Jerome Gambit: Battle Between Pawns and Pieces

Chessfriend Dan Middlemiss continues to send me Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games that he discovers in his own search for Stafford Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nc6) games to add to his collection.

The following game is an interesting example of the Jerome battle between pawns and pieces.

payton321 - Jcht

3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Bd6 

Whenever I see this kind of move, I wonder if Black - in this 3-minute game - is drawing inspiration from the "fork trick" in the Italian Game. Choosing moves by analogy sometimes works, but not here.

8.d4 

As I pondered, earlier (see "Is he serious, or is he bluffing?")

Here come the pawns! Is White serious?

By the way, stronger at this point is 8.Qf5+. See "Jerome Gambit: Some Things Fall Apart" and  "Jerome Gambit: Ready".

8...Ng6 

The Knight seems more "helpful" here, instead of at c6. I think its best retreat, however, is 8...Nf7. 

9.f5+ Kf7 10. fxg6+ hxg6 11.Qxh8 Qe7 

Things have gotten out of hand quickly for Black. He is down the exchange and a pawn. Still, he has better development, and White's Queen looks like she might get stuck in the corner. White's King looks vulnerable, too.

12.O-O+ 

This takes care of part of the problem.

12...Ke6 

And this takes care of the rest.

Black's "best" was 12...Nf6 but White's pressure on that piece will be unrelenting: 13.Bg5 Qf8 14.Qh7 Ke8 15.Qh4 Bb4 16.a3 Ba5 17.e5.

13.d5+ 

There was also 13.Qh3 mate, but White chooses his own way to win - often the watchwords in blitz are When in doubt, grab material.

13...Ke5 14.Qxg8 

Instead, 14.Qh3 led to a checkmate in 11 moves, but this one was effective enough, as here 

Black resigned 

(Once again, notice the difficulty that Black has with his development: his Bishop blocks the pawn which blocks the Bishop which locks in the Rook. Typical Jerome Gambit.)