If you...

The old caution still holds today: if you strike the King, you must kill him. If the King survives your blow, he is likely to come back with all his force and deliver a brutal revenge.

The following position is from blackburne - klonka59, Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, ChessWorld, 2011. To be fair, Black was doing quite well until recently, but, as you can see, he has allowed White back into the game – and a very messy one, at that.

White has two Rooks to Black's Queen, and three extra pawns to match Black's Knight.

33.Rxd1 Qxd1 34.Rg6+ Kd7 35.Rxh6 Qxc2+

Now White has a Rook and a Bishop and a couple of pawns to face the Queen. Things might still be about even, but White's pawns allow him to keep the pressure on.

36.Kf3 a6 37.f5 Qxa2 38.e5 Qd5+ 39.Kf4 Qxd3

Black's Queen has been doing her best to deal with the White pawns, but two of them are beginning to look scary.

40.Rh7+ Kc6 41.Bd4 Qf1+ 42.Kg5 Qg2+ 43.Kf6 Qg8 44.Rg7 Qd8+ 45.Kg6 a5

Black has his own passed pawn to advance.

46.e6 Qe8+ 47.Kg5 Qd8+ 48.e7 Qe8 49.f6 Kd5 50.Kf5 a4

51.Rh7 Qd7+ 52.Kg6 Qe8+ 53.Kg7 Ke6 54.Rh8 Qf7+ 55.Kh6 Kd7

Black has done what he can to restrain the "Jerome pawns" but it is not enough.

56.Rd8+ Ke6 57.e8Q+ Qxe8 58.Rxe8+ Kf7 59.Re7+ Kf8 60.Kg6 a3 61.Rxc7 a2 62.Rc8 checkmate