Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit: Strange Is Not Always Good

One of the attractions of the family of Jerome Gambit openings is that the game quickly moves to strange positions which benefit those familiar with them, and burdens those who are not. 

Players must be careful, however - some good positions are strange, but not all strange positions are good.

NasufRexhepi - Scorpion_Negro

10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2023

1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit. 

4.Bxf7+ 

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke7 6.c3 d6 7.cxd4 dxe5 8.dxe5 Qd3 

This curious position is considered equal by Stockfish 15.1 at 42 ply depth of evaluation. Nonetheless, White scored only 1 - 4 in previous games according to The Database.

9.Nc3 

Recommended is 9.Qe2 Qxe2+ 10.Kxe2 c5 (10...Be6 11.d4 c6 12.f4 Rd8 13.Ke3 Ke8 14.Nc3 Bb4 15.f5 Bc4 16.Bd2 c5 17.d5 Nh6 18.Kf4 g5+ 19.Kxg5 Nf7+ 20.Kf4 Bxd5 21.exd5 Bxc3 22.Bxc3 Rxd5 23.e6 Rf8 24.exf7+ Rxf7 25.Rhe1+ Kd7 26.g4 h5 27.h3 Rd3 28.Rad1 Black resigned, Kuskus - omarrafi, FICS, 2009) 11.d3 Kf7 12.Be3 Ne7 (12...b6 13.f4 g6 14.a4  Ne7 15.a5 Rb8 16.axb6 axb6 17.Nc3 Nc6 18.Nd5 Bg4+ 19.Kd2 Bg7 20.b4 Rhd8 21.b5 Ne7 22.Ra7 Rd7 23.Rha1 Rbb7 24.Rxb7 Rxb7 25.Ra6 Nc8 26.Bf2 Be6 27.Ra8 Ne7 28.Ne3 Bh6 29.g3 Rd7 30.Ke2 Rb7 31.Be1 Bd7 32.Nc4 Nc8 33.Kf3 Be6 34.g4 Rd7 35.Ke3 Rc7 36.h3 Bxc4 37.dxc4 Ra7 38.Rxc8 Ra3+ 39.Ke2 Bxf4 40.Rc6 Bxe5 41.Rxb6 Rxh3 42.Rb7+ Ke6 43.Rg7 Bxg7 White resigned, ElSrEdwardHyde - Zloy_Grisha2006goda, lichess.org, 2021) 13.Bxc5 Ng6 14. Rc1 Nf4+ 15.Kd2 Bxc5 16.Rxc5 =

9...b6 

Or 9...Be6 10.b3 (10.Qh5 Nh6 11.Qg5+ Kd7 12.f3 Rg8 13.Ne2 Nf7 14.Qg3 Re8 15.Nf4 Qc2 16.Nxe6 Rxe6 17.d4 Bb4+ 18.Bd2 Qxd2+ 19.Kf1 Qxb2 20.Rd1 Qc2 21.Ra1 Qd3+ 22.Kf2 Qxd4+ 23.Kf1 Qxa1+ White resigned, wera - ubagas, FICS, 2017; 10.f4 g6 11.g4 Kd8 12.Rf1 Be7 13.g5 Bc5 14.Rf3 Qd4 15.Re3 h6 16.Qc2 Qb4 17.a3 Qb3 18.Rd3+ Kc8 19.Qxb3 Bxb3 20.Rh3 Be6 21.Rh4 Kd7 22.b4 Bb6 23.Bb2 Ne7 24.gxh6 g5 25.Rh5 gxf4 26.h7 f3 27.d4 f2+ 28.Kf1 Bc4+ 29.Kxf2 Bxd4+ 30.Ke1 Raf8 31.Rd1 Nc6 32.Rf5 Rxf5 33.exf5 Kc8 34.b5 Nxe5 35.Rxd4 Nf3+ 36.Kf2 Nxd4 37.Ne4 Rxh7 38.Bxd4 Rxh2+ 39.Kf3 Rh3+ 40.Kf4 Rxa3 41.f6 b6 42.Nd2 Bd5 43.Ke5 Bf7 44.Ne4 Ra5 White resigned, Wall,B - Guest653285, PlayChess.com, 2017) 10...Ke8 11.Qh5+ g6 12.Qh4 Be7 13.Qf4 Bb4 14.Qe3 Qxe3+ 15.fxe3 Bxc3 16.dxc3 Bd7 17.O-O Bc6 18.Bb2 Ne7 19.Rf4 g5 20.Rg4 h6 21.c4 Rf8 22.h4 Rg8 23.Rf1 Rg6 24.Rf6 Rd8 25.Bd4 b6 26.h5 Rxf6 27.exf6 Nc8 28.e5 Kf7 29.b4 Bd7 30.Rg3 c6 31.Rf3 Be6 32.c5 Bxa2 33.Rf2 Bc4 34.Rc2 Bd5 35.Rc1 Rd7 36.Kf2 Rb7 37.cxb6 axb6 38.Ra1 Ra7 39.Rxa7+ Nxa7 40.Bxb6 Nb5 41.g3 Nc3 42.Bc7 Ne4+ 43.Kg1 Ke6 44.Kh2 Kf5 45.Kh3 Nf2+ 46.Kh2 Kg4 47.Kg1 Nd3 48.Bd6 Kxh5 49.e4 Be6 50.Kg2 Kg4 51.Bf8 h5 52.Bd6 h4 53.gxh4 gxh4 54.Kh2 h3 55.Be7 Nxe5 56.Bd6 Nf3+ 57.Kh1 Kg5 58.Bc7 Kxf6 59.Bd6 Bc4 White resigned, leikeze18 - game_1_06, GameKnot.com, 2014 

10.b3 Kf7 11.Bb2 Ne7 12.Qh5+ 

White reminds his opponent that his King is at risk, too.

12...g6 13.Qg5 

Apologies to Stockfish, but White was not going to follow its suggestion of exchanging Queens with 13.Qe2 Ba6 14.Qxd3 Bxd3, even if he liked the wily 15.e6+.

13...Bg7 14.O-O-O Re8 15.f4  

It looks like White has his attack on the King rolling, but this move actually overlooks something. It is not easy to see that he needed to play 15.Rhe1, preparing the sacrifice of the exchange after 15...Nf5, i.e. 16.Re3 Nxe3 17.dxe3, although Black would still be better.

15...Nf5 

A nifty move, given that capturing the Knight with 16.exf5 would lead to 16...Bxf5 and Black's checkmate threats could only be bought off with the surrender of material. (It is telling that Stockfish sees 16.exf6 as White's "best" line.)

White's game begins to crumble.

16.Nd5 h6 17.Nb4 Qxe4 18.Qg4 Qxb4 19.h4 Nd4 20.Qg3 Ne2+

White resigned