Jerome Gambit: Things Can Become Interesting, Quickly

When two players rated 2500+ battle it out in Jerome Gambit games - with a 1-minute time control - things can become interesting, quickly.

If you are keeping track, the Jerome emerges 4 - 1.

Arman-Avdalyan - BusDriver-NC4920

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2026

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 

Or

5...Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 (6...Ng6 7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Qe7 (9...Nf6 10.Nc3 Rf8 (10...Ng4 11.Qg3 Qf6 12.f3 N4e5 13.O-O c6 14.d3 Qh4 15.Be3 Qxg3 16.hxg3 Rf8 17.b3 Be6 18.d4 Nd7 19.f4 Bg8 20.f5 Ne7 21.Bf4 Nc8 22.Rae1 Kd8 23.g4 Kc7 24.e5 dxe5 25.dxe5 Kb6 26.e6 Nf6 27.a4 Nxg4 28.Rd1 Rxf5 29.Rd7 g6 30.Bc7+ Ka6 31.b4 b6 32.b5+ cxb5 33.axb5+ Ka5 34.Rb1 Bxe6 35. Rd4 Black resigned, Arman-Avdalyan - BusDriver-NC4920, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2026) 11.O-O Nh5 12.d3 Qf6 13.g3 Bh3 14.f4 Bxf1 15.Kxf1 c6 16.f5 Ne5 White resigned, Arman-Avdalyan - BusDriver-NC4920, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2026) 10.Nc3 Nf6 11.O-O Rf8 12.f4 c6 13.f5 Ne5 14.d3 Ned7 15.h3 d5 16.g4 dxe4 17.dxe4 Ne5 18.Qg3 Bd7 19.Bf4 Nf7 20.e5 Nd5 21.Nxd5 cxd5 22.e6 Bc6 23.exf7+ Qxf7 24.Rfe1+ Kd7 25.Bd6 Rfe8 26.Bc5 Qf6 27.c3 h6 28.Bd4 Qd6 29.Qxd6+ Kxd6 30.Bxg7 h5 31.gxh5 Rg8 32.h6 Black resigned, Arman-Avdalyan - BusDriver-NC4920, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2026) 7.Qxe5 Bd6 8.Qc3 Qf6 9.Qxf6+ Nxf6 10.d3 Be7 11.f3 d6 12.Nd2 Kf7 13.Ke2 Rf8 14.h3 Kg8 15.Rf1 Nh5 16.Nc4 Ng3+ 17.Kf2 Nxf1 18.Kxf1 Be6 19.Ne3 Bg5 20.Ke2 Rad8 21.a4 d5 22.Bd2 d4 23.Nf1 Bxd2 24.Nxd2 Rf6 25.b3 a6 26.g4 h5 27.g5 Rf4 28.Rh1 Rh4 29.Kf2 Rxh3 30.Rxh3 Bxh3 31.Kg3 Be6 32.f4 Bg4 33.f5 c5 34.Nc4 Kf7 35.Ne5+ Ke7 36.Kf4 Rh8 37.Ng6+ Kf7 38.Nxh8+ Kg8 39.Ng6 Bd1 40.e5 Bxc2 41.e6 Bxb3 42.e7 Kf7 43.f6 gxf6 44.gxf6 Bc2 45.Ne5+ Ke8 46.a5 Bb3 47.Kf5 Bf7 48.Nxf7 Kxf7 49.Ke5 h4 50.Kd6 Ke8 51.Ke6 Black resigned, Arman-Avdalyan - BusDriver-NC4920, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2026) 

6.Qh5+

The Database has 439 games with this position. White scores 71%. 

Stockfish 16.1 prefers 6.Nxc6, although it must be noted that there are only 147 games in The Database with that move, with White, nonetheless, scoring 75%. 

6...g6 7.Nxg6 hxg6

For the stronger 7...Bxf2+ see the previous post, with angelcamina - kevinserge, lichess.org, 2026 (1-0, 32).

Bullet chess requires lightning fast decision-making, and you can't always get it right in an eye-blink. 

8.Qxh8 Kf8 9.d3 Qf6 

10.Bh6+ Kf7 11.Qh7+ Ke8 12.Qxg8+ Black resigned

One possible continuation shows Black's dilemma: 12...Ke7 13.Nc3 White's King will still be safer than Black's after this move, but it take some thought and courage - in a 1-minute game. 13...Qxf2+ 14.Kd1 d5 15.Nxd5+ Kd7 16.Qg7+ Ne7 17.Be3 Qxg2 18.Bxc5 Qxh1+ 19.Kd2 Qxh2+ 20.Kc3 Whew!