Who Recovers First

White surprises Black.

Black surprises White.

Sometimes it is not only "who surprises who" that counts, but who recovers from the surprise first, as the following game from the soon-to-be-finished ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament shows.

braken - klonka59
ChessWorld
Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kf8

The Jerome Gambit Declined, a rare bird.

White surprises Black with the gift of what is, objectively, a won game. Black, in turn, surprises White by preferring to be a pawn down, with an ill-at-ease King.

5.Bd5 Nf6 6.Ng5

This attacking move opens the diagonal for White's Queen while preparing a fork of Black's heavy pieces. Nonetheless it has its downside.

6...Nxe4

Perhaps Black has become disoriented, overlooking, for starters, that the White Bishop that should have disappeared at f7 is now protecting the pawn he just grabbed.

Or, perhaps he was aware that the Bishop was still on the job, and expected, after 7.Bxe4, to play 7...Qxg5.

In either case, he missed the more effective 6...Nxd5 7.exd5 Qxg5.

7.Nxe4

Saving the White Knight, and putting the heat on the Black King.

7...Ne7 8. Qf3+ Black resigned

Black will lose his Knight and Queen, for starters.