Bad Jerome Gambit

I mentioned in the previous post that in visitng the online video site TikTok, I discovered some videos by uisloth featuring the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+).

Here is the game from  "Bad jerome gambit".

Bad for who? is the question.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

7.Qd5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+ d6 9.Qe3 Nf6 

10.f4 Ng4 11.Qg3 Qe7 12.Nc3 Ke8 13.d4 Rf8 

Here we have the "Jerome pawns" vs Black's extra piece on g4. White needs to get his King to safety before proceeding.

14.f5 Bxf5 15.0–0 

Better late than never.

15...Bxe4 

Hanging the Knight.

16.Rxf8+ Kxf8 17.Qxg4 Bxc2 

White probably has enough activity to compensate for his lost pawn.

18.Bg5 Qe8 19.Rf1+ Kg8 20.Nd5 Qc6 

Missing 21.Ne7+ Nxe7 22.Bh6! Nf5 (22...g6 23.Qe6+ Kh8 24.Qf6+ Kg8 25.Qg7#) 23.Rxf5 Qd7 24.Rf8+ Rxf8 25.Qxd7 when White would win Black's Queen.

21.Qe6+ 

Missing 21.Ne7+, too.

21...Kh8 22.Rf6 Re8 

Of course, the Rook can not be taken.

23.Qf7 Bd3 

Hmmm... I thought 22.Rf6 might have been a mouse slip for the stronger 22.Rf7, and here, likewise, 23...Bd3 does not make as much sense as 23...Be4. If this is a real game, the clock may be the villain.

24.Nb4 

Yikes! Going for the fork of Rook and Queen, of course, but he needed to advance his h-pawn a step or two.

24...Qe4 

Missing 24...Re1+, when 25.Kf2 would lead to mate (25...Re2+ 26.Kg1 Qxg2#) while the stronger 24.Rf1 would still lead to 24...Bxf1 25.Nxc6 Bc4+ 26.Kf2 Rf1+ 27.Kg3 Rxf7 28.Nxa7 Bxa2 and Black would have an extra Rook.

Now White finishes up.

25.Nxd3 Qxd3 26.Qxe8+ Nf8 27.Rxf8 checkmate