Jerome Gambit: More At the Table

Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+). Stafford Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nc6 4.Nxc6 dxc6). Chiodini's Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Nxe5 Nc6).

With all this recent discussion, I suddenly remembered that I had played a relevant game - over 35 years ago, when I was still playing in over-the-board tournaments. I found the score sheet in an old scrap book. 

Kennedy, Rick - Chesbrough, Don

35/60 15/20 Park of Roses Quad, Columbus, 1985

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 

Headed for the Four Knights Game. I had actually studied the opening, but I think my opponent, rated over 100 points higher than me, figured I was a beginner simply following the rule of "Knights before Bishops".

3...Bc5

He probably should have paid more attention to his own opening moves, as now 4...Nxe5 5.d4 Bd6 6.dxe5 Bxe5 7.f4 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 d6 would give White an edge (two Bishops). 

4.Nxe5 

At this point my opponent looked at my score sheet and read my rating. Satisfied, he played 

4...Bxf2+ 

I wish I could say that this is the game that got me interested in the Jerome Gambit, but it actually was played 3 years before The Marshall Gambit in the French and Sicilian Defenses, which I wrote with Riley Sheffield, so my mind was elsewhere.

It is fair to point out that in searching the stacks of The Ohio State University's William Oxley Thompson library for information on 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 c5 / 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 d5, I may have first stumbled over John Lutes' analysis of the Jerome Gambit in OSU's chess club's weekly newsletter, "The Phalanx".

5.Kxf2 Nxe5 6.d4 Ng6 7.Bc4 c6 

At this point you could argue that I have overcome the surprise of the Bishop sacrifice.

8.Qf3 Qf6

Black should have followed through with his original idea of 8...d5

9.Qxf6 Nxf6 10.e5 Ng4+ 11.Kg3 h5 

12.h3 

Simply hoping to chase the Knight away, perhaps 12...Nh6 13.Bxh6 Rxh6 14.Ne4 with pressure on d6, and maybe even a pawn after 14...d5 15.exd e.p.

Stockfish 14.1 and Komodo 12 suggest, instead, 12.Bd3, but their recommended lines are far too subtle for me to understand.

12...N4xe5 

Taking care of the enemy pawn center for good. The computers don't like the move, but in club play, when you outrank your opponent, it is a reasonable idea.

For the record, Stockfish 14.1 recommends 12...h4+ 13.Kxg4 d5+ 14.Kf3 dxc4 15. Ne4 O-O with a roughly balanced game.

13.dxe5 h4+ 14.Kh2 Nxe5 

The position somewhat resembles a reversed Jerome Gambit, where Black has two extra pawns for his sacrificed piece. 

15.Re1 f6 16. Bf4 d6 17. Rad1 Ke7 

My opponent was confident that he could still make a game of it. What follows is some interesting pawn play.

18.Rd2 g5 19.Bxe5 dxe5 20.Ne4 g4 21.Red1 g3+ 22.Kg1 b5 23.Bb3 a5 24.a3 a4 25.Ba2 f5 26.Nd6 

So far, the pawns have not inflicted any damage.

26...Rd8 

I think my opponent was aiming toward an ending where his playing with the pawns would be easier than my playing with the extra piece. In many club games, I have seen this to be true. In this particular game, however, I was happy to keep exchanging pieces.  

27.Nxc8+ Raxc8 28.Rxd8 Rxd8 29.Rxd8 Kxd8 30.Be6 f4 31.Bf5 Ke7 

White's play is straightforward: the Bishop controls the pawns until the King arrives to start capturing material.

32.Kf1 Kd6 33.Ke2 Kd5 34.Kd3 Kc5 35.Be4 Kd6 36.Bf3 c5 37.c3 Ke6 38.Ke4 

38...c4 39.Bg4+ Kd6 40. Kf5 Kd5 41.Bf3+ Kd6 42. Kf6 

Now the pawns start falling.

42...e4 43.Bxe4 f3 

One last try. Maybe White will play 44.gxf3?

44.Bxf3 Black resigned

White's King can win the Kingside pawns, or his Bishop can win the Queenside pawns.

Jerome Gambit: Queen to the Rescue. Not.

In the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ ) the White Queen attacks, the Black Queen defends. If the defender goes to the wrong square, however, things may collapse quickly.

sintalee - inventor16

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 

7.Qxe5 Qf6 

This protects the Rook, but that is not enough. Defenders need to know that 6...g6 means the Rook will be sacrificed.

8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qc4+ Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: And Then There Were Four

 

Dan Middlemiss suggested that the Noa Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+) be considered in the grouping of the Jerome Gambit, the Stafford Gambit and Chiodini's Gambit.

We have taken several looks at the Noa Gambit on this blog - the opening is also known as the Monck Gambit or the Open Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit - you might want to start with "5% New (Part 1)" to get a sense of things.

I was surprised to find that over the last few years the Noa Gambit has appeared in a number of top level games - at fast time limits, mind you, and likely as a surprise. So, I have more investigation to do!

In the meantime, at the club level, the Noa Gambit - "objectively" assessed as losing for White - can cause difficulties for Black if he is not prepared. Consider the following game.

Birzer, Lothar - Riepe, Bernhard

DESC K0004 email, 1999

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ 

5..Kxf7 6. Nxe4 d5 

The opening is dismissed as harmless because Black gains the two Bishops, and his King is not really at risk. However, it is important to play carefully, lest things change.

7.Nfg5+ Kg6

Black decides to trouble the two White Knights. It would be wiser to retreat the King to g8 or e8.

It does not appear that the defender is familiar with Pollock - Amateur, Dublin,date unknown, which ended badly for Black.

8.Qf3 dxe4 

Stockfish 14.1 prefers 8...Qe8 but that is not a move that comes easily to mind. The second player has winning on his mind. 

9.Qf7+ Kxg5 

The White Knights are no more!

Black, however, is now in a mating net.

10.d4+ Kh4 11.h3 g6 12.g3+ Kh5 13.g4+ Kh4 14.Qb3 Nxd4  15.Qg3 checkmate

Wow.

Jerome Gambit: What Do You Do Now?

 

The Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is a good opening for creating messy positions. For example, what to make of the following position, with Black to move?

MSMDOIPE - SHadiRf55, 10 5 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

Black is ahead in material, two pieces for two pawns. His King is awkwardly placed, and he has to guard against Qg5+ which would win his Queen.

The Database has 25 previous games with this position, with White scoring 74%.

However, Komodo 12 suggests that 7...Nc6, saving the piece and protecting the Queen, would leave Black about a pawn better.

How many of those games saw the computer recommendation?

None.

In fact, the game we are looking at finished 7...Be7 8.Qf5 checkmate.

Still, it is useful to also point out that Petasluk - givemeabreak, 5 0 blitz, FICS, 2017 and CoachTortise - kiwikiwi4, Chess.com, 2019 finished 7...Qe7 8.Qf5 checkmate; although BahatiTheGrandmaster - Mammaen-din, 10 5 blitz, lichess.org, 2021 continued 7...Qe7 8.Rf1 Ng6 9.e5+ (9.Qf5#) Kf7 10.f5 Nf6 11.fxg6+ Kg8 12.Kd1 Nxh5 White resigned.

It's a Jerome Gambit thing.

More inspiration

 

Earlier this year, when I suggested that "Inspiration Is All Around", I wanted to encourage Readers to reflect creativity in their games that they had discovered in other games.

For example, over a year ago I shared the game

ChessBrah - kevvvvvvv 

5 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nc6 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Nc6 7.e5 Nd5 8.Qf3+ Kg8 9.Qxd5 checkmate

I do not know if PedrosF1, who plays at lichess.org, found his inspiration at the ChessBrah site, or if he follows this blog, but I noticed that he reached this position 8 times this year in rated 10-minute games, against Miha_Ardua, Guineano, Buddha2020shib, THREEINITIATES, PermulaTCC, angrygingergirl, GeorgeGStokes, and risem.

Jerome Gambit: Three Amigos

 

     Now  

If you are not familiar with the Stafford Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nc6 4.Nxc6 dxc6, I recommend that you stop right now and go read an earlier blog post on this site, "Jerome and Stafford Gambits: Spiritual Cousins".

I regularly hear from Dan Middlemiss, who sends Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games my way. Rarely, I have some Stafford Gambit games for him that he hasn't already collected.

In any event a recent email added a third opening to the Jerome and Stafford Gambits as "spiritual cousins" - Chiodini's Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Nxe5 Nc6, similar to the Stafford but with 2...Bc5 instead of 2...Nf6. The Three Amigos?

Writes Dan

Speaking of accidents, yesterday I was having playing the Lichess computer from my standard SG set position. I could not figure out why the computer was not making a move, so I goodgled my problem and one Lichess respondent said to set the position to “standard” game instead of “from a set position”. I did so, and encountered a weird semi-Stafford opening. After the game I went to the Analysis Board and discovered that I had played a variant of the King’s Pawn Game called the Chiodini Gambit. Not knowing what the heck that was, I am again resorted to Google. Lo and behold! I got a couple of responses directing me to your Jerome Gambit Blog and a few very interesting entries from way back in 2009 I think dealing with this fairly obscure line and its particular move order culminating in the classic Jerome-like bishop sacrifice on f7.

I was intrigued by all this and had a feeling that, if one took the knight with the d-pawn instead of the b-pawn, a familiar position resulted. So, I did some more fiddling of moves on the Lichess Analysis Board late last night and again early this morning.

Lo and another behold! I think I now have another answer to the age-old question: when is a Jerome Gambit not a Jerome Gambit? Answer: When it is a Stafford Gambit!!!!

I am attaching a few games to demonstrate this finding. In the larger attachment, I have some games in which White plays a fairly early Bc4 followed on move 7 or move 9 by the Jeromish Bxf7+. The second attachment is an analysis that Stockfish 14.1 did of a recent Rapid game between ak727272 (1960) and  monojeetdebnath (1954). White won the game which can be found in the larger attachment. But in the analysis of that game, I had SF 14.1 do a detailed breakdown of 1.Nf3 e5 2.e4 Bc5 3.Nxe5 Nc6 4.Nxc6 dxc6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6 Bc4 Ng4 7.Bxf7+. The results indicate clear winning lines for Black as you will see.

Anyway, I hope you find this interesting and in line with your recent columns discussing different near-Jerome move orders. Furthermore, it is the closest I can find to a clear intersection between the Jerome Gambit and the Stafford Gambit. Finally, it perhaps starts a conversation about the importance of move order for White in the Jerome Gambit.

An eventful little sidebar to my Stafford Gambit game collecting!

ak727272 - monojeetdebnath,10 0 rapid, lichess.org, 2021: 1.Nf3 e5 2.e4 Bc5 3.Nxe5 Nc6 4.Nxc6 dxc6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Bc4 Ng4 7.O-O Qh4 8.h3 Nxf2 9.Bxf7+ Kd8 10.Qh5 Nxh3+?! = (10...Nxe4+! -+) 11.Kh2 Bd6+ 12.e5 Bxe5+? +- 13.Qxe5 Ng5+ 14.Kg1 Rf8 15.d3 Nxf7 16.Rxf7 Rxf7 17.Bg5+ Black resigned

This is definitely a topic that I will pursue further.

 

Jerome Gambit: Secret No More? No. More...

The other day I was looking at "Jerome Gambit Secrets #9", which focused on  perrypawnpusher - whitepandora, 3 10 blitz, FICS, 2008 (1-0, 41). Instead of my 8th move, 8.d4, the computer suggested the interesting 8.f4!?, creating the following position

Had anyone played 8.f4 in the last dozen or so years? I turned to The Database (well over 74,000 games), using the ChessBase position search. I actually found 4 games, but in each one, it turned out that while the position was the same, each one had White to move, not Black to move. How did that happen? 

Well, look at this move order: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Ng6 8.Qd5+ Kf6 

That is how 4 games reached the above position:

Intercrosse - afchs, blitz, lichess.org, 2020 (1-0, 14);

protohumanist - KSM012_B15L_AFEEF, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021 (0-1, 73);

Capi_Capitan - rmurat, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021 (1-0, 28); and

Intercrosse - Newtrix, blitz, lichess.org, 2021 (0-1, 42).

Only, like I said, it is White to move.

And that creates another "Secret" (#16) - in none of the above games did White find 9.Qg5+, which wins Black's Queen.