Monday, June 12, 2023

Jerome Gambit: Updating Early Secrets (Part 2)



Continuing from the previous post, here are a few updates from earlier "Jerome Gambit Secrets".

"Jerome Gambit Secret #4" is as much a good story as it is a secret. It focuses on a reply to the Banks Variation, named after UK player Pete Banks ("blackburne" online), an early Jerome Gambit adopter who caught the eye of
International Master Gary Lane, who commented at length on the opening, and on a couple of Banks' games, in his March ("The Good Old Days") and April ("Chess Made Easy") 2008 "Opening Lanes" columns at ChessCafe.com. IM Lane also mentioned one of Banks' games in his The Greatest Ever chess tricks and traps (2008)...
 
The line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8 6.Qh5, hoping to transpose into normal Jerome lines, can be met by 6...Qe7 


The Database has 10 games with this position, with White scoring a thin 30%. Lichess.org's numbers are a little more encouraging: In 132 games White scores 36%.

Of course, as with every line of the Jerome Gambit, familiarity, knowledge and peparation help the attacker.

"Jerome Gambit Secret #5" develops after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Ne7 9.Qxe5+ Kc6 with 10.Qc3


The Queen move appears in 12 games in The Database, all wins by White.


"Jerome Gambit Secret #6" also involves International Master Gary Lane, and his suggestion on move 9 in a line that has been called 
the"annoying defense" (because it is) or the "silicon defense" (because of the affinity computer chess programs have for it). It was first seen in D'Aumiller - A.P., 1878 and figured in six of Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's games against S.A. Charles in their unfinished 1881 correspondence match.
The line is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 d6 (annoying) 8.fxe5 dxe5 9.Nc3


The Database has 29 games, with White scoring 40%. Lichess.org is slightly more encouraging, with 340 games with White scoring 44%. Nowadays, Stockfish 15.1 shows a slight preference for 9.Qh3+.


No comments:

Post a Comment