A Trip to the Dark Side

When I'm in a Jerome Gambit mood at FICS I want to play White, so I take my turns with Black at a quicker time control like 3 0 – probably too fast for me – to get back to a chance for my favorite opening as soon as possible.

In the following game, however, I noticed that my opponent was fmarius, who I recall has a gazillion games in the updated New Years Database (okay, about 130), so I decided to see if he wanted to play the Jerome against me.

fmarius - perrypawnpusher
blitz 3 0, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d4

That's right, he also likes to go into the Jerome out of the Italian-Gambit-turned-Scotch-Gambit (as well as the regular Jerome Gambit move order)...

Yes, he'll also play 4.Bxf7+ against your Blackburne Shilling Gambit, too.

In fact, he'll play it against the Semi-Italian Opening, not even waiting for ...Bc5.

4...exd4 5.c3 dxc3 6.Bxf7+

6...Kxf7 7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5

Oddly, Fritz8 recommends the intermediary 8.Qh5+, seeing the position after 8...g6 9.Qxc5 cxb2 10.Bxb2 as even. I am sure that fmarius would have been thrilled with that position, though, with the white pieces.

8...d6

I had no interest in 8...cxb2 9.Bxb2 Nf6 10.0-0 d6

9.Qxc3 Nf6 10.0-0 Bg4

White has an edge here, but I noticed that my opponent was going through his time even faster than I was. I figured that if I gave him a few more things to think about, that problem might only get worse. 

11.Bg5 h6 12.Bxf6 Qxf6 13.e5 dxe5

I think he was expecting ...Nxe5, so this elicited more thought.

14.Nbd2 Rd8 15.Rae1 Kd7

Queenside castling-by-hand. Probably not best, but safest; and something to do as the clocks tick.

16.Nxe5+ Nxe5

17.Qd4+

Time pressure slip. Instead, 17.Rxe5 kept White's edge.

17...Kc8 18.Rxe5 Rxd4

In lost position, White forfeited on time

White was better most of the game. I am not sure that I am ready to face fmarius and his Jerome repertoire at a slower time control