Jerome Gambit: Abrahams Jerome Bullet

Here is another game by ferit Turkey - he has 944 games in The Database - that shows that the wildness of 1-minute play is often disrupted even further by the Jerome Gambit (or one of its relatives).

Black keeps his game together for almost a dozen moves - and then White takes advantage of a slip, to take the full point.

feritTurkey - kucher-new

1 1 bullet, lichess.org, 2024

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+ 

The Abrahams Jerome Gambit. As pointed out in "'Tis A Puzzlement..."

In his The Chess Mind (1951) Gerald Abrahams admonishes:

Chess opinion has convincingly condemned many extravagant unbalancing attacks, such as the once popular Jerome gambit, (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+), which yield the unbalancer nothing but loss against good defense.

He repeats his guidance in The Pan Book of Chess (1965):

[1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5] ... and nobody in their right senses plays 3.Bxf7+, Jerome's Gambit.

Ah, yes, Abrahams was a chess player and a barrister - but, perhaps, not a mental health professional.  

3...Kxf7 4.Qh5+ 

The absence of a Knight at f3 allows this attack earlier than in the Jerome Gambit.

4...g6 

One benefit of the Abrahams Jerome Gambit as a surprise weapon is that Black really has only one response to the Queen check that maintains his advantage - 4...Kf8. 

If, instead, Black plays 4...Ke6, then 5.Qf5+ Kd6 6.Nf3 Nc6 brings about a position resembling a "modern" Jerome Gambit (White has not played Nxe5) where the White Queen appears to have passed through the Knight on f3. Stockfish 16.1 assesses Black to be about 1/2 pawn better.

5.Qxe5 

This is beginning to look like a Jerome Gambit proper, but Black does not yet have time right now to strike at the Queen with 5...Nc6. For that matter, he could choose 5...Nf6, to protect his Rook, but this would drop the Bishop at c5. 

5...Bxf2+ 

The computer's first choice, surrendering the Bishop but getting a pawn and displacing White's King as compensation.

6.Kf1 

I was surprised that there were 63 games in The Database with White declining the Bishop. However, feritTurkey has scored 5 - 1 with 6.Kf1. 

Clearly, there is some psychology behind White's move ("If you want me to take the Bishop, I won't take the Bishop") - remember in a bullet game, besides surprise openings with surprise tactics, psychology is also a tool. 

6...Nf6 7.Nf3 

Taking the Bishop with 7.Kxf2 now would fall to 7...Ng4+, forking the King and Queen.

7...d6 8.Ng5+ 

I am not sure what this move is about. Bullet players might have more insight.

8...Kg7 9.Qc3 Bc5 10.d4 Bb6 11.e5 

Onward, ever onward. One never won a game by resigning. Plus - there is the clock...

11...Re8 

It is hard to tell, but it is possible that Black jumped ahead in his analysis here, considering 11...dxe5 12.dxe5 Qd1+ 13.Qe1 Qxe1+ 14.Kxe1 before 14...Re8.

In any event, it really does not matter, as he is comfortably ahead, even with the text move.

12.exf6+ Kxf6 

Oh, no.

The right idea was 12...Qxf6+ and all would be well for the second player. 

13.d5+ Ke7 

Reeling further from the surprise - and the fact that there is not a lot of time per move to analyze in a bullet game.

The way of the Stockfish was 13...Re5 14.Bf4 Bf5 15.Nd2 Nd7 16.Nc4 Kg7 17.Bxe5+ Nxe5 18.Nf3 Kg8 19.Nfxe5 dxe5 20.Nxb6 axb6 21.Re1 White is better. 

14.Qg7 checkmate