I have always found the Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit to be one of the more difficult variations in the Jerome. This is probably due to the additional development which, among other things, restricts my Queen from making wild advances.
Even Bill Wall has experienced relative "difficulty", scoring only 91% in his games with the line. The following game is quite a rarity.
Wall, Bill - Guest343560
PlayChess.com, 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+
5...Kxf7 6.Qe2
Also seen are 6.d4 and 6.Nxe5+.
6...d5
Other moves have allowed Bill to utilize his Queen on a different diagonal, e.g. 6...Rf8, which led to 7.Qc4+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qc4 Qe7 10.d4 exd4 11.Nxd4 Nxe4 12.Nxc6 Qh4 13.O-O Rxf2 14.Nxe4 Rxg2+ 15.Kxg2 Bh3+ 16.Kh1 Qg4 17.Qf7 checkmate Wall,B - Roberts,C, Chess.com, 2010. See also Wall,B - Hamilton,E, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 22); Wall, Bill - NFNZ, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 15); and Wall,B - Guest1872464, PlayChess.com, 2014 (1-0, 30).
Or 6...d6 7.Qc4+ as in Wall,B - Guest1459913, PlayChess.com, 2013 (1-0, 38).
Or 6...h6 7.Qc4+ d5 8.Qxc5 as in Wall,B - DarkKnight, PlayChess.com, 2012 (1-0, 23),
7.exd5
Better was 7.Nxd5, as in Wall, Bill - Samvazpr, Chess.com, 2010 (0-1, 25)
7...Nd4
This is an improvement over 7...Nxd5 8.Qc4 Nce7 9.Nxe5+ Ke6 10.Qxc5 Kxe5 11.Nxd5 Nxd5 12.c4 b6 13.d4+ Ke4 14.Qc6 Be6 15.Qxe6+ Kxd4 16.cxd5 Qxd5 17.Be3+ Kc4 18.Rc1+ Kb5 19.Qxd5+ c5 20.O-O Rhd8 21.Qc4+ Kc6 22.b4 Kb7 23.Qd5+ Ka6 24.Qc6 Rac8 25.Qa4+ Kb7 26.Rfd1 Rxd1+ 27.Rxd1 cxb4 28.Qxb4 Rc7 29.Qb5 h6 30.Rd7 Rxd7 31.Qxd7+ Ka6 32.Bd2 g5 33.a4 g4 34.Qb5+ Kb7 35.Bxh6 a6 36.Qd7+ Kb8 37.Bf4+ Ka8 38.Qc7 b5 39.Qb8 checkmate, papernoose - jsit, FICS, 2004.
8.Nxe5+ Kg8 9.Qc4 Qd6 10.O-O a6 11.Nd3 Ba7 12.Rb1 Bf5
Black is developing, while White struggles to get his pieces coordinated. An attack on White's King combined with an attack on his Queen brings the game to a quick conclusion.
13.a3 Ng4 14.g3 Nxh2 15.Kxh2 b5 White resigned
Philidor1792 sends a game with the heart of the Jerome Gambit, if not the moves...
NN - Philidor1792
2015
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5
The Busch-Gass Gambit. In some cases it envisions a reversed Jerome Gambit. See "Worth a Second Look... "Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 and "The Busch-Gass Gambit".
3.Nxe5 Nc6
Chiodini's Gambit. Black wishes to play a reversed Boden-Kieseritzky Gambit.
4.Nxf7
White sacrifices first!
4...Qh4
I referred to this move in an earlier post as "a light-hearted alternative" to 4...Qf6. For that move, see Ake - Evilone, ICC, 1998 (0-1, 24) and hitorkoal - Philidor1792, Chess.com, 2015 (0-1, 71).
5.d4
Not 5.Bc4 Qxf2 checkmate, Nguyen Bao Do - Dich Tai Khuu, VIE-ch, U07, 2014.
5...Qxe4+ 6.Be3 Nxd4 7.Nxh8 Nxc2+ 8.Kd2 Nxa1 9.Qh5+
Is this strange enough for you?
9...g6 10.Qxh7
White would do better to capture Black's Bishop at c5 rather than protect his Knight at h8. Bad things now happen.
10...Qc2+ 11.Ke1 Qxb1+ 12.Ke2 Qc2+ 13.Ke1 Bb4+ 14.Bd2 Qxd2 checkmate
I have been enjoying sharing with Readers the new pile of Bill Wall games that I have recently uncovered. There are still a good number to present.
To add to the fun, I just received a baker's dozen of games from Philidor1792 - Jerome Gambits and Jerome-inspired play.
On the internet chess circuit, as expected, Rebecca_Wiebe has won the Chess.com "Italian Game" tournament with an overwhelming score of 19-0-3. I was pleased to score 2 of those draws against her. I finished in 4th place (out of 35) with 10-6-2.
Meanwhile, the tumult continues in the Chess.com "Giuoco Piano" tournament, and when the smoke clears I may yet find myself on the top of my section and advance to the next round - by a hair's breadth.
One more game remains to be completed in the first round of another "Italian Game" tournament at Chess.com. I am the last of three from my section to move on to the second round, when it begins.
Of such little things, it seems, victories are made.
In the following game the players quickly reach a Queenless middle game, with Black holding the extra piece while White has two extra pawns. Both have to decide their strategies - but, in the meantime, a small tactical "pothole" crashes the second player in short order.
Wall, Bill - Guest2651667
PlayChess.com, 2015
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.Qxe5
d6 8.Qf4+ Qf6 9.d3 Qxf4 10.Bxf4 Nf6
Bill Wall, like Philidor 1792 (to name another in the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde) is comfortable playing without Her Majesty.
11.Nc3
Other games in The Database have seen 11.h3, 11.c3, 11.O-O, and 11.Be3.
11...a6 12.f3
Bill is not in a hurry - yet. He can afford to see what else his opponent has on his mind.
12...Be6 13.Bg3 g5 14.e5
Breaking in the center makes sense now that Black has further weakened his King with another pawn move (11...a6, 13...g5). The move also contains a trap that the second player immediately falls into.
14...dxe5
Better was 14...Nd5.
15.Bxe5 Kf7
It all looks so routine and uneventful, but 15...Be7 was the proper defense. White could then snatch a pawn with 16.Ne4 (i.e. 16...Kg7 17.Nxg5) but Black might still have a small edge.
Now a simple combination decides.
16.Bxf6 Kxf6 17.Ne4+ Black resigned
After 18.Nxc5 White will have recovered his sacrificed piece and be a couple of pawns up; not something Black wanted to continue against.
