My House! My House! My Kingdom for a House!

Passing the following game along to me with the note "Another Jerome Gambit swindle," Bill Wall explained the crux of the game in one sentence, and the psychology of the contest in another: My opponent tried to castle by hand, but dropped a rook. Opponents seem to panic when their king is in the center.

Wall,B - Yunfan
chess.com, 2011

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qb5+

This is something new: in almost 24,000 games in The Database, this position does not show up at all!

The closest thing to it seems to be a 2006 FICS game, PierreKurdy - NLockwood (0-1, 58), which began: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qxc5 d6 8.Qd5+ Ke8 9.d3 Nf6 10.Qb5+ c6 11.Qb3. Of course, if you do a search on that position at move 11, you find that Bill Wall - Seven11, Chess.com, 2008 got there, too.

Giving "Jerome Gambit odds" requires alert, strong play. Familiarity with basic stratagems (Bill has studied The Database) is very useful.

So is the proper use of psychology. Here White asks (just like he does when his Queen checks from d5 in analogous situations) Black: is it worth the b-pawn to block the check with the Bishop? The answer is: probably not, but arriving at that conclusion takes time, as, Black reasons, surely, there must be some way to punish that impertinent Queen...

9...c6 10.Qb3

Posing the questions, Where will Black's Bishop go?, Where will Black's King go? and How will he get there?

10...Nf6 11.d3 Qa5+

12.Nc3 Rb8

You would almost expect Black to try something like 12...Qh5, but he is still worried about the White Queen at b3 and its attack on the pawn at b7.

The Rook move should give White some ideas based on GM John Nunn's warning: "LPDO, Loose Pieces Drop Off."

13.Bd2 Qb6

Another "solution" to the b7 pawn problem. That's three by my count: 9...c6, 12...Rb8 and now 13...Qb6.

It's all very reasonable, and the computer still gives Black the edge, but it is an indication that Black is uncomfortable with his position (instead of cheering himself: More than a dozen moves and I'm still better!)

14.Qa3 Ke7 15.f4 Re8

Having shored up Pb7, Black now goes about castling-by-hand to safeguard his King. That will make him feel a whole lot better. Multi-tasking will take its toll, though.

16.0-0-0 Kf8 17.Qxd6+ Kg8 18.Qxb8 Black resigned

Black can win the exchange with 18...Bg4, but that would leave him still three pawns down.