Jerome Gambit: What to Do?

 

I recently received three Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games from Andrey. The first game reached the following interesting position.

My first thought was that White could continue aggressively. I looked at 26.f6, but it soon became clear that 26...Qh4+ 27.Kg1 Qxf6 28.Qxf6 gxf6 would reach a Bishops-of-opposite colors endgame which would be drawn, despite Black's extra pawn.

Andrey's try was even more aggressive, but had a weakness.

26.Bh6 Qxc2+ 

Showing that White did not have time for his attack.

27.Ke3 Qe4+ 28. Kf2 Qc2+ 29.Ke1 Qxg2 

Black could have tossed in 29...Qb1+ 30.Kf2 Qxb2+ and picked up another pawn.

There is no hope for White in exchanging Queens here, as his pawn on f5 would soon fall, leaving Black up 3 pawns in a Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame that would be very hard to draw.

30.Qe8+ Kh7 31.Bd2 32.Ke2 Qxh2+ 33.Kd3 Qh3+ 34.Ke2 Qxf5 35.Kd1 Bb3+ 36.Kc1 Qc2 checkmate

Is that it? Is this a fair outcome for all of Andrey's hard work?

No, there is more. 

He could have tried 26.c3.

What does the move do?

For starters, it takes away the check (and the gain of a pawn) associated with a possible 26...Qc2. Of course, that move is possible, but White then takes advantage of the fact that the square e8 is no longer protected to play 27.Qe8+ Kh7 28.Qh5+ etc. drawing.

Black can try another Queen move with check, 26...Qh4+ but 27.Qg3, offering to move into a drawn endgame, is a good response.

In fact, it is now difficult to find any move that leads to an advantage for Black.

Interesting is 26...Bf7, but White's 27.Qg5 suddenly makes f5-f6 a real threat, so Black has to respond 27...Qb5. Then there is the hope to hit the g7 pawn another way with 28.h4, but Black has a counter: 28...Be8 29.h5 Bd7 30.g4 Qb6+ and 31.Qe3 Qxb2 32.h6 gxh6 33.Qxh6 Qb6 seems to give Black too many checks to allow White to advance his passed pawns.

So that's it? Andrey's muscle-bound Jerome Gambit fizzes out to a draw?

Actually, not yet. Take a look at the following position from the game, after Black's 20th move.

Now his 21.Bh6! would be winning. Then 21...Rxf1+ (the only move putting off checkmate) 22.Rxf1 Rg8 (ditto) 23.Re1 leaves Black gasping for a defense. White has Qg6+ coming, followed by f5-f6 and Black's King's shelter will collapse, leading White to a position where he is the exchange and a pawn or two better.