Jerome Gambit: Good News, Bad News, Good News (Part 1)

As always, there is "good news" and "bad news".

The "good news" is that I won a second Jerome Gambit game in the second round of the "Piano Piano" tournament at Chess.com, giving me a record of 2 wins and 2 losses with the opening.

The "bad news" is that both wins were on time, in 4 moves.

But, then, finally, I was able to win in the regular way - as much as wins with the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) are "regular" in any way.

perrypawnpusher - vs33

3 d/move, "Piano Piano" tournament, Chess.com, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Ng6 

The plan behind this move is clear: Black saves his Knight; his Bishop is already protected. It is not the best plan, however, as illustrated by the 61 games in The Database with 8...Ng6; White scores 70%. (My own record before this game was 7 - 1.)

Like many defenders, Black appears to be unfamiliar with the Jerome Gambit. Otherwise, he might have abandoned his Knight with 8...Kc6, instead, which is the best move.

9.Qd5+ Ke7 10.Qxc5+ d6 

Black played 10...Ke8 in perrypawnpusher - parlance, 5 10 blitz, FICS, 2011 (0-1, 22). In that game, I was doing okay until I allowed my Queen to become trapped.

11.Qe3 Nf6 

The position is about even. Compared to the 6...Ng6 variation, in this game White is a tempo ahead, as it is his move, not Black's: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+ Ke7 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6 10.f4.

I have faced other moves:

11...Kf8 in perrypawnpusher - Valseg, 5 12 blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 39);

11...Be6 in perrypawnpusher - MrNatewood, blitz, 12 0 blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 12); and

11...Bd7 in perrypawnpusher - GabrielChime, 12 0 blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 29)

12.O-O 

I have also tried 12.d4, as in perrypawnpusher - thinan, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 31) 

12...Ng4 

Black has aggressive intentions.

I have also seen 12...Re8 in perrypawnpusher - tjaksi, blitz, 10 3 blitz, FICS, 2014 (1-0, 18) and 12...Rf8 in perrypawnpusher - grosshirn, 2 19 blitz, FICS, 2016 (1-0, 24) 

13.Qg3 h5 

Wow. He isn't kidding.

After the game Stockfish 14 had the odd suggestion 13...Ke8 14.f5 Qh4 15.Qxh4 Nxh4 16.Nc3 Nf6 17.d3 Kf7 18.Bg5 Nxf5 19.exf5 Bd7 with the advantage to White, so maybe my opponent was right to attack.

I also had a thematic attack available.

[to be continued]