Serious About Silliness

I have been watching the early movies of the Marx Brothers, and I have to say that they are pretty serious about their silliness. In a similar way (except for my glaring lack of talent) I can be rather serious about the silliness that is the Jerome Gambit (and its relatives). 

Fortunately, not everyone is.

HauntedKnight  - sarahdaniel
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

The good old Jerome Gambit. I've researched its history, analyzed its lines, annotated games and gathered a large database.

As Chico might say, "Why a duck?"

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bd6

This unusual defense seems to be borrowed from the "fork trick".

The Database has 41 games with this line. White scores 61%.

7.dxe5 Bxe5 8.Qh5+

This is the strongest line for White. It is interesting to note, however, that in the 24 games with 8.Qh5+ in The Database, White has scored 54%.

Yes, that's right: the best move scored worse than the lesser alternatives.

8...Ke6 9.Qf5+

Again, this is the strongest continuation of the attack for White; yet it appeared in less than 1/4 of the games in the 6...Bd6 line: 10. In those, White scored only 50%, a result less succesful than that of the worse alternative moves combined.

Happily for HauntedKnight his opponent now responded with

9...Resigns. 

Other games from The Database continued. We will look at them, too.

9...Kd6

10.Na3

This is White's strongest move, planning a Knight fork to the enemy King and Bishop, with check, winning a piece. It is not easily met, but after 10...Bf6 11.e5+ Ke7 12.exf6+ Nxf6 13.Bg5 d5 14.Bxf6+ gxf6 15.Qf3 followed by 0-0 or 0-0-0 White will have equalized in material while having the better pawn structure and safer King.

analysis diagram








Instead of the text, 10.f4 is very Jerome-ish. With 10...Bf6 Black can return the piece (i.e. 11.e5+) for an even game. The contest wzeller - bourgas, FICS, 2005 instead entered the world of "optical illusions" with 10...Qf6 11.fxe5+ Qxe5+ 12.Bf4 and White won (1-0, 62).

10.Nc3 is not dangerous enough, although White won against 10...a6 in jfhumphrey - jrhicksdotnet, FICS, 2008 (1-0, 14). The better defense 10...Qf6 brought Black victory in jfhumphrey-biryuk, FICS, 2010 (0-1,65) and duanezz - pawelek, FICS, 2005 (0-1, 38).

Likewise, 10.0-0 also falls to 10...Qf6 but not as often as expected. White's plan is to continue his attack on the King with 11.Rd1+, and after 11...Ke7 12.Bg5 he was successful ("optical illusions" again!) twice: EvanJunior - BeNumberOne, FICS, 2008 (1-0, 22) and AGRPlayer - trebbor, FIC, 2010 (1-0, 19). However, Black's King should escape the Rook check to fresh air with 11...Kc6 instead and then White cannot conjure up either an attack or a recovery of material, as seen in carlkrull - bodensee, FICS, 2009 (0-1, 28).

10.b3 contains a great little trap – if Black now takes the Rook with 10...Bxa1 he is checkmated after 11.Ba3+ c5 12.Qxc5+ Ke6 13.Qf5# – but the proper response, 10...Qf6 White could not escape in ljar - Castled, FICS, 2006 (0-1, 39)

10...Qf6

Not the strongest response, as indicated in the note to 10.Na3, but certainly one that White can expect to see.

11.Nc4+ Ke7

Falling in with his opponent's plan too quickly. He should have at least tried 11...Kc5, since after 12.Nxe5 Qxf5 13.exf5 White's advantage is only a doubled pawn. After the better 12.Qxe5+, however, Black needs to cooperate with 12...Qxe5 13.Nxe5, as the obstreperous 12...Kxc4 – which may have been Black's intent – falls to chekmate after 13.b3+ Kb4 14.c3#.

12.Qxe5+ Qxe5 13.Nxe5 d6

White is a safe pawn up in a quiet position.

However, in the Jerome Gambit "safe" and "quiet" are relative terms, and Black eventually won in noatun - Papaflesas, FICS, 2008 (0-1, 48)...

(By the way, all of the games mentioned here are available in The Database – just email me and ask.)




graphic by Jeff Bucchino, the WizardofDraws