It is often fun to see how Black works to dispose of the Jerome Gambit - an opening that appears so bad that it can be vanquished on-the-spot by a quickly assembled-at-home response. I got to play an online blitz game the other day, and it was reassuring to see that tradition is still respected. perrypawnpusher - SSGSSGSSG 5 5 blitz, FICS, 2018 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 The Two Knights defense. I have to try for a Jerome, anyhow. 4.Nc3 Bc5
Now I can get a Jerome out of this. For some reason I am always uneasy playing this line. Hmmm. Let me check The Database... I thought so. I have played 60 games with the Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit line, and have scored only 74%. That compares to the regular Jerome Gambit move order, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+, which I have played 319 times and have scored 82%. Or the Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.0-0 Bc5 5.Bxf7+, which I have played 58 times, and have scored 88%. Even with the Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.0-0 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bc5 6.Bxf7, which I have played 58 times, I have scored 78%. (It has to be me. I just checked Bill Wall's statistics, and he scores "only" 92% with the Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit, vs 93% with the regular Jerome.) 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Bb4
There you have it. Problem solved. Stockfish 9 even gives Black a 1/3 of a pawn advantage here. Now to finish White off. 8.dxe5 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Nxe4
12.O-O Qe7 I had seen 12...dxe5 13.Qxe5 Qe7 before (but, of course, did not remember it) in perrypawnpusher - obmanovichhh, blitz, FICS, 2010(1-0, 39). The text has a weakness (putting the Queen on a dangerous diagonal) that 12...Qe8 might have avoided. 13.Ba3 Be6 Probably stronger than 13...c5, which was seen in perrypawnpusher - Abatwa, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 17); but Stockfish 9 prefers 13...Kf7. 14.exd6 cxd6
Okay. Time to take stock. White has recovered his sacrificed piece, with better development and a safer King. His extra pawn is not a big deal, as it is doubled and isolated - a fair reminder that lazy play could lead to a Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame that Black could draw easily. So - What weakness in Black's position should White focus on? 15.Rae1 I decided to pin the Bishop and put pressure on it. If you thought, instead, that White should go after the d-pawn with 15.Rad1, threatening Black's Queen and King along the a3-f8, Stockfish 9 agrees with you. 15...Kf7 16.f4 g6
17.f5 gxf5 18.Rxf5+ Kg7
19.Qxe6 Sure, this works, but so does 19.Qg4+ Kh6 20.Rh5 checkmate. Ooops. Now Black has to exchange Queens and go into a lost endgame - or face checkmate. 19...Qc7 20.Qf6+ Black resigned
Although the attack in my most recent Jerome Gambit game was unsound, it succeeded in winning back the sacrificed piece, reaching a drawn 2Rs + Ps vs 2Rs + Ps endgame. Alas, I let up my focus too soon, and my opponent's tactic won a rook, and the game. perrypawnpusher - spince blitz, FICS, 2014
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 An earlier game against the same opponent continued 3...Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8,perrypawnpusher - spince, blitz, FICS, 2013 (1-0, 23). 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+
The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit. 5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Bxd4 8.Qxd4 Re8
This kind of thing always seems to work for Bill Wall. 20...Qf8 21.Kh1 Qg7 22.Rg1 Kf8 23.Qg3Ke7 24.Nd5+ Kd8 25.Qf4 c6 26.Nc3 Kc7 27.h4 Rg8 28.Re3 Qf8
Black could have played 28...Nxg4, but he had already decided on his defense. 29.Reg3 Qe7 30.g5 fxg5 31.hxg5 d5 32.exd5 Bxd5+ 33.Nxd5+ Rxd5 34.Re3
Instead, c2-c4, either here or the next move, would give White the advantage. 34...Kc8 35.Rge1 Qxg5 36.Qxg5 Rxg5 37.Rxe5 Rd4 38.R1e2
This move is okay, but 38.Re8+ Kc7 39.Re7+ Kb6 40.Rxh7 Rxf5 41.Ree7 would have made the draw clear. 38...Rh5+ 39.Rh2
A blunder, which my opponent quickly spotted. Even was 39.Kg2. 39...Rd1+ 40.Kg2 Rd2+ 41.Kg3 Rdxh2 White resigned
(The list of the top 10 home countries of visitors to this blog, for all time, is: United States, Russia, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Brazil, Canada, Poland, Netherlands, Ukraine. Welcome, and feel free to return! - Rick)
In looking at ionman's Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) and related games in the online FICS games database, I found an effort that had escaped The Database, a situation that I was glad to quickly correct. ionman - RavingEagle blitz, FICS, 2011 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 The Semi-Italian Opening. If Black subsequently brings his Bishop out to c5, White can consider going Jerome-ish with Bxf7+. 4.d4 Na5
At some point this offside Knight move is going to become known as the "kick me maneuver". 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Ke8 It is a measure of Black's difficulties to realize that his "strongest" move here is 6...Ke7, allowing the Knight fork at g6. 7.Qh5+ Ke7 8.Qf7+ Kd6 9.Qd5+
This is strong and winning. Checking out The Database, only sanforu - goaheadandtakemy, blitz, FICS, 2008 has 9.Na3 that leads to mate in 3; and only plasmafaz - Abatwa, blitz, FICS, 2012 has 9.Nc3 that leads to mate in 4. No matter, White has the fork mentioned in the note to move 6. 9...Ke7 10.Ng6+ Ke8 11.Nxh8 Nf6 12.Qf7 checkmate
My opponent was spending a lot of time thinking, and this move gave me a bit of a start: my worries started to multiply, even though, objectively 9...d6 was better.
What was there to worrry about?
I would normally play 10.f4 here, but I imagined that Black would respond to the move with 10...Qh4, threatening mate. Of course, I could play 11.h3, but then he would have 11...Qg3, and if I took off the advanced Knight with 12.hxg4 he could replace it with 12...Nxg4.
After some thought, I played
10.Bf4
Not enough thought, of course.
My worried thoughts were faulty.
For starters, after 10.f4 Qh4 White would be able to remove the backup Knight with check either on his 11th or 12th moves.
Even after the hallucinated 10.f4 Qh4 11.h3 Qg3 12.hxg4 Nxg4 White can defend, with an even game, after 13.Qd5+ Kf8 14.Qh5.
Pretty sad.
Best was simply 10.h3, and after 10...Nf6 then 11.Bg5 d6 12.f4 Nc6, with Black still better.
One positive thing did come out of my odd Bishop move: I don't think it made sense to my opponent, either. What was I up to?? He continued to eat up thinking time.
10...Qf6 11.Qd2 Qg6
12.Bg3
I still wasn't sure what I was doing, either.
The straight-forward 12.h3 Nf6 13.Bxe5 Rxe5 14.f4 followed by 15.e5 would have given White the initiative and positional compensation for his material deficit.
12...d6
This certainly looks good: with four pieces aimed at my Kingside (let's not count the Black King) my opponent opens a line for a fifth.
I decided, though, that the pressure on the wing needed counter-pressure in the center.
With three pawns for the piece, White is now probably even. It was nice to be forcing the pace of the game, making my opponent react.
18...Bd7 19.Nd5 Nxd5 20.Qxd5+
This keeps the game even, while 20.Bxe5 gives White the edge. How big an edge is not clear, as there is always the possibility of things devolving into a drawn Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame if I am not careful.
20...Kf8
Unfortunately time had now become very much a factor for my opponent, and he missed the stronger 20...Qe6 which would have kept things level.
21.Bxe5 Qe3+ 22.Kh1 Black lost on time
Three extra pawns should be enough for White to win.
I did not recognize my opponent's name until after I had challenged him to this game. In two previous games I had not treated him kindly. I do not think that I will bother him any more in the future.
perrypawnpusher - Abatwa blitz, FICS, 2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6
The Two Knights Defense.
Previously my opponent had tried the Blackburne Schilling Gambit: 3...Nd4 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.c3 Nc6 7.d4 Nce7 8.Qg4+ Black resigned,perrypawnpusher - Abatwa, blitz, FICS, 2010.
Black has scored only 33% in this line in the games in the updated New Year's Database, and my games have been a wasteland for the second player. Best is 7...Bd6 8.dxd5 Bxe5.
Previously my opponent had played the intriguing 7...Rf8, although he did not follow up the move strongly: 8.dxe5 Ne8 9.Qd5+ Ke7 10.Bg5+ Nf6 11.exf6+ gxf6 12.Qxc5+ d6 13.Nd5+ Kd7 14.Qd4 fxg5 15.Qg7+ Kc6 16.Qc3+ Kd7 17.0-0-0 Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - Abatwa, blitz, FICS, 2010.
White is a pawn ahead, but Black's next move will diminish it to an isolated, doubled one. Still, this is better than a few moves ago, when I was down two pieces, and such a change in fortunes often causes me to suddenly go meek and mild...
11.0-0 Bxc3 12.bxc3 d6
13.Ba3 c5
Throwing some material on the deadly diagonal to block the Bishop. Black's best chance was to have his King to flee to f7, although after a Queen check he would lose the d6 pawn.
14.Qf4+ Ke8
It all goes to pieces quickly now. The Queen needed to leap in front of His Majesty, but my opponent probably did not want the exchange of pieces and subsequent two-pawn-down endgame, even if he did have slight prospects with the Bishops-of-opposite-colors.
Figuring, I guess, that since he is going to lose a piece no matter which one he moves, he might as well prepare to safegard his King by castling-by-hand. Under other circumstances this would be a fine idea, but his best move here was 7...Bd6.
8.dxe5 Ne8
Understandably wanting to stay a piece ahead, but it was necessary to surrender one with 8...d6 9.exf6 Qxf6 10.0-0 Qe5 when White will have an edge.
9.Qd5+ Ke7
After the game Rybka showed that Black's King could reach safety in a round-about way: 9...Kg6 10.Qxc5 d6 11.Qd4 Kf7 12.Be3 Kg8. However, after 13.0-0-0 White is clearly better.
10.Bg5+ Black resigned
What an uncomfortable position!
After 10...Nf6 11.exf6+ gxf6 12.Qxc5+ d6 it looks like White has won two pieces, only to have left two en prise himself, but with 13.Nd5+! he can give the Bishop back and maintain the attack, e.g. 13...Kd7 14.Qd4 fxg5 15.Qg7+ (or 15.0-0-0).
This Blackburne Shilling Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4) game was galloping along toward lightly-explored territory when a sudden Knight move caused it to pull up short and end quickly...
perrypawnpusher - Abatwa blitz 12 4, FICS, 2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4
The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.
4.Bxf7+
The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.c3 Nc6
I had looked at this move in depth (see "Clearly Unclear") based on the games of Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member GOH at FICS.
7.d4 Nce7
8.Qg4+ Black resigned
Black is going to lose his Queen after either 8...Kd6 9.Nf7+ or 8...Nf5 9.Qxf5+ Kd6 10.Nf7+.
This was good enough for me, although after the game Rybka pointed out that 8.d5+, instead, led to checkmate.
