Tomorrow is another day...

When I play the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) I stay with the main lines and let my opponent do the innovating. Often he'll play a "Theoretical Lemon" (TL) rather than a "Theoretical Novelty" (TN).

The times when my opponent improves on past theory and play? Well, as they say, tomorrow is another day...

perrypawnpusher  - frencheng
blitz 10 0, FICS, 2010

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8

As recently noted, this response has the highest success rate (56%) for Black in the games in the New Year's Database.

The move appeared first in Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's 1874 analysis of the Jerome Gambit in the Dubuque Chess Journal. The article contained an interesting caveat:

It should be understood that Mr. Jerome claims in this New Opening "only a pleasant variation of the Giuoco Piano, which may win or lose according to the skill of the players, but which is capable of affording many new positions and opportunities for heavy blows unexpectedly."

7.Qxe5 Qe7

A strong choice. An earlier game with the same opponent continued: 7...d6 8.Qg3 Qe7 9.d3 d5 10.0-0 dxe4 11.Re1 Qd6 12.Bf4 Qd4 13.Be5 Qd7 14.Rxe4 Qf5 15.Qxg7+ Ke8 16.Bg3+ Qxe4 17.dxe4 Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - frencheng, blitz FICS, 2010.

8.Qf4+

A similar idea (with a different response) was seen in blackburne - JFRAY, ChessWorld,  2004: 8.Qf5+ Ke8 9.0-0 d6 10.Qf3 Be6 11.Nc3 c6 12.d3 h6 13.Be3 Bxe3 14.fxe3 Nf6 15.d4 Rf8 16.e5 Nd5 17.exd6 Rxf3 18.dxe7 Rxf1+ 19.Rxf1 Kxe7 20.Nxd5+ Bxd5 21.b3 Rf8 22.c4 Rxf1+ 23.Kxf1 Be4 24.Kf2 Bb1 25.a3 Ba2 26.c5 Bxb3 27.e4 Ke6 28.Kf3 b6 29.Kf4 bxc5 30.dxc5 g5+ 31.Ke3 Ke5 32.Kd3 a5 33.g3 h5 34.h3 h4 35.g4 a4 36.Kc3 Bd1 37.Kb4 Kxe4 38.Ka5 Kd5 39.Kb4 Bxg4 40.Kxa4 Bxh3 41.Kb4 Bf1 42.a4 h3 43.a5 h2 White resigned 

A fundamental alternative at this point is for White to exchange Queens, something that Louis Morin ("mrjoker") has explored in a number of games.

An early experiment did not go well: 8.d4 Qxe5 9.dxe5 Ne7 10.Nd2 Ng6 11.Nf3 b6 12.0-0 Bb7 13.Re1 Re8 14.b3 Nxe5 15.Nd2 Ng4 16.Re2 Ke7 17.h3 Nxf2 18.Rxf2 Rhf8 19.Nf3 Bxe4 20.Bb2 Bxf3 21.gxf3 Rxf3 22.Re1+ Kd8 23.Ref1 Rxf2 24.Rxf2 Re2, White resigned, guest393 - guest664, ICC, 2001.

Morin is quite comfortable playing Queenless middlegames and endings with two pawns for a piece, as further games showed: 8.Qxe7+ Nxe7 (8...Bxe7 9.d4 d6 10.0-0 Nf6 11.Nc3 c6 12.f4 Ke8 13.h3 Be6 14.b3 d5 15.e5 Ne4 16.Nxe4 dxe4 17.f5 Bd5 18.c4 Bf7 19.e6 Bg8 20.Be3 h6 21.Rf4 Bh7 22.g4 Bf6 23.Rd1 Ke7 24.d5 cxd5 25.Bc5+ Ke8 26.cxd5 b6 27.Ba3 Rd8 28.d6 Be5 29.Rxe4 Bxd6 Black resigned, mrjoker - tomnoah, ICC, 2008) 9.c3 (9.0-0 d6 10.c3 Bb6 11.d4 h6 12.f4 g6 13.Be3 Kg7 14.Nd2 Bd7 15.Rae1 Rae8 16.Nf3 Bb5 17.Rf2 d5 18.Ne5 dxe4 19.c4 Ba6 20.b3 Nf5 21.Nd7 Bxd4 22.Bxd4+ Nxd4 23.Ne5 c5 24.Rxe4 b6 25.Re3 Rhf8 26.Rg3 Re6 27.h4 Rxf4 28.Rxf4 Ne2+ 29.Kh2 Nxf4 30.Nf3 Bb7 31.Nd2 Re2 32.Nf1 Rxg2+ 33.Rxg2 Nxg2 34.Ng3 Nxh4 White resigned, mrjoker - blunt7569, ICC, 2008) 9...Kf7 (9...d5 10.d4 Bb6 11.e5 Be6 12.0-0 Ke8 13.Na3 c5 14.Nb5 Kd7 15.Be3 cxd4 16.Nxd4 Nc6 17.f4 Nxd4 18.Bxd4 Bf5 19.h3 Bxd4+ 20.cxd4 Rac8 21.Rac1 Rxc1 22.Rxc1 Rc8 23.Rxc8 Kxc8 24.g4 Bb1 25.a3 g6 26.Kf2 Kd7 27.Kg3 Kc6 28.h4 Kd7 29.h5 Ke6 30.Kh4 gxh5 31.Kxh5 Bg6+ 32.Kh6 Be4 33.f5+ Kf7 34.Kxh7 Bf3 35.g5 Black resigned, mrjoker - Epimacus, ICC, 2009; 9...b5 10.d4 Bb6 11.0-0 d6 12.Be3 g6 13.Bh6+ Ke8 14.Nd2 Bd7 15.Rae1 Kd8 16.f4 Kc8 17.Bg5 Re8 18.h3 Kb7 19.g4 Ng8 20.Kg2 Rf8 21.f5 h6 22.Bf4 g5 23.Bg3 Rae8 24.e5 Bc6+ 25.Kh2 dxe5 26.dxe5 Rd8 27.Nb3 a5 28.Rd1 a4 29.Nd4 Bxd4 30.cxd4 Bd5 31.a3 c6 32.Rfe1 Ne7 33.Rd2 Rde8 34.e6 Nxf5 35.gxf5 Rxf5 36.e7 Kc8 37.Bd6 Kd7 38.Bc5 h5 39.Ree2 g4 40.Rf2 Rf3 41.Rxf3 gxf3 42.Rd1 Rg8 43.Rg1 f2 44.Rxg8 f1Q 45.e8Q+ Kc7 46.Qc8 checkmate, mrjoker - PhlebasP, ICC, 2008) 10.d4 Bb6 11.Be3 Rf8 12.Nd2 d6 13.0-0 Kg8 14.f4 c6 15.Rae1 Bd7 16.h3 Rf7 17.Kh2 Raf8 18.g4 c5 19.dxc5 Bxc5 20.Bxc5 dxc5 21.f5 Ng6 22.fxg6 Rxf1 23.gxh7+ Black resigned, mrjoker - PhlebasP, ICC, 2009.

8...Nf6 9.d3

In a relevant, correspondence game, Jerome himself faced his own gambit and survived: 9.Nc3 c6 10.d3 d6 11.h3 h6 12.0-0 g5 13.Qg3 Qe5 14.Ne2 Qxg3 15.Nxg3 Ke7 16.c3 Be6 17.a4 a5 18.Be3 Ba7 19.d4 Rag8 20.f4 gxf4 21.Bxf4 d5 22.Be5 Rf8 23.exd5 cxd5 24.Rae1 Rhg8 25.Nf5+ Kd7 26.Nxh6 Rg6 27.Nf5 Ne4 28.Ne3 Rxf1+ 29.Rxf1 Bb6 30.g4 Bd8 31.Kg2 Kc6 32.b3 Bg5 33.Nd1 Nd2 34.Rh1 Bh4 35.b4 axb4 36.cxb4 Nc4 37.Nc3 Nxe5 38.dxe5 d4 39.Ne4 Bd5 40.Kf3 Rg8 White resigned, Jaeger - Jerome, correspondence 1880.

9...d6 10.0-0 Kf7 11.Nc3 Rf8 12.Nd5

12...Qd8

A significant improvement over 12...Qe5 of perrypawnpusher - jonathankochems, blitz FICS, 2010, which continued 13.Nxc7 Qxf4 14.Bxf4 Rb8 15.Nd5 Nxd5 16.exd5 Bf5 17.Rae1 Bb4 18.Re2 Rbc8 19.a3 Bc5 20.b4 Bd4 21.Bxd6 Rfe8 22.Rfe1 Bc3 23.Rxe8 Rxe8 24.Rxe8 Kxe8 25.Bc5 a6 26.Kf1 Bb2 27.a4 Bd7 28.a5 Ba4 29.c4 Bc2 30.Ke2 Bc3 31.Ke3 Kd7 32.Ke4 Be1 33.f4 Bc3 34.Bd4 Bxb4 35.Bb6 Kd6 36.f5 Bc3 37.g4 Bf6 38.Ke3 Ke5 39.Bc7 checkmate

13.Bd2

Stronger was 13.Be3, although Black would still have the advantage.

13...Kg8

Black has castled-by-hand, has the two Bishops, and plans to swap off White's advanced Knight, leaving doubled pawns.

White needs to stir up some trouble before the game simply settles down to being bad for him.

14.Qg3 Nxd5 15.exd5 Qf6 16.Bc3

16...Bd4 17.Rae1 Bxc3 18.bxc3 b6

19.c4 Bb7

Black's Bishop will "bite on granite" here, but the move connects his Rooks.

20.Re6 Qc3 21.Re7 Rac8

The first good news that I've had in a while: my opponent is uneasy with my Rook on the seventh. How uneasy?

22.Rfe1 Qf6

That's uneasy enough for me.

It clearly was time to go for the draw by offering to repeat the position, before my opponent thought otherwise. 

23.R1e6 Qd4 24.Re4 Qf6 25.R4e6 Qd4 26.Re4 Qf6 27.R4e6 Qd4 28.Re4 Qf6 29.R4e6 Qd4 30.Re4 Qf6 31.R4e6 Qd4 Game drawn by repetition
 
I was happy to split the point here – tomorrow, after all, is another day.