Jerome Gambit: The Endgame

Sometimes an attack leads to checkmate. Other times it leads to an avantage in material that must be converted in the endgame.

That is why even practitioners of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) need to keep working on their endgame skills (in addition to their attacking skills).

The following game is a good example. (It also probably shows the impact of time trouble.)

mahammadsadeghi - TheBeetles

10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

White has done well. He is ahead a Bishop and a pawn. He has blockaded his opponent's advanced passed pawn. He can advance and promote his own passed pawn, which his opponent will then have to give up his Rook for.

One possible concern: the clock.

66.Rh4+ 

This move wins (it leads to a checkmate in 15 moves) but you might ask, Why doesn't White simply advance and promote his h-pawn?

I think that he might have been concerned about the following line: 66.h7 Rf1+ 67.Kh2 Rxe1 68.h8=Q Rh1+! 69.Kxh1 e1=Q+ 70.Kh2 Qe5+! 71.Qxe5 stalemate. 

analysis diagram

It is helpful to remember Black's stategem of sacrificing the Rook (68...Rh1+) in order to draw the enemy King to the first/last rank, so that he can promote his pawn to a Queen with check.

There is a hole in this analysis, however, quite possibly due to time pressure. If, instead of promoting his pawn right away (68.h8=Q) White played the careful 68.Re3, he would have stopped the enemy passed pawn from promoting. Then it would be time to advance his own pawn and win.

Back to the game.

66...Kg5 67.Bf2

We can see that White is still worried about Black's Rook, so he keeps it off of the f1 square.

Indeed, if 67.h7 Rf1+ 68.Kh2 Rxe1 68.h8=Q Rh1+! 69.Kxh1e1=Q+ 70.Kh2 Qxh4+ 71.Qxh4+ Kxh4 the resulting King + pawn vs King ending is drawn.

analysis diagram

Nice, and tricky, but, again, there is a hole in the analysis - possibily due to time pressure - as White could play 69.Re4! instead of promoting his pawn, to stop the enemy passer first; and then win.

67... Rxh6 68. Rxh6 Kxh6 

White has lost his h-pawn, but exchanged Rooks. His Bishop can hold up the enemy pawn until the King arrives to capture it.

69.Kh2 Kg5 70.g4 

This looks like a mouse slip. If, instead, 70.g3, then White's King can approach the enemy pawn and eventually capture it: 70...Kf5 71.Kg2 Ke4 72.Be1 Ke3 72.Ba5 Ke4 73.Kf2 Kd3 74.Be1 Ke4 75.Kxe2.

analysis diagram

The Bishop has done a wonderful job, and now it will not be a complicated task to promote the g-pawn.

If you have followed this analysis, you might prefer the more direct 70.Kg3, with a similar result: 70...Kf5 71.Kf3 Ke5 72.Kxe2 Ke4 when 73.g3 would also lead to the above diagram, and a win for White.

Alas, losing the g-pawn is too much.

70... Kxg4 

71.Kg2 Kf4 72.Kg1 Kf3 73.Be1 Ke3 74.Kg2 Draw

White can not get to the pawn to capture it. 

Black's attempt to promote the pawn will always fail to Bxe1.