The Database Upgrade

I recently upgraded The Database with games from the online playing site FICS through August, 2018, bumping the number of games it contains to just above 59,000.

With almost 20 years of games from FICS, I have a pretty good representative sample (not just wins, but losses and draws as well) of how online club players play the kind of openings this blog covers.  

There are Jerome Gambit and Jerome-related games, including:

14,353 games with the Jerome Gambit, proper, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5, 4.Bxf7+ (White scores 46%);

2,614 games with the Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ (White scores 38%);

204 games with the Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.0-0 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ (White scores 64%);

144 games with the Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.0-0 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bc5 6.Bxf7+ (White scores 65%); and

6,064 games with the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+ (White scores 56%).

In addition, there are some miscellaneous lines, including 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Na5 4.Bxf7+ (2,406 games, White scores 72%); 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.Bxf7+ (2,061 games, White scores 40%); and various reversed Jerome-style openings, e.g. 1.e4 e5. Nf3 Bc5 3.Nxe5 Bxf2+.

So, who plays the Jerome Gambit?

The player with the most games in The Database (White and Black) is DragonTail (1,452), although I note that his last game is from 2012. Likewise, kingmaple appears 619 times, but his last game is from 2010. yorgos has 600 games, but his last game is from 2014.

As for "active" players, Bill Wall now leads the pack with 842 games in the Database, followed by perrypawnpusher with 592 games - closely followed by drumme with 553 games and Petasluk with 521. I am sure that there are others not yet on my "radar" (e.g. ZahariSokolov with 331 games and rising quickly).