I was tempted to start this post with a quote from "Sleeping in the Gutter or Getting Away?"
He who captures the Queen's Knight pawn sleeps in the gutter -- a stern warning against pawn-grabbing
He who grabs the pawn, and spirits away, lives to fight another day -- a lesson from Bill Wall's Jerome Gambit
Then, I was reminded of the children's game, "Hungry, Hungry Hippos" and thought it humorously represented the actions of Bill's Queen in gobbling up pawns.
Wall, Bill - Benjamin
internet, 2026
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+
Bill is 17- 0 - 1 with this move - all the more interesting when you consider that Stockfish 17.1 evaluates the position as 3 1/4 pawns better for Black.
6...Ng6 7.Qxc5 d6 8.Qd5+
This Queen check shows up in Bill's games, the earliest being Wall,B - Guest4395, Microsoft Internet Gaming Zone, 2001 (1/2-1/2, 17).
Black is asked about his b-pawn.
9.Qxb7 Nf6 10.Nc3 Qe7
White has 3 pawns for his sacrificed piece.
He needs to be careful about his Queen, and he needs to respect Black's piece advantage on the Kingside.
11.O-O Ne5
This "kick me" move challenges White in that he will have to choose: d-pawn or f-pawn?
12.d4
Stockfish 17.1 (33 ply) agrees.
12...Neg4
Mounting an attack.
He might consider taking advantage of the placement of the enemy Queen: 12...Rhb8 13.Qa6 Bc4 14.Qa4 Bxf1 15.dxe5 Qxe5 16.Kxf1 Qxh2 17.Qc4+ Kg6 18.Qd3 Qh1+ 19.Ke2 Kf7
13.f3 Nh6 14. Bxh6 gxh6
15.d5 Bd7 16.Qxc7
The Queen's pawn-grabbing makes me nervous, but Stockfish reassures that White is slightly better.
16...Rhc8
It is time to punish Her Majesty for playing a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos, but is Black up to the task?
17.Qa5 a6 18.Rae1 Bb5 19.Rf2 Nd7
The Knight effectively traps its own Bishop, which Bill reacts to immediately.
20. a4 Bc4 21. Nd1 Nc5 22.Ne3 Ba2 23.Ra1
It is interesting that the computer treats Black's Bishop's excursion as a problem of tempo, i.e. 23...Bb3 24.Nf5 Qf6 25.Qb6 Rab8 26.Qxd6 Bxa4 27.Rxa4 Nxa4 28.Qd7+ Kf8 29.Qxa4 Qxb2 30.Qxa6 Qb6 31.Qxb6 Rxb6
analysis diagram
The analysis diagram shows that White would have 4 pawns (4 connected passers!) for the exchange.
24.Rxa2 Nd7 25.Nf5 Qf6 26.Qd2 Ne5 27.Qxh6
The second player does not have compensation for five pawns.
