Jerome Gambit: Make Haste, Slowly

 

I am always impressed how Bill Wall plays the wild and wooly Jerome Gambit - patiently, and successfully. Playing 970 games, scoring 93%.

Wall,Bill - Ahmad

sparkchess, 20.03.2026

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Qe7 

A different kind of Queen move, compared to Sorensen's 6...Qh4.

7.dxc5 Qxc5 8.Be3 

Or 8.0–0, as in 

Wall,B - Guest3992982, Playchess.com, 2015 (1-0, 23)

Wall,B - NN, lichess.org, 2016 (0-1, 30);

Wall,B - Youi, lichess.org, 2017 (1-0, 24); 

Wall,B - Guest927010, Playchess.com, 2017 (1-0, 47): 

Wall,B - Guest8692633, Playchess.com 2018 (1/2 - 1/2, 43); 

Wall,B - Guest11373407, Playchess.com 2019 (1-0, 23); 

Wall,B - Guest564938, Playchess.com, 2020 (1-0, 24);

Wall,B - Pachuco, internet, 2023 (1-0, 19); and 

Wall,B - Mart, sparkchess, 2025 (0-1, 23)

8...Qe7 9.0–0 Nf6 10.f3 

Or 10.Nc3 immediately, as in Wall,B - Guest457006, playchess.com 2018 (1-0, 30) and Wall,B - Guest3172540, Playchess.com 2019 (1-0, 27).

10...Rf8 11.Nc3 Kg8 

Stockfish 17.1 is delighted with Black's position. 

But, Black is not being played by a computer.

And, Bill patiently improves his game.

12.Qd4 d6 13.Rad1 Be6 14.b3 Rad8 15.Qxa7 

Grabbing a pawn, with a bit of psychology - Black is not going to return his Rook to a8, is he?

15...c6 16.Qb6 d5

In a position where nothing seems to be happening, there is a danger in just making moves.

17.Bc5 Qf7 18.Bxf8 Rxf8 19.f4 

Having grabbed the exchange, White mobilizes his "Jerome pawns".

19...Neg4 20.h3 Nd7 

If your opponent attacks one of your pieces, you may not have to move it, if you attack one of his pieces, ideally a more important one.

In this case, though, there is a problem with the move, and 20...Nh6 was for choice. 

21.Qa7 Ngf6 22.f5 

Oops.

22...dxe4 23.fxe6 Qxe6 24.Qxb7 e3 

Black's last play is to threaten a pawn fork.

White consolidates his position, and then, patiently, plays his own dangerous pawn.

25.Rde1 Nc5 26.Qb4 Ncd7 27.a4 Re8 28.a5 

28...Nd5 29.Nxd5 cxd5 30.Rf3 Qh6 31.Qb5 Nf6 

Protecting his Rook, but Bill replies with remove the defender.

32.Rxf6 Black resigns

Black's best response is to ignore White's Rook and defend his own, with the sad 32...Qh5 - but White has a forced checkmate, in any event.