Jerome Gambit: You are ahead, but can you beat me?

Wolfpack1051 has 85 games in The Database, all of them 1-minute bullet Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games. 

In the following game he faces a new variation of the 6...g6 defense. His challenge: respond correctly to the line while moving quickly, so that the clock does not take him down before he wins the game.

Wolfpack1051 - Yahya_01

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 

As pointed out in "Jerome Gambit: What About the Rook?", 6...g6 is usually accompanied by the offer of the piece at h8. The risk to the attacker facing Whistler's defense is a counter-attack against White's King. The risk in Blackburne's defense is that the Queen might get trapped on the 8th rank.

7.Qxe5 Bf8 8.Qxh8 Bg7 9.Qxh7 Nh6 

This is a clever (and new, according to The Database) idea. White's Queen is locked up. True, White is ahead the exchange and 3 pawns, but remember, this is a 1-minute game. Does Black have enough time to attack and win the Queen?

How will White respond?

10.d3 

Wow. Just like that, Wolfpack1051 finds the key to unlock Her Majesty's prison.

10...d6 

If Black could develop his Bishop and his Queen, then he could swing his Rook over to threaten the enemy Queen...

Not enough time.

11.Bxh6 Be6 

A slip.

12.Qxg7+ Ke8 13.Qxg6+ Kd7 14.Nc3 Qe7 15.Bg5 Qf7 16.Qxf7+ Bxf7 

If this were played at a 10-minute (or longer) time control, the situation would be Game Over. But this is bullet, and Black's challenge is: You are ahead, but can you beat me? Can you beat the clock?

Just watch.

17.Nd5 Rg8 18.h4 Bxd5 19.exd5 c6 20.c4 cxd5 21.cxd5 b5 22.Kd2 a5 23.Rh3 b4 24.Re3 a4 25.Rae1 Kc8 26.Re8+ Rxe8 27.Rxe8+ Kb7 

The  players are banging out their moves.

If the game were over at this point, due to time, the players would have used, on the average, about 2 seconds thinking time per move.

Black plays on, as his challenge remains the same.

28.Re6 Kb6 29.Bf4 Kc5 30.Rxd6 b3 31.axb3 axb3 32.Rd8 Kb4 1 33.Rb8+ Ka4 34.Rxb3 

White eliminates the last of Black's army. He can afford this "sacrifice", and it simplifies his calculations.

34...Kxb3 35.d6 Kxb2 36.d7 Kb3 37.d8=Q Kb4 38.Qd4+ Kb5 39.Qc4+ Kb6 40.d4 Kb7 41.Be3 Kb8 42.Bf4+ Kb7 43.Qd5+ Kb6 44.Qe4 Kb5 45.d5 Kc5 46.d6 Kb6 47.d7 Kc5 48.d8=R 

White could promote to a Queen. Perhaps he wanted to avoid the possibility of a stalemate.

48...Kb6 49.Rd5 Kc6 50.Be3 Kc7 51.Qe6 Kb7 52.Rd7+ Kb8 53.Qe8 checkmate

Not bad, for spending about 1 second per move.