Playing the Jerome Gambit...

Playing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) with White, Gemeinde members wish for the kind of exciting, attacking game that follows...



blackburne - gwyn1
JGTourney4 ChessWorld, 2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6

7.f4 Nf6 The kind of move that is appealing at first glance, as it promotes Black's development, ignores White's threat and plans to return material to slow down the attack. When followed up properly, it leaves White with only a small edge.

Whether this is the best strategy for combatting the Jerome Gambit is another question; but it is important to point out that blackburne has seen this move before.

8.Qxe5+ Kf7 9.Qxc5 d6 10.Qe3

In the past blackburne played 10.Qg5 Re8 11.d3 Kg8 12.0-0 Ng4 13.f5 Qxg5 14.Bxg5 h6 15.Bd2 h5 16.Nc3 b6 17.Nd5 c6 18.Nc7 Ba6 19.Nxa6 Kf7 20.Nc7 h4 21.Nxa8 Rxa8 22.Rf4 Nf6 23.Rxh4 c5 24.Rf1 Rc8 25.Rf3 c4 26.Bc3 Ne8 27.Rg3 a5 28.Rh7 Kg8 29.Rh4 a4 30.Rhg4 Rc7 31.h4 Ra7 32.Bd4 a3 33.b3 cxb3 34.cxb3 Rc7 35.f6 g6 36.Rxg6+ Kf7 37.Rg7+ Ke6 38.Rxc7 Nxc7 39.Rg7 Ne8 40.Re7 checkmate, blackburne - plummy, Chessworld, 2007

Now, against gwyn1, Black has the thematic 10...Nxe4, as the Knight is safe from capture: 11.Qxe4 Re8.

10...Ng4 11.Qg3 Re8 12.Nc3 c6 13.d4 h5

Several times ...h7-h5 has appeared in games in this tournament, sometimes when the Black Rook was still on h8.

14.0-0 b5 15.f5 b4 Undermining White's center before the pawns begin to roll.

16.Ne2 Bxf5

This looks like an oversight, as if Black were expecting 17.exf5 Rxe2. Now his game goes up in flames.

17.Rxf5+ Kg6 18.Nf4+ Kh7 19.Rxh5+ Kg8 20.Qxg4 Rxe4

It is probably time to begin to look for forced checkmates, although different players will prefer different ideas.

21.Qg6 Qf6 22.Qh7+

Of course, 22.Qxe4 was also okay, and led to a mate in ten.

22...Kf7 23.Rf5 Ke7 24.Rxf6 Kxf6 25.Qxe4 Kf7 26.Qg6+ Kg8 27.Ne6 Re8 28.Qxg7 checkmate