Friday, June 20, 2025

Jerome Gambit: Trying to Fit Together Two Different Lines



DutchLiLi - RoiDanton2000

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2024

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 

7.Qxe5 d6 

Blackburne's defense, going back to Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1884 (0-1, 14).

8.Qxh8 Qe7 

Hmmm... ...Qe7 a move earlier would have been Whistler's defense.

This combined line, however, does not work, as this game quickly shows. Such things happen in bullet games.

The Database has 38 games with this position. White scores 76%.

9.Qxh7+ 

The Jerome Gambit reminds me of Ralph Nader's Unsafe At Any Speed, but the opening can be particularly unsafe for either player when travelling like a speeding bullet, e.g. 9.d3 Nf6 10.Bh6 Bg4 11.Nc3 Rxh8 White resigned, DutchLiLi - ba2n, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2021

9...Kf8 

Or 9...Ke8 10.Qxg6+ Kd8 11.d3 Be6 12.Bg5 Nf6 13.Bxf6 Black resigned, DutchLiLi - Aguspy, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org. 2021 

10.Qxg6 

Exchanging Queens was also good, e.g. 10.Qxe7+ Nxe7 11.c3 Nc6 12.d4 Bb6 13.O-O Bd7 14.Bh6+ Kg8 15.Nd2 Kh7 16.Bg5 Kg7 17.f4 Re8 18.Rae1 a5 19.Kh1 a4 20.a3 Na5 21.e5 Bb5 22.Rf3 Bc4 23.f5 gxf5 24.Rxf5 Be6 25.Rf6 dxe5 26.Rxe5 Bf7 27.Rxe8 Bxe8 28.Rf5 Nc6 29.Rf2 Bd7 30.Nf3 Bg4 31.Ne5 Nxe5 32.dxe5 Be6 33.Bf6+ Kg6 34.Rf4 Bc5 35.Rh4 b5 36.g4 Bf8 37.g5 Kf5 38.Rd4 c6 39.Rd8 Bc5 40.Rh8 White won on time, DutchLiLi - ege_satranc, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org. 2020 

10...Nf6 

Or 10...Be6 11.O-O Bf7 12.Qg4 Bd4 13.c3 Be5 14.d4 Be6 15.Qe2 Bxh2+ 16.Kxh2 Nf6 17.f4 Qh7+ 18.Kg1 Bg4 19.Qf2 Nxe4 20.Qc2 Re8 21.Na3 Qh4 22.f5 Ng3 23.Bg5 Qh1+ 24.Kf2 Nxf1 25.Rxf1 Qh8 26.Kg3 Re2 Black won on time, DutchLiLi - patriciobenitez, lichess.org, 2022. 

11.d3 Be6 12.Bh6+ Black resigned


Black did not need to wait for 12...Qg7 13.Qxf6+ Ke8 14.Bxg7.


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