Jerome Gambit: Attack Quickly

Everything happens quickly in a bullet game, especially an attack.

In the following game, angelcamina - who specializes in 1 0 bullet games with the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) shows how it is done.

angelcamina - ethylotete_123

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 

Declining the second piece has been examined in "Jerome Gambit for Dummies 2.0 (Part 4)" and "The Jerome Gambit Does That To You" (and elsewhere)

I was amused - but not surprised - that the lichess.org computer labelled this move a blunder.

If you have no idea what kind of devastating attack your opponent has just unleashed upon you, it is quite normal to decide not to choke on sacrificed pieces, but to put your King closer to safety. 

Verdict: psychologically sound, chessically suspect.

Why suspect?

While The Database shows little difference between retreating the King to e8 (421 games, White scores 54%) and retreating the King to f8 (614 games, White scores 56%); Stockfish 15 (at 34 ply) shows a definite preference for 5...Kf8, rating it as about 2 pawns better for Black, while rating 5...Ke8 as about a half pawn better for White. 

6.Qh5+ 

As mentioned in "Jerome Gambit: Over Quickly" and still true today

White takes advantage of the fact that Black's King has moved back to e8 - an aggresive check pushes forward his attack.

The computers recommend 6.Nxc6, which would be met by 6...Qh4!?, a counter-attack that remains unplayed.

6...g6  

Or 6...Ke7 7.Qf7+ Kd6 8.Nc4 checkmate, as in angelcamina - SammmDBest, lichess.org, 2021. 

7.Nxg6 

7...hxg6 

Natural, and likely the first thing to come to mind in a bullet game.

Still, it it interesting to point out that the computer recommends 7...Bxf2+, although the Database shows White scores 16 - 7 - 1 (69%) against the move.

angelcamina has also seen

7...Qf6 8.Nxh8+ Kd8 9.Qxc5 Qxh8 10.Qf8 checkmate, angelcamina - DenBlood, lichess.org, 2022; and

7...Nf6 8.Qh4 Nxe4 9.Qxe4+ Ne7 10.Nxh8 d6 11.Qxh7 Be6 12.O-O Qd7 13.Ng6 Nxg6 14.Qxg6+ Bf7 15.Re1+ Kf8 16.Qh6+ Kg8 17.c3 Qf5 18.d4 Bb6 19.Bg5 d5 20.Bf6 Qh7 21.Qg5+ Qg6 22.Qh4 Qh7 23.Qg3+ Qg6 24.Qxg6+ Bxg6 25.Nd2 c6 26.Re7 Bc7 27.Rae1 Bd6 28.Rd7 Bf8 29.Nf3 Rb8 30.Be7 b5 31.Bxf8 Kxf8 32.Ree7 Be8 33.Rxa7 White won on time, angelcamina -  stockfishdanirealno1, lichess.org, 2021) 

8.Qxh8 

White has a Rook and 3 pawns for two pieces, but, more importantly, he has strong play against the enemy King.

8...Kf7 

Better than 8...Kf8 9.O-O d6 10.c3 Be6 11.d4 Bb6 12.d5 Bf7 13.dxc6 bxc6 14.Bh6+ Ke7 15.Bg5+ Nf6 16.Bxf6+ Ke6 17.Bxd8 Rxd8 18.Qxd8 Bxf2+ 19.Rxf2 d5 20.exd5+ cxd5 21.Rf6+ Ke5 22.Nd2 c5 23.Qe7+ Be6 24.Qxe6 checkmate, angelcamina - MegaBane, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org 2019. 

9.Qh7+ Kf6 10.c3 

Okay, this move isn't "faster than a speeding bullet", but it is powerful, nonetheless.

10...d5 11.d4 Bd6 

With a plan to return some of the sacrificed material and stifle the attack - although it has a slight flaw.

12.e5+ Bxe5 13.dxe5+ Nxe5 14.Qh4+ g5 15.Qxg5+ Black resigned

X-ray attack on the unprotected Queen.

Jerome Gambit: Slipping Away

Sometimes a game goes quickly, sometimes it seems to just slip away...

Wall, Bill - Jergens

internet, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

A quick look at The Database shows 6...Ng6 to be the most popular of the three main responses for Black. There are 3,690 games. White scores 57%.

Next in popularity is 6...Ke6, with 3,129 games. White scores 55%.

Then comes 6...g6, with 1,700 games. White scores 52%.

(Of course, if you look only at Bill Wall's games, he scores 99%, 85% and 97%, respectively. Might I recommend 1...e6 ?)

7.Qxc5 d6 8.Qd5+ Be6 

This pawn offer was most recently discussed in "Jerome Gambit: He Who Takes the Queen's Knight's Pawn". 

9.Qxb7 

Stockfish 15, at 30 ply, prefers 8.Qb5 by less than a half pawn. That's not much in human vs human play.

9...Nf6 

Bill has also faced 

9...Nh4 in Wall,B - CheckMe, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 23); 

9...N8e7 in Wall,B - Guest1352598, PlayChess.com, 2021 (1-0, 21) and Wall,B - Gilex, 2022 (1-0, 21); and

9...Ne5 in Wall,B - Guest249301, PlayChess.com, 2013, (1-0, 30) 

10.Nc3 Re8 11.O-O Kg8 

Black is okay.

White needs to do something with his extra pawns.

12.f4 Bc4 

This provocation does not gain much (temporarily preventing d2-d4) and does not lose much (only time).

13.d3 Bf7 14.Qa6 d5 

15.e5 Nd7

Black would have gotten more out of the move 15...d4. The game is about even now.

16.d4 Re6 

It is tempting to chase the enemy Queen away, but hitting the center with 16...c5 was more to the point. The pieces on the Kingside seem to call out to White's pawns.

17.Qd3 Ne7 

A retreat is in order, but this move hobbles the Rook and does nothing about the coming e5-e6 fork. Probably 17...Re8 with the idea of meeting 18.f5 with 18...Ngxe5 19.dxe5 Nxe5, returning some of the sacrificed material, was the way to go. 

18.f5 Rb6 19.g4 

Or advancing the e-pawn forthwith.

19...Nc6 20.e6 Bxe6 21.fxe6 Ndb8 

Black's pieces have shifted toward the Queenside, leaving his King in great danger.

22.Rf7 Qh4 23.Qf5 Black resigned

The Jerome Gambit is A Mess

 

In club play, the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is a lot like bumping the chess board, watching pieces fall over, then deciding to play on, anyway.

In blitz games the knowledgeable player can take advantage of his opponent's unfortunate need to take thinking time to figure things out in a messy position. This is the value of learning some specifics about the opening beforehand.

When both players are discovering the finer points of an opening as they play it, things can become a bit of a mess - as in the following game.  

Selrah - tc2303

5 3 blitz, lichess.org, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5. Nxe5+ Nxe5 6. Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Qe7 

This is Whistler's defense, which Alonzo Wheeler Jerome faced in the games of his correspondence match with Lt. G. N. Whistler, secretary of the Lexington, Kentucky Chess Club, in 1876.

If White now accepts the offer of a Rook with 8.Qxh8, he enters into difficult complications.

"Objectively" - if we can trust Stockfish 15 to be objective - the position is then rated as only a pawn shy of Black being a Queen better.

However, The Database has 649 games with 8.Qxh8, and White scores 62%. This is despite the fact that the average rating for White and for Black in those games is almost identical.

The conclusion has to be that White often navigates the confusion of the Jerome Gambit better.

8.Qxh8 

It is far safer for White (even if it still leads to Black's advantage) for his Queen to back away with 8.Qf4+. 

8...Kf8 

Black defends (his Knight) first before attacking (with 8...Qxe4+) - in fact, this suggests that he was defending his Bishop on the previous move, rather than knowingly playing one of the strongest anti-Jerome lines.

White's King can now escape danger with 9.0-0, 9.d3 or 9.Nc3.

9.Na3 

This move is a bit of a puzzler. I am not sure what is going on. Perhaps it is a mouse slip for 9.Nc3.

9...Qxe4+ 

This time Black sees the move.

The irony is that Stockfish 15 now sees White as a piece better after 10.Kf1. What has happened to dilute the power of Black's Queen's capture (with check) on e4?

The answer is that in some of White's defensive lines he now can produce a useful check because Black's King has moved to f8 - for example, 10.Kf1 Qh4 11.d4 Bxd4 12.Bh6+ Qxh6 13.Qxd4 and White is up the exchange.

Complicated? Like I said, the Jerome Gambit is a mess. Plus, remember, this is a blitz game.

10.Kd1 

Thinking about the earlier suggested line starting with 8.Qxe4+, it did not much matter if White responded by moving his King to f1 or d1 - he was going to be in grave danger either way (although d1 was a little bit less weak).

Here, however, White needs to protect his g-pawn with 10.Kf1. The text leads to great difficulties. 

 10...Qxg2 

The alternative 10...Qg4+ is more than sufficient, e.g. 11.Ke1 Bd4 12.Qxh7 Qxg2 13.Qh4 (13.Rf1 leads to being checkmated in 30 moves) Qxh1+ 14.Ke2 Bf6 15.Qg3 and Black's extra piece (and the two Bishops) gives him a clear advantage.

11.Re1 

11...Qxf2 

Following the blitz rule of thumb: when in doubt, grab material.

Black is on unfamiliar ground and so does not yet focus on how the light squares affect the fate of White's King - otherwise, he would have liberated his Bishop immediately with 11...d5 with threats of ...Bg4+. But second chances do come.

Now Stockfish 15 suggests that White play 12.d4, threatening Bh6+ and strongly encouraging Black to seek a draw with 12...Qf3+ 13.Re2 Qf1+ 14.Re1 Qf3+, etc.

12.Qe5 

White is happy to get his Queen back in play and team up with the Rook. Unfortunately, it is not enough.

12...d6 13.Qe8+ Kg7 14.d4 Bxd4 15.Re7+Nxe7 16.Qxe7+ Kg8 

Alas, it does not work both ways: White does not have a way to a draw by multiple Queen checks.

17.c3 Bg4+ 18.Qe2 Qxe2 checkmate

Someone who glanced at the final position might have erroniously concluded "White should have castled to safety, as Black's King did".

Jerome Gambit: The Return of Cliff Hardy (Addendum)

 

I was able to find on TwitchTV a video including the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game between "Cliff Hardy" and Grandmaster Martin Kraemer (playing under the handle DrawDenied_Twitch) covered in the last 3 posts (1, 2, 3).

Although I speak French like a Spanish cow, my German is even weaker - having picked up what little I know mostly from Randspringer magazines - so Grandmaster Kraemer's German language commentary and the chat in the background is best appreciated by those who sprechen deutsche.

I was able to note someone in the chat during the early moves of the game labelling Cliff Hardy as ein Trickspeiler - a trickster - which seems appropriate for someone who plays the Jerome Gambit.

Eventually there was the chat comment, Now I have it: it is the Jerome-Gambit. (Thank you, Google Translate.)

As Cliff commented to me

I even made out a tiny bit of English which explained a couple of his feelings on the moves. He said, "Easy peasy" when I allowed 26...Bg4+, which I guess was justified and "idiot" when I had the chance to win a piece with 36.Rf5+.

There was also a chat reference to Grandmaster Aman Hambleton, whose YouTube video on the Jerome  has  had almost 3/4 million views - pretty impressive. 

In the Twitch TV video, I watched with excitment as the grandmaster's clock ran down almost to zero. Would he escape a time forfeit? I watched a second time, again expecting him to flag. It was like the old joke 

Two friends decide to go to the movies together. The picture had a scene with a horse race in it. Before the race starts, one friend turns to the other and says "I'll bet you fifty dollars the black horse wins." The second friend says "OK, you're on!" The scene ends with the black horse barely winning, so the loser pays up. The second friend decides to confess; "I have to admit that I saw this movie last week." The first replies, "So did I, but I didn't think that black horse could possibly win a second time!"

Jerome Gambit: The Return of Cliff Hardy (Part 3)

 

[continued from the previous post]

Cliff Hardy (2478) - GM Martin Kraemer (2895)

10 0 rapid, Lichess, 2023

This may not look like the typical Jerome Gambit blitz game, but it has a significant, familiar feature - the defender has to use time to figure out how to respond, and that puts him behind on the clock. - Rick

36.Rf6??

Missing 37.Rf5+! Kb6 (not 37...Ka4?? 38.Ra5 mate!) 38.Rxh5 = and with a massive time advantage and suddenly an equal position on the board, I would have had an excellent chance of winning the game.

36...Bg4 37.Rxh6 Rxh2 38.a3 Rg2 39.Rxd6 h2 40.Rh6 Rg3+ 41.Kd4 Rh3 42.c4+ Kb6 

43.Rg6 h1=Q 44.c5+ Kb5 45.Rxg4?? Qd1?

The grand disaster misses mate in one with 45...Qa1! but since he only had 8 seconds left on his clock, I guess we can be charitable to him.

The rest of the game is a sprint, but the grandmaster is up to it, clockwise. - Rick

46.Ke5 Qxd3??

Oops! 46...Qxg4 is better.

47.Rg5 Qc3+ 48.Kf5 Rf3+ 49.Ke6 Qf6+ 50.Kd7 Qf7+ 51.Kd6 Qf6+ 52.Kd7 Qxg5 53.e5 Qg7+ 54.Kd6 Qf8+ 55.Kd7 Rf7+ 56.Ke6 Qe7 mate

Checkmating me with 4.2 seconds left on his clock.

As Maxwell Smart used to say, "Missed by that much."

The clock is the 33rd piece. - Rick

I got beaten nicely but he only just made it in time before his clock ran out and if I'd taken more time (I finished the game with 1 minute and 12 seconds left on my clock) and possibly found 37.Rf5+!, I could have completely turned the tables!

 

Jerome Gambit: The Return of Cliff Hardy (Part 2)

 

[continued from the previous post]

The main comments are by Cliff, additions in blue are by me - Rick.

Cliff Hardy (2478) - GM Martin Kraemer (2895)

10 0 rapid, Lichess, 2023

14.Nd5+ Kd8

Aww! He saw that 14...Nxd5?? would lose to 15.Qxh5 but I guess that's to be expected with a GM.

15.Qxh5

I thought there was no point in trying to keep the queens on for an attack, since 15.Qg3 Qg4 would make it impossible for me to avoid a queen swap anyway.

15...Nxh5 16.Bg5+ Kd7 17.g4

Since the knight on h5 is lacking an ideal square to go to, I still have some initiative for my sacrificed piece.

17...h6 18.Bh4 g5 19.gxh5 gxh4 

20.c3 c6 21.Nf4 Be3 22.Ng6 Re8 23.Ke2 

Development and King safety here are more important than grabbing an offside pawn with 23...Nxh4.

23...Bg5 24.Raf1 Kc7 25.Rf7+ Kb6 26.Rhf1?!

With the GM down to under a minute left on his clock (52 seconds, in fact), I tried to play a bit too quickly here and missed the possibility of his coming bishop check. 26.Rg1, to prevent 26...Bg4+, was superior.

26...Bg4+ 27.Ke1 Bxh5 28.Rg7 Rg8 29.Rxg8 Rxg8 30.Nf4 Bxf4 31.Rxf4 Rg4 

GM Kraemer smoothly goes about exchanging pieces.-Rick

32.Rf2 h3 33.b4 Rg1+ 34.Kd2 Rg2 35.Ke3 Kb5??

A lesson here. Just before this move, I got a bit depressed because with rooks about to come off the board, I thought the simplified position would make it easy for him to blitz the win out, even though he only has about 26 seconds left on his clock to my 1 minute and 59 seconds left. But when he didn't play 35...Rxf2, I was startled back into action and made sure to move my rook away.

[to be continued]

Jerome Gambit: The Return of Cliff Hardy (Part 1)

Regular Readers of this blog are probably familiar with the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) adventures of private eye "Cliff Hardy".

If not, do a quick check with the "search this blog" function and enjoy a selection of his games that have graced these posts.

I want to share Cliff's latest Jerome, with his notes - and with a few of my own comments (in blue), as well as diagrams.  

I just finished playing a GM in an online Jerome Gambit game. It was an interesting experience because it was being streamed live on Twitch by the grandmaster and so at least 80 spectators were watching the game live. I am often playing bullet games online but this was a ten minute each game so a lot of time to think about the moves. 

My opponent was German GM Martin Kraemer. Since the handle he was playing under was DrawDenied_Twitch, I could already presume that offering him any draw offers during the game would likely be a waste of time! Unfortunately, I can't tell you anything he said in the stream because he was doing it in German and 'kindergarten' is about the only German word I understand.

The Database contains well over 500 of Cliff's games, so he was quite familiar with the opening and the play that develops - this experience is one of those "trade offs" (the effect of relevant knowledge on time usage during a game) mentioned in the previous post  - Rick. 

Cliff Hardy (2478) - GM Martin Kraemer (2895)

10 0 rapid, Lichess, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+

The thing that really impressed me this game (about the GM but also about the Jerome Gambit 😉) was the incredible respect that my opponent gave to the opening by spending a lot of time on some of his early moves. He took my bishop on f7 on move 4 almost immediately but started to spend lots of time here.

5...Nxe5

Played after 1 minute and 33 seconds thought.

6.Qh5+ Ke6!?

Played after 2 minutes and 27 seconds thought. Regular Jerome Gambit blog readers may well be aware that this is indeed Stockfish's favoured move in this position but is clearly a brave decision for Black to make to bring his king out into the centre of the board.

7.Qf5+

Clock times remaining: me - 9:46; GM - 5:55

7...Kd6 8.f4 

Instead, 8.d4 was seen in Cliff Hardy - NN, 3 0 blitz, FICS, 2016 (1-0, 37) as reported in "Jerome Gambit: You Gotta Believe". The move is as old as Tonetti - Ruggeri, Rome, 1863 (1-0, 23) and appeared in Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's analysis in the January 1875 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal - Rick

8...Qf6 

Of note:

8...Ne7 appeared in Cliff Hardy (blindfolded) - NN, 10 0, lichess.org, 2018 (1-0, 13) - see "Jerome Gambit: Another Cliff Hardy Blindfold game"; and

8...Nd3+ was seen in Cliff Hardy - NN, 1 0 bullet, Lichess, 2019 (1-0, 13) - see "Jerome Gambit: Too Clever" - Rick

9.fxe5+ Qxe5 10.Qf3 Nf6 11.d3 Ke7 -++

Stockfish slightly prefers 11...Kc6 -++

Cliff had already encountered 11...Kc6 a few years ago, in Cliff Hardy - NN, 1 0 bullet, Lichess, 2019 (1-0, 64), as seen in "Jerome Gambit: Merry Christmas!". His comments - 

This game intrigued me as Black was unusual in being able to find the excellent 11...Kc6! move in this variation. Unfortunately, he was forced soon after that to become really generous this Christmas, as the presents began to be handed out......

12.Nc3 d6 13.Bf4 Qh5 

The GM spent spent 2 minutes and 37 seconds on that move. With the remaining clock times now down to 5:39 (me) and 1:38 (him), I clearly had a big time advantage. But since this GM's Lichess bullet rating at the time of our game was precisely 3000, I realised that the value of my time superiority was quite limited!

[to be continued]