Jerome Gambit: Comes the Time

Comes the time when the defender decides to give back one of the pieces sacrificed in the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), some ways are more entertaining than others.

Not necessarily more effective.

The following game is a quick example.

benjamin84000 - Hozan000

3 2 blitz, lichess.org, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Nd3+ 

In a post 5 1/2 years ago, "Jerome Gambit: Too Clever", I wrote

Black returns one of the sacrificed pieces, buries White's dark square Bishop, and plans an attack on the dark squares. Still, the Knight move is a bit too clever - although it appears that no one has yet played the best alternative, the walk-away 8...Kc6!? 

[Currently, The Database has 49 games with 8...Kc6 - Rick] 

9.cxd3 Bb6 

Or 9...Qh4+ 10.g3 Qh6 11.Qd5+ Ke7 12.Qxc5+ Kd8 13.Qf8 checkmate, as seen in  Hardy,C - NN, lichess.org, 2019 and Jagulep - loks_sf, lichess.org, 2019. 

In the game, Black pulls his Bishop out of the line of fire. However, Stockfish 16.1 recommends, instead, the interesting line of play: 9...Nf6 10.e5+ Kc6 11.d4 d6 (Black has two pieces en prise again!) 12.Qc2 b6 13.dxc5 (the Bishop expires, after all) dxc5 14.Nc3 Re8 15.Qa4+ Kb7 16.O-O Bd7 17.Qd1 Bg4 18.Qe1 Qd4+ 19.Qf2 Qxf2+ 20.Rxf2 Ng8. Black's pieces are okay, and the computer evaluates (36 ply) that position as less than a pawn better for White - despite the protected, passed pawn on e5.

10.Qe5+ Kc6 11.Qd5 checkmate