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
On the surface, the following Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit is clear enough: White plays a recommended 8th move and checkmates his opponent on move 13. Yet, a peek at the notes - at what could have been played - is a bit head-spinning. The game turns out to have been a suspension bridge over churning, raging waters.
foko - borodin
FICS, 2019
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4
The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.
4.Bxf7+
The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.c3
Probably the strongest continuation for White.
6...Kxe5 7.cxd4+ Kxd4
Black's pawn capture is risky; he would do better to head to safety with 7...Ke6. Still, with the move Black throws down the gauntlet: Can you punish me for this pawn grab?
8.Qb3
White has tried 8.d3 (see here, here, here and here), as well as 8.Nc3. I have recommended 8.Qb3, but it had remained unplayed - until it was seen 3 times in The Database in 2019.
Although Black's King looks vulnerable, play can become complicated, and White needs to realize that often his Queen has to go to f7 to help tighten a checkmating net. Earlier in the year, foko had played 8.Qb3 against sabishii in a standard FICS game, and after many changes of fortune, Black finally won in 55 moves.
I have to admit, I would probably play 8.d3 the next time I faced this line.
8...Ke5 9.Qd5+
Stockfish 10 likes 9.Qf7, while Komodo 10 likes 9.d4+ Kf6 (9...Kxd4 10.Qd5#; 9...Kxe4 10.Qf3+ Kxd4 11.Qf5 d5 12.Be3+ Kc4 13.Na3+ Kb4 14.Qd3 Qe8 15.Qc3+ Ka4 16.b3+ Kxa3 17.Qa5+ Kb2 18.Rb1+ Kxb1 19.Kd2+ Kb2 20.Bd4#) 10.Qf3+. Both agree that the text gives Black a slight edge.
9...Kf6
10.d4
More solid was 10.d3.
Leading to wacky complications - not a quick draw by repetition - is 10.Qf5+, e.g. 10...Ke7 11.Qe5+ Kf7 12.Qd5+ Ke8 13.Qh5+ g6 14.Qe5+ Qe7 15.Qxh8 Qxe4+ 16.Kd1 Qxg2 17.Re1+ Kf7 18.Qxh7+ Bg7 19.Qh4 Qf3+ 20.Kc2 Qc6+ 21.Nc3 d5 22.Qb4 Be6 and perhaps Black has an edge...
10...Qe8
This clears things up. Black could have lurched ahead with 10...Ne7.
11.Bg5+ Kg6 12.Qf5+ Kh5 13.g4 checkmate
Sometimes the Jerome Gambit results in a tactical explosion that clearly wins the game. Other times, as in the following encounter, it leads to positions where an observer might muse "Sure, okay, but that's just a little thing, right, how can it lead to a loss?" The little things add up.
Wall, Bill - Guest7121133
PlayChess.com, 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6
Bill is 8 - 0 from this standard position, which goes back at least as far as Charlick - Mann, corresponcence, Australia, 1881 (1-0, 72). The Database has 196 games with this position, with White scoring 71%.
10.d4 Rf8 11.O-O Rf7
It probably would have been more prudent for Black to have castled-by-hand with 11...Kf7 and 12...Kg8.
12.Nc3 Bd7 13.f4 Ng4
After White's Queen has made so many early moves - Qh5, Qd5, Qxc5, Qe3 - it might seem logical to "punish" her for those misdeeds; but, by wasting a tempo here and there, Black seems to actually reward such sallying.
14.Qe2 a6
This looks like a waste of time. It is enjoyable to see the recommendation of Komodo 10 (26 ply): 14...Qf6 15.Qd3 Qh4 16.h3 Nf6 17.f5 Ne7 18.Bd2 Kf8 19.Rf4 Qg5 20.Rf2 Qh4 21.Rf4, etc, draw. I have pointed out before that computer engines seem to think so little of White's play in the Jerome Gambit that they grab a chance for the first player to force a draw by repetition, salvaging a half point, whenever possible. I doubt that Bill would have gone along with such a plan.
15.f5 Qh4 16.h3
The Knight must retreat, and Black must surrender a piece. He would do it best with the straight forward 16...Nf6 17.fxg6 hxg6, with advantage to White.
16...Nh6
This gives White too much along the f-file.
17.fxg6 Rxf1+ 18.Qxf1 b5 19.Bxh6 Black resigned
