The Jerome Gambit Article (Part 8)

Here continues the Jerome Gambit article that I wrote for Kaissiber, a decade ago.

Alonzo Wheeler Jerome

            Alonzo Wheeler Jerome was born March 8, 1834 at Four Mile Point, New York. Little is known about his life, and nothing of his early years.

At the age of almost 30, with the United States fighting its Civil War, Jerome was drafted into the Union army in September of 1863, where he served as quartermaster until he was transferred, in April 1865, as quartermaster sergeant, to the 26^th infantry regiment of the United States Colored Troops, under the command of Colonel William B. Guernsey, on Long Island, New York.

The 26^th USCT served under the Department of the South (Union Army) in South Carolina and was very active on Johns and James Island, Honey Hill, Beaufort, and a number of other locations. While it is not know when Jerome took up playing chess, it is known that shortly after arriving at their first camp, the soldiers of the 26^th immediately went about building both a chapel and a school; the latter, as many of the soldiers expressed an interest in learning to read and write. Might there have been time for the royal game, as well?

Jerome was mustered out of the army as a 2^nd Lieutenant in August 1865, at Hilton Head, North Carolina. He returned to Mineola, New York, where he worked in a factory that manufactured agricultural machinery. It was here that Jerome first played his gambit, he said, against G.J. Dougherty.

He moved to Paxton, Illinois in 1868, where he took up the position of manager of a hemp and flax company.

On March 6, 1873, Jerome married 21-year old Jane “Jennie” A. Ostrom, of Paxton. Like Jerome, Jenny had been born in New York.

The Jeromes had one child, a boy, born 1874, who apparently died young, as he appears in one census at age 6, but not in future censuses.

Jerome’s public life as a chess player apparently began when a game of his, a King’s Gambit, appeared in the March 1874 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal. The next issue carried the “New Chess Opening” article. The July issue carried the first Jerome Gambit game that he played against William Shinkman.

            In 1875, Jerome and Brownson met and played their games, later printed in the Journal. In one game Brownson offered the McDonnell Double Opening – 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc4 3.b4 Bxb4 4.f4. It is not surprising that he was intrigued by the Jerome Gambit.

            Two 1876 games by Jerome were published by the Dubuque Chess Journal, one, a Jerome Gambit, against Shinkman, and the other, a postal odds game (Queen for Queen’s Rook) against the child chess prodigy (later, chess problemist) Frank Norton.

            When the Dubuque Chess Journal stopped publication in 1876, it was replaced by the American Chess Journal, and Jerome continued his campaign on behalf of “Jerome’s Double Opening” in its pages for two more years.

            News about Jerome then grows scarce. J.W. Miller occasionally mentioned him in his chess column of the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette and by S.A. Charles referred to him in his Jerome Gambit writings.

            In 1884, of course, Jerome was healthy enough to travel to the Cincinnati Mercantile Library and play a few games with his gambit against Miller.

In 1899, citing diabetes and heart problems, Jerome applied for a disability pension. By that time he and Jennie were living in Springfield, Illinois, where he was working as a guide in the state capital building. 

Alonzo Wheeler Jerome died from the complications of a gastric ulcer March 22, 1902 in Springfield, Illinois. He was survived by his wife.

Unanswered Questions

 1) Arguably the most influential Jerome Gambit article was the one by Sorensen, May 1877, in Nordisk Skaktidende – it was translated into English and reprinted in the Chess Player’s Chronicle August, 1877, and in the September & October 1877 issue of the American Chess Journal; and it was translated into Italian and appeared in the December, 1887, Nuova Rivista Degli Scacchi. In what other magazines, in what other languages did it appear?

2) The first player in the Blackburne game has been referred to as "NN" or "Anonymous" or "Stranger." Occasionally (e.g. www.superajedrez.com; or, with the wrong year, at www.chesslab.com ) the player has been given as "Millner." Was it Millner? Who was Millner? Documentation would be helpful.

3) Charlick of Australia was familiar with the Jerome Gambit. The Adelaide Observer (5/28/1881) published a Jerome Gambit correspondence game of his, as well as a game with (AO, 5/12/1877) Charlick’s own “Evans-Jerome Gambit” 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Bc5 6.Bxf7+. Are there other Jerome or Jerome-ish examples from this openings explorer to be found?

4) Abrahams in The Chess Mind (1951) refers to “the once popular Jerome Gambit” – 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+. Fletcher’s Gambits Accepted A Survey of Opening Sacrifices (1954) notes “Some authors have called the opening with the moves 1.P-K4, P-K4; 2.B-B4, B-B4; 3.BxPch, by the name Jerome.” Is this a typographical error, or does the Jerome, of the Giuoco Piano have an evil twin brother in the Bishop’s Opening?       5) Half-way between the creativity of Charlick (of 1.d4 e5!? notoriety) and the possible misnomer of Abrahams and Fletcher lie two other Jerome Gambit “variants.”

The Dubuque Chess Journal, November, 1874 carried the game Wright – Hunn, USA, 1874, which began 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d4 -– “brilliant but not sound” according to Brownson -– ed 5.Bxf7+. The DCJ said that this was “an unsound variation of Jerome’s double opening” and suggested that after 5…Kxf7, the move 6.Ne5+ “a la Jerome” would have improved upon the game continuation of 6.Ng5+. The Italian Gambit (2004) by Jude Acers and George Laven, the current reference on 4.d4 in the Giuoco Piano, covers 4.d4 ed 5.c3 dc 6.Bxf7+, but does not mention Wright’s rash 5.Bf7+.

James Mason, in the August 1895 British Chess Magazine, gave a game “played recently by correspondence between Brandfort and Bloemfontein, South Africa” which went 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Qe2 d6. Mason suggested the move 4…Nf6, because “there would be plenty of time to play the Pawn -– perhaps two squares instead of one. For, as the Cape Times remarks, if White adopts the ‘Jerome Gambit’ 5.Bxf7+ Black replies 5…Kxf7 6.Qc4+ d5 7.Qxc5 Nxe4 with advantage.” This assessment was confirmed in Albin – Schlechter, Vienna 1914 (0-1,31).

The odd 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Na5 sometimes received the “Jerome treatment” (without the title) 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ (e.g. Sidran – Vong, Compuserve e-mail 1992, [1-0, 8]) when 4.Nxe5 would have been adequate.

These lines are interesting; but they did not show up in the work of Jerome, Sorensen, Charles, etc. Are there other Jerome gambit off-shoots out there?

6) Traxler, concerning his gambit in the Two Knights Defense, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 wrote in Golden Prague on October 11, 1892 (quoted by Lubomir Kavalek in The Washington Post, April 14, 2003)

 An original combination that is better than it looks. A small

mistake by white can give black a decisive attack. It is not easy to

find the best defense against it in a practical game and it is probably

theoretically correct. It somewhat resembles the Blackmar-Jerome

gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+?! Kxf7 5.Nxe5?!.

What connection did Blackmar, of Blackmar-Diemer Gambit fame, have with the Jerome Gambit?

            7) Although Alonzo Wheeler Jerome (1834 - 1904) was the "inventor," of the Jerome Gambit, it was extensively analyzed and popularized by S. A. Charles. There are scant clues today as to who Mr. Charles was. Jeremy Gaige's classic book on chess players, for example, lists the name "S. A. Charles," but not a date of birth or death; and Gaige's entry indicates only that Mr. Charles seemed to have been on the chess scene from 1890 to 1910. In the early 1870s he worked for the Covington and Cincinnati Bridge Company, residing in Covington, Kentucky, although a September, 1881 chess column in the New Orleans Times-Democrat referred to Mr. Charles as "formerly of this city." Mr. Charles was identified in a January, 1881 chess column in the Pittsburgh Telegraph as being the President of the Cincinnati Chess Club. Does anyone know more?

8) Finally, was Jerome’s inspiration for his opening the sacrificial attack in the well-known game Hamppe - Meitner, Vienna, 1872:  1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Bc5 3.Na4 Bxf2+ 4.Kxf2 Qh4+ 5.Ke3 Qf4+ 6.Kd3 d5 7.Kc3 Qxe4 8.Kb3 Na6 9.a3 Qxa410.Kxa4 Nc5+ 11.Kb4 a5+ 12.Kxc5 Ne7 13.Bb5+ Kd8 14.Bc6 b6+ 15.Kb5 Nxc6 16.Kxc6 Bb7+ 17.Kb5 Ba6+ 18.Kc6 Bb7+ draw

Afterword

Many people helped me gather the information in this article, and I want to express my heartfelt thanks to each of them: Deanna Austin, Kent Ball, Pete Banks, Martin Bennedik, Eric Bentzen, John Blackstone, Harold Bohn, Neil Brennen, Paul Broekhuyse, Stefan Bucker, J. Gayle Camarda, Franklin Campbell, Geoff Chandler, Adailton Chiaradia, Sarah Cohen, Kristina Daily, Todor Dimitrov, Paul Dunn, Bob Durrett, Wayne Everard, Steve Farmer, Steve Frymer, Sam Fore, Richard Forster, Ken Fraser, Gary Gifford, Michael Goeller, A.B. Hailey, Tim Harding, Keith Hayward, Dan Heisman, Adam Henderson, John Hilbert, Owin Hindle, James F. Holwell, Colin James III, Thomas Johansson, Fyhn Karsten, Ara L. Kaye, Paul Keiser, Libby Ford Kennedy, Rick Kinkaid, Tom Klem, Michael Kramer, Robert Kruszynski, Rosemary Kurtz, Gary Lane, Heather Lang, George Laven, Jeff Martin and the staff of the John G. White Collection at the Cleveland Public Library, Missi Matt, Tim McGrew, Hindemburg Melao, Anna Maria Mihalega, Louis Morin, Mark Morss, Robert Murnan and the staff at the Cleveland Research Center, Clyde Nakamura, Christopher Nelson, Anne Newman, Russ Newman, Reg Nonni, William Paulsen, James Pratt, Tyrin Price, Tom Purser, Marianne Reynolds, Magnus Rosenstielke, Tim Sawyer, Eric Schiller, Daaim Shabazz, Jeremy Spinrad, Peter Stockhausen, Susan Strahan, Jason Stratman, David Surratt, Joseph Tanti, Pat Tavenner, Attila Turzo, Cindy Ulrich, Olimpiu Urcan, Bill Vallicella, Lissa Waite, Andrew Walker, Art Wang, Bill Wall, Brian Wall, Ken Whyld, Jaap van der Kooij, Jeroen van Dorp, Ed Yetman, Bradley Zang, Lev Zilbermints

Please note that in almost all cases concerning source quotes, I have changed descriptive notation to algebraic notation.

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