How does that horror movie voice-over go? "Just when you thought it was safe to play ...Bc5..."
In the following 3-minute game Philidor 1792 is so interested in playing the Jerome Gambit that he is willing to drop a tempo (4.Bb3) in order to allow Black another chance to play ...Bc5. The defender, apparently suspicious of the "free" pawn on e4, ignores the capture and moves right along with White's plans.
Philidor 1792 - guest3
3 0 blitz, www.bereg.ru, 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Bb3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+
5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4
It should be noted that long-time Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member jfhumphrey has been arriving at this position with the tempo-eating 4.d3 and 7.d4; while equally-dedicated HauntedKnight has encountered 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5 Nxe5 6.d4 Nf6!? (leaving White a tempo up on the text game) on a number of occasions. Both Jerome Gambiteers play on the Free Internet Chess Server (FICS) and their games can be found in The Database.
Philidor 1792 has been here as well, in Philidor 1792 - guest1063, blitz 3 0, www.bereg.ru, 2013 (1-0, 37)
7...Nxe4 8.Qh5+ Ng6 9.Qd5+ Ke8 10.dxc5 Qe7
11.0-0 c6 12.Qd4 d5 13.cxd6 Nxd6 14.Bd2 Qe5
Black, perhaps under-estimating the "strength" of White's Bishop's one-step, perhaps overly-focused on White's Queen (it happens in blitz), misses the "bigger picture".
15.Re1 Nf7 16.Nc3 Bf5 17.Rxe5+ Nfxe5 18.Re1
Encore!
18...Rd8
Collapsing.
19.Rxe5+ Nxe5 20.Qxe5+ Kf7 21.Qxf5+ Ke7 22.Bg5+ Black resigned
Philidor 1792's gambit play is out-running my naming nomenclature! In the game below, Black manages to decline the Evans Gambit, but accepts the Evans Jerome Gambit. I think...
Philidor 1792 - guest344
3 0 blitz, www.bereg.ru, 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4
The Evans Gambit. This time, Black declines the pawn.
4...Bb6 5.b5 Na5 6.Bxf7+
The Evans (Declined) Jerome Gambit?!
6...Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Kf8 8.Bb2
Varying from 8.d3 as in Philidor 1792 - guest2019, 3 0 blitz, www.bereg.ru, 2013 (1-0, 33) and 8.Qf3+ as in Philidor 1792 - guest343, 3 0 blitz, www.bereg.ru, 2013 (1-0, 41).
8...Qh4 9.Qe2 Nf6 10.d3 d6 11.Nf3 Qh5 12.Nbd2 Kf7 13.0-0 Re8
14.Rfe1 d5 15.e5 c6 16.a4 Bg4 17.h3 Bxf3 18.Nxf3 Re6
This gives White a target, and his pieces quickly swing into action.
19.Qd2 Nd7 20.Ng5+ Ke7 21.Nxe6 Kxe6 22.Bc3 Black resigned
The following game is a beautiful example of the coordination of pieces and pawns that occurs in a deadly attack. Black's game slowly slips away, until he has nothing left but to face checkmate.
Philidor 1792 - guest1132
3 0 blitz, www.bereg.ru, 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4
4...Bxb4 5.c3 Bc5 6.Bxf7+
6...Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.Qh5+ Ng6 9.Qd5+ Ke8
Instead, Charlick - Holloway, Australia, 1877 (1-0, 76),the earliest example of the Evans Jerome Gambit in The Database, continued 9...Kf8.
10.Qxc5 Nf6 11.0-0 Kf7 12.f4 Re8 13.f5 Ne5 14.d4 d6
15.Qb5 Nc6 16.Nd2 Kf8 17.Qd3 Kg8 18.Bb2 Qe7
Black has castled-by-hand, while White has readied his "Jerome pawns".
19.c4 Bd7 20.Bc3 Qf7 21.Rae1 Rad8 22.e5 dxe5 23.dxe5 Bc8
24.Qg3 Nh5 25.Qh4 g6 26.e6 Qe7 27.Qg4 Qc5+ 28.Kh1
28...Ne7
Black might have done better by sacrificing the exchange to get rid of White's dangerous Knight, with 28...Rxd2.
Now White's attack crashes through.
29.Ne4 Qb6 30.fxg6 hxg6 31.Nf6+ Nxf6 32.Rxf6 Bxe6 33.Rxg6+ Kf7 34.Rf6 checkmate
