Jerome Gambit: Uncountered

Defenders must counter the Jerome Gambit's attack, or perish.

In the following game, Black does very well - until he doesn't.

A lot can change in a 60-second game.

angelcamina - georges88

1 0 bullet. lichess.org, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qb5+ 

For the record, The Database has 105 games with this move, with White scoring 60%; as opposed to 9.Qe3, where it has 1,168 games, with White scoring 67%. Both moves are certainly playable.

9...Qd7 10.Qc4 

An interesting sideline. The Database has 4 games with this move, with White scoring 75%. Three of those games were played by angelcamina, who scored two wins.

10...N8e7 

angelcamina has also faced 10...Nf6, e.g. 11.Nc3 (11.O-O Ne5 12.Qe2 c5 13.f4 Nc6 14.Nc3 Kf7 15.e5 dxe5 16.fxe5 Re8 17.Qc4+ Qe6 18.Qxe6+ Rxe6 19.exf6 Rxf6 20.Rxf6+ Kxf6 21.d3 Bf5 22.Be3 Rd8 23.Bxc5 Nd4 24.Bxd4+ Rxd4 25.Rf1 Ke6 26.Re1+ Kd7 27.h3 Rd6 28.Ne4 Rg6 29.Nc5+ Kc6 30.Nb3 Bxh3 31.Kh2 Bxg2 32.Nd4+ Kc7 33.Ne6+ Kb6 34.Nd4 1-0 angelcamina - Senecan, lichess.org, 2023) 11...Qe6 12.Qa4+ Bd7 13.Qb4 b6 14.O-O Rf8 15.f4 a5 16.Qd4 Ne7 17.d3 Nc6 18.Qe3 Kf7 19.b3 Kg8 20.Ba3 Kh8 21.Rae1 Rab8 22.Qh3 b5 23.Bb2 Nb4 24.Re2 Qxh3 25.gxh3 Bxh3 26.Rf3 Bg4 27.Rg3 Bxe2 28.Nxe2 Nxc2 29.e5 Nd7 30.e6 Nf6 31.h4 Rfe8 32.h5 Rxe6 33.h6 g6 34.f5 Rxe2 35.Bxf6+ Kg8 36.Bd4 Re1+ Black won on time, angelcamina - HenryLalu13, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2022. 

The text Knight move will allow Black to bring his Rook to f8.

Perhaps he should have tried something more dynamic such as 10...Qg4 or 10...Nh4.

In any event, Black is still better.

For now. Remember: this is a 1-minute game.

11.O-O c6 

Fair enough, but 11...d5 directly would also work.

12.f4 b5 

Aha.

13.Qe2 Bb7 

14.f5 Ne5 15.d4 Nf7 16.e5 dxe5 17.dxe5 

17...Nd8 

Black sees the threatened pawn fork at e6 and moves his Knight away. It was harder to see that 17...Nxf5 would hold, as 18.e6 would be answered by 18...Qd4+ 19.Kh1 N7d6 

18.f6 

Open lines against the King.

18...gxf6 19.exf6 Black resigned

Black will lose a piece, and his King remains stuck in the middle of the board.