The Mingrelia Defence Returns (Part 1)

                                                           

The Jerome Gambit is an odd enough opening that it can catch defenders unaware - the surprise value is not to be underestimated.

In the following game, however, my opponent "out-surprises" me; but if my intended Jerome Gambit is sketchy, his defense is also - although not as bad as the Jerome, at least in the computer's evaluation.

perrypawnpusher - MatheusDescia

"Wal2010's 3rd Thematic", Chess.com, 2026

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Qf6 

A rare defense - see "The Mingrelia Defence: The Jerome Gambit Contravened".

My opponent had every good reason to try this defense, as it erases much of my opening knowledge. Certainly, it avoids the Jerome Gambit!

It also adds some chess confusion. For example, here is a recent high level game with the same defense - I have used Geoff Chandler's "Blunder Table" to apply "?" where any move changed Stockfish 17.1's harsh position evaluations by more than a pawn. I think the time control was Game/60.

Parpiev, Isaak (2433) - Erigaisi, Arjun Kum (2775)

1st Thursday, Jan 29, 2026

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Qf6 4.c3 Qg6 5.O-O d6 6.d4 Bh3? 7.Nh4 Qxe4? 8.Bg5? Qg4 9. Qxg4? Bxg4 10.Re1 h6 11.Be3 Be7 12.Nf3 Bxf3 13.gxf3 exd4 14.cxd4 Nb4?! 15.Re2? d5 16.Bb3 c6 17.Nc3 Kd7 18.Ba4 b5?19.a3? bxa4 20.axb4 Bxb4 21.Nxa4 Ne7 22.Bd2 Bd6? 23.Bc3 Ng6 24.b4 Nf4 25.Rea2 Rhb8 26.Nc5+ Bxc5 27.dxc5 Ke6? 28.Kf1 d4 29.Bd2? Nd3 30.Ra4 Kd5 31.Ke2 Nb2 32.Rxa7 Re8+ 33.Kf1 Rxa7 34.Rxa7 Nc4? 35.Be1? Ne5 36.Bd2 Nxf3 37.Bf4 g5 38.Bg3 Re1+ 39.Kg2 g4 White resigned

A side note:  the earlier post "A Bit More Chess History" introduces the related Greco Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Qf6, and a couple of games from 1620. 

Also a game where the American champion, Paul Morphy, faced, and defeated, 2...Qf6. 

Finally, a modern blitz game between two players rated 2300+.

Now, back to the game at hand.

4.Nc3 

The earliest example that I have in The Database of 3...Qf6 is from a 10-game Joseph Henry Blackburne blindfold exhibition at the City of London Chess Club in 1871. 

Patrick T. Duffy, writing in The Westminster Papers, June 1871, commented

Black's opening may be associated with those appearing in the French works, under the denomination of Défenses faibles [weak defenses].

Quite possibly, the player of the Black pieces hoped to confound the blindfolded master in the game Diffy was referring to, although he was unsuccessful: 4.O-O d6 5.Nc3 Be6 6.Nd5 Bxd5 7.exd5 Na5 8.d3 h6 9.Bd2 Nxc4 10.dxc4 Qd8 11.Re1 Be7 12.Bc3 Nf6 13.h3 O-O 14.Nh2 Qd7 15.Ng4 Qf5 16.Nxf6+ Bxf6 17.Qd3 Qg6 18.Qxg6 fxg6 19.Re2 g5 20.b4 Rad8 21.a4 e4 White won, Blackburne,J - Manning,J, City of London CC, blindfold exhibition, 1871)

4...Bc5 5.O-O 

Or White can immediately choose to entice the enemy Queen to return home with 5.Nd5, e.g. 5...Qd8 (5...Qg6?! 6.Nxc7+ Kd8 7.Nxa8 Qxg2 8.Rf1 White won, Wall,B - NN, internet, 2020; 5...Qd6 6.Ng5 [6.c3 Nge7 7.d4 Bb6 8.dxe5 Qc5 9.Qe2 Nxd5 10.exd5 Na5 11.Bd3 d6 12.exd6+ Be6 13.dxe6 O-O-O 14.d7+ Kb8 15.e7 c6 16.e8=Q Qd5 17.Qxh8 Qxd7 18.Qxd8+ Bxd8 19.Bf4+ Kc8 20.b4 White won, Aguirre Inchaurbe,P - Segear,G, LSS, 2014] 6...Nh6 7.Qh5 Nd8 8.Nf3 c6 9.Nc3 Bxf2+? 10.Kxf2 Qc5+ 11.d4 Qxc4 12.Bxh6 gxh6 13.Qxe5+ Ne6 14.Qxh8+ Nf8 15.Qe5+ Ne6 16.Rhf1 d5 17.exd5 cxd5 18.Nxd5 Qxc2+ 19.Kg1 Kd8 20.Qd6+ Bd7 21.Ne5 Nf8 22.Qe7+ White won,  Abioye,Y - Gregoryanz,P, Winnipeg CAN, 2020) 6.c3 Bb6 7.a4 d6 8.b4 a6 9.Nxb6 cxb6 10.d4 Bg4 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.Bxf7+? Kxf7 13.Ng5+ Qxg5 14.Qd5+ Be6 15.Bxg5 Bxd5 16.exd5 Nce7 17.O-O-O Nf6 18.Rhe1 Nexd5 19.Rxe5 Nxc3 20.Rde1 Rae8 Black won, Tiegana - Wall,B, internet, 1998.

There is also the calm 5.d3, as in Sabirova,O - Danierova,R, Tashkent, 2011: 5...h6 6.Be3 d6 7.Nd5 Qd8 8.c3 Nf6 9.O-O Bg4 10.Bxc5 dxc5 11.Ne3 O-O 12.Nxg4 Nxg4 13.Bb5 Qd6 14.h3 Nf6 15.Bxc6 bxc6 16.Qe2 Nh5 17.g3 f5?! 18.exf5 Rxf5 19.Nh4 Rg5 20.Ng2 Rf8 21.Qe4 Nf6 22.Qc4+ Nd5 23.Rae1 Kh8 24.h4 Rgf5 25.Ne3 Rf3 26.Qe4 Nxe3 27.Rxe3 Rxe3 28.Qxe3 Rd8 29.Re1 Qxd3 30.Qxd3 Rxd3 31.Rxe5 Rd2 32.Rxc5 Rxb2 33.a4 Ra2 34.a5 Kg8 35.Kg2 Kf8 36.Rxc6 Rxa5 37.Rxc7 Ra3 38.Kf3 a5 39.Ke4 a4 40.Kf5 Ra2 41.f4 Re2 42.g4 Re8 43.Ra7 Rc8 44.Rxa4 Rxc3 45.Ra8+? Kf7 46.Ra7+ Kg8 47.Kg6 Rc6+ 48.Kh5 Rc8 49.f5 Rf8 50.Re7 Kh7 51.Re6 Rf7 52.Re8 Rf6 53.Re7 Rf8 54.Re5 Ra8 55.g5 hxg5 56.hxg5 Rf8 57.g6+ Kg8 58.Kg5 Ra8 59.Re7 Rf8 60.Rd7 Ra8 61.Kf4 Re8 62.Rc7 Kf8 63.Kg4 Kg8 64.Kg5 Kf8 65.Rd7 Kg8 66.Rd6 Kf8 67.Rb6 Kg8 68.Kf4 Kf8 69.Rb5 Kg8 70.Re5 Ra8 71.Re2 Kf8 72.Re6 Ra4+ 73.Kg5 Ra8 74.f6 Ra5+ 75.Kf4 gxf6 76.Rxf6+ Kg7 77.Rb6 Rc5 draw

5...d6 

Instead, 5...Nh6 develops a piece, but does nothing about White's threatened Knight leap 6.Nd5 Bxf2+ 7.Rxf2 Qd6 8.d4 Ng4 9.Rf1 O-O 10.Nh4 Nxd4 11.Qxg4 Nxc2 12.Nf5 Qc5+ 13.Kh1 g6 14.Qg5 c6 15.Nh6+ Kg7 16.Qf6 checkmate, Wall,B - Guest442049, internet, 2017.

More to the point was for Black to put the Knight on e7, i.e. 5...Nge7 to be met by 6.d4 although there is also 

6.d3 h6 7.Be3 (7.h3 d6 8.Be3 Bb4 9.Nd5 Nxd5 10.exd5 Nd4 11.Bxd4 exd4 12.c3 dxc3 13.Qa4+ Bd7 14.Qxb4 O-O 15.Qxc3 Qg6 16.d4 Bxh3 17.Nh4 Qh5 18.Qxh3 Black resigned, Wall,B - Sandy, internet, 2022) 7...Bxe3 8.fxe3 d6 9.Nd4 Qg6 10.Bxf7+ Black resigned, Wall,B - Sailu, internet, 2022; or

6.Nd5 Nxd5 7.exd5 Na5 8.Nxe5 Qxe5 9.Re1 Bxf2+ 10.Kxf2 Nxc4 11.Rxe5+ Nxe5 12.Qe2 d6 13.d4 Bg4 14.Qe4 f5 15.Qe1 O-O-O 16.dxe5 Rde8 17.e6 c6 18.c4 c5 19.Bf4 Kc7 20.Qa5+ b6 21.Qxa7+ Kd8 22.Qd7 checkmate, perrypawnpusher - hgamez, blitz, FICS, 2010; or

6.Bd5 O-O 7.d3 h6 8.Be3 Bb6 9.a4 Ng6 10.Nb5 a6 11.Bxb6 cxb6 12.Na3 Nf4 13.g3 Nxd5 14.exd5 Ne7 15.Nc4 d6 16.Nxb6 Bg4 17.Kg2 Rad8 18.Re1 Ng6 19.h3 White won, DrHealusion - annali, blitz, internet, 2018 

6...Nxd4 7.Nxd4 Bxd4 8.Nd5 Nxd5 9.Bxd5 O-O 10.Be3 Bxb2 11.Rb1 Ba3?! (11...Bd4) 12.Rb3 Be7 13.f4?! (13.Bxb7) 13...exf4? (13...c6) 14.Rxf4 Qg6 15.Rg4 Qa6 16.Bd4 Bf6 17.Bxf6?! (17.Rbg3) 17...Qxf6 18.Rbg3 g6 19.Rg5? d6 20.h3 Be6 21.Qh5 Bxd5 22.exd5 Rae8 23.Qh6 Re5 24.h4 Re1+ 25.Kh2 Qf1 26.Rf3 Qh1+ 27.Kg3 Re2 28.Rf2 Rxf2 29.Kxf2 Re8 30.Rg4 Qe1+ 31.Kf3 Qe2+ (31...Re2) 32.Kg3 Qe5+ 33.Kh3 Qf5 34.Qg5 Qxg5 35.hxg5 Re3+ 36.g3 Kf8 37.Rc4 Re7 38.a4 Ke8 39.a5 Kd7 40.a6 b6 41.Rc6 Re5 42.Kg4 Rxd5 43.Rc3 Ra5 44.Rf3 Ra4+ 45.Kh3 Ke7 46.Re3+ Kf8 47.Rf3 Rxa6 48.c4 Ra5 49.Rf6 Rf5 50.Rxf5 gxf5 51.g4 Kg7 0–1 Black won, chessriddler - Marshalofsweden, lichess.org, 2023 

6.Nd5 Qd8

[to be continued]