Better isn't good enough

White starts out in the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) with what can objectively be called "a lost game."

Fortunately, most club level chess games hardly proceed along "objective" lines.

Still, my opponent's sudden resignation – when I figured that he had solved the opening and was looking forward to some decent counter-play – came as a bit of a mystery to me.

Perhaps Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member Pete Banks was playing the wise detective when he suggested that some defenders never quite get over the "shock and awe" of the Jerome Gambit!

perrypawnpusher - GabrielChime
blitz 12 0, FICS, 2009

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6

A good defense, one of a number of refutations to the Jerome Gambit.

7.Qd5+

The "nudge".

7...Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3

So far we are moving along well-travelled lines – I have over 70 games with this position in my database, starting with Charlick - Mann, correspondence, 1881: 9...Nf6 10.d4 Qe7 11.0-0 Ng4 12.Qe2 Qh4 13.h3 Nf6 14.f4 Nh5 15.Qf2 Qxf2+ 16.Rxf2 Rf8 17.f5 Ne7 18.c4 c6 19.g4 Nf6 20.Nc3 d5 21.e5 Nd7 22.cxd5 Nxd5 23.Ne4 N7b6 24.b3 a5 25.e6 h6 26.Bb2 Ke7 27.Re1 Ra7 28.Nc5 Na8 29.Nd3 b5 30.Ne5 Kd6 31.Rc1 Ra6 32.Rc5 Bb7 33.Rfc2 Rc8 34.Bc1 a4 35.b4 a3 36.Bd2 Nab6 37.Be1 Na4 38.Bg3 Ke7 39.Nd7 Nxc5 40.dxc5 Rg8 41.Bd6+ Ke8 42.Rd2 Ra4 43.Rxd5 cxd5 44.f6 gxf6 45.Nxf6+ Kd8 46.e7+ Kc8 47.Nxg8 Bc6 48.Nf6 Rxb4 49.e8Q+ Bxe8 50.Nxe8 Rb1+ 51.Kf2 Rb2+ 52.Kf3 Rxa2 53.Nc7 b4 54.Nxd5 b3 55.c6 Rc2 56.Bxa3 Ra2 57.Bd6 Rc2 58.Be5 b2 59.Nb6+ Kd8 60.c7+ Rxc7 61.Bxb2 Rc5 62.Bd4 Rb5 63.Nc4 Ke7 64.h4 Ke6 65.Ke4 Rb1 66.Ne3 Kf7 67.h5 Kg8 68.Nf5 Kh7 69.Be3 Re1 70.Nxh6 Rxe3+ 71.Kxe3 Kxh6 72.Kf4 Black resigned

9...Ne5 

This is new to me. Maybe Black is trying to provoke my pawns?

10.f4

A little bit better might have been 10.d4.

10...Ng4 11.Qg3

I've had problems with "Wild Horses" a number of times in the past.

11...g6 12.d4

If those "Jerome pawns" look eggshell-brittle, I agree. The simple 12.0-0 was better.  

12...Qe7

Black begins to pressure the center, although 12...N8f6 might have been a better start. 

13.Nc3 Bd7 14.0-0 N4f6

I think that Black is holding his own (in part because he has not been developed enough to benefit from advancing his pawns), although after the game Rybka surprisingly suggested that Black should castle-by-hand on the Queenside: 14...Kd8 15.h3 N4f6 16.e5 Nh5 17.Qd3 Kc8 18.Bd2 Kb8 with a small edge to White.

15.e5 Nh5 16.Qf2

Better was16.Qf3. That "horse" was really throwing me. 

16...Bf5 17.exd6

This cannot be right: White throws away his large pawn center for a chance to make a check along the e-file. Rybka rates the resulting position as roughly even, but the "Jerome pawns" are much more effective as a unit, not split to make pawn majorities on each side.

17...Qxd6

18.Be3 Kd7 19.Rae1 Rd8 20.h3 Ngf6

Stronger was the move that Black probably originally intended, 20...Kc8.

21.g4 Black resigned

Yes, Black will have to return his extra piece, but in doing so he will probably receive open lines to attack White's King. At the end of the game, Black still has an edge, so my opponent's resignation surprised me.