Jerome Gambit: A Secret No More

A recent Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game clarified the assessment of a particular variation, and it will be interesting to see if future games following that line.

This probably should arrive as Jerome Gambit Secret #16

 

MasterKoi - Ravshan001

10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.Nc3 

White decides to add to his development, instead of hitting the enemy Knight with 8.f4. This move shows up in 179 games in the Database. As a cautionary point, White scores 27%.

8...Nh6 9.Nb5+ Kc6 10.Qxe5 

Earlier games have now seen here 10...Kxb5:

vpff - treize, blitz, FICS, 2002 (0-1, 32)

irvpat - pavlo, blitz, FICS, 2009 (0-1, 30)

bhargavs - TKUPADHYAYA, standard, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 15)

ZahariSokolov - snazzzzzz, 5 0 blitz, FICS, 2019 (1-0, 29)

Ponce, J - NN, 2020 (1-0, 19)

as well as 10...d6

Astral1119 - Keyser_S, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2020 (1-0, 15)

10...Bxf2+ 

In a blitz game, this kind of a move can come as a shock. Its impact was immediate.

11.Kxf2 Ng4+ White resigned

White will lose his Queen.

Of course, he should not have captured the Bishop, but played, instead, 11.Ke1. After his Queen is able to move - say, 11...d6 12.Qd5+ Kd7 then he can play 13.Kxf2, when play can continue 13...Qf6+ 14.Ke2 c6 15.Qxd6+ Qxd6 17.Nxd6 Kxd6 and Black will have an extra piece for White's two extra pawns.

There was an earlier example of 10...Bxf2+, in theHARDWAY - emlai, 5 5 blitz, lichess.org, 2016, but it did not lead to a win by Black; White played 11.Kf1 and won in 29 moves.