Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Jerome Gambit: One King Survives


There are lines in the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) where both Kings are at risk, and the winner of the game will be the one who gets to the enemy monarch first.

The following blitz game is a good example.


ryuugu-rena - WeeCampbell

10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+

 4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.f4 Qf6  8.Rf1 Ng6 


There are alternatives, including 8...Nf7 seen in Sekci - Jobert19, 3 2 blitz, lichess.org, 2021 (1-0, 11) and 8...Nd3+ in Vlastous - Kombe, internet, 2017 (1-0, 22). It is also useful to look at the post "Jerome Gambit: GMHikaruOnTwitch" which includes the grandmaster's games with 8...Ne7 and 8...Nh6.

Stockfish 14.1 prefers 8...d6, which was recently successful in tilo1402 - Ryooo_yos3, 10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021 (0-1, 16) and oaitseziom - MORCHID, 10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2022 (0-1, 10)

9.Qxc5 Qh4+ 

Black strikes at the enemy King. It is interesting that Stockfish 14.1 believes that he should, instead, work to sue for peace with by repeating the position after 9...Kf7 10.Qxc7 Qh4+ 11.g3 Qxh2 12.f5 N6e7 13.d3 Nd5 14.Qc4 Qxg3+ 15.Rf2 Qg1+ 16.Rf1.

10.g3 Qxh2 


Which King is more at risk?

White now has a checkmate in 6 moves.

11.f5+ Kf7 12.fxg6+ Kxg6 13.Qf5+ Kh6 14.d4+ Black resigned



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