[continued from the previous post]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
It is worth starting off with a quote from the post"The Spectre of the Jerome Gambit (Part 1)"
For most club players, it is easier to attack than defend; and that works in the Jerome Gambit's favor, as its whole idea is attack.
The essence of a gambit is that White (in this case) gives up material for something. We refer to the Jerome Gambit, not the Jerome Blunder (although some might prefer that name, and the editor of the American Chess Journal referred to it in 1877 as "Jerome's Absurdity"). The defender struggles to make sense out of an opening that isn't familiar - but White wouldn't sacrifice pieces for nothing, would he?
Also, most club players have been exposed to "Checkmate in X moves" problems, but they have rarely faced "Black to move and escape the mating net" challenges. They learn how to attack, but they also learn that a King out in the open is one that will perish.
So, being attacked can be unsettling, and for a club player it may very well lead to a distracted or diminished mental state.
All of which addresses the point that sometimes the Jerome Gambit wins when it "objectively" shouldn't.
Jerome Gambit Accepted |
We finally arrive at the second Critical Position.
The "classical" Jerome Gambit continues with 5.Nxe5 (about 60% of the games in my database that start 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7) while "modern" Jerome Gambits (not played by Jerome and his contemporaries, mostly internet games) continue with alternatives such as 5.Nc3, 5.d3, or 5.0-0.
Thirteen years ago, in "Jerome Gambit for Dummies (2)" I wrote
For the record, after a very long think (over 12 hours) Deep Rybka 3.0 Aquarium assesses Black as being 1.91 pawns better after 5.Nxe5+ as well as after 5.Nc3. It sees White being only 1.72 pawns worse after 5.d3 or 5.0-0.
One fifth of a pawn doesn't seem like a lot to me, and I still prefer the complications of 5.Nxe5+. Jerome Gambiteers who feel they can knuckle down and simply outplay their opponents with the "modern" variations are free to disagree with me.
Computer chess engines have improved mightily since 2009, and now Stockfish 14.1 (30 ply) rates 5.Nxe5+ as a little more than 4 pawns better for Black, as opposed to 5.Nc3 (about 5 3/4 pawns better for Black) 5.d3 (a bit more than 6 pawns better for Black) and 5.0-0 (about 4 3/4 pawns better for Black).
So, today the computer says Play 5.Nxe5+, but If you don't want to sacrifice a second piece, play 5.0-0.
[to be continued]
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