Jerome Gambit: Tool For The Box

 Over a dozen years ago (see "What An Idea") I mentioned that

Gerald Abrahams wrote in his book, The Chess Mind, that the smallest unit in a chess game was not the move, but the idea. 

It is helpful to have all sorts of "ideas" in mind when you play chess, as any one of them can spark thoughts of a tactic that might lead to an advantage.

I touched upon one such idea in "Jerome Gambit: A Few Tactical Ideas in Your Pocket", "Jerome Gambit: Another Tool For The Box" and "Sunday Tournament Update": Black's King is at f7, White's Queen checks it from b3, Black blocks the check with his Bishop at e6, and then White counters with the Knight check and fork from g5 with the eventual win of the Bishop.

Three years ago, I noted that The Database had over 500 examples of the tactic. Today there are 586, with White scoring 74%. (The average rating difference between White and Black in those games is only 17 points, suggesting an expected scoring of 50%.)

The first example that I have in The Database, although not exactly a Jerome Gambit, is Myers, Hugh S - Conners, Dave, Idaho Closed Championship, Boise, 1984 (1-0, 26): 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Na5 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.b4 Bxf2+ 7.Kxf2 Nc6 8.Rf1 d6 9.Kg1 Nf6 10.Qb3+ Be6 11.Ng5+ 

By the way I knew Hugh, through his chess books, the "Myers Openings Bulletin", and our correspondence. He was an openings explorer, but, as far as I know, he never played the Jerome Gambit - he wasn't that eccentric.

The most recent example that I have of the position we are looking at, in The Database, is cool64chess - Etus11, Jerome Classic #1, Chess.com, 2024 (1-0, 41): 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.O-O Nf6 6.d3 Rf8 7.c3 d6 8.b4 Bb6 9.Qb3+ Be6 10.Ng5+ 

So there you have it, something to think about and possibly add to your tactical toolbox.