Jerome Gambit: Beware Free Hugs

I was recently challenged to a game by an online player new to, and excited about, the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+). He took White, and I decided to play my favorite defense, although, in retrospect, I could have chosen something that would have allowed him to bash me all over the board...

Anyhow, I probably should have suggested "Jerome Gambit: What About the Rook?" as pre-game precautionary reading.  

 NN - perrypawnpusher

Chess.com, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 

This move often leads to either the Blackburne or Whistler Defense, and in either case there will be a dangerous offer of a Rook.

7.Qxe5 Qe7 

Whistler's Defense.

8.Qxh8 

I have touched upon the dangers of this move in the aptly titled post "There Are Some Risks We Should Not Take."

8...Qxe4+ 9.Kf1 Qh4 

I recommended this move in a blog post about 6 years ago. According to The Database it has been played only twice, since, with effect.

A couple of years ago I saw it in analysis in one of the Hindi Chess Videos - see "Jerome Gambit: Interesting Sideline".

10.g3 Qh3+ 11.Kg1 Qe6 

A blunder, after which the game should only be drawn. Instead, 11...b6 (or 11...b5) would lead to checkmate, once Black's Bishop gets on the a8-h1 diagonal.

Also seen: 

11...d5 12.Qe5 Bd6 13.Qxd5+ Be6 14.Qf3+ Nf6 15.Qg2 Qh5 16.Nc3 c6 17.d3 Bh3 18.Be3 Bxg2 19.Kxg2 Re8 20.Rae1 Nd5 21.Nxd5 Qxd5+ 22.Kg1 Bc5 23.b3 Qf3 24.h4 Bxe3 25.fxe3 Rxe3 26.Rxe3 Qxe3+ 27.Kh2 Qf2+ 28.Kh3 h5 29.Rh2 Qf1+ 30.Rg2 Kf6 31.d4 Kf5 32.Kh2 Kg4 33.c3 Kf3 34.Rc2 Qd3 35.Rg2 Qxc3 36.g4 Qxd4 37.gxh5 Qxh4+ 38.Kg1 gxh5 39.a4 Qe1+ 40.Kh2 h4 41.a5 Qf1 42.Rc2 Qe1 43.Rg2 h3 44.Rc2 Qg3+ 45.Kh1 Kg4 46.b4 Qf3+ 47.Kh2 Qf4+ 48.Kh1 Qe4+ White resigned, ZahariSokolov - MadonnaFn, FICS, 2015; and

11...b512.d4 Bb7 13.Qxh7+ Qxh7 14.Nd2 Qh3 15.f3 Bxd4 checkmate, ZahariSokolov - ekwador, FICS, 2017. 

12.Kg2 

I was shocked to see this move (the time control was 3 days per move, so the play was not continuous) because I had set the position up wrong, and thought that my opponent had played 11.Ke1, not 11.Kg1.

Instead of the text, White had 12.Qxh7+ Kf8 13.d4, forcing Black to consider a draw by repetition, e.g. 13...Qe1+ 14.Kg2 Qe4+ 15.Kg1 Qe1+ etc. Otherwise, Black can play on, down the exchange and a pawn.

Now Black can force checkmate.

12...Qe4+ 13.Kg1 

Or 13.Kf1 Qxh1+ 14.Ke2 Qe4+ 15.Kf1 d5 16.Qxh7+ Kf8 17.Qxc7 Qh1+ 18.Ke2 Bg4+ 19.Kd3 Qf3 checkmate

Or 13.Kh3 d5+ 14.g4 Qxg4 checkmate

13...Qe1+ 14.Kg2 Qxf2+ 15.Kh3 d5+ 16.Kh4 Be7+ 17.Qf6+ Bxf6 checkmate

Now, I get to play the Jerome. I wonder what defense he will play?

Happy Birthday to Me

Sharp-eyed Readers may have noticed that I have recently changed my photograph in the "About Me" section of this blog. The sweatshirt is a birthday gift from my son, Jon, and daughter-in-law, Himani. So, when it comes to the Jerome Gambit, I not only wear my heart on my sleeve, I gladly wear the moves on my chest.

Jerome Gambit: Analysis or Game?

Following up on the previous post, I want to take another dive into the Jerome Gambit archives.

Cheltenham Examiner

Wednesday February 21, 1906 page 6 

[Chess notation changed to algebraic] 

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

This gambit is an American invention (though the actual moves may have been tried before America was discovered, or soon after. But the first-known analysis of their effects was American). It is unsound, but a suitable opening for the better of two players - having the attack - if he wants amusement, or to handicap himself slightly. After ...Kxf7 White could reply 5.d4, to bring his Bishop into action, but this is not as good as  

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 

Black can play ...Ke6 or ...Kf8. The latter gives him a safe game, but ...Ke6 should win also, though it often loses when Black is a weak player. That is, often in proportion to the number of games played at this opening, which number is small. Black won the following 

6.Qh5+ Ke6 

6...Ng6 can be safely played instead, with care. 

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.d4 Bxd4 9.Na3 c6 10.c3 Qf6 11.cxd4 Qxf5 12.exf5 Nf7 13.Bf4+ Ke7

It is always interesting to note under which conditions the Jerome Gambit is considered "playable".

The suggestion, above, of 5...Kf8, is as old as Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's analysis in the March 1874 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal; and first played in Jerome - Brownson, Iowa, 1875 (1/2 - 1/2, 29).

However, the Cheltenham Examiner article has the first - and only, so far as I have found - recommendation that I have seen for 5...Ke6. The writer's assessment that the move "should win" is a bit optimistic, if White finds 6.Qg4+ Kxe5 7.d4+ Bxd4 8.Bf4+ Kf6 9.Bg5+ Kf7 10.Bxd8, when Black has 3 pieces for a Queen and a pawn, in a complicated position - see  Wall,Bill - Guest4105968, PlayChess.com, 2018 (1/2 - 1/2, 50).

Also, the note that "Black won the following" suggests that the line is from a game, not mere analysis (see "Jerome Gambit: Poetry or Prose?"). To date, I haven't found such a game. More research ahead!

Jerome Gambit: Poetry or Prose?

I recently ran across a copy of  Chess: Its Poetry and Its Prose A Practical and Theoretical Treatise on the Arts of Composing and Solving Chess Problems, with Numerous Illus., Diagrams, Containing Essays on the Principles of Porblem Composition, Practical Composition, the Art of Solving, with Solutions and Critical and Explanatory Notes, Also Elementary Instructions for Beginners by Arthur Ford Mackenzie (1887).

In a short section titled "Glimpses of the Openings" I found 10 openings mentioned, and was pleased to see that the Jerome Gambit was one of them. I have changed the notation from descriptive to algebraic.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

This move constitutes the gambit. It is the invention of an American, whose name it bears. The sacrifice of the Bishop is unsound if Black play properly, but, to an inexperienced player, defeat follows in most cases very rapidly.

4...Kxf7 

Of course it is correct to capture the Bishop, and the game will probably proceed thus:

5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

Best.

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.d4 Bxd4 9.Na3 c6 10.c3 Qf6 11.cxd4 Qxf5 12.exf5 Nf7 13.Bf4+ Ke7 

and Black is now out of all immediate danger, and is numerically much stronger than White.

It is relevant to mention that MacKenzie notes

Valuable works are Cook's Synopsis of the Chess Openings, and Horowitz' Chess Studies and End-games.

Indeed, the line of analysis above comes directly from Cook's Synopsis (1882, 1884) - which, in turn, was taken from S.A. Sorensen's seminal Jerome Gambit article in the May 1877 issue of Nordisk Skaktidende.

I, for one, would like to think of the Jerome Gambit as poetry, rather than prose, although, in all fairness, it is more likely doggerel than sonnet.

Jerome Gambit: Ready

If Black is unfamiliar with the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) he may deploy a whole variety of defenses that have quick refutations. It is useful for the Gambiteer to know how to meet them, and be ready to finish the game powerfully.

The following game is one such example.

Wall, Bill - Guest1850067

PlayChess.com, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.f4 Bd6 

Hoping to protect the Knight, but that only leads to greater difficulties. He needed to play 7...Qf6 or 7...d6.

8.Qf5+ Ke7 9.fxe5 Bc5 

Bill has also seen:

9...Nh6 10.exd6+ Kxd6 11.Qd5+ Ke7 12.0–0 c6 13.Qe5 checkmate, Wall,Bill - Christopher, FICS, 2010; and

9...Bb4 10.c3 Ba5 11.Qg5+ Ke8 12.Qxg7 Black resigned, Wall,Bill - Guest3669889, PlayChess.com, 2013.

10.d4 Bxd4 11.Bg5+ Black resigned

Black will lose his Queen.

Hoping to lose only his Knight leads to greater problems: 11...Nf6 12.Bxf6+ gxf6 (otherwise the Queen will be lost) 13.Qxf6+ Ke8 14.Qxh8+ Ke7 15.Qxh7+ Ke6 16.Rf1 and Black will not be able to escape checkmate.

Jerome Gambit: Uneven (Part 2)

 

[continued from previous post]

perrypawnpusher - dmarkg

"Piano Piano" tournament, Chess.com, 2020

It is time to attack, before Black's King escapes to one of the wings.

18.Rae1 Kd8 19.g4 

Tentative. It was okay to proceed with 19.Re6.

19...Kc7 

After the game Stockfish 11 suggested 19...Ned5 with the idea of exchanging off one of the attacking pieces. That would not solve Black's major problem the weakness of the pawn at d6 (and the King next to it).

20.Re6 g6 

To undermine the pawn supporting White's Rook, but accidentally undermining his own Rook. After 20...Nc8 to protect the d-pawn there could go 21.Ne4 Nxe4 22.Qxe4 a6 23.c4 Kb8 24.Bf4 Ka7 unpinning the d-pawn, when White would have to put his Queenside pawns in motion starting with 25.b4. 

21.Rxf6 g5 22.Ne4 h5 

Looking to open a file to attack the King.

23.h3 

Not wrong, but tentative. The move was 23.Rxd6.

23...hxg4 24.hxg4 Rh4 25.Bxg5 Rh7 26.Qg3 Rah8 

Hope springs eternal.

27.Rxd6 Qe8 

To save the Queen, but all moves allow checkmate. This one, rather quickly.

28.Rxc6+ Kxc6 29.Qd6+ Kb5 30.Nc3+ Kc4 31.Qc5 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: Uneven (Part 1)

The following Jerome Gambit game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is an uneven affair, showing White gaining more from his opponent's play rather than his own strength. It is redeemed, in small part, by the checkmate combination at the end.

I have added a number of links to related games, for those would like to read more about the early lines of play.

perrypawnpusher - dmarkg

"Piano Piano" tournament, Chess.com, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Be6 

10.O-O 

 Years ago, I got away with the alternative 10.f4, in perrypawnpusher - Kingsmeal, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 25) and perrypawnpusher - GabrielChime, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 33), but Black's more enterprising 10...Qh4, as in perrypawnpusher - udofink, blitz FICS, 2010 (1-0, 29) was persuasive enough to move me to the text, as in perrypawnpusher - nmuffjgp, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 22),  perrypawnpusher - OverwiseMan, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 24), perrypawnpusher - dirceu, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 16)  perrypawnpusher - magza, blitz, FICS, 2011  (0-1, 40) and perrypawnpusher - Papst, 10 0 blitz, FICS, 2017 (1-0, 61).

(Amazing. Is that last game one I neglected to post on this blog? I will have to remedy that quickly.)

10...Nf6 

Solid development. A bit more active was 10...Qh4. Black still has to deal with the threat of f2-f4-f5.

11.f4 Ne7 

The Knight on g6 or the Bishop had to move. The text is probably best.

12.d4 

Here we have the "Jerome pawns" versus Black's pieces.

12...Ng6

A slip. Perhaps he was anticipating 13.d5 or 13.e5. He winds up returning the sacrificed piece for a pawn.

Stronger was 12...d5, as in perrypawnpusher - nmuffjgp, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 22).

I have also seen 12...Kd7, as in  perrypawnpusher -Krisstianes_017, Chess.com,  2018 (1/2 - 1/2, 43) 

13.f5 Bxf5 

After the game, Stockfish 11 suggested that Black could wrigle with 13...Bc4 14.Re1 Ne7 15.b3 Bf7 16.Bb2 Kd7 but it still preferred White's position.

14.exf5+ Ne7 15.Nc3 Qd7 

16.Qf3 h6 

Rightly deciding that capturing the b-pawn would be a waste of time for White, he prevents Bg5.

17.Bd2 c6 

Black's King is still in the center, and White has the e-file to work with, assisted by his pawn at f5. It is time to apply some pressure.

[to be continued]