Jerome Gambit: Again Down the Rabbit Hole (Part 1)

 

I was planning on presenting a Jerome Gambit game that had a surprise (for me) Queen sacrifice by the defender, but along the way as I gathered background information, I tumbled down a rabbit hole...

Let me start the game, and then add the distractions.

pablosko - ItMyrrh

3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bxd4 7.Qxd4 

I was shocked to see that 7.f4 had actually been played here, and against a grandmaster, at that.

analysis diagram

You can find the game in the notes in the post "Jerome Gambit: A Lot to Say" and see how GM Hikaru Nakamura finished things off in 17 moves.

7...d6 

The earliest reference that I have to this position comes from the July 1874 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal, where Alonzo Wheeler Jerome mentions it as a sideline.

The first game that I have in The Database that reaches this position was published in the Dubuque Chess Journal of March 1876 - Jerome - Shinkman, Iowa, 1876 (1/2-1/2, 42).

8.f4 

This risky move deserves a diagram of its own.

Analysis by S.A. Charles in the October 1881 Brentano's Chess Monthly put forth 8.Nc3 as the best move, here.

Jerome, apparently, did not agree.

In June of 1900 he started a consultation chess game in the pages of the Literary Digest, offering to play the Jerome Gambit against readers. "See A Jerome Discovery" (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ) as well as "A Jerome Discovery (Afterword)" and "Return to the Literary Digest".

After the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Jerome wrote

A majority of those who sent Black's 6th move played 6...Bxd4. The reason given for this move is that as Black must lose a piece he had better get a P for it. This is not good reasoning, as White's continuation demonstrates: 6... Bxd4; 7.Qxd4 d6; 8.f4, and White still has the attack.

Was Alonzo Wheeler Jerome correct in his assessment?

[to be continued]