The Jerome Gambit Shows Up In The Most Interesting Places

The Jerome Gambit shows up in the most interesting places.

Today I found myself examining the online "Palm Valley Capital Fund Second Quarter 2022 Commentary". After a Summary, and information on Investment Performance, I noticed an amusing quote

The Jerome Gambit

“I’m playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers. That’s why I always lose.”

-Josh Stern, Author

There then is a reference to Netflix's "The Queen’s Gambit" and a diagram of the Queen's Gambit opening, 1.d4 d5 2.c4. The site gives an interesting comparison/contrast

Luck plays no part in chess. The better player almost always wins. After four moves apiece for white and black, there are over 288 billion different potential positions on a chess board. Experienced players quickly find the best moves when the possibilities seem endless. Investing, on the other hand, can involve a great deal of luck, particularly in the short run. After four rounds of QE [Quantitative Easing] and its glorious afterglow, investors have seen one reliable move—buy the dip—because the Fed has had their backs. If the game was checkers, it’s been an effortless quadruple jump capture—jump diagonally and take, jump again and take, and take, and take again. Easy-peasy.

After three serious paragraphs and an illustrative, multi-color line graph, the site returns to a less weighty topic.

Believe it or not, there is a Jerome Gambit in chess, which has been dubbed “unsound,” “extremely aggressive,” and according to the popular YouTube channel ChessVibes, it’s one of the 7 worst openings*. Commented Chess Vibes founder Nelson Lopez, who is a chess master, “I do not recommend the Jerome Gambit, although to be completely honest with you guys, I have played this myself from time to time, and it is kind of fun.” The Jerome Gambit: it’s all fun and games until someone loses control of an economy.

Lose control of an economy? The Jerome Gambit is not that bad, is it?

*See the blog post "The 7 WORST Chess Openings (According To Stockfish)"