Jerome Gambit: Mission Accomplished (Part 1)

Over the last few years I have been entering Italian Game or Giuoco Piano tournaments at Chess.com with the intention of playing as many Jerome Gambits as possible, at a serious time control. I count on the Jeromes to be interesting - so that I can share them on this blog - but also successful, so that I can eventually advance to another round, and play more Jeromes.

In my most recently completed game in the "Giuoco Piano Game" tournament, I won with the Jerome Gambit, ensuring that I am likely to finish first or second in my group, and thus advance to the third round of play.

Mission Accomplished.  

perrypawnpusher - MoMalek11

3 days / move, "Giuoco Piano Game" tournament 

Chess.com, 2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

7.Qd5+

I have a preference for this "nudge" of the enemy King, before capturing the Bishop. The idea is that a King retreat to the 8th rank may subsequently interfere with Black's castling-by-hand or developing his Rook.

Looking at The Database, it seems to mostly a matter of personal choice: 2,373 games where White plays 7.Qxc5 directly, versus 2,296 games where White plays 7.Qd5+ and then 8.Qxc5.

On the other hand, Stockfish 15 evaluates the Queen check first as being about 3/4 of a pawn stronger than the direct capture.

7...Kf8 

After the game, I took a look at King retreats, and I was surprised.

By far, the most popular move, according to The Database, is 7...Ke8, appearing in 1,484 games. It is also the highest rated move (41 ply) by Stockfish 15, for Black, at -2.46 (i.e. Black is about 2 1/2 pawns better)

The next most popular move is 7...Kf8, with 729 games and a rating of -1.88. It is followed by 7...Ke7, with 52 games and a rating of -1.87 and by 7...Kf6, with 31 games and a rating of -1.91. Basically, all three moves are seen by the computer as about equal, providing a little less than 2 pawns advantage to Black.

According to The Database, 7...Ke7 scores 37% for Black; 7...Ke8 scores 35%; 7...Kf8 scores 34%; and 7...Kf6 scores 19%.

It is important to realize that the current game is an online game between two club level players, as are most of the games in The Database. The difference of 3/4 of a pawn (as calculated by Stockfish 15) between two moves is not very large within this context, and scoring 37% or 34% is not a big deal, either (although you might want to take a closer look at 7...Kf6 before playing it).

For the record, The Database says that I have scored 78% against 7...Ke8 (103 games) and 81% (24 games) against 7...Kf8. Again, not much difference.

8.Qxc5+ d6 9.Qe3 Nf6 

10.O-O 

After the game, Stockfish 15 recommended the novelty 10.h4!? which is one reason why I also use Komodo 13 to help me understand play.

10...Kf7

Reasonably planning to castle-by-hand.

11.f4 Ng4 

Black is distracted by the opportunity to attack White's Queen. I am pretty sure that such a move is not always a problem for the second player, but he probably could have simply continued with 11...Re8 or 11...Rf8, followed by 12...Kg8.

[to be continued]