Sunday, August 23, 2020

Jerome Gambit: The Punishment is Checkmate


I was very happy to receive the following Jerome Gambit game, with notes by the winner. I have put his comments in blue. I have added a few of my own comments, in black.

AMcclafferty - Bluemagic2222
5 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5

The Busch - Gass Gambit.

3.Bc4

Sidestepping the main line. Chodini's Gambit would continue after 3.Nxe5: 3...Nc6!? 4.Nxc6 dxc6

3...Nc6

I opened with e4, my personal standard, and my opponent replied e5. Whenever I get this opening I always try for some sort of gambit. I developed my knight to f3, my opponent did Bc5. I replied Bc4, and once he played Nc6, I knew it was time for the Jerome Gambit.    Bxf7, initiating the gambit. Kxf7, Nxe5+, giving up the last piece for the gambit, and then Nxe5.

4.Bxf7+

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+

Now that all my material is gone, I proceed with Qh5+, attacking the king and the knight on e5. My opponent plays Ke6, defending both, so I prepare for a check with f4.

6...Ke6 


7.f4 Nf6

My opponent blunders with Nf6, as it allows me to check with my queen by doing Qe5, defended by the pawn.

8.Qxe5+ Kf7

After the king retreats to f7, trying to bring the rook in to e8 by manually castling the king.

9.Qxc5 d6 10.Qc4+

I pick up the undefended bishop on c5 with my queen. He then tried to fend off my queen by playing d6, so I went Qc4+ to attack his king and return my queen to a safe square. (Black could've played d5 to stop the check, as he would have 2 defenders and I have 2 attackers. This move also comes with an attack on the queen.)

10...Kg6 

Another blunder sends his king to g6, where I push f5 with check.

11.f5+ Kh6 12.d3+ g5 

He does not do the best move of capturing with the bishop, but plays Kh6, which makes the king really unsafe. There is a line that would've had me promote my f pawn after Qf7, with an eventual queen sacrifice, but I did not see that during my game. Anyways, d3+, a discovered check from the bishop, then ..g5.

13.h4 Rg8

I try to attack the pinned pawn on g5 by playing h4. Black cannot capture h4 because of the pin, so he defends with Rg8. Stockfish says this gives white mate in 3 but as I am only rated around 1200 or so I couldn't see that, maybe someone else can give it a go as a puzzle here: https://imgur.com/a/sGNBn5k

Stockfish suggested 14.Qf7 Nh5 15.hxg5+ Rxg5 16.Rxh5# - Rick

14.hxg5+

After the rook move, I played hxg5+, forking the king and knight, with a double check from my h1 rook. He cannot recapture the pawn with anything, so the king is forced back to g7.

14...Kg7 


15.gxf6+ Kxf6

After Kg7, I captured on f6 with my g pawn, with a check on the black king, simply winning material. Qxf6 is the best move for black, making the piece active and gaining a pawn. However, my opponent played Kxf6, which leads to M11 (which I didn't see but we're not gonna talk about that).

The mate in 11 suggested by Stockfish is ridiculous: 16.Rxh7 Qe8 17.Nc3 Bxf5 18.Nd5+ Kg6 19.Qxc7 Bd7 20.Qxd6+ Qe6 21.Rh6+ Kf7 22.Rxe6 Bxe6 23.Qe7+ Kg6 24.Qxe6+ Kg7 25.Qf6+ Kh7 26.Qh6# AMcclafferty was playing a blitz game, and his practical choice of moves was to be preferred - Rick

16.Rh6+

I decided to play Rh6+, to try to make a checkmate. Stockfish says white is up 77 pawns, which is the highest I've ever seen, and I just thought it was cool.

16...Ke7 17.Rxh7+

After I moved my rook, he retreated his king to e7, Allowing my bishop to come into play, if I decided to. I thought this would win a queen, but forgot the rook on g8. It is still a recommended line but it leads to a slower checkmate than the move I did, which led to a mate in 2. I played Rxh7+, and after Kf6, I played Qd4. And it was in this position that white checkmated black.

17... Kf6 18.Qd4 checkmate

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