Those who cannot remember the past...

According to George Santayana, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Not everyone who plays the Blackburne Shilling Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4) has read the blog post here, "Clearly Unclear", so I should probably add "Those who do not know the past are likewise condemned to repeat it."

Pity. More points for the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde.

richiehill - XGrandMaster
blitz, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4

4.Bxf7+

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.c3 Nc6

This is a very reasonable alternative to the line that goes 6...Kxe5 7.cxd4+. I used games played by GOH and SotoG to look into this line last year.

7.Qg4+

White can withdraw his Knight, 7.Nf3, with an even game; but the recommended move is 7.d4 with a poisoned pawn in the follow-up: 7...Nxe5 8.dxe5 Kxe5? 9.Qd5+ Kf6 10.Bg5+ Black resigned APe-Sali, blitz, FICS, 2009

7...Kxe5

Taking the piece is the right move (7...Ke7 is only even), but it must have unsettled Black to do so. After all, White is not throwing all of this material around just to bluff, is he?

8.d4+

8...Kf6 9.Bg5+ Black resigned

Ouch.

After 8...Kd6 9.e5+ Ke7 10.Bg5+ Nf6 11.0-0 Kf7 12.exf6 gxf6 Black's King would have still been uncomfortable, but he would have had an extra piece to console himself. I wonder where someone could have learned about that ?