Jerome Gambit: A New Look at an Older Line

I recently ran across a very short Jerome Gambit game, which allowed me to update some assessments I made of the line, years ago.

Cristopher_Sonido13 - Stefcho2020

3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2024

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.Qf7#

Checking The Database showed that I had found 5 previous games that ended the same way.

I was surprised to see that perrypawnpusher - platel, 10 3 blitz, FICS, 2011 was one of them.

Was that covered on this blog? Indeed, yes, 13 years ago.

It is interesting to review what I wrote back then. Modern comments are in red.

6.Qh5+

At the time that I played this move, I knew that the "right" choice was 6.Nxc6, [today's The Database shows 102 games, White scores 73%] since either 6...dxc6 or 6...bxc6 would allow White to play 7.Qh5+ followed by capturing the Bishop; for example, as in perrypawnpusher - rodrigojalpa, blitz, FICS, 2008 (1-0, 25) and Wall,B - Qwerty, chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 9).

Looking at 6.Nxc6 now, I still think that it is best for White, but I wanted to point out two untested responses that might surprise the first player.

a) 6...Bxf2+ (as long as Black is going to lose this piece, he decides to get a pawn for it) 7.Kxf2 Qf6+ 8.Qf3 Qxc6 (avoiding doubled c-pawns) when White is a bit better. He has to be careful because of the loose pawn on c2 and the King and Queen being on the same file (vulnerable to ...Ne7 and ...Rf8).

analysis diagram




[Today's The Database shows 4 games with 6...Bxf2+, all wins for White, including one by mwafakalhaswa and two by chessriddler. Stockfish 16.1 shows White to have a winning position.]

Black also has the untried counter-attacking

b) 6...Qh4, (which I mentioned about 3 years ago in this blog) may be better than the capture of the Knight at c6, as well. White's best response is 7.d4, and after 7...Qxe4+ 8.Qe2 Qxe2+ 9.Kxe2 Bb6 material is even, i.e. 10.Nb4 Bxd4.

analysis diagram




[Today's The Database shows 9 games with 6...Qh4, with White winning 4 of them - 44%. Stockfish 16.1 agrees that 7.d4 is White's best response, although after 7...Qxe4+ it slightly prefers 8.Be3 over 8.Qe2, while it still gives White an edge after 8...Qxe2+ 9.Kxe2 Bb6.]

I suppose Black can side-step some of this excitement by capturing the Knight with 5...Nxe5, or by retreating his King to f8, instead of e8, as in the game.