Jerome Gambit: Think About It - When You Can

Here is the latest "Cliff Hardy" Jerome Gambit game, another 1-minute wonder.

Notes are by "Cliff" (with diagrams and an occasional addition by me - Rick).

Do not be distressed by "Cliff's" objective, if sometimes gloomy, appraisal of White's position. It is important to understand what he was thinking - and what he was missing.

As the time limit for a game shrinks, strong players move closer and closer to choosing their moves mostly by intuition - and then supporting them through analysis - when there is time. What follows is another lesson in the application and limits of intuition.

This was a fun game.

Cliff Hardy (2111) - NN (1988), 1 0, Lichess, 2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6?!

What is the popularity like of this move in your database/s again, Rick? I face it a lot in this particular position - it feels like maybe 75% of the time that I have this position, I encounter the move 6...Ng6.

(I just checked with The Database, in games starting 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+: 

6...Ng6 shows up in 46% of the games;
6...Ke6 appears in 25% of the games;
6...Kf8 is played in 15% of the games; and 
6...g6 is played in 12% of the games.
I guess many defenders see 6...Ng6 as a common sense move - block the check, save a piece, say goodbye to the other piece because White must know what he is doing & therefore "must" get a piece back, as no real opening lets White sac 2 pieces...-Rick)

7.Qd5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6 10.0-0 Qe7

(This is a small improvement for Black over earlier defenses Cliff has faced: 10...Ke7 in Hardy - NN, Italian Game Bullet Arena, lichess.org, 2018 [1-0, 37]; and 10...Ng4 in Hardy - NN, 3 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2017 [1-0, 19] and Hardy - Pomo12, 10 0 blindfold, lichess.org, 2018 [0-1, 67] - Rick)

11.Nc3 c6?! =+

This looks OK to me, but not to the Stockfish computer program and when I encounter real top eschelon players in the Jerome, they find stronger moves like 11...Kf7! -+ (aiming for 12...Re8, with quick pressure against the white centre) against me, even in lightning games.

12.f4 Bd7? +-

Another move which fails to pressure white's position - 11...b5 would have maintained equality.

13. f5? Ne5 =+

I have a lot of trouble in these Jerome positions figuring out whether to play f5 first or d4 first and then f5 and here again I chose the wrong way - 13. d4 +- would have been very good for White.

14. d4 Nf7!

Holds the Jerome pawns up well.

(The lesser 14...Nc4 was seen in Hardy - NN, 1 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2018 [1-0, 20] - Rick)

15.Qf3? -++

Quickly developing with 15.Bd2 Rae8 16.Rae1 =+ would've been better.

15...Re8! 16.Re1 b6? =+

Harmless - counter-attacking with 16...c5 -++ would've been better.

17.g4? -++

The less committal 17.Bf4 =+ would've been safer.

17...h618.h4 c5! 19.g5 hxg5 20.hxg5 Nh5 21.Nd5 Qd8

22.g6? Nh6??

It was fun for me to rain the Jerome pawns down but 22...Qh4! -++ would've shown the vulnerability of the exposed white king here.

(This is one of the interesting psychological points in the Jerome Gambit. Club players have grown up playing over attacking games and solving attacking or mating puzzles. Too often, then, in their games, defenders give the attackers the benefit of the doubt concerning their aggression - if he is attacking, there must be something to it - instead of digging in and finding defensive resources. - Rick)

23.f6??

I guess we both missed the possibility of 23.Qxh5 here - oops!

(C'mon, Cliff, it was a 1-minute game with no increment. Fast. I'm surprised your opponent didn't yell "You sank my battleship!" - Rick)

23...Nxf6 24.Bg5 Ng8 25.e5 dxe5 26.dxe5 

26...Be6?? -+

I thought I had some good pressure here but 26...Bg4! -++, intending to take on d5 with the queen, would have been a crusher.

27.exf6 gxf6?? ++-

27...Qxd5 -+ unfortunately would still have refuted my position.

28.Nxf6 Qd4+

29. Re3??

29.Kg2 ++- would have been best here.

29...Nxf6??

29...Rh3! -+ (intending tricky stuff like 30.Qf2 Nxf6 31.Rxh3 Qxf2+ 32.Kxf2 Ne4+! 33.Kg1 Bxh3) was a hard-to-see win for Black.

30.Bxf6 Qxf6??

Sacrificing the queen with 30...Qxe3+ was losing, but was Black's only chance to keep the game going on for much longer.

31.Qxf6+ Kg8 32.Rxe6 Rf8 33.Re8! and Black lost on time

However, White had a checkmate coming here with Rxf8, Qxf8 or Qf7, so Black was dead anyway.

I had another couple of games against this opponent after this one. Unfortunately, the next game in which he was black, he didn't chance playing against the Jerome Gambit and played the French Defence instead.