Full Circle (Part 2)

I have been using the line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.d4 Bxd4 9.Na3 as the guide for a travelogue around the Jerome Gambit world.

It is worth staying "home" today, to look at Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's analysis, and then examine what Lt. Sorensen did with it.

After 8.d4 Bxd4 9.Na3 two of the three defenses that Jerome presented in his Dubuque Chess Journal article, 9…Ke7 and 9...Ne7 were given as sufficient for Black’s advantage, as they left the second player two pieces up.

Certainly 9...Ke7 10.Qh3 d6 11.Qh4+ Ke8 12.Bg5 Nf6 13.0–0–0 Bb6 14.f4 Ng6 15.Qg3 Nh5 16.Qf3 Qd7 17.f5 Nf6 18.fxg6, as Jerome gave, is not at all promising for White, and 15...h6 instead would have made his prospects even more dismal.

Still, when it was Sorensen's turn, he ignored 9...Ke7.

As for 9...Ne7, Jerome's main line, 10.Qh3 Qf8 11.0–0 Kc6 12.Nb5 Kxb5 13.Qb3+ Kc6 14.Bg5, it looks equally uncomfortable for White.

Sorensen repaired the second line for White by replacing Jerome’s 11.O-O with the consistent 11.Nb5+ which brings danger to Black’s King: 11...Kc5 12.Nxd4 Kxd4 13.Bg5. There are several corrections needed here, though.

First, 13.Qe3+ (not 13.Bg5) is the winning move, leading to mate. The text is an error, as it lets Black find 13...Nf3+, returning a piece to either allow the exhange of Queens or, after 14.gxf3 Kc5, block the White Queen and permit the Black King to escape.

Second, 10...c6 (instead of Jerome's 10...Qf8) stops the White Knight's troublesome leap (Sorensen's 11.Nb5+), showing that 9...Ne7 is good for Black, after all.

The third defense that Jerome gave, 9…Qf6, led to White’s advantage, in his opinion, after 10.Nb5+ Kc5 11.Nxd4 Kd6 12.Nb5+ Kc5 13.Qh3 Kxb5 14.Qb3+. However, this line, too, is a mess.

The position is even after White's 14th move, as he is forcing a draw by repetition.

On his 13th move, Black can show an advantage by playing 13...Nf3+, with ideas similar to the same defensive move in the 9...Ne7 defense.

The big problem for Black in the analysis, as we have seen (i.e. Jerome - Norton, correspondence, 1877) is his 11...Kd6 (instead of Norton's much stronger 11...d6). Jerome gives as a secondary line 11...Qxf5, but it also falls short of the strength of 11...d6.

Sorensen simply copied Jerome’s 9...Qf6 line, giving 10.Nb5+ Kc5 11.Nxd4 Qxf5 12.Nxf5 g6 13.Be3+ Kc6 14.Nd4+ Kd6 15.O-O-O Ke7 16.Nb5 and said “White has the best position” – but this would not be the case after the correct 13…Kb5; or after 12...d6 or 11...d6.