The Jerome Gambit and the Secret of the Triangle

It is always exciting to open my email.

Yesterday I received word from regular contributor Yury V. Bukayev of a recently published (2022) Italian language novel by Tommaso Castellani, Il professor Z e il segreto del triangolo (Professor Z and the Secret of the Triangle).

The book is the author's third mystery, after Il professor Z e l'infinito (Professor Z and Infinity) [2017] and Imisteri del 'Ipercubo (The mysteries of the hypercube. A multi-dimensional mathematical adventure) [2020].

This time the main character, Giulio, encounters a friend and classmate, Ivano, who is, among other things, fascinated by the Jerome Gambit!

With the help of Google Translate, I can provide a selection from pages 91 and 93

"Look, I'm tired of talking about this stuff." 

"Then I'll show you the Jerome Gambit."  

"What is that?" 

But Ivano had already whipped out his pocket chess set 

"It's formidable, a bishop sacrifice in the opening. Sure, it's good only in quick games. But if Black isn't careful, it's checkmate in a few moves." 

"Ivano, I don't want to know" 

"Look. White opens with e4, Black replies normally with e5" 

"I told you I don't want to know" 

"Knight f3, knight c6, as in a normal Italian or Spanish opening" 

"Ivano, stop!" I yelled and swept the pieces off the chessboard with one hand...

Some time later

Ivano did not rest, but I thought I noticed a dumbfounded face; or maybe I was wrong. We finished the sentences we had to move on to history, and we decided to take a break

"Now can I show you the Jerome gambit?"

He was really stubborn. But I felt conciliatory, for that day I had already treated him badly once

"All right. But, Ivano, I think you have to accept that I don't like chess. I mean, it's not even true that I don't like it. I'm just not interested in all these details, you know?"

But Ivano, without answering, took up the chessboard and put all the pieces back in the position in which I had dropped them at school.

"So, now bishop c4 and bishop c5, like in a classic opening. And now the real coup: the white bishop eats the f7-pawn and sacs!"

"And isn't it immediately taken back by the king?"

"Of course, but here comes the beauty. White sacrifices another piece and takes the e5-pawn by giving sac again!"

Ivano went on for a while to explain all the details, I patiently listened but at one point I decided that I had enough.

"Good, now let's really take a break"

"Wait, I still have to show you the other possibilities! If Black instead of eating the knight, moves the king..."

"No, Ivano. I don't want to listen to you. Don't get angry"

But it was as if I spoke another language. He continued undeterred in his long explanation.

I took a breath and decided to be patient until the end.

"Now let's have some ice cream, I have some in the freezer." 

From my own experience I know that many defenders react to the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7) as if it were some kind of fiction, not something that exists in the real world.

Sometimes we need to turn to fiction to reveal the truth.