Jerome Gambit: Filling

Past, light-hearted views of the future often included the idea of compressed food - a whole meal with a variety of foods, all in one tiny pill.

The following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game is a down-to-earth similarity. Who would have guessed that a 1-minute bullet game would be so filling?

Enjoy, but consume slowly to appreciate.

Static27o - kahaqqani

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

This line appears frequently - there are 3,747 examples in The Database. White scores 56%. [These appear to be the accurate numbers. For some reason I got them mixed up in the earlier post "Jerome Gambit: In the End, It Was the Pawns (Part 1)"]

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6 

10.O-O 

Static27o has the right idea, getting his King off the e-file. The danger is lessened when White has played Jerome's "nudge" 7.Qd5+ (Jerome - Brownson, Iowa, 1875) as above, but White will need to castle at some point, so it is a move well-played in bullet.

10...Kf7 11.f4 Re8 

White puts his faith in his central "Jerome pawns", Black in his Rook on the e-file.

12.f5 Rxe4 

An oversight, but a very understandable one. White has already shown that he plays fast-and-loose with the basics of "good" chess by playing the Jerome Gambit. Surely, he has overlooked the capture of his e-pawn? This is a reasonable assessment for thinking in a bullet game.

But, it is wrong. Statich27o either knows a whole lot about the Jerome, or his tactical skills are finely honed.

Black should have tried 12...Ne5, when 13.d4 would have followed in the footsteps of Vazquez - Carrington, 2nd match, 1876 (1-0, 34).

13.Qb3+ 

The primacy of check. White's Queen escapes danger.

Another way, but probably one that demanded more thinking time, was 13.fxg6+ Kg8 (13...Kxg6, unpinning the Knight which protects the Rook, falls to 14.Rxf6+ followed by 15.Qxe4) 14.gxh7+ Kh8 (not 14...Kxh7, when 15.Qd3 would pin the Rook to the King, threatening to win it with 16.Nc3; in the meantime, White would retain the threat of Rxf6) 15.Qf2.

13...d5 14.fxg6+ hxg6 15.Nc3 

Stockfish 14 give White an edge here. With a safer King, I think he would find his position easier to play.

15...Qh8 

This move is hard to explain. It could be an oversight, it could be that with the annoying pins against his pieces, Black decided to abandon the Rook. It also could be the clock.

There was something to say for 15...Re5 16.d4 Re8 17.Nxd5 Be6 18.c4 Bxd5 19.cxd5 Qd6 although White would still be better.

16.Qxd5+ 

Certainly good enough, although 16.Nxe4 would have taken full advantage of the pins.

16...Re6 17.Ne4 c6 18.Qb3 Ke7 

Freedom from the pins.

White turns to some "normal" moves to complete his development.

19.Nxf6 gxf6 20.d3 Re5 21.Bf4 Rh5 

Possibly under the impression that the enemy King is in danger - or maybe it is the only chance left? White quickly shows the true picture.

22.Rae1+ Kd7 23.Qf7+ Kd8 24.Qc7 checkmate

If you would like to cross swords with Static270, you can catch him at his online club.