Bad Penny

Like the proverbial bad penny, the 5...Ke8 variation of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) turns up here and there – most recently in two games played against Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member Bill Wall.

 Wall,B - Gebba
chess.com, 2010

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8

There are not a lot of positive things to say about this move, except perhaps that it has confused the chess computer program Rybka (see "Rybka deals with the Jerome Gambit") and that it takes White out of "book" – even that second point is of dubious value, as "book" favors Black, and therefore he should be playing "book" moves for as long as possible.

The move 5...Ke8 was championed (unsuccessfully) by the WeakDelphi program in a match I played against it a couple years ago: see "One (or both) of us need help (Part I)" and "(Part II)".

6.Nxc6

Both Hultgren - Harrow, California, 1960 and Blackstone - Dommeyer, skittles game, California, 1960, continued: 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Nxg6 Bxf2+ 8.Kxf2 Qf6+ 9.Nf4+ Kd8 10.d3 d6 11.Rf1 Qd4+ 12.Be3 Qf6 13.c3 Black resigned. See "You, too, can add to Jerome Gambit theory!"

6...dxc6

Capturing with the d-pawn prevents White from playing d2-d4. The alternative capture was seen in Wall - Qwerty, Chess.com, 2010: 6...bxc6 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Qxc5 Ne7 9.Qc3 Black resigned

Surprisingly, best for Black, keeping White's advantage to a minimum, was 6...Qh4

7.Qh5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+

8...Qd6 9.Qe3 Nf6

This hastens the end.

10.e5 Ng4 11.Qf4+ Black resigned