Their Majesties' Greed

In the following game Black shows prudence in not having his King hunt for material. He defends well, until he sends his Queen off hunting, falling into a gambit trap that the first player has set. That is all White needs to take the advantage and wrap up the game.

topsoul - moisesserraramos
10 0, lichess.org, 2016

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+ 

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.c3 Kxe5 7.cxd4+ Ke6 

Black heeds the general advice to bring his King home from the battelefield. There is too much danger in His Majesty chasing pawns.

White has a variety of options here. His pawns are important players.

8.O-O d6 9.f4 Kf7 10.Qb3+ Ke8 11.e5 dxe5 12.fxe5 Qxd4+ 13.Kh1 Qxe5

Alas, it is also dangerous for Her Majesty to chase pawns, as the rest of the game shows.

14.Qf7+ Kd8 15.Qxf8+ Qe8 16.Qxg7 Ne7 17.d3 Bf5 18.Bg5 Kd7 19.Rxf5

Even more brutal was 19.Re1

19...Qh5 20.Qxe7+ Kc6 Black resigned

Inaccuracies and Blunders

I found it interesting to see how the computer at lichess.org annotated the moves of the following Jerome Gambit played there. Of course the silicon player does not like the Jerome - but, in its assessment, it takes a number of "inaccuracies" by Black for White to be able to level the game, and a "blunder" for White to gain the advantage.

The notes and variations given below are from the "machine", except for a few of my own comments, given in red.

Bigcaptain - perseus15

blitz 5 2, lichess.org, 2015

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Bc5 4.Bxf7+?

C51 Italian Game: Jerome Gambit (0.17 â()/^ -1.87) Mistake. Best move was Nc3.

4.Nc3 d6 5.Na4 Bb6 6.O-O Nf6 7.d3 O-O 8.a3 Be6 9.Bxe6 fxe6 10.Bd2 Qe8.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bb6?!

(-1.96 â()/^ -1.03) Inaccuracy. Best move was ...Bxd4.

6...Bxd4 7.Qxd4 

It is interesting that the computer missed 6...Qh5!?

7.dxe5 Ke8

A novelty according to The Database.

8.O-O Ne7 9.Nc3 d6?!

(-0.65 â()/^ 0.01) Inaccuracy. Best move was ...Ng6.

9...Ng6 10.Nd5 Nxe5 11.a4 c6 12.Nxb6 axb6 13.f4 Nf7 14.b4 Qe7 15.Qd4 b5 16.a5. 

10.Bf4?!

(0.01 â()/^ -0.77) Inaccuracy. Best move was Qh5+.

10.Qh5+ g6 11.Qh4 dxe5 12.Rd1 Bd4 13.Bg5 Qd7 14.Ne2 Qe6 15.Nxd4 exd4 16.Rxd4 Nc6.

10...Rf8 11.Qh5+ g6 12.Qh4 Nc6?!

(-0.63 â()/^ -0.01) Inaccuracy. Best move was ...dxe5.

12...dxe5 13.Rad1 Qxd1 14.Nxd1 exf4 15.Nc3 Be6 16.Qxh7 Bd4 17.Qh6 Rd8 18.Rd1 Rd7 19.Nb5 

13.Bg5 Ne7??

(0.00 â()/^ 5.52) Blunder. Best move was ...Qd7.

13...Qd7 14.exd6 cxd6 15.h3 Bd4 16.Nd5 Bxb2 17.Rad1 Be5 18.f4 Bd4+ 19.Kh1 Qf7 20.Rxd4 

14.Nd5 Rf7??

(5.56 â()/^ 8.58) Blunder. Best move was ...Be6,

14...Be6 15.Bxe7 Qd7 16.Nf6+ Rxf6 17.exf6 h5 18.e5 Kf7 19.exd6 cxd6 20.Rad1 d5 21.Qf4 

15.Nf6+ Rxf6 16.exf6 

Black resigned

Black has two pieces for a Rook and two pawns, but he faces disaster along the d8-h4 diagonal. True, his Queen can slip to safety with 16...Qd7, but after 17.Qxh7 White's checkmate threats are deadly. All that is left is 17...Qe6, when 18.fxe7 leaves the defender facing the thread of Qh7-h8+ and an impending pawn promotion. The logical 18...Bd4 falls to 19.Rad1, as 19...Qf7 20.Qxf7+ Kxf7 21.Rxd4 loses material while 19...Bxb2 saves the Bishop but allows the Rook to enter the fray with Rd1-d3-f3.

That is a lot to deal with in a blitz game!

Give the Jerome Gambit A Little Respect

I feel kind of bad about the following game. In our earlier matchup in the Chess.com Giuoco Piano tournament, I had ground out a 2-pawn endgame victory. I had cheerfully said to my opponent of our next game, "I expect you to destroy me utterly and enjoy it thoroughly. :-)"

Alas, it was not to be.

perrypawnpusher - iceland2010
Giuoco Piano Tournament Chess.com, 2016

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf6 

Ahead by two pieces, Black is too casual in his reply. (He can protect his Knight with 6...Ke6; or dodge the check with 6...Kf8; or block the check with 6...g6 or 6...Ng6; in each case with good prospects.)

The Jerome Gambit has a number of refutations, and while it does not command a lot of respect, it should receive at least a little.

7.Qf5+ Ke7 8.Qxe5+

I have been in this position 6 times before this game, and won 5. The Black Bishop will fall in the next move or two, and White will be up a couple of pawns.

Black resigned

A GM Weighs In on the Jerome Gambit

I recently received an email from David Black (see "Exploring the Evans Jerome Gambit", "Alternate Universe" and "Influence") with some hilarious news.

Hiya Richard, 

Thought you would be interested in this. 

Jon Speelman former world championship candidate has started a new column and was asking for readers games. So I sent him one of my Jerome gambit games for a bit of fun and here is his response. 

Hi Dave,
Many thanks,
What a splendidly purulent gambit which nevertheless must be horrible to face in a five minute game and quite tough at slower time limits.
Cheers,
Jon 

cheers

Dave 

I think Dave is referring to GM Speelman's new "Agony Column" at ChessBase.com. It should be very, very interesting.