A Scholarly Abrahams Jerome Gambit

Philidor 1792 - guest124
5 0 blitz, www.bereg.ru, 2014

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Qh5 

Philidor1792 would be having a lucky day, indeed, if he were now able to pull off the "scholar's mate" - 3...Nf6? 4.Qxf7#.

3...Qf6 4.Bxf7+ Qxf7 5.Qxe5+ Qe7 6.Qxe7+ Nxe7

The game has experienced an interesting transformation, almost transposing into an Abrahams Jerome Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+ Kxf7 4.Qh5+ Ke8* 5.Qxe5+ Qe7 6.Qxe7+ Nxe7, like the game in the previous post.  (See "A New Abrahams Jerome Gambit", as well as "Abrahams Jerome Gambit" Part I and Part II).

Of course, Black's 4th move, above, is illegal, but if he were to play, instead, 4...Kf8, and the game proceeded similarly otherwise with 5.Qxe5 Qe7 6.Qxe7 Nxe7, that would be a legitimate Abrahams Jerome Gambit; and if Black were later to play ...Kf7 to allow castling-by-hand, as in Philidor1792 - guest543, www.bereg.ru, 2014, the transformation would be complete.

By the way, I have not been able to find many games starting 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Qh5 Qf6 (or 3...Qe7) 4.Bxf7+ (although I did speculate about the line and Alonzo Wheeler Jerome in "Proto-Jerome Gambits? (Part 2)"), but all of them have been put into The Database. I plan on checking through my issues of Randspringer to see if there is any analysis there.

If all of this seems a bit egregious,  I should remind Readers of Emmanuel Lasker's best, if not the last, words on the Jerome Gambit, responding to a letter to “Our Question Box” in the March 1906 issue of Lasker’s Chess Magazine

No; the Jerome gambit is not named after St. Jerome. His penances, if he did any, were in atonement of rather minor transgressions compared with the gambit.

The picture at the top of this post is of St. Jerome.

7.c3 d5 8.d4 Bb6 9.e5 c5 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.f4 Nbc6 12.Nf3 Be6

You have to have faith in the "Jerome pawns" to play on in this kind of position.

13.Na3 Bxa3 14.bxa3 0-0-0 15.Be3 Rhf8 16.Ng5 Bf5 17.Kf2 h6 18.Nf3 Be4 

19.h4 Nf5 20.Rad1 b6 21.h5 Na5 22.Bc1 Nc4 23.Rh3 Kb7 24.g4 Ne7 

25.e6 Bxf3 26.Rxf3 Rd6 27.f5 Rfd8 28.Re1 d4 29.cxd4 Rxd4 30.f6 gxf6 31.Rxf6 Nd6 

32.Rf4 Rd3 33.Rf7 Re8 34.Bxh6 Kc6 35.Rf8 Rxa3 36.Rxe8 Nxe8 37.Bf8 Rxa2+ 38.Kg3 

Although both sides have passed pawns, White's are better placed, and Black's defense is difficult - especially at the end of a 5-minute game.

38...Nd5 39.h6 Ra3+ 40.Bxa3 Black resigned