The Jerome Gambit Is For Club Players

The Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bxf7+) is for club players.

Sometimes a master or a grandmaster will try it - especially in a blitz game - mostly for entertainment purposes (see "Jerome Gambit: All In Good Fun" and "Jerome Gambit: GM vs GM!?" for examples), but they are most likely to do so with a bit of whimsey and tongue-in-cheek.

On the other hand, while the "official" birth of the Jerome dates back to published analysis in the Dubuque Chess Journal of April 1874, the opening has been "discovered" a number of times since by club players who had a taste for wild attack, without any awareness of what work had gone before them. See "A Small Clue to Follow" and "A New Opening?" for examples.

The following game is another in a series of posts looking at a Jerome Gambit variation through the eyes - and games - of a club player who clearly enjoys the opening: the good, the bad, and of course, the ugly.

Intercrosse - afchs

3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bxf7+  

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Ng6 

This is different than what we saw in Intercrosse - Udit00, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020 (1-0, 12), where Black tried 7...Nf6.

The text is a reasonable way to return one of the sacrificed pieces, so I was surprised to find only 32 games with this position in The Database. After all, The Database contains almost 16,550 games with 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bxf7+.

8.Qd5+  

White has several interesting alternatives, each showing that despite what Stockfish 13 may say, the first player has good practical chances.

With 8.f5+, White has scored 4 - 1, although with best play on both sides he doesn't quite get somewhere, if Black can untangle himself, e.g. 8...Ke7 9.fxg6 d6 10.e5 Qe8 11.d4 Bb6 12.Nc3 Qxg6 13.Qxg6 hxg6 14.0-0-0

White has scored 7 - 3 with 8.Qf5+ arriving at a familiar position where he has 2 healthy "Jerome pawns" against Black's extra piece, e.g. 8...Kd6 (8...Ke7 9.Qxc5+ d6 10.Qe3 transposes) 9.Qd5+ Ke7 10.Qxc5+ d6 11.Qe3. 

8.Qxc5, directly, has scored 7 - 2, and despite appearances (and Stockfish 13's sense that it leads to a balanced game) can lead to some very complicated play, for example 8...d6 9.f5!?. Intercrosse met success after 8....d6 9.Qb4 Qh4+ 10.g3 Qf6 (10...Qh3!?) 11.0-0 (11.f5+!?) Ke2 12.d4 c6? (12...Kd8) 13.e5 Nxe5 14.fxe5 Black resigned, Intercrosse - jordan508, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020.

8.c3 saw the game end quickly, and not in a good way: 8...Qh4+, White resigned, Intercrosse - MeliksahHarden, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020. After the exchange of Queens, White's two extra pawns do not compensate for Black's two extra pieces.

The move in the game has scored 5 - 2. While it is Stockfish 13's third choice (by about 1/2 a pawn) it was the choice of Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura in his 3 0 blitz game, GMHikaruOnTwitch - Damwon, Chess.com, 2021 (1-0, 29)

8...Kf6

Wouldn't you know, I go through all that serious work (above) and afchs tosses it all in the trash bin right away. Instead, with 8...Ke7 9. Qxc5+ d6 10.Qe3 he would have the pull that many defenders of the Jerome Gambit have.

Reminder: this is a 3-minute blitz game.

9.Qxc5 

Ouch. Another example of the "equalizing injustice of chess". Instead, 9.Qg5+ would have led to the win of the Queen. Nobody expects such gifts, but it is always good to keep an eye out for one.

Reminder: this is a 3-minute blitz game. 

9...Nxf4 

White was given a second chance with 9...d6 in Intercrosse - Newtrix, lichess.org, 2021, (0-1, 42).

The text returns the second of the sacrificed pieces. Black could have held on, instead, with 9...Kf7 10.Nc3 Nf6 11.f5 Ne7 12.d3 Re8

10.O-O 

You know you are doing well when you can play this kind of move: defends, attacks and intimidates.

10..g5 11.g3  

Happy with winning the Knight. There was also 11.Qc3+ Kg6 12.Qxh8 but that wasn't necessary. (Yes, the Queen can escape from the corner.) 

11...d6 12.Qc3+ Kg6 13.gxf4 

See the above note. 

13...gxf4 

See the above note.

14.Qxh8 Black resigned