Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Jerome Gambit: Not the Gutter, Again


Should White take time to grab the enemy b-pawn? Is the material worth the time or distraction?

It depends. In the following game, angelcamina says "No, thank you" and continues to work on winning the enemy King, instead.


angelcamina - bemol4ik

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2025

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.Qc4 Nf6 

Or 9...Qe7 10.Nc3 Be6 11.Qb4 as in angelcamina - adrenalin87, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2023 (1-0, 52)

Stockfish 16.1's recommendation is the more aggressive 9...Qg5 10.Rg1 Nh4.

10.O-O 

Or 10.Nc3 c6 (10...Qe7 11.d3 Be6 12.Qb4 b6 13.O-O a5 14.Qb5 Kf7 15.f4 Bd7 16.Qh5 Nxh5 17.f5 Ne5 18.d4 Nc4 19.b3 Qh4 20.bxc4 Rhf8 21.Nd5 Rac8 22.Rf3 Qd8 23.Rh3 Nf6 24.Bg5 Kg8 25.Bxf6 gxf6 26.Rf1 Kh8 27.Rf4 Bc6 28.Rfh4 Rf7 29.Nf4 Bxe4 30.Ng6+ Kg8 31.Nf4 Bxf5 32.Rg3+ Bg6 White resigned, angelcamina - aleb12000, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2022) 11.d3 Qe7 12.O-O Be6 13.Qb4 Rb8 (13...a5 14.Qb6 Ra6 15.Qe3 Ng4 16.Qg3 h5 17.f4 Ke8 18.h3 Nf6 19.f5 Ne5 20.fxe6 h4 21.Qg6+ Kd8 22.Qf5 Kc7 23.Bf4 g6 24.Qg5 Rf8 25.Bxe5 dxe5 26.Qxe5+ Kb6 27.Na4+ Ka7 28.Qd4+ b6 29.c4 White won on time, angelcamina - Javier_Electrico, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2023) 14. f4 Bd7 15. Bd2 Ke8 16. Rae1 c5 17. Qa5 a6 18. e5 dxe5 19. fxe5 Ng4 20. e6 Bc6 21. h3 N4e5 22. Bg5 Qd6 23. e7 Nxe7 24. Bxe7 Qxe7 25. d4 Black resigned, angelcamina - oldmasterimmortal, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2022

10...Qe7 11.Nc3 Be6 12.Qb4 

12...c6 

Alternately, 12...Kf7 13.f4 Bd7 14.f5 Ne5 15.d4 Nc6 16.Qb3+ Ke8 17.Bg5 h6 18.Bxf6 gxf6 19.Nd5 Qf7 20.Nxc7+ Kd8 21.Qxf7 Kxc7 22.Qxf6 Raf8 23.Qh4 Nxd4 24.e5 dxe5 25.c3 Nc6 26.Rad1 Kb8 27.b4 Bc8 28.a4 b6 29.a5 b5 30.Qe4 Bb7 31.Rd7 Nxa5 32.Rxb7+ Nxb7 33.Qxe5+ Ka8 34.f6 Re8 35.f7 Rhg8 White resigned, angelcamina - joshuamanlangit34, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2022

13.f4 Bd7 14.b3 

Resisting the temptation of pawn-grabbing, although 14.Qxb7 was playable. Perhaps he did not want to "sleep in the gutter"?

14...Bg4 

Protecting the b-pawn, but missing White's plan.

15.Ba3 Rd8 16.Qc4 Nd7

17.h3 Bh5 18.g4 

Going after the Bishop. Also possible was further attack on the d-pawn with 18.e5

18...Bxg4 19.hxg4 Qh4


Black's Queen looks aggressive, but White attacks first.

20.Bxd6+ Ke8 21.Qe6+ Ne7 22.g5 


Cutting off the Queen from defense of e7.

Black's Queen hopes to check its way to a draw, but a slip decides things.

22...Qg3+ 23.Kh1 Qh3+ 24.Qxh3 Nf5 25.Qxf5 Black resigned




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