Jerome Gambit: Wikipedia Talk

 

                                                        

Yury V. Bukayev sent me a link to the Wikipedia page,  Talk:Jerome Gambit, which has the following look at the game Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1885, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qxh8 Qh4 9.0-0 Nf6 10.c3 Ng4 11.h3 Bxf2+ 12.Kh1 Bf5 13.Qxa8 Qxh3+ 14.gxh3 Bxe4 mate

10.Qd8 is much better, but it does not win...

Perhaps the engines available at the time of Seirawan's book were unable to find the draw, but it's a trivial matter now. After 10.Qd8! Bh3! 11.Qxc7+ (forced) Kf8 (forced) there are two paths to the draw. (1) 12.Qxb7 Bxg2 (or 12...Qg4 13.Qxa8+ [forced] Kf7 [forced] 14.Qb7+ [forced] Kf8 [forced] 15.Qa8+ etc.) 13.Kxg2 (or 13.Qxa8+ Ne8 14.d4 Qg4! 15.Bh6+ Ke7 16.Qb7+ Kd8 17.Qb8+ Ke7 18.Qb7+ Kd8 etc.) Qg4+ 14.Kh1 Qf3+ with a perpetual check. (Black has other tries that also draw, but this suffices to make the point.) (2) 12.gxh3 Qxh3 and White has no non-losing move that prevents a perpetual by 13...Qg4+, 14...Qf3+, 15...Qg4+ and so on. (I'm not sure what to give as a source - "Any competent user of a 2025 chess engine like Stockfish 17.1?") ~2025-34726-82 (talk) 00:23, 1 December 2025 (UTC)...

 Could make a case for just deleting the game altogether. I doubt Blackburne was taking it very seriously, he probably just did the rook sac because it looked fun (and he knew he could easily beat this guy anyway). You're not likely to see any detailed annotations anywhere. MaxBrowne2 (talk) 22:50, 4 December 2025 (UTC)

 

Blackburne's game was likely played in a simultaneous exhibition (at least one source suggests that it was a blindfold simul), so, not being a "serious" game, might well have been "fun" for him.

A few relevant references

Brooklyn Chess Chronicle, J.B. and E.M. Munoz,Vol. III, August 15, 1885, p. 169 "The only hope he had was 10.QtoQ8, thus preventing the deadly move of Kt to Kt5" 

On this blog

"Updating the Blackburne Defense (Part 1 and Part 2)"