Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Jerome Gambit: Practice Tournament (Part 1)



I recently came across Tournament '23 Jerome Gambit, the "Jerome Gambit Practice Tournament" for the Bookworms club at Chess.com that was a double round robin for three players: Duckfest, KevinOSh, and LemonOtter42.

Top honors was taken by Duckfest, who won all of his games.


Bookworms Club 
Jerome Gambit Practice Tournament  2023
                                                          2                         total
1. Duckfest              1610        **         11        11               4.0/4
2. KevinOSh            1634        00         **        11               2.0/4
3. LemonOtter42     1027        00         00        **               0.0/4


The games are given below, with light, or not-so-light, notes.

Duckfest - LemonOtter42
Jerome Gambit Practice Tournament, Chess.com, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qxh8 Qf6 This exchanges off the Queens, leaving White simply the exchange and 2 pawns better. In 88 games in The Database, White scores 76%. 9.Qxf6+ Nxf6 10.d3 Ng4 11.O-O d5 12.Nc3 d4 13.Nd5 Bd6 14.Bf4 Be5 15.Bxe5 Nxe5 16.Nxc7 Rb8 17.Nb5 Ke7 18.Nxd4 a5 19.f4 Ng4 20.Rae1 h5 21.h3 Nf6 22.f5 gxf5 23.Nxf5+ Kd7 24.e5 Nd5 25.Ng7 b5 26.Nxh5 Bb7 27.Nf6+ Nxf6 28.exf6 Kc6 29.f7 Rf8 30.Re8 Rxf7 31.Rxf7 Kc5 32.Rxb7 Kc6 33.Rh7 b4 34.Re5 Kd6 35.Rxa5 Kc6 36.Rh6+ Kb7 37.Rg5 Kc7 38.Rg7+ Kc8 39.Rh8 checkmate


LemonOtter42 - Duckfest
Jerome Gambit Practice Tournament, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7 Kxf7 5.d3 I was surprised to see that in the 1,002 games in The Database with this move, White scored only 35%. The question is if White gets enough action or chances with the sacrifice of only one piece, instead of two. Stockfish 15.1 at 38 ply sees 5.Nxe5 as a bit more than a pawn better than 5.d3. 5...d6 6.Ng5+ Hoping that this piece can be joined by the Queen, and a checkmate fashioned 6...Kf8 7.Qf3+ Qf6 The right defensive idea. 8.Bf4 Difficult to understand; preventing the exchange of Queens but dropping a piece. 8...Nd4 9.Qd1 exf4 10.h4 Nh6 11.Nc3 Bb4 12.a3 Bxc3+ 13.bxc3 Ne6 14.Nxe6+ Bxe6 15.Rb1 Qxc3+ 16.Kf1 Ng4 17.Rxb7 Rc8 18.Rb3 Bxb3 19.Qxg4 Ke7 20.Qxf4 Rhf8 21.Qg5+ Kd7 22.cxb3 Qa1+ 23.Ke2 Qb2+ 24.Kd1 Qxb3+ 25.Ke2 Qc2+ 26.Kf1 Qxf2 checkmate


LemonOtter42 - KevinOSh
Jerome Gambit Practice Tournament, Chess.com, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7 Kxf7 5.d3 d6 6.Ng5+ Kf8 As above 7.Nc3 This is better than 7.Qf3+ which he played against Duckfest 7...h6 8.Nf3 Bg4 9.Nd5 Nd4 Not as strong as it first appears 10.b4 Instead, White could play 10.Nxd4, as 10...Bxd1 would be met by 11.Ne6+. Better for Black would be 10...Qh4, when 11.Ne2 Qxf2+ looks scary, but 12.Kd2 Qxg2 13.Qf1+ Bf3 14.Qxg2 Bxg2 15.Nxc7 Bxh1 16.Nxa8 leaves Black only a pawn and 1/2 better, not as much as the text. 10...c6 11.bxc5 cxd5 A slip. First 11...Bxf3 12.gxf3 then 12...cxd5 12.exd5 Too automatic. White had 12.Nxe4, again, as on move 10. 12...dxc5 13.h3 Again, 13.Nxd4 13...Bxf3 14.gxf3 Qxd5 White remains a piece down and does not recover. 15.c3 Qxf3 16.cxd4 Qxh1+ 17.Kd2 Qxd1+ 18.Kxd1 exd4 19.Ba3 b6 20.f4 g5 21.fxg5 hxg5 22.Kc2 Rxh3 23.Rf1+ Kg7 24.Rf5 Kg6 25.Re5 Nf6 26.Re6 Re8 27.Rd6 Re2+ 28.Kb3 Rxd3+ 29.Ka4 Rxa2 30.Rc6 Rdxa3+ 31.Kb5 Rb2+ 32.Kc4 Rc3 checkmate


KevinOSh - Duckfest
Jerome Gambit Practice Tournament, Chess.com, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7 Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.Qxe5 d5 
Duckfest certainly knows something about the Jerome Gambit. This move is best, but rarely played. The database has 9 games with this move, and Black has 7 wins. 8.d4 Bb6 9.c3 Nf6 10.Bg5 Instead 10.f3 would be consistant 10...Kf7 11.O-O Re8 12.Bxf6 Qxf6 13.Qxd5+ Be6 14.Qxb7 Qg5 15.f4 Qb5 16.a4 Bxd4+ White resigned


Duckfest - KevinOSh
Jerome Gambit Practice Tournament, Chess.com, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7 Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qg3 Qf6 9.Nc3 Ne7 10.O-O  Or 10.d3, with thoughts of Bg5 10...h5 11.h4 Bg4 12.d3 c6 A bit better was 12...Kg8 13.Be3 Instead, 14.Na4 and then exchanging the Knight for the Bishop, followed by f3 looked like the way to equality 13...Bd4 14.Bf4 Rd8 15.Nd1 Ng6 A slip. 16.Bg5 Black resigned White's Bishop skewers Black's Queen, to the Rook.

[to be continued]

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