Jerome Gambit: More About The Modern 5.c3

 

To learn more about the "modern" Jerome Gambit line, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.c3, 

I turned, once again, to The Database.

For example, were stronger players getting involved?

I did a search, looking for games with the line where both players were rated 2200 or above. I found only 6 games, all of them "0-1" despite little difference between the average ratings (White 2352, Black 2378).

Hoping to cast a wider net, I did a search with the line, where one of the players was rated 2200 or above. I found 19 games, with White scoring 2 - 17, not very encouraging. Mind you, much of this could be due to the large difference between the average rating of each side: the average rating of  White was 1942, while the average rating of Black was 2368. (For the record, White's performance rating was 2005, which means that 2 wins out of 19 games was better than expected, due to the difference in ratings.) 

Giving it one more try, I searched for examples of the line where both players were rated 2000 or above. I found 12 games, with White averaging 2250, and Black averaging 2253, about as equal as possible. White scored 3 - 9.

Changing course, I decided to answer the question Who is playing this line?

I discovered that thmav, playing at the online site FICS, had 157 games with the line in The Database. He scored a decent 51%.

He also seemed to be having fun. Here are some examples of short wins.

thmavz - Richad, 3 0 blitz FICS, 2012: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.c3 d6 6.d4 Bb6 7.dxe5 Nxe5 8.Nxe5+ dxe5 9.Qxd8 Black resigned

thmavz  - mcardis, 3 0 blitz FICS, 2011: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.c3 Nf6 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Bb6 8.e5 Nd5 9.Qb3 Rf8 10.Qxd5+ Ke8 11.Ng5 h6 12.Nh7 Black resigned

thmavz - AlekseySaushkin, 3 0 blitz FICS, 2015: 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Bxf7+ Kxf7 4.Nf3 Bc5 5.c3 d6 6.d4 Bb6 7.0–0 Nf6 8.Qb3+ Be6 9.Ng5+ Kg6 10.Qxe6 Qe7 11.Qf5+ Kh6 12.Nf7 checkmate

thmavz - ggupta, blitz game FICS, 2015: 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+ Kxf7 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Bb4+ 8.Nc3 Nxe4 9.0–0 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Bxc3 11.Qb3+ Kf8 12.Qxc3 Black resigned

thmavz - itchytendai, 3 0 blitz game FICS, 2015: 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Bxf7+ Kxf7 4.Nf3 Bc5 5.c3 Qf6 6.d4 Bd6 7.Qb3+ Ke7 8.Bg5 Qxg5 9.Nxg5 exd4 10.Qf7+ Kd8 11.Qxg7 Be5 12.Qf8 checkmate

thmavz - afeemomo, 3 0 blitz game FICS, 2011: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.c3 Nf6 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Bb4+ 8.Nc3 Nxe4 9.0–0 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Bd6 11.Re1 Re8 12.Ng5+ Kg8 13.Qb3+ Kh8 14.Bf4 Bxf4 15.Nf7+ Kg8 16.Nxd8+  Black resigned 

thmavz - darnakas, 3 0 blitz FICS, 2016: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.c3 Nf6 6.d4 exd4 7.Bg5 dxc3 8.Nxc3 Bxf2+ 9.Kxf2 Nxe4+ 10.Nxe4 Rf8 11.Qd5+ Kg6 12.Bxd8 Nxd8 13.Rhf1 d6 14.Kg1 Be6 15.Nh4+ Kh6 16.Qg5 checkmate