Players are drawn to the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) because of the promise of sharp play and quick wins. One of the best ways of achieving that outcome is to know which early moves by Black can lead to immediate punishment - and how to deliver that punishment.
I have been warning Readers about the following variation for over a dozen years (see "Jerome Gambit and The Perfesser (Part I)") that there are concrete steps that can be taken to bring the game to a successful conclusion.
Yet, the following game, a win, brings to an end a 7-game losing streak for White, according to The Database. Hence, this post.
TePart0 - dmjjmd
3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
This move has been faced by many Jerome Gambit players, including angelcamina, chessmanjeff, drumme, DutchLiLi, fehim, MrJoker, Perfesser, perrypawnpusher, Petasluk, shugart, UNPREDICTABLE, vlastous, Wall, and ZahariSokolov.
It appears in 89 games in The Database, with White scoring 76%.
As I mentioned in "Ghost of Compensation"
This is an example of the defender relaxing a bit too soon. Certainly he should feel confident, as he is two pieces ahead. He has every reason to believe that White, having played foolishly, will continue in his bizarre ways. Yet, a bit of care in analyzing the position would have shown that the attacker can now regain significant material.
and again, in "Give the Jerome Gambit A Little Respect"
Ahead by two pieces, Black is too casual in his reply. (He can protect his Knight with 6...Ke6; or dodge the check with 6...Kf8; or block the check with 6...g6 or 6...Ng6; in each case with good prospects.)
The Jerome Gambit has a number of refutations, and while it does not command a lot of respect, it should receive at least a little
7.f4
This is a very Jerome-ish move, attacking the Knight and threatening the Bishop, should the Knight move. In addition, White sets up the threat of Qg5+, an x-ray attack through the enemy King to the enemy Queen.
Yet, it is not the best.
Who can forget the surrender, almost 2 decades ago, of Chickenbrain in his blitz game at FICS, in 2002: 7.Qf5+ Black resigned.
Once again a familiar position can be reached after 7.Qf5+ Ke7 8.Qxe5+ Kf8 9.Qxc5+ d6 10.Qe3 and White has recovered his two sacrificed pieces.
7...Bd6
One of the reasons the Jerome Gambit is gaining in popularity is that even though it is considered "refuted", it inspires equally unbalanced responses that can then be taken advantage of.
A couple of responses faced by a club player we have been covering (see "Jerome Gambit: Quo Vadis?" "Jerome Gambit: Chess Is An Easy Game, After All" and "The Jerome Gambit Is For Club Players") are
7...d6 8.fxe5+ (8.Qg5+!) 8...Ke7 (8...dxe5? 9.c3? [9.Rf1+ Ke6 10.Qf7+ Kd6 11.Qd5+ Ke7 12.Qxc5+ Qd6 13.Qc3] 9...g6 10.Rf1+ Ke6? 11.d4 gxh5 12.d5+ White resigned, Intercrosse - jdebettenco1, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021) 9.c3 g6 10.Qe2 dxe5 11.b4 (11.d4) 11...Bb6 12.Ba3 Nf6 13.c4 c6 14.c5 Bc7 15.O-O Rf8 16.Bb2 Nd7 17.d4 Rxf1+ 18.Kxf1 Qf8+ 19.Kg1 Qf4 (19...exd4) 20.dxe5 (20.d5) 20...Nxe5 21.Nd2 Bg4 22.Bxe5 Bxe5 23.Nf3 Bxa1 White resigned, Intercrosse - shyqrish, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020; and
7... g6 8.Qxe5+ Kf7 9.Qxc5 d6 10.Qc3 Ne7 11.O-O Rf8 12.b3 Nc6 13.Bb2 Ke8 14.d3 Qh4 15.Nd2 Rxf4 16.Rxf4 Qxf4 17.Rf1 Qe3+ 18.Kh1 Bd7 19.Qh8+ Ke7 20.Qg7+ Kd8 21.Rf8+ Be8 22.Qf6+ Kd7 23.Nf3 Rd8 24.Qh8 Qh6 25.Bf6 Ne7 26.Nd4 Qc1 checkmate, Intercrosse - mpumsi_msubath, lichess.org, 2021
8.fxe5+
One measure of how troubled Black's last move was is that this move by White is rated by Stockfish 13 as stronger than simply winning the Queen with either 8.Qg5+ or 8.Qh4+.
8...Bxe5 9.d4
Re-establishing the threat to win Black's Queen (and unfortunately missing the fun 9.O-O+ Bf4 10.Rxf4+ Ke6 11.Qd5+ Ke7 12.Qe5 checkmate).
Black resigned
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