BSJG: Explore and Move On

It is fun to play through games sent to me by readers, or discovered in The Database, and see what is new in the main lines of the Jerome Gambit and related openings. Occasionally, I also find explorations off of the beaten path, like the following 3-minute game, which contains an additional lesson: White is successful in his first outing with a line, but, when Black finds a more solid defense, it is probably time to move on to the next exploration... 

SorryYouLose - adina
3 0 blitz, FICS, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Nd4 

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+ 

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.c3 

What is this? The move is not entirely new - there are 35 examples in The Database, with White scoring 40 % - but it seems like it would be more at home after 5.Nxe5+ Ke6, or in the main line (non-Jerome) Blackburne Shilling Gambit, i.e. 4.c3.

Still, the move has an immediate effect in disturbing Black.

5...Ne6 

Not too long after this game, SorryYouLose encountered a couple of opponents at FICS who played the much more direct (and stronger) 5...Nxf3+, and the results favored the defender: SorryYouLose - Patzerarschloch, blitz, FICS, 2019 (0-1, 13) and SorryYouLose - pugachevsky, blitz, FICS, 2019 (0-1, 12).

The text move is a novelty, according to The Database. It gives White another chance to grab the pawn at e5, leaving Black with only a small edge.

6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Nf6 

White has sacrificed a piece for a pawn. In return, he has a full pawn center facing an uneasy enemy King.  

8.d5 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Bxd2+ 

10.Nbxd2 

With this capture, White protected his e-pawn. He overlooked the stronger 10.Qxd2, which is not troubled by 10...Nxe4, as 11.dxe6+ would win back the sacrificed piece and give time for the Queen to excape the Knight on e4's attack. Instead of grabbing the pawn, Black would do better, after 10.Qxd2, to move his attacked Knight to either c5 or f8, maintaining a small advantage.

These things happen in 3-minute blitz games.

10...Nc5 11.Ng5+ Kg8 12.e5 

"Jerome pawns" want to be pushed. 

12...Nxd5 13.Nde4 

13...Nxe4 

A slip. Black would be okay now, after 14.Nxe4, but White has something better.

14.Qxd5+ Kf8 15.Qf7 checkmate