Modern Guide to Gambits

Wow!

Nikolai Kalinichenko, a correspondence grandmaster, has written The Club Player's Modern Guide To Gambits: Fighting Chess from the Get-go (Russell Enterprises, 2019).

I was excited, and, since his focus was on "club players", and he was looking at "fighting chess from the get-go" I could not wait to see what he had written on the Jerome Gambit.

Checking out the table of contents, I was pleased to see that his list of gambits included some of the offbeat gambits, such as the Cochrane Gambit, the Latvian Gambit, the Sicilian Wing Gambit, the Icelandic Gambit, the von Hennig-Schara Gambit, the Englund Gambit, and even the Blackmar Diemer Gambit.

Alas, no Jerome Gambit.

Even if it had been a chapter on "How to Defeat the Jerome Gambit", it would have been interesting and welcome. (I guess you will have to settle for the blog posts "An International Master Refutes the Jerome Gambit" and "A GM Faces the Jerome Gambit [Part 1 and 2]").

Oh, well, maybe next time.

More Jerome Gambit Fun

I have followed the games of different players online, for years. One is chessmanjeff, who enjoys the Jerome Gambit, and has battled in many of its variations.

I thought I'd share a recent game of his, as it touches on the Jerome Gambit Declined - a relatively rare variation, true, but one that has nagged me over the years, for some odd reason (see "Jerome Gambit Declined: Grumping,Yet", check out the links, check out the links on the linked pages...)

The pieces in the following game fly over the board in odd ways, like a group of acrobats who have a whole lot of energy to burn.

chessmanjeff - fabttt
5 0 blitz, FICS, 2019


1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bxf7+ Ke7 

The Jerome Gambit Declined. Seen more often is 4...Kf8, which does not block the action of Black's Queen.

5.d4

Every computer suggests that White retreat the Queen with 5.Bd5, 5.Bc4, or 5.Bb3, but chessmanjeff wants to complicate things and open lines - which makes for a livelier 5-minute game.

5...Nxd4 6.Nxe5 Nf6 7.c3 Nb5

Certainly returning to c6 was stronger, but Komodo 10 follows that suggestion up with some spirited play, leading to a draw by repetition: 7...Nc6 8.f4 d6 9.Nxc6+ bxc6 10.Bh5 Nxe4 11.Qe2 Kf8 12.Bf3 Nf2 13.b4 Bb6 14.Rf1 Kf7 15.Bxc6 Bg4 16.Qc4+ Be6 17.Qb5 a6 18.Qe2 Bg4 19.Qc4+ Be6 20.Qe2 etc. Computers, fairly often, see White as willing to grab any chance it can get for a draw in the Jerome Gambit.

8.Bb3 d6 9.Nf7 Qe8 10.Nxh8 Nxe4 11.O-O Qxh8 

White's Bishop and Knight have had fun together. Soon it will be Black's Bishop's and Knight's turn.

12.Re1 Bf5 13.Qd5 Bxf2+ 14.Kh1 Bxe1 15.Qxf5 Nf2+ 

16.Kg1 Rf8

The Rook wants to join in the fun (are all of Black's pieces developed?) but it overlooks impending danger.

17.Bg5+ Ke8 18.Qe6 checkmate

Oh.

Jerome Gambit Fun

I have been playing through new and unexamined games in the updated The Database. There are many entertaining and educational games - and one player (among many) who caught my eye was DANNYALBERTO, at FICS. He shows up mostly with Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambits (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+) with the occasional Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+) thrown in, from 2015 to the present. (He scores a very decent 64%.)

Check out the following end-of-the-game positions, just a few among many. The kind of fun that they represent is what draws many club players to the Jerome Gambit and various Jerome-ish lines.

DANNYALBERTO - Tseatsy, blitz, FICS, 2016

DANNYALBERTO - boggus, blitz, FICS 2016

DANNYALBERTO - NightEagle, blitz, FICS, 2017

DANNYALBERTO - fluters, blitz, FICS, 2019