Thursday, November 10, 2022

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit: Accept or Refuse?



I know that it has been said that the best way to refute a gambit is to accept it, but at least at the club level declining a sacrifice is popular amongst defenders who throw out the challenge If you want me to take the material, then I won't.


KnightBiker - snob

5 0 blitz, FICS, 2022


1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Nd4 

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+ 

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

4...Ke7 

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit Declined.


Surprisingly, The Database has 829 games with Black declining the Bishop this way. Not surprisingly, White scores 70%.

The player as Black in this game, snob, has 160 games with the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit in The Database, so he is no newbie. Of those games, 52 involve 4...Ke7, where he has scored 33% (slightly above the average for the move).

5.Bc4 

White has a pawn advantage, and his King is much safer than Black's.

Interestingly, in 15 of snob's games in The Database his opponent played 5.Bxg8 - a very reasonable choice - yet snob scored 47%. That is the Jerome Gambit world for you - at blitz speed, with club players.

5...d6 6.d3 h6 


Black does not want an enemy piece to arrive at g5, but this move weakens light squares.

7.Nh4 Nf6 

An oversight that occurs in blitz play. Perhaps Black had been expecting and was focused upon 7.Nxd4.

8.Ng6+ Kd7 9.Nxh8 Kc6 


White has grabbed a Rook and expects not to have to pay his Knight for the honor.

Black's King heads toward greater danger.

10.Ng6 Be7 11.Nxe7+ Qxe7 

12.c3 

White could have simply castled, but his choice of this move - with both a threat to the Knight and the opening of an attacking line for the Queen - shows that the attack will continue.

12...Ne6 13.Qa4+ Kb6 14.Qb5 checkmate




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