Philidor 1792 has sent another collection of Jerome Gambit and Jerome-inspired games. The following game shows the progress of "Jerome pawns" as if in slow motion. I find it humorous that it all occured in a 3-minute blitz game.
Philidor 1792 - DerAndere
3 0 blitz, PlayChess.com, 2014
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
The Jerome Gambit.
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8
7.Qxe5 Qe7 8.Qxe7+
Philidor 1792 is always game to play his extra pawns against his opponent's extra piece.
8...Bxe7 9.0-0 Nf6 10.d3 d6 11.Nc3 Kf7 12.h3 c6 13.Be3 Rf8 14.f4 Kg8
Black has castled-by-hand as a protection against the "Jerome pawns".
15.g4 Nd7 16.Ne2 Bf6 17.c3 Be7 18.Kg2 d5 19.e5 Nc5 20.Rad1 h5 21.Kg3 hxg4 22.hxg4 Ne6
23.d4 Kf7
Black decides to undo his castling, perhaps in response to the dangerous h-file - which he opened.
24.Rh1 Ke8 25.Rh7 Rg8 26.Rdh1 Bd7 27.f5 Ng5 28.Bxg5 Bxg5 29.e6 Bc8
30.R1h5 Be7 31.Rh1 b6 32.Nf4 Bd6 33.g5 Ba6 34.Kg4 Bxf4 35.Kxf4 Bd3 36.Ke5
White is already better, but here he missed the cooperative shot 36.Rxg7, e.g. 36...Rxg7 37.Rh8+ Ke7 38.f6+ Kxe6 39.fxg7 Kf7 40.Rxa8 Kxg7 41.Rxa7+ winning.
36...Rd8 37.Rh8 Kf8 38.f6 gxf6+ 39.gxf6 Re8 40.f7 Rxh8 41.Rxh8+ Kg7 42.fxe8Q Bg6 43.Rg8+ Kh6 44.Qxg6 checkmate
Concerning the following game, I have already written...
If you play the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ ) long enough, you will eventually play the 6.d4 variation (4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4) and one day you will come face-to-face with the best in-your-face variation for Black since J.H. Blackburne offered his Rook...
Sometimes, when you play the Jerome Gambit, you encounter an opponent who knows one of the refutations and who plays very well against you. It happens.
Wall,B - Guest6296711
PlayChess.com, 2014
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Qh4
This line doesn't have a name attached to it, but I have referred to it in earlier posts as "A Pie-in-the-Face Variation". The earliest example that I have of it in The Database is Sorensen - Anonymous, Denmark, 1888 (1-0, 27).
It is interesting to note that The Database has 1213 games reaching the position after 6.d4, with White scoring 50%. Of those games, only 17% of the time does Black continue with 6...Qh4 - but he scores 70% with it.
7.0-0 Qxe4
The weaker alternative, 7...Ng4, was seen in Sorensen,S - X, Denmark, 1888 (1-0, 27), Sir Osis of the Liver - perrypawnpusher, JG3 thematic, ChessWorld.net, 2008 (0-1, 38) and Wall,B - Rajiv, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 33).
8.dxc5 Nf6 9.Nc3 Qc4
Instead, Black played 9...Qc6 in Wall,B - Gorodetsky,D, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 18) and Wall,B - felineMMXI, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 18).
10.Be3
This is a small improvement over 10.Re1 Qxc5 11.Be3 Qc6 in Deep Sjeng 1.5 - Junior 7, The Jeroen Experience, 2003 (0-1, 46).
Black's extra piece outweighs White's two extra pawns.
10...Re8 11.Bd4 d6 12.b3 Qa6 13.cxd6 Qxd6 14.Nb5 Qc6 15.Nxa7 Rxa7 16.Bxa7 b6
17.Qd4 Ba6 18.c4 Nf3+
Black finishes off with sacrificial flair.
19.gxf3 Qxf3 20.Qd1 Re2 21.Qd8 Qg4+ 22.Kh1 Bb7+ White Resigned
I received an email the other day concerning Montgomery Major, whose name is attached to a gambit - the "Montgomery Major Attack" - that was touched upon in this blog about 4 1/2 years ago.
The line develops out of the Tennison Gambit, going 1.e4 d5 2.Nf3 dxe4 3.Ng5 e5 4.Nxf7 Kxf7 5.Qh5+.
Of course, my interest was the way in which the opening showed certain Jerome Gambit (J. H. Blackburne might have said "Kentucky Opening") tendencies - although the piece sacrificed was a Knight, not a Bishop.
Much to my surprise, other than a half dozen bullet (1 minute, 0 increment) games at lichess.org, I have found only one example of the opening.
Watts,J (1835) - Zeidler,S (2235)
West Wales op Swansea, 1999
1.e4 d5 2.Nf3 dxe4 3.Ng5 e5 4.Nxf7 Kxf7 5.Qh5+ g6 6.Qxe5 Nf6 7.Bc4+ Kg7 8.d4 Nc6 9.Qg5 h6 10.Qg3 Nxd4 11.0-0 b5 12.Rd1 bxc4 13.Rxd4 Qxd4 14.Qxc7+ White Resigned
This, in turn, reminded me of the Damiano Defense 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6, which can continue 3.Nxe5 fxe5 4.Qh5+.
The Damiano came up in a couple of my games while I was attempting to reach a Jerome Gambit - starting 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 f6. These were examined in "A Jerome Gambit Declined" and "Frustration is the Grandmother of Invention".
It is easy to view the Jerome Gambit (for White) as a superhighway to oblivion - any easy exit is one that the first player should take. On the other hand, the Jerome Gambit (for Black) can be a stroll down Easy Street - as long as you avoid falling down a manhole.
fehim - AndrewAJ
blitz, FICS, 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf6
Black is too casual in his defense, having much better in 6...Kf8, 6...Ke6, 6...Ng6 or 6...g6. The Database has 39 games with this position, with White scoring 77%.
Given that White scores 44% in the 10,600 regular Jerome Gambit games in The Database, the statistics strongly suggest that Black has made a bad move.
7.Qf5+
The best move, appearing in The Database 23 times, with White scoring 83%.
7...Ke7 8.Qxe5+ Kf7 9.Qd5+ Ke8 10.Qxc5 d6 11.Qh5+ g6 12.Qe2 Nf6
White has regained his sacrificed material, with interest, and is better.
13.0-0 Bg4 14.f3 Bh5 15.e5 dxe5 16.Qxe5+ Qe7 17.Qxe7+ Kxe7
From here on out, White plays the Queenless middle game steadily with extra material, and Black is not able to overcome his disadvantage. A few slips brings the game to a close.
18.d3 h6 19.b3 Rhe8 20.Bb2 Nd5 21.Nd2 Ne3 22.Rfe1 Kf7 23.Rac1 g5 24.Ne4 Nd5 25.c4 Nf4 26.Rcd1 Rad8 27.d4 Bg6
28.Nc5 Ne2+ 29.Kf2 Nxd4 30.Rxe8 Kxe8 31.Rxd4 Rxd4 32.Bxd4 b6 33.Ne6 Kd7 34.Nf8+ Black resigned
