Jerome Gambit: Unless

 

I know that there is a "rule of thumb" in chess that pawns should capture towards the center, but there is an unwritten piece of guidance that adds unless there is a reason not to. 

The following Jerome Gambit game shows some of the difficulties that can occur when the defender does not identify that reason.

oaitseziom - Chudomir

10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8 

Black is not greedy. He is happy with just one sacrificed piece. He is also pleased to take the game off of the beaten path - although White has been here before.

6.Nxc6 

Later, White played the wild 6.g4, i.e. 6...Nxe5 7.d4 Qf6 8.O-O Nf3+ 9.Kg2 Nh4+ 10.Kh3 Be7 11.g5 d5+ 12.Kxh4 Qe6 13.Qf3+ Ke8 14.exd5 Qd6 15.Bf4 Qg6 16.Kg3 h6 17.h4 hxg5 18.hxg5 Rh3+ White resigned, oaitseziom -Sham_Thibi, blitz, lichess.org, 2022. 

6...bxc6 

Black plays too casually. As early as Jerome - Brownson, Iowa, 1875 (1/2 - 1/2, 29) capturing with 6...dxc6 was considered better.

The alternative 6...dxc6: 7.O-O Be6 (7...Bb6 8.b3 Nf6 9.e5 Bg4 10.Ba3+ c5 11.f3 Qd4+ 12.Kh1 Qxa1 13.fxg4 Qxe5 14.d4 Qg5 15.dxc5 Bxc5 16.Rf5 Qg6 17.Bxc5+ Kf7 18.Qd5+ Ke8 19.Re5 checkmate, oaitseziom - Roter_Baron, blitz, lichess.org, 2022; 7...Nf6 8.d3 h6 9.Be3 Bxe3 10.fxe3 Kg8 11.e5 Ng4 12.d4 Nxe3 13.Qf3 Nxf1 14.Kxf1 Qg5 15.Nc3 Qf5 16.Kg1 Qxf3 17.gxf3 Bf5 18.Ne4 Rd8 19.c3 Kf7 20.Ng3 Be6 21.f4 Bd5 22.f5 h5 23.h4 Bf3 24.Kf2 Bg4 25.Ke3 Rhe8 26.Kf4 Rd5 27.Kg5 c5 28.e6+ Kg8 29.Nxh5 Bxh5 30.Kxh5 Rxf5+ 31.Kg4 Rd5 White resigned, oaitseziom - maks-sms, blitz, lichess.org, 2022) 8.c3 Qd3 9.Re1 Nf6 10.Qf3 Rd8 11.e5 Qxf3 12.gxf3 Nd5 13.d4 Be7 14.a4 a5 15.Na3 h5 16.Nc2 g6 17.Ne3 Kg7 18.Ng2 Rhf8 19.f4 Rf7 20.c4 Nb4 21.b3 Nc2 White resigned, oaitseziom - hombrecito, lichess.org, 2022.

He has also faced 6...Bxf2+ 7.Kxf2 Qf6+ 8.Qf3 bxc6 9.d4 d6 10.Rf1 Ba6 11.Re1 Ne7 12.Bg5 Qf7 13.Nd2 Ng6 14.Qxf7+ Kxf7 15.c4 h6 16.Be3 Rhe8 17.g3 Rab8 18.b3 Bc8 19.h4 Bg4 20.Kg2 a5 21.Rf1+ Kg8 22.Rab1 d5 23.e5 Rb4 24.a3 Rb7 25.Rb2 Reb8 26.c5 Nf8 27.Rc1 Ne6 28.Rc3 Bf5 29.Bg1 g5 30.Rf3 Ng7 31.Rc3 Kh7 32.Be3 Kg6 33.Kf2 Rf8 34.Ke1 Bh3 35.Bf2 Nf5 36.hxg5 hxg5 37.b4 Rfb8 38.e6 axb4 39.axb4 Rxb4 40.Rxb4 Rxb4 41.Nf3 Rb1+ 42.Kd2 Rb2+ 43.Rc2 Rxc2+ 44.Kxc2 Kf6 45.Ne5 Kxe6 46.Nxc6 Kd7 47.Ne5+ Ke6 48.Kc3 Bf1 49.g4 Ne7 50.Be3 Black resigned, oaitseziom - paprika58, blitz, lichess.org, 2022) 

7.d4 

If Black had captured with his d-pawn, this move could have been prevented.

7...Bb6 8.O-O h6 

Black would like to play ...Nf6 without Bg5 pinning the piece to his Queen, with the threat of e4-e5 looming. Still, one benefit of the 6...bxc6 capture is the oppourtunity to play 8...d5 which was probably best.

9.c4 c5 

The pawn, backed by the Bishop, hits White's center, while opening the a8-h1 diagonal for the other Bishop.

I don't think either player realized that the move was a blunder, although good moves and bad moves come and go in blitz games. 

10.d5 

White puts a bind on his opponent's position, and will expand this idea in later moves.

Stockfish 15 recommends 10.dxc5, and at first the move brings a bit of a "Huh?". It is clear that 10...Bxc5? now can be answered by the double attack 11.Qd5, winning a piece, but is there more?

It looks like 10...Ba5 11.Qf3+ Ke7 12.a3 c6 (to save the Bishop from b2-b4) 13.Bf4 Bc7 14.Bg3 Ke8 15.Nd2 Qg5 16.Bxc7 Qxd2 17.Rad1 Qg5 leads to a dark-square bind that the computer sees as almost a Rook's worth of advantage. Chess well beyond my abilities.

10...Ba6 11.b3 Ne7 

Black's play looks reasonable. 

Still, Stockfish 15 prefers 11...Qf6 12.Qc2 Qg6 (12...Qxa1 13.Bb2) 13.Bb2 Nf6 14.Nd2 Ba5 15.Bc3 Bxc3 16.Qxc3 d6 as equal. 

White's advantage begins to grow.

12.Bb2 d6 13.f4 Kg8 14.Rf3 

Intending to join the Bishop in attacking g7.

14...Kh7 15.Rg3 Rg8 

16.Qd3 

Direct threats rule in blitz. Discovered check, anyone?

16...Kh8 

This allows White to change his plan.

17.Rh3 Ng6 18.Rxh6 checkmate