Jerome Gambit: Creative Defensive Solutions

I have been presenting some Jerome Gambit games recently played by Bill Wall, and it has been surprising how they have been linked to one another.

The following game includes a creative defensive solution that Black appears to have come up with on the spot. Instead of solving problems, though, it creates some new ones.

One of the attractions of the Jerome Gambit for club play is that it seems so bad that any kind of response should win. There are many players who have discovered, however, that this is not so. 

Wall, Bill - Guest430769
PlayChess.com, 2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 

According to The Database, Bill has reached this  position over 250 times. He has encountered 14 different responses. He has scored 91%. It is not likely that he will be surprised.

6...Nf3+

An interesting and straight forward (if unsuccessful) way of dealing with the threat to two of his pieces. The Database has 5 previous games with this line; White scored 80%. In the one loss, White had a clear advantage until the ravages of time in a blitz game led to his downfall.

7.Qxf3+

I suspect that Black was hoping for 7.gxf3?!, counting on the fact that White would not want to capture with his Queen, as that would allow Black's Bishop to capture the pawn at d4. The glitch in this reasoning, of course, is that White's Queen arrives on f3 with check.

 7...Nf6 

Bill has also faced: 7...Qf6 8.dxc5 (8.Qb3+ d5 9.Qxd5+ Be6 10.Qxc5 Nh6 11.Qxc7+ Qe7 12.Qxe7+ Kxe7 13.Bxh6 gxh6 14.f4 Rhg8 15.g3 Rac8 16.Nc3 a5 17.d5 Bg4 18.e5 Bf3 19.Rf1 Bg2 20.Rf2 Bh1 21.O-O-O Black resigned, Wall,B - Gian, PlayChess.com, 2017) 8...Qxf3 9.gxf3 Nf6 10.Nc3 Re8 11.Nb5 Re7 12.Nxc7 Rb8 13.Bf4 b6 14.Nd5 Nxd5 15.Bxb8 bxc5 16.Bd6 Re8 17.Bxc5 Black resigned, Wall,B - Guest151963, PlayChess.com, 2011. 

8.dxc5 Re8 

White is two pawns up.

9.Nc3 Kg8 10.O-O d6

And Black has little compensation for his sacrificed pawns... Wait a minute, isn't this an opening where White sacrifices? Ten moves in, something has gone terribly wrong for Black.

The defender now succumbs to pressure on f6 that leads to a tactical slip.

11.Bg5 Rf8 12.Nd5 Bg4 13.Bxf6 gxf6 14.Qxg4+

14...Kf7 15.Rfd1 c6 16.Nb6 

A nice shot. He can afford it. (He also had the quiet 16.Ne3 and the diabolical 16.Nxf6, but the text works just as well.)

16...axb6 17.Rxd6 Qc7 18.Rd7+ Black resigned

White wins the Queen.