Jerome Gambit: Breathless

Sometimes, playing over 1-minute games by angelcamina leaves me breathless...

I don't know how he does it: winning consistently with the Jerome Gambit, at bullet speed.

angelcamina - badpcplayer

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2024

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bc5 4.Bc4 Nc6 5.Bxf7+ 

The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit

The database has 195 games, with this position. White scores 59%. 

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Neg4 8.dxc5 

8...Qe7 

White has faced other moves:

8...Re8 9.O-O d5 (9...d6 10.h3 Ne5 11.f4 Nc4 12.e5 Nd7 13.Qd5+ Re6 14.Qxc4 Nxc5 15.f5 d5 16.Nxd5 c6 17.fxe6+ Kxe6 18.Nc7+ Kd7 19.Rd1+ Kxc7 20.Rxd8 Kxd8 21.Qxc5 Be6 22.Bg5+ White won on time, angelcamina - bigbang7, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org 2019) 10.exd5 Kg8 11.h3 Ne5 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bf4 Ng6 14.Bg3 Bf5 15.Qd2 Nxd5 16.Nxd5 c6 17.Nb6 Qxd2 18.Nxa8 Rxa8 19.Rad1 Qxc2 20.Rc1 Qxb2 21.Rb1 Bxb1 22.Rxb1 Qxb1+ 23.Kh2 Qxa2 24.h4 Re8 25.h5 Ne7 26.Bd6 Nd5 27.Bg3 a6 Black won on time, angelcamina - zapipa, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2018;

Or 8...d5 9.exd5 c6 10.d6 Qd7 11.O-O Qf5 12.f3 Ne5 13.Ne4 Nxe4?14.fxe4 Qxf1+ 15.Qxf1+ Ke6 16.Be3 Bd7 17.Qe2 Raf8 18.Bd4 Nf7 19.Rf1 Ng5 20.h4 Rxf1+ 21.Kxf1 Nf7 22.Qc4 checkmate, angelcamina - Hamidi1986, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019; 

Or 8...c6 9.O-O Re8 10.Bg5 Ne5?11.f4 Ng6 12.e5 Nxe5 13.fxe5 Rxe5 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Qd3 Qg8 16.Rae1 Rxe1 17.Rxe1 b6 18.Qd6 bxc5 19.Re7+ Kg6 20.Qg3+ Kh6 21.Qxg8 Bb7 22.Rxh7 checkmate, angelcamina - marcldk, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2020;

 Or 8...Rf8 9.O-O Kg8 10.h3 Ne5 11.f4 Nf7 12.e5 Ne8 13.Ne4 c6 14.Nd6 Nexd6 15.cxd6 Qb6+ 16.Kh2 Qb4 17.c3 Qc4 18.b3 Qxc3 19.Be3 Qxe3 White resigned, angelcamina - hfsdev, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2020.

9.O-O d6  

Not the strongest continuation. Neither was 9...Re8 10.f3 Ne5 11.Bg5 Qxc5+ 12.Kh1 Nxf3 13.Bxf6 gxf6 14.Qxf3 Re6 15.Qh5+ Ke7 16.Qxh7+ Ke8 17.Qh8+ Qf8 18.Qxf8+ Kxf8 19.Rae1 d6 20.Nd5 Rb8 21.Nxf6 Ke7 22.Nd5+ Kd7 23.Rf7+ Kc6 24.Rxc7+ Kb5 25.Nc3+ Kb6 26.Nd5+ Kb5 27.Re3 White won on time, angelcamina - aryopg, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019.

Best is 9...Qe5 10.g3 Qh5 11.h4 Qxc5 and Black is better.

Of course, in 1-minute games, that can change in an eye blink.

10.cxd6 cxd6 11.f3 Ne5 

12.f4 

The pawn advance is thematic, but so is 12.Bg5, which is a bit stronger. At the speed that this game was played, it probably did not matter.

12...Neg4 13.h3 Nh6 14.e5 

14...dxe5 15.fxe5 Qxe5 16.Bxh6 gxh6 

17.Rxf6+ 

Continuing the aggression.

It turns out that the strongest move was - to exchange Queens?!: 17.Qd5+ Qxd5 18.Nxd5 Kg7 19.Nxf6 and White is winning.

17...Qxf6 18.Qd5+ Be6 19.Qxb7+ Kg6 20.Rf1 

A Rook down, White has to keep the pressure on.

20...Qd4+ 21.Kh1 Qd6  

What piece to move? What square to protect? The clock is ticking! Moving a Rook to f8, or the Queen to e5, was the way to continue.

22.Ne4 

White has his next move planned, but this one only leads to an even position. The Queen should go to e4.

23...Qd5 

If only there was time to exchange Queens...

There isn't.

Black's Queen would do double defensive duty at d7, allowing his King to retreat to g7 after the upcoming check. Then the second player would have the advantage.

23.Rf6+ Kh5 24.Ng3+  Kh4 25.Qg7 Rhg8 26. Rf4+ Bg4 27.Rxg4 checkmate

Whew!