3 14.axb3 Qxf7 15.c3 Kd7 16.d4 Bb6 17.Be3 Rf8 18.e5 dxe5 19.dxe5 Nd5 20.Qxg4+ Ke8 21.Bxb6 axb6 22.Ra8+ Ke7 23.Qg5+ Ke6 24.Rxf8 Qxf8 25.Nd2 h6 26.Qg6+ Ke7 27.e6 Nf4 28.Qe4 Nxe6 29.Re1 Kf7 30.Qxe6 checkmate, wcaleb - fastcamaro, FICS, 2007) 5.Nxf7 (5.Nxc4 d5 6.Ne5 Qe7 7.f4 f6 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Nxg6 Qxe4+ 10.Kf1 Qxg6 11.Qe2+ Kd8 12.d3 Ne7 13.Kf2 Nf5 14.Re1 Bc5+ 15.Kf1 Qg3 16.hxg3 Nxg3 checkmate, KevinMontero_5STA - Roland1990, lichess.org, 2020) 5... Kxf7 6.Qf3+ Nf6 7.Qc3 d5 8.exd5 Nb6 9.b4 Qe7+ 10.Kf1 Qd7 11.a4 Nxa4 12.Rxa4 Qb5+ 13.d3 Qxa4 14.Bg5 Bd6 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.h4 Qxb4 17.Qxb4 Bxb4 18.f3 Bc5 19.Nd2 Bd4 20.Ne4 a6 21.c3 a5 22.cxd4 Kf8 23.Nxf6 c6 24.dxc6 bxc6 25.f4 c5 26.dxc5 Kf7 27.Ne4 Kf8 28.c6 h6 (0-1, 40), Matogrosso (computer) - Jappe,K, Utrecht, 1992 

[to be continued]

“Yury, Explain Bolsonaro’s Psychology in His Game against Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit, Please!”

 

“Yury, Explain Bolsonaro’s

Psychology in His Game against

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit, Please!”  

(by Yury V. Bukayev)

 

Dear readers, let me tell you now about an extraordinary letter with a web-game, which I have received recently from one Brazilian woman reader of this blog. 

Her name is Ana. Her letter is long and full of political and historical contents near chess contents, so I have solved to not publish it here as whole, although she has permitted me to do it. I should remain to be a neutral chess author and not to colour a neutral chess blog. Nevertheless, her interesting question on chess psychology of the player Bolsonaro2026 from Lichess.org requires to analyse not only chess aspects to find an answer.

Here is a game, which she sent me in her letter. 

 

vaizak  –  Bolsonaro2026 

10+0 rapid, Lichess.org, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Nd4 4.Bxf7+ Ke7 5.Bb3 Nxb3 6.axb3 Ke8 7.0-0 d6 8.h3 Nf6 9.d4 Nxe4 10.dxe5 Be6 11.exd6 Bxd6 12.Re1 Ke7 13.Rxe4 c5 14.Qe2 Kd7 15.Rxe6 Re8 16.Rxe8 Qc7 17.Rxa8 Bh2+ 18.Kf1 c4 19.Qe8+ Kd6 20.Rd8+ Kc5 21.Rc8 Qxc8 22.Qxc8+ Kb4 23.Nxh2 a5 24.Qxc4 checkmate

It is easy to see that there are a lot of Black’s and White’s blunders in the game. This game can be educational for readers due to Black’s missed trivial combination – 13…Bh2+! 14.Kxh2 Qxd1 – mostly.

Ana has written in her letter:

“ … Dear Yury, could you explain Bolsonaro’s psychology in his game against Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit, please! ... Why didn’t he make trivial captures 4…Kxf7, 16…Qxe8, first of all? If he is our former President Jair Bolsonaro, who fought “for being a President till 2026” officially, then I can explain these chess moves so: he was ready to think, to calculate, to care etc., when such act strengthens his supreme authority, makes him, family or other relatives more wealthy, but chess couldn’t give him it, of course. … If he is a son of Jair, then I know, his attitude to chess and to life is the same. Today, when this son and Lula da Silva have absolutely even - 50/50 - chances to win a new election, we can be sure, both Bolsonaros think about their future military dictatorship and not about their military board games with wooden pieces. … If he is an ultra-right supporter of Jair, then I can’t know about his attitude to chess. Probably, chess psychology didn’t let him capture White’s piece in both cases, but why? …”

 

What can I answer? A lot of chess beginners like to check, don’t like to face checks in their games. Thus, Bolsonaro2026 has avoided 5.Nxe5+ in the case of 4…Kxf7, has avoided 17.Qxe8+ in the case of 16…Qxe8. Moreover, a lot of them don’t like to play without a Queen.

 

But I have also an extraordinary version. Thus, let’s look at the board as Black. We can find that King’s track is e8-e7-e8-e7-d7-d6-c5-b4, Queen’s track is d8-c7-c8, so King and Queen have never gone to left. In any case, Bolsonaro2026 is an ultra-right person, as Ana proved. That is why he could solve before the game that he shouldn’t move these Black pieces to left, so this game is a ‘chess monument’ of his ‘ultra-right chess style’. A strange monument of a strange style.  

 

Jerome Gambit: Golden Bishop

The Database has 1,263 games by Alfil-de-Oro, with the player scoring 60%.

He puts that knowledge and experience to use in the following game.

Alfil-de-Oro - bensemaoune

10 0 blits, lichess.org, 2025

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.Bxf7+ 

White safeguards his King, then makes this sacrifice.

The first reference that I have in The Database for this move order is from the book

Analisis del juego de ajedres: libro a propositio para que pueda aprender dicho juego, el que lo ignore del todo, in necesidad de maestro by Mexican chess champion Andres Clemente Vazquez, Mexico, 1874

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Bd6

If we compare this position to the similar one that arises in the main line Jerome Gambit - 1e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5 Nxe5 6.d4 Bd6 - it is ironic that Black's extra developed piece in the current game adds a target for White's pawn (as we shall see).

The right path was 7...d5, although one move alone is not enough, as seen in 8.dxe5 Nxe4 9.Be3 Qe7 10.Nc3 Nxc3 11.bxc3 c6 12.Bd4 Be6 13.f4 Rhf8 14.f5 Bc8 15.f6 Qe6 Black resigned, Alfil-de-Oro - itsfungus, lichess.org, 2024. 

8.dxe5 Bxe5 9.f4 Bd6 10.e5 Bc5+ 11.Kh1

11...Ne8

Despite appearances, the position is still complicated, and the simple retreat of the Knight does not address the issues at hand.

Better is Stockfish 16.1's recommended line, 11...b6!? 12.b4!? Bxb4 13.exf6 Bb7 14.fxg7 Re8 15.Bb2 Kg8 16.Nd2 Qh4 17.Nf3 Qxf4 when things are still even. 

12.Qd5+ 

Here, Black resigned in the games Alfil-de-Oro - esacos, 5 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2025; and Alfil-de-Oro - TheBishopBasher, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2025. 

12...Kg6 

For completeness sake - the first player still needs to be careful - I mention 12...Kf8 13.Qxc5+ d6 [13...Qe7 14.Qc3 d6 15.Be3 dxe5 16.fxe5+ Kg8 17.Bc5 Black resigned, Alfil-de-Oro - chipichipichapachapa, lichess.org, 2026] 14.Qc4 [14.Qa3 c5 15.Nc3 Bd7 16.Be3 Bc6 17.Qb3 d5 18.Bxc5+ Kg8 19.Rad1 Nc7 20.Nxd5 Bxd5 21.c4 Bxg2+ 22.Kxg2 Qc8 23.Bd6 Qg4+ 24.Kh1 Ne6 25.c5 Re8 26.f5 Qe4+ 27.Rf3 g5 28.fxe6 g4 29.e7+ Kg7 30.Rg1 Kh6 31.Qe3+ Kh5 32.Qxe4 Black resigned, Alfil-de-Oro - MEFTUN0666, lichess.org, 2024; and 14.Qc3 d5 15.Be3 Bf5 16.Bc5+ Kg8 17.Qb3 Be4 18.Nc3 Black resigned, Alfil-de-Oro - Thisisaddictive, lichess.org, 2025] 14...Qe7 15.Nc3 Be6 16.Qb4 c6 17.Ne4 c5 18.Qc3 Rc8 19.f5 Bd5 20.f6 Qxe5 21.fxg7+ Kxg7 22.Ng3?! Rg8?! 23.Bd2 Kh8 24.Qd3 Qe6 25.Bc3+ Ng7 26.Rae1 c4 27.Qd4 Bxg2+ 28.Kxg2 Qg6 29.Re7 h6 30.Rff7 Qxc2+ Black won on time, Alfil-de-Oro - lguoterry, lichess.org, 2024

13.f5+ Kh5 14.Qf3+ Black resigned 

This ending, with checkmate on the next move, was also seen in Alfil-de-Oro - schwabenblitz, lichess.org, 2023; and Alfil-de-Oro - bensemaoune, 5 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2025.

Jerome Gambit: Nothing Much Happens Until Black Resigns

The following game raised the question: What happened?

Everything moves along as expected - until Black resigns.

Or is there something more?

SkillerEP - Whatun

30 minute, classical, lichess.org, 2025

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

At least as old as Jerome - Brownson, Iowa, 1875 (1-0, 28).

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 Nf6 9.d3 Qe7 

Trade Queens, or run away Black says.

He could also have tried 9...b6!? or 9...d5!?. 

10.Qxc7 Kf7 

Other defenders have tried:

10...Rf8 11.Nc3 Qe5 12.Qc4 Ng4 13.Be3 Nxe3 14.fxe3 Qh5 15.Nd5 Ne5 16.Qb4 Qh4+ 17.Kd1 Nc6 18.Qd6 Qg4+ 19.Kd2 Qxg2+ 20.Kc3 Qg5 21.Nc7+ Kd8 22.Ne6+ Ke8 23.Qxf8 checkmate, rahaf2018 - arthuraguiar, lichess.org, 2022; and

10...d5 11.Qxe7+ Kxe7 12.exd5 (12.Nc3 Be6 [12...Rd8 13.Bd2 Kf7 14.f3 Ne7 15.O-O-O] 13.Be3 Rac8 14.Bxa7 dxe4 15.dxe4 Rhe8 16.f3 Kf7 17.Bd4 Nd5 18.exd5 Bxd5+ 19.Kf2 Nf4 20.g3 Ne6 21.Be3 h6 22.Nxd5 Black resigned, Littleplayerparis - SanketKbgade, lichess.org, 2020) 12...Nxd5 13.O-O Rf8 14.Bg5+ Kd6 15.c4 Ndf4 16.Bxf4+ Nxf4 17.d4 Ne2+ 18.Kh1 Nxd4 19.Rd1 Kc5 20.b3 Nc2 21.Rd5+ Kc6 22.Nc3 Nxa1 23.f3 Be6 24.Re5 Rae8 25.Ne4 b6 26.Ng5 Bf5 27.Rxe8 Rxe8 28.h3 Bg6 29.Kg1 h6 30.Ne4 Bxe4 31.fxe4 Rxe4 32.Kf2 Nc2 33.Kf3 Re3+ 34.Kf4 Re2 35.g4 Nd4 36.a4 Nxb3 37.Kf5 Rh2 38.Kg6 Rxh3 39.Kxg7 Rg3 40.Kxh6 Rxg4 41.Kh5 Rxc4 42.Kg5 Rxa4 43.Kf5 Rc4 44.Ke5 Kc5 White resigned, PedrosF1 - grkon, lichess.org, 2021

11.Nc3 

Or 11.Bg5 Re8 12.O-O h6 13.Bxf6 Qxf6 14.Nc3 Kg8 15.f4 Kh8 16.e5 Qh4 17.g3 Qh3 18.Ne4 b6 19.Nd6 Rf8 20.Rae1 Ne7 21.c4 Nf5 22.Nxf5 Rxf5 23.Qd8+ Kh7 24.d4 Bb7 White resigned, SkillerEP - babaartamehr, lichess.org, 2023 

11...Re8 12.Bg5 

12...Qe6 

Stronger is 12...d5, but perhaps Black did not want to exchange his Queen, either.

13.O-O 

A bit sharper was 13.O-O-O.

13...Kg8 14.f4 

White has his active Queen, his safe King, his e4 & f4 pawn center, and 3 pawns for his sacrificed piece - all Jerome Gambit standards. The position is even.

14...d6

Black plays a standard Jerome Gambit move as well, but it is out of place here. It does not look like a time error, but I am not sure what produced it.

Better the straight-forward 14...Qc6 15.Qxc6 bxc6, and the game remains in balance. 

15.f5 Qe5 16.Bxf6 gxf6 17.fxg6 hxg6 18.Nd5 Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: Every Chess Game Tells A Story

 

If it is true that "every picture tells a story," it is also true that "every chess game tell a story", as the following game illustrates.

By the way, ryuugu-rena has 1,588 games in The Database, scoring 58% against opponents whose average rating is 1800.

ryuugu-rena - Alexey_BLR

3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2026

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.f4 Qf6 8.Rf1 Nf7

Black's Knight retreats, still protecting the King and not wanting to be the sacrificed piece.

First: There are 17 games with this position in The Database. White scores 71%. 

Second: 8...d6 (surrendering the Knight) 9.fxe5 Qg6 10.Qe2 Ke7 (10...dxe5 11.Qc4+ even game) 11.Nc3 dxe5 Black is better

9.Qxc5 Ne7

ryuugu-rena has also faced 9...Qh4+, responding with 10.Rf2 in ryuugu-rena - AyvaWawa, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2024 (1-0, 27) and 10.g3 in ryuugu-rena - Elchipote28, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2025 (0-1, 30).

Stockfish 16.1 (30 ply) shows a small preference (about 1/2 a pawn) to defend against the check with 10.Rf2.

 10.Qxc7 

A pawn is a pawn is a pawn.

Still - and even though this is a 3-minute game - Black's King is blocked in enough that 10.f5+ could have been considered. 

In fact, Black would then need to give up material: 10...Nxf5 (10...Qxf5 11.exf5+ Kf6 White is better) 11.exf5+ Qxf5 Black resigned, Sekci - Jobert19,  3 2 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

10...Qh4+ 

Aggression seems to be the only way out.

11.g3 Qxh2 

The game is about even, but it is not nearly over.

12.f5+ 

With a concealed trap.

12...Kf6 

Giving back material to save a half-point is best: 12...Nxf5 13.exf5+ Kf6 14.Qc3+ Ne5 15.b3 Re8 16.Qd4 Qxg3+ 17.Kd1 Qg2 18.Qh4+ Kf7 19.Qh5+ Kf6 20.Qh4+ Kf7 draw 

13.d3 

More robust is 13.Nc3, but the text still leaves White better.

13...Qxg3+

A time error? Sometimes a player looks at the "most important" part of the board, and overlooks "lesser important" parts - in this case, where the White Queen was stationed.

The game is over.

14.Qxg3 Ng5 15.Bxg5+ Black resigned

Meanwhile, Back At The Club...

                                                          

I was back at the Chess Club today.

In my first game, I was Black.

My opponent played a kind of double fianchetto opening - the kind of thing that Ricky Manganello played against me in junior high school. I scoffed, back then, but Ricky beat me, badly. Did that still bother me? I still remember, although it happened over 60 years ago... 

In response, today, I regressed, back to the first chess book I ever had. It basically reduced chess to a series of steps: Win a pawn; Exchange everything to reach a King plus pawn vs King endgame; promote the pawn to a Queen; Checkmate your opponent. 

So, I exchanged.

With a few of the exchanges, I snagged a pawn here and a pawn there, so that I didn't need to fully reach that King plus pawn vs King endgame before actually checkmating my opponent.

So there!

I my second game, as White, I was ready to play the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), but I was met with what a past opponent (not Ricky, I am sure, but perhaps a classmate of ours) called his "unbeatable defense": advancing alternate pawns one step, so as to create a mini-stonewall in front of his pieces. 

Back in junior high school, such a thing caused many attackers to stumble and fall. 

Not today. I advanced my center pawns, exchanged to open up lines of attack, and took all my pent-up Jerome aggression out on my opponent. 

I was helped a bit by my opponent's use of what one annotator once called the "Budweiser Effect" (referring to the 1975 commercial song) - Here comes the King, Here comes the King, Here comes the big Number One... 

Given the choice, His Majesty should stay home, not wander, and certainly not advance.

Checkmate.

Two games, two wins, no Jeromes.

Better luck, next time.