Bill Wall (see "Welcome to the World of Wall") likes short chess games. One way to find them is to play them himself, even using the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+).
Wall,B - Qwerty Chess.com, 2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8
One of Black's more interesting defenses to the Jerome Gambit involves not capturing the Knight on e5 – see "In the Beginning..." and "Critical Line: 5...Kf8 Parts 1, 2, 3 and Revisited" – but Black's King is much safer on f8 than he is on e8.
6.Nxc6
This move is stronger and more thematic than the otherwise Jerome-ish 6.Qh5+.
6...bxc6
According to Rybka, Black's best here is 6...Qh4, and play may continue 7.d4 Bb6 8.Nb4 Qxe4+ 9.Qe2 Qxe2+ 10.Kxe2 Bxd4 11.Nd5 Kd8 with a slight edge to White.
With Black's King on f8, the capture 6...dxc6 would maintain Black's advantage. That doesn't work well with the King on e8, however: 7.Qh5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+ Qd6 9.Qe3 Nf6 10.e5 Ng4 11.Qf4+ Black resigned, Wall,B - Gebba, Chess.com, 2010.
7.Qh5+ g6 8.Qxc5
Further research might focus on the game chesspsychoten - fao, FICS, 2002, and the thematic move 8.Qe5+!? which produces a modified and successful version of an attack on the Whistler Defense: 8...Qe7 9.Qxh8 Qxe4+ 10.Kf1 Qe6 11.Qxh7 Qf6 12.Qxg8+ Ke7 13.f3? Ba6+ White resigned.
A career criminal knows that he will be arrested. He sees that as a "business expense" that has to be paid as part of his life as a crook.
Those of us who play the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+)will also be subject to periodic ugly games and losses. It's part of the "job".
perrypawnpusher - JohnBr blitz FICS, 2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6
The Semi-Italian Opening.
4.0-0 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bc5
The Semi-Italian Four Knights Game.
6.Bxf7+
The Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.
For some reason I have issues with this particular line (see "...sometimes the bear gets you", "Bloodied but Unbowed" and "What an idea" for examples). Including this game, I have scored only 50% with it – that's about 35% less than my success with the Jerome Gambit and its other variants.
8...Bxd4 9.Qxd4 d6 10.f4
This is what White has to work with in the Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit: a pawn for his sacrificed piece, a slight lead in development, two "Jerome pawns" in the center, a Rook on the same file as the enemy King, and the chance to bring a second Rook into play faster than Black.
In future games I might try placing my Bishop on the long diagonal with 10.b3 Re8 11.Bb2 Kg8.
10...Nc6 11.Qd3
Fritz8 slightly prefers this over 11.Qc4+ Be6 12.Qa4, but I think that takes the Queen away from a hoped-for attack on the King.
Another idea is the full retreat 11.Qd1, although it did not get a full test in ontocaustic - defjavid, FICS, 2009: 11...Bg4 12.Qd3 Nb4 13.Qc4+ Kf8 14.Qxb4 Qe7 15.e5 Nh5 16.f5 Qe6 17.fxe6+ Black resigned.
I gave a look at 14.Nd5, instead, but didn't like my position after 14...Nxd5 15.exd5 Ne7. That is what Rybka recommended after the game, however, with White aiming his Bishop at the Kingside with 16.Bc3 and then patiently advancing his pawns. Even so, Rybka saw Black as better.
I usually play the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) with attacking play in mind, but sometimes I switch to trying to squeeze out a win from a pawn-up game – which surely must frustrate my chess pieces...
This Queenless middle game or piece-full endgame is slightly in White's favor. It is not the kind of position that gambiteers always aim for, but it is a rather healthy state for one who plays the Jerome Gambit.
22.c3 a6 23.Nc2 c524.b3
24...Kd6 25.Bxf6
I should have played 25.c4 first, chasing one of the protectors of the f6 Knight.
25...Nxf6 26.Rf5
This looks awkward.
After the game Rybka recommended 26.Ne3 Rxe6 27.Nf5+ Kd7 28.Rd1+ Kc8 29.Nxg7, but the resulting position has a similar problem: it is going to take White a lot of work to make his extra pawn pay off.
Black's well-placed King makes White's extra pawn almost meaningless.
31.Rg5 g6 32.Ree5
Cute – but wrong. Now 32...h6 wins the exchange and then a pawn for Black.
32...Rxe6 33.Rxc5 Ne4
This looks like a winning move, and my opponent played it as if it were.
Best play, however, as Rybka showed after the game, was more complicated: 33...Re2 34.Nxb4 Re1+ 35.Kf2 Ne4+ (the right time to check with the Knight) 36.Kf3 Rf8+ (or 36...Nxg5 37.Rxg5)37.Kg4 Nxc5 38.Rd5+ Ke6 39.Rxc5 Re2 40.Kg3 Rff2 41.h3 Rxg2+ 42.Kf3 Rh2 43.Ra5 Kf6 44.Rxa6+ Kg5. White has two pawns for the exchange, and the game is in balance.
analysis diagram
34.Rcd5+
White would pick up another pawn if he checked with the other Rook: 34.Rgd5+ Ke7 35.Rc7+ Kf6 36.Rxh7
34...Kc6
This allows a fork at d4 which would be good for White. Black's best was another exchange-for-Knight-and-pawns ending with 34...Kc7 35.Nxb4 Nxg5 36.Rxg5 Rd8
I discovered this all-too-real post on teacher and chess coach Elizabeth Vicary's blog:
I remember at one Pan-Ams (collegiate!) a player asked me for something to play against the Petroff defence, because it always made his games so boring. So I showed him the Boden-Kieseritzky gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nxe4 4.Nc3 Nxc3 5.dxc3
Great for 1700 players, right? He was especially excited by the possibility of 5...d6? 6.Nxe5 dxe5? 7.Bxf7+ & Qxd8.
In his very next game, his opponent plays the Petroff Defence and I happily stand behind his board, ready to watch him kick butt. I see 3.Bc4 Nxe4 and then on the board appears 4.Bxf7+? Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ followed by typical 1700 madness. I nearly smacked him on the back of the head while he was still sitting at the board.
Black kept his extra piece throughout the game, and won the pawn back, and they finally reached a bare R vs R + B ending, where Black immediately agreed to a draw because he'd heard that this ending was drawn.
I guess this is an example of equalizing the agony of the chess coaches...
Part of me sympathizes with Ms. Vicary: how often heart-felt advice falls on inattentive ears...
Here is the third of three Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games, printed in the Preston Guardian, provided by Tim Harding, from the deep resources of his correspondence chess databases. (See also "Preston Guardian" and "Rematch".)
The notes are by Harding, and from the Preston Guardian of April 26, 1882.
Lowe,E - Cudmore,D
Preston Guardian consolation-2 rd1 corr, 1881
Preston Guardian, April 26, 1882,notes Monck (abbreviated) Dublin chess club minutes show Daniel Cudmore elected August 25, 1880
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+?!
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4
Every form of the Jerome Gambit is, I believe, unsound and this is no exception.
46.Qc3 Qxc3 47.Rxc3 d5 48.Rd3 Kc6 Drawn, but White should have won this game.
It is not clear who the comment "White should have won this game" can be attributed to, the Preston Guardian or Harding, but I would imagine it to be the latter.
Certainly one of White's oversights late in the game was not to have seen 41.Qc8+ (instead of 41.Qa5+) Kb6 42.Qd8+ Ka6 (42...Kb7 allows mate in 3) 43.Rc6+ and Black will lose Queen for the Rook.