A Kind of Jerome Gambit That Wins

From a recent email from Francesco Recchia of Italy:

Hi,

Let me first congratulate on your great blog, which I enjoy very much.

Now into the story: I was playing the last round in a 2h tournament, with the white pieces.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 h6

Weird move. Maybe my opponent was afraid of an f7 attack?

4. d4 Nd7 5. dxe5 dxe5

Here I spent 8 minutes thinking about 6. Bxf7+ Kxf7 7. Nxe5+. In the end, I didn't play the line, because I couldn't see an answer after 8. ...Kf6 (I have to defend the knight, and if I move my queen from the d-file my knight becomes attacked twice)

So in the game I played 0-0, and eventually lost the game due to a serious blunder later in the game. But that's another story...

Later I analised the position and the soundness of this "jerome gambit". It amazingly turned out not only to be sound, but to be winning!

After 6. Bxf7+ Kxf7 7. Nxe5+ Black has 7... Ke8 8. Qh5+ g6 (8... Ke7 9. Qf7+ Kd6 10. Nc4+ Kc5 11. Qd5+ Kb4 12. Bd2+Ka4 13. b3#) 9. Qxg6+ Ke7 10. Qf7+ Kd6 11. Nc4+ Kc5 12. Qd5+ Kb4 13. a3+ Ka414. Nc3# or

7... Ke6 8. Qd5+ Ke7 (8... Kf6 9. Qf7+ Kxe5 10. Bf4+ Kxe4 11. Nd2+Kd4 12. Qc4#) 9. Qf7+ Kd6 10. Nc4+ Kc5 11. Qd5+ Kb4 12. c3+ Ka4 13. b3# or

7...Ke7 8. Ng6+ Ke8 9. Nxh8 Ngf6 10. Ng6 Bb4+ 11. Nc3 Kf7 +-

Black's best answer is Kf6, the one I could not find an adeguate response in-game. 7. ...Kf6 8. Nc3 !!

Of course. Jerome style gambit requires two piece sacrifice!

8... Kxe5 9. Qd5+ Kf6 10. Qf5+ Ke7 11. Nd5+ Kd6 (11... Ke812. Qg6#) 12. Bf4+ Kc6 13. Qe6+ Had I seen up to here, I would have played the gambit.

But going on, black has to give up the queen to try to save the game. 13. ... Bd6 14. Nb4+ Kb6 15. Bxd6 Ndf6 (15... cxd6 16. Qxd6+ Ka5 17. Nd5 b6 18. c4 Nc5 19. Qxd8 Nf6 20. b4+ Ka6 21. Qxh8 Nxd5 22. exd5 Nd3+ 23. Kd2 Ne5 24. b5+ Kb7 25. Qxg7+ Bd7 26. Qxe5 Rd8 27. Qe7) 16. Bc5+ Kxc5 17. Nd3+Time to regain material. 17. ...Qxd3 (17... Kd4 18. Qe5+ Kc4 19. Qc5#; 17... Kb5 18. a4+ Ka5 19. b4#) 18. Qe5+ Kb6 19. cxd3 +-

Hope you enjoyed it!

Cheers

Francesco Recchia

And from a later email:

I believe the main difference against the classic jerome gambit position is not the h6 pawn, but the open d-file and the pinned knight at d7 – something which should occur pretty often (as a way to avoid queen exchange and castle denial). I forgot to say, after 8. Nc3 !! black can't really refuse the offer. If the knight is not taken the threat is 9. Qd4 and 10. Kxd7++ with dangerous complications.