Jerome Gambit: The Human Move (Part 1)

Thinking about Maia Chess, mentioned in the previous post, I wondered: If its goal is "to play the human move - not necessarily the best move", and if the project wishes to "begin to algorithmically capture what kinds of mistakes players at specific skill levels make" - has it ever attempted the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+)?

Poring through several million (!) of maia games*, I found two Jeromes by the lesser-skilled engine, maia1, and two by the highest-skilled, maia9.

They were all very, very human.

maia1 - yung-m90

10 3 rapid game, lichess.org, 2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ 

Another game continued 5.Ng5+ (You can hardly get more "human" than the "Face Palm Variation"! It appears that maia1's opponent is equally skilled) Ke8 6.Qf3 Nh6 7.d3 Nd4 8.Qh5+ Kf8 9.Nc3 c6 10.Be3 Nxc2+ 11.Kd1 Nxa1 12.Bxc5+ d6 13.Be3 Bg4+ 14.f3 Bxh5 15.Kd2 Qb6 16.Rc1 Nf7 17.Nxf7 Bxf7 18.Bxb6 axb6 19.Rxa1 g6 20.b4 Kg7 21.Rg1 c5 22.bxc5 bxc5 23.Ra1 Be8 24.Nd5 Bf7 25.Nc7 Ra5 26.Ke3 Rc8 27.Nd5 Bxd5 28.exd5 Rca8 29.Ke4 Rxa2 30.Rf1 Ra1 31.Rxa1 Rxa1 32.Ke3 Ra2 33.g3 Rxh2 34.f4 Rh3 35.Kf3 exf4 36.Kxf4 b5 37.Kf3 b4 38.Ke2 b3 39.Kd2 Rh2+ 40.Kc3 b2 41.Kb3 b1=Q+ 42.Kc3 Rc2 checkmate, maia1 - CatrinaM, 7 5 rapid, lichess.org, 2022. 

5...Nxe5 

Or 5...Kf8 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.d4 Be7 8.Qf3+ Nf6 9.O-O d5 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.e5 Ba6 13.exf6 Bxf1 14.fxg7+ Kg8 15.gxh8=Q+ Kxh8 16.Kxf1 Qe7 17.Nd2 Re8 18.Qe3 Black resigned, maia9 - Jam8sJ0yce, 5 2 blitz, lichess.org, 2023

6.Qh5+ 

Otherwise 6.d4 Bxd4 7.Qxd4 Qf6 8.O-O Nf3+ 9.gxf3 Qxd4 10.Be3 Qxb2 11.Nd2 Qxc2 12.Rac1 Qxa2 13.Rxc7 Ne7 14.Nc4 Ke6 15.Rd1 d5 16.exd5+ Nxd5 17.Re1 Nxc7 18.Bf4+ Kf5 19.Be5 Qxc4 20.Bxg7 Rg8 21.Re5+ Kg6 22.Rg5+ Kxg5 23.Kg2 Rxg7 24.h4+ Kf6+ 25.Kh2 Black resigned, maia9 - soyunbotenajedrez_20, bullet, lichess.org, 2022 

6...g6 7.Qxe5 Nf6 

Readers of this blog might not expect outsiders to know Jerome Gambit theory: best is Whistler's 7...Qe7; historic is Blackburne's 7...d6.

8.Qxc5 Nxe4 9.Qc4+ Kg7 10.Qxe4

This is so "human" that it hurts.

10...Re8 11.Qxe8 Qxe8+ 12.Kd1 d5 13.Nc3 Bg4+ 14.f3 Bh5 15.Re1 Qc6 

Black's move should drop a piece and allow the computer to equalize with 16.g4, winning a piece.

16.d3 g5 17.g4 

Better late than never? Not really.

17...Bg6 18.Bxg5 d4 19.Ne4 Bxe4 20.Rxe4 Kg6 21.Be7 Re8 22.Bh4 Rxe4 23.fxe4 Qe8 

maia1 has a Rook, a Bishop, and 2 pawns for its Queen. Nonetheless, Stockfish 15.1 gives yung-m90 the edge.

In fact, the human now gives a lesson on the dominance of Her Majesty over the enemy pieces.

24.Ke2 Qf7 25.Rf1 Qxa2 26.Rf6+ Kg7 27.Rf3 Qxb2 28.e5 Qxc2+ 29.Kf1 Qd1+ 30.Be1 Qxf3+ 31.Bf2 Qxd3+ 32.Kg2 Qe4+ 33.Kg1 d3 34.Bxa7 d2 35.Bb8 d1=Q+ 36.Kf2 Qef3 checkmate

* I had it easy. According to the profile of Maia Chess 1100 at lichess.org, "This version was trained by learning from over 10 million Lichess games between 1100s."

[to be continued]