In the following 3-minute blitz Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game, Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura fearlessly enters a dangerous line of play and skillfully manages a balance of attack and defense to take the full point.
GMHikaruOnTwitch - 30second-guy
3 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Qh4
I don't have an official name for this line of play, first seen, according to The Database, in Sorensen - X, Denmark, 1888 (1-0, 27), but I have referred to it as a "pie-in-the-face variation" for obvious reasons. If White is expecting either enemy piece to retreat from the center and save itself, he has to find the Queen excursion - usually the territory of White in the Jerome Gambit - to be somewhat of a humorous, if dangerous, surprise.
7.O-O Qxe4 8.dxc5 Nf6 9.Nc3 Qf5
You can already imagine which Black Knight is planning to move to g4 to help deliver checkmate by the Queen at h2.
10.Nb5
If a student played this move, his teacher would no doubt consider him insolent. While the move does not "save" the game, it is considered best by Stockfish 13, and it packs a lot of psychological impact - White is not going to cower in response to the impending counter-attack.
10...b6 11.Nxc7 Bb7 12.f4
Encouraging the Knight along its way, but dangerous, nonetheless, as Black now has 12...Nf3+! 13.gxf3 Qxc5+ 14.Be3 Qxc7 winning a pawn, breaking up White's Kingside and getting rid of that pesky Knight. However, this is a 3-minute game, and not every tactic is visible.
12...Neg4
13.b4
Sangfroid.
13...Rac8 14.Nb5 Qh5
White's position might look resignable, but he now actually has the advantage!
As F. Scott Fitzgerald did not say, "Grandmasters, they are different from you and me."
To which Ernest Hemmingway did not respond "Yes, they have more Jerome pawns."
15.Nd6+ Kf8 16.h3 bxc5 17.Nxb7
Black was expecting - or hoping for - 17.bxc5 Qxc5+ 18.Kh1 Nf2+ 19.Rxf2 Qxf2.
17... cxb4 18.hxg4 Nxg4
White has gone ahead in material, but his King still is under great pressure. There is a solution: Attack!
19.Qd6+ Kg8 20.f5
Uncovering the Queen's protection of the h2 square.
20...Rc6 21.Qd5+ Kf8 22.Bf4 Rh6
Attacking until the end, and offering the opportunity for the unfortunate blunder 23.Bxh6? Qh2#. However, White has things well in hand.
23.Bd6+ Ke8 24.Rae1+ Re6 25.Rxe6+ Kf7 26.Rh6+ Ke8 27.Re1+ Ne5 28.Rxe5 checkmate
Beautiful.
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