Jerome Gambit: Nostalgia

My first game to finish in the Jerome Gambit Classic #1 tournament evoked a little nostalgia, as it followed along the path of a loss by Alonzo Wheeler Jerome - but three wins by me.

It helped me recall an earlier post, "Jerome Gambit: What About the Rook?"

 

mconto - perrypawnpusher

Jerome Gambit Classic #1, Chess.com, 2024

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6

 7.Qxe5

Black now has two main ways of offering the Rook at h8.

He can play 7...d6, Blackburne's defense, which leads to complicated play.

Many players are familiar with the game Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1885, where the Jerome Gambit was utterly destroyed.

Not many realize that further analysis (by Geoff Chandler and Todor Dimitrov, for example, see "Tidying Up - Or Messing Up?"; also see Updating the Blackburne Defense) has shown that White can draw after taking the Rook.

Less well known is 7...Qe7, Whistler's defense, played against Alonzo Wheeler Jerome in the games of a correspondence match with Lt. G. N. Whistler, secretary of the Lexington, Kentucky Chess Club, in 1876.

7...Qe7 

Now, accepting the offer of the Rook in Whistler's defense is very dangerous for White.

As I wrote in the post "Jerome Gambit: Mastering the Chaos"

This is Whistler's defense, strong in practice and offering White an opportunity to go terribly wrong. 

That said, there are many Jerome Gambit games where the player enters the "wrong" line and emerges victorious.

It is a matter of mastering the chaos... 

According to Komodo 14.1, this Rook capture [8.Qxh8] is winning against every move except the one Black chooses, which leaves White, himself, ironically, down the equivalent of a Rook.

8.Qxh8 

8...Qxe4+ 

The theme of the Blackburne defense is to trap (and maybe win) White's Queen.

The theme of the Whistler's Defense is to trap White's King.

9.Kd1 

This is slightly better than 9.Kf1, according to Stockfish 15.1, but both lead to positions evaluated as a Rook worse for White.

9...Qxg2 

Instead, 9...Qg4+ 10.f3 Qxg2 11.Qxh7+ Kf8 12.Re1 d5 13.Qh4 Qxf3+ 14. Re2 Bg4 15.Nc3 Bf2 White resigned, Jerome - Whistler, correspondence, 1876.

10.Qxh7+ Kf8 11.Re1 

A quick glance might suggest that White's Queen and Rook will cause Black trouble - but I knew better, as I had been in this position 3 times before: blackburne - perrypawnpusher, Jerome Gambit 3 thematic, ChessWorld.net 2008 (0-1, 17); F0nix - perrypawnpusher, Chess.com, 2021 (0-1, 13); and REustace - perrypawnpusher, lichess.org, 2022 (0-1, 20).

11...d5 12.d4 Bg4+ 13.Kd2 Qxf2+ 14.Kd3 Qxd4 checkmate