Jerome Gambit: Descent Into Rubble

The latest game from Cliff Hardy is a wild affair, concluding with a mad dash to the finish line - er, time control. 

In a 1-minute, no increment, bullet game, you can win, even if your opponent has a forced checkmate - if his flag falls. Just another reason for an opponent to hate the Jerome Gambit.  

I have added some diagrams and a comment or two, in blue; otherwise, the notes are by Cliff. 

Here is a bullet Jerome Gambit game I played today, which most certainly has several errors in it!

Cliff Hardy (2400) - NN (2391)
1 0, Lichess, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 

7.Qxe5 Qe7 8.Qf4+

I successfully remembered that taking the rook here is inferior (I think!).

Black is playing Whistler's Defense with 6...g6 and 7...Qe7. Taking the Rook at h8 is complicated, but "theoretically" dangerous for White, although The Database shows a score of over 50% in about 50 games. Check out the earlier post, "Bop!" - Rick

8...Kg7 9.d3 Nf6 10.0-0 Rf8 

Black has effectively castled-by-hand. Given enough time, he will continue to figure things out. Unfortunately, he will not have enough time. - Rick

11.Nc3 d6?!

Stockfish prefers the hard-to-see 11...d5! -++ e.g. 12.exd5?/e5? Ng4! 13.Qg5 Bxf2+.

12.Qh4 Bd4? =+

Missing White's threat - 12...h5 13.Na4 -++ would still have been strong for Black.

13.Bh6+ Kg8 14.Bxf8 Qxf8 15.Kh1 Be6?! =

The perennial inaccuracy for Black in the Jerome Gambit - this bishop move tends to run headlong into White's pawn push f2-f4-f5. Better would have been 15...Qg7 16. f4 Bd7, with a slight advantage for Black. 

16.f4 Re8 17.Nd1? =+

17.Ne2 would have been better, though I had missed that 17...Bxb2? could then have been met by 18.Rab1.

17...Ng4 18.h3 Ne3 19.Nxe3 Bxe3 20.Rf3 Bd4 

21.c3 Bg7 22.Raf1 Qe7??

22...Qf6 23.Qf2 =+

23.Qg3??

Missing the typical Jerome Gambit tactic of utilising the f-pawn with 23.Qxe7 Rxe7 24.f5 gxf5 25.exf5 Bxa2 26.f6! ++-, forking the rook and bishop.

23...Bxa2 24.f5 Bf7??

The Jerome Gambit f-pawn strikes again! Blockading it with 24...gxf5 25.exf5 Qf6 would have left Black with a clear advantage.

25.f6 Bxf6 26.Rxf6 Be6 

27.Qf4 Kg7 28.Qf2 Bg8?

The interference tactic 28...Bf5! would have been better here, though after 29.Rxf5 gxf5 30.exf5 Rf8 31.Qxa7, White would still have had a winning advantage.

29.Rf3 Qe5 30.Qxa7 Qb5 

31.Qd4+ Kh6 32.Qf6 Re5 

33.Qh4+ Kg7 34.Qf6+ Kh6 35.Rf4 Rh5? 

36.Rh4?

Black made the mistake of allowing White to mate in 2 moves with 36.Qf8+ Kg5 37.Rg4 (which White obviously missed!), though Black's position was lost in any case.

 36...Rxh4 37.Qf8+?

The game now descends into rubble. With White having 2.4 seconds left on the clock and Black having double that (exactly 4.8 seconds left), we both started to throw down any move we could think of! Clearly, 37.Qxh4+ would have been a much better move to play (though even after 37.Qf8+?, White still has a winning position).

37...Kg5 38.Qf3 Rg4?? 39.Qg3?? Rxg3 40.Kh2 Qe5 41.Rf5+ and White cheekily won on time.