Jerome Gambit: An Exchange of Emails

Recently I had a nice email exchange with a Reader.

I’ve have been following your blog for a while now, so I considered myself prepared to deal with most lines within the Jerome. To my shock, my opponent proved me wrong with the Jerome’s Gambit declined. After the game, he told me that he opted to go for this line since it avoided the tricky positions of Jerome’s Gambit Accepted.

It lead to a simple open position, with white having a slight advantage. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

I was happy to respond.

The Jerome Gambit [declined] is rare, but it provides and interesting challenge to White, what to do when the defender doesn't want a "won" game by accepting a ton of material - starting with the bishop - and instead chooses to sacrifice a pawn (and his castling rights) to get out of White's plans.

My database (mostly online games by average club players) has 330 games with 4...Kf8, with White scoring 56%. This always requires interpretation, because The Database has 15,220 games with 4...Kxf7, with White scoring 46%. So, from a practical point of view, although the Jerome Gambit Declined hasn't scored impressively for the attacker, it has improved his results.

There are three general responses to 4...Kf8, and there is not a lot of practical experience to suggest a choice, it's more a question of personal preference (so it is worth having a response prepared).

Simplest is 5.Bxg8, getting rid of the bishop. It scores well (59%) but it is an exchange of a piece that moves 3 times for a piece that hasn't moved at all (although Black will have to use up a move to recapture). Also, that bishop can be quite useful if it's still on the board.

Withdrawing the bishop to d5 (67%), c4 (52%), or b3 (61%) keeps it alive, but, again, it's taken 3 moves to get settled. The compensation is a pawn and Black's king's lack of castling power. 

Finally, there is the let's-stir-things-up-further 5.Nxe5, which scored only 50%, but which certainly provides Black with many ways to go wrong.

Komodo 10, at 28 ply, prefers 5.Bb3 by 2/100ths of a pawn (!) over 5.Bd5 and rates White to be about 1 1/2 pawns better. (I suppose that means that it considers a displaced king as 1/2 of a pawn of liability. Interesting.)

My preference has been 5.Bb3. I am not convinced by 5.Bd5, as the bishop is immediately hit by 5...Nf6, and if I had wanted to exchange pieces I would have done it by 5.Bxg8. Also, the "threat" of 6.Bxc6 bxc6 7.Nxe5 is not very strong, as White's e-pawn will be at risk, too.

I haven't studied 5.Nxe5 enough, but, on the surface, it has the benefit of continuing along regular Jerome Gambit lines, and if Black ever captures the bishop, then the game has transposed, with Black a move down. The problem, however, is that after 5...Nxe5, if White continues with the normal 6.d4, looking for transposition, Black has 6...Bxd4 7.Qxd4 Nxf7, and Black seems to have improved his position above normal lines. I have only one game with 7...Nxf7, a win for Black.

In your game, your opponent was able to get his knight to capture at e5, but it was too late, as your bishop absconded to b3. After 7...Qe7, things looked quite messy for White, but there is no question that he was better, as you demonstrated.

I liked that you focused on castling and piece development. What was the time control of the game? Was it at lichess.org?

After 12...d6, material was even, and you had a slight development advantage. His king was no safer - I like that he then castled-by-hand.

You handled the tactics that followed well. Exchanging your bishop for his knight was a good idea - the pawn on g5 was weak, and you avoided a bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame, which is notoriously drawn. When his c7 pawn fell, it was clear that you were much better.

Very solid game, especially given that you were surprised by 4...Kf8. Thank you for sharing.

Here is the game.

Rao, Bradley - Anonymous

Chess.com, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kf8 5.Nxe5 Nf6 

A recent game showed Black capturing the Knight: 5... Nxe5 6.Qh5 Qf6 7.f3 Qxf7 8.Qxe5 d6 9.Qc3 Nf6 10.d4 Bb6 11.a4 a6 12.Na3 Bd7 13.Nc4 Ba7 14.Bg5 h6 15.Bh4 g5 16.Bg3 Kg7 17.e5 dxe5 18.Bxe5 Rhe8 19.O-O-O Kg8 20.Ne3 Bc6 21.Ng4 Nxg4 22.fxg4 Bxg2 23.Rhg1 Be4 24.Rgf1 Qe6 25.Qh3 Rad8 26.Rf6 Qc4 27.c3 Bxd4 28.Bxd4 Rxd4 29.Rxd4 White won on time, ianfencer - NathanKelly, 1 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020) 

6.d4 Nxe5 7.Bb3 Qe7 8.dxc5 h6 9.O-O Nxe4 

White is about to lose his pawn advantage, but Black's awkwardly placed King and Queen give the first player the advantage, which would be emphasized now by 10.Re1.

10.Be3 Nxc5 11.Nc3 Nxb3 12.axb3 d6 13.h3 Kg8 14.Qd5+ Kh7 15.Nb5 Rf8 16.Rfe1 a6 

White did not capture the a-pawn directly, so Black decided to defend it. The defender has castled-by-hand, and the game looks about even.

17.f4 Ng6 18.Bd2 Qf7 19.Qxf7 Rxf7 20.Re8 Nh4 21.Nc3 b6 22.Be1 Ng6 23.Bd2 Nh4 24.Kf2 Bb7 25.Rxa8 Bxa8 

26.g3 Nf3 27.Rxa6 Bc6 28.Be3 Ng5 29.g4 Nxh3+ 30.Kg3 Ng5 31.Ra7 Ne6 

32.f5 Ng5 33.Bxg5 hxg5 34.b4 Bh1 

A slip, allowing the win of a pawn.

35.Nb5 Bc6 36.Rxc7 Rxc7 37.Nxc7 Kh6 

White is a pawn up, but Komodo 10 evaluated the position as him being more than the equivalent of a Rook ahead. Why is that? Black's problem was that his pawns were all isolated and easy targets for the Knight. At the same time, Black's King could not leave the Kingside, so White's King could become more mobile.

What follows is a nice, technical win. 

38.c4 Bd7 39.b5 g6 40.f6 

Another problem: a passed pawn.

40...Kh7 41.Nd5 Kg8 42.Nxb6 Be6 43.Nd5 Kf7 44.b6 Bc8 45.Kf3 

White's King prepares to join the party.

45...Ba6 46.Ke4 Bb7 47.Kd4 Bc6 48.Kd3 Ba8 49.Nc7 Bc6 50.Nb5 Kxf6 51.Nxd6 Ke7

 

52.b7 Bxb7 53.Nxb7 Kd7 54.Nc5+ Kd6 55.Ne4+ Kc6 56.Kd4 Kb7 57.b4 Kc7 58.b5 Kb6 59.Kd5 Ka5 60.Kc5 Ka4 61.b6 Kb3 62.b7 Kb2 63.b8=Q+ Kc2 64.Kd5 Kc1 65.c5 Kc2 66.c6 Kc1 67.c7 Kc2 68.Qb4 Kc1 69.c8=Q+ Kd1 70.Qd2 checkmate