Vortex

Not long ago I considered posting on an unusual and infrequently-played defense to the Jerome Gambit that quickly tosses the game into a vortex of unclear play.

Then, the other day, an opponent played it against me.

perrypawnpusher - sjeijk
blitz, FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6

In my experience this move is played either by a novice who doesn't know the Jerome Gambit and who thinks only about hanging onto his extra material (something the gambiteer can cheer); or by someone who is familiar with the Jerome Gambit and who has planned a particular defense (something the gambiteer can be wary of).

Which is it in this case?

7.Qf5+

Let's find out!

7...Kd6 8.f4 Nf3+

Wow!

The American Chess Journal of September, 1876 noted "A new departure... 8...Qf6 is the usual play."

It then added laconically "The text move prevents White from castling." Returning a piece is certainly one way to accomplish that goal.

9.gxf3

In what might be the original game for this variation, Alonzo Wheeler Jerome played  the outrageous 9.Kf1!? in an 1876 correspondence game against D.P. Norton and lost in 42 moves. The move, the line, the game all deserve a post or two themselves, especially since the American Chess Journal suggested that the alternative "9.Kd1 seems better".

D.P. Norton, by the way, also in 1876, played what I refer to as "Whistler's Defense" in another game against Jerome: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Qe7!. White was fortunate to draw the game.

Since Lt. G. N. Whistler played a number of correspondence games with that defense against Jerome in 1876, I have given his name priority for the line. 

9... Qh4+ 10.Kd1

White can capture the offered Knight, on move 9 (in fact, he should) but he is going to be falling down a vortex of unclear play, right along with his opponent...

At this point 10.Kf1 leads to immediate checkmate and 10.Ke2 leads to great torment after 10...Qf2+11.Kd3 Qxf3+ 12.Kc4 b5+ 13.Kxb5

analysis diagram








Here the exciting game gibonacci - jschulte, GameKnot.com, 2007 continued 13...a6+ (Stronger was 13...Rb8+ 14.Ka5 Ne7) 14.Kc4 Nf6 (the tricky 14...Bf2 was necessary to avoid a draw, or, in the case of this game, a loss for Black) 15.Qxc5+ Ke6 16.Re1 Qxf4 and White had consolidated his position, although it took him until move 48 to reel in the win. Bravo!

10... Ne7

The American Chess Journal suggested 10...Qf2 concluding "and Black has the better position." This was proven to be incorrect in the game perrypawnpusher - Sir Osis of the Liver, JG thematic, ChessWorld, 2008 where White demonstrated a draw by repetition, but Black, trying to avoid that, allowed himself to be checkmated.

11.e5+

Tempting, but wrong.

White's best chance is 11.Qe5+ Kc6 12.b4!? when White can probably eke out a draw, whether or not the pawn is captured, but the play is very difficult.

That is a fair assessment of this Norton variation: a very complicated game, but a draw, with a lot of hard work by White.

Is that a better choice than some of the known refutations of the Jerome Gambit? That all depends on the kind of game that the defender is most comfortable with.

11...Kc6 12.Qe4+ Nd5

Here is Black's slip.

Instead, 12...d5 13.exd6+ Kxd6 allows Black's light-squared Bishop to aid in the defense, and gives Black's King an addition route to escape, if he needs it, through the d7 square.

An up-and-down game, eventually won by White, followed 12...Kb6 13.Nc3 d6 14.Na4+ Kb5 15.d4 Bf5 16.Qxb7+ Kxa4 17.Qa6+ Kb4 18.a3 checkmate, CFBBlind - Quandary, FICS, 2001.

13.Nc3 Qxf4

Not best, but the game is lost, anyway, after alternatives.

14.Qxd5+ Kb6 15.Qb3+ Kc6

White now has a mate-in-one, but I was nervous enough to miss it the first time.

16.Qd5+ Kb6 17.Qb3+ Bb4

At this point my opponent saw 17... Kc6 18. Qb5 checkmate, and varied, losing his Queen.

18.Nd5+ Kb5 19.Nxf4 Black resigned

An unfortunate end for an opponent who really seems to have prepared for the Jerome Gambit!

Interestingly enough, I cannot find sjeijk's name in The Database, either with the White pieces or the Black pieces.

The Norton - Hallock Game (Part 4)

We continue a look at the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game Norton - Hallock, correspondence, 1877 (see "The Norton - Hallock Game" Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3), assessing the contemporary evaluations of American Chess Journal editor William Hallock and gambit originator Alonzo Wheeler Jerome; while adding a modern perspective, the insights of Rybka, and various contents of my ChessBase files...

9.Qe1 Kf7

Hallock: Very good again. Brings the KR into the field. Obviously the capture of the Knight would lose the Queen.

10.h3

Hallock: A mere waste of time. Should have played Kh1 or c3

Jerome: Note (e) says "waste of time" not so; on the contrary is much better than 10.c3, for if 10...Re8 11.d4 Bxd4 12.cd Qxd4 and the KP is lost and Black has the best position. 10.Kh1 is good and safe.

White's best move, giving up a pawn to get some breathing room for his Queen, was 10.d4, when either 10...Qxd4 or 10...Bxd4 can be answered by 11.exf6. Black will remain a pawn up, with intense piece pressure and the two Bishops, but that would be better for White than either 10.h3, as played in the game, or 10.Kh1 or 10.c3 as mentioned by Jerome (all of which still favor Black).

The line proposed by Jerome as good for Black, 10.c3 Re8 11.d4 Bxd4 12.cxd4 Qxd4 is advantageous for the second player, but 10...Qd3 would have been even more so.

10...Re8

Hallock: Sound and brilliant.

11.Kh2

Hallock: If White answer 11.hxg4 Nxg4! 12.g3 (12.Qe4 Qh4! 13.Qf3+ Kg8 14.Qh3 Bxf2+ 15.Kh1 Rxe5 wins easily) 12...Rxe5 13.Qd1 Nxf2 etc If 14.Rxf2+ (If 14.c3 Qg5) 14...Qf6.

Jerome: In note (f) there seems to me to be quite an oversight for if 13...Nxf2 14.Rxf2 and then if 14...Qf6 as suggested in the note, 15.d4 and it is Black's goose which is immediately done brown. Of course 13...Nxf2 is not best. Again I cannot see the easy win after 15...Rxe5 the attack is with White.

Clearly 10...Re8 is a good and thematic move for Black.

White's best response seems to be 11.d3, followed by Nb1-d2-f3 and possibly Bc1-f4; although Black would still have the advantage.

Hallock is correct that capturing Black's Bishop with 11.hxg4 is well-answered by 11...Nxg4. This is especially clear after the further 12.d4 Qxd4 13.Nc3 Rxe5 when Black's pieces dominate.

However, in extending his analysis Hallock leaves himself open to Jerome's retort that after 11.hxg4 Nxg4 12.g3 Rxe5 13.Qd1 Nxf2 14.Rxf2 Qf6 Black is bested by 15.d4. Black's last move is a mistake: substitute 14...Bxf2+ for 14...Qf6 and he is winning. In this line 13...Bxf2+ is better than Hallock's suggested 13...Nxf2 – supporting Jerome's assertion that the latter move was "not best" – but 13...Nxf2 is also good, just not best.

It is hard to accept Jerome's argument that after Hallock's 11.hxg4 Nxg4 12.Qe4 Qh4 13.Qf3+ Kg8 14.Qh3 Bxf2+ 15.Kh1 Rxe5 "the attack is with White."  Black's crushing threat of ...Re5-h5 forces White to exchange Queens, after which Black's development and King safety vastly overshadow White's game – over 3 pawns' worth, according to Rybka.

Hallock now wraps the game up nicely.

11...Rxe5 12.Qxe5 Bd6 13.f4 Bxe5 14.fxe5

14...Be2 15.Rf2 Qd4 16.Rxe2 Re8 17.d3 Rxe5 18.c3 Qd5 White resigned

The Norton - Hallock Game (Part 3)

While it can be fun to read contemporary analyses of a chess game (see "The Norton - Hallock Game" Part 1 and Part 2), the personal involvement of the commentators / players can get in the way. 

I sat down with my friend Rybka and my ChessBase files to go over this particular Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game and evaluate what American Chess Journal editor William Hallock and gambit originator Alonzo Wheeler Jerome had to say about it.

Norton,D.P. - Hallock,W.A.
correspondence, 1877

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8

Hallock: The usual continuation is 5...Nxe5 but this seems equally good.

Jerome: Note (a) to your game with Norton says 5...Kf8 "seems equally good with 5...Nxe5" which is a mistake in fact and theory. 5...Nxe5 if properly followed up wins White's KBP, wheras 5...Kf8 leaves White's pawns intact while Black has lost two strong pawns and doubled another. This defense was adopted by G.J. Dougherty of Mineola, NY, a strong amateur, against whom I first played the opening, and I think he will agree that 5...Kf8 is not a good defense. He generally played 6...bc [after 5...Kf8 6.Nxc6] and that was the play of Mr. J. C. Young of Danville, KY, who subsequently abandoned the game. Why, I do not know, as it was not necessarily lost to either of us. It is a question with which Pawn it is best to take.

It is interesting to point out that this "discussion" between Hallock and Jerome about the merits of 5...Kf8 took place in the February and March 1877 issues of the American Chess Journal, two months before Lt. Sorensen published his very influential article on the Jerome Gambit in the May 1877 issue of the Danish chess magazine Nordisk Skaktidende. (For a taste of the article, see "Bashi-Bazouk Attack".)

It is quite possible that the Americans only became aware of Sorensen's work when his article was translated into English and was reprinted in the August 1877 issue of the Chess Player's Chronicle.

Sorensen considered 5...Kf8 the best defense for Black, and he recommended it as "more solid" and "easier to manage" than 5...Nxe5. After 5...Kf8 6.Nxc6 he gave the 6...dxc6 capture as best, continuing 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Qf3, as in Jerome - Brownson, USA 1875 (1/2-1/2, 28)

A modern assessment supports Sorensen's (and thus, Hallock's) point of view – but only marginally. After four moves Black already has enough material to win the game, and therefore he does not need to complicate the game further by grabbing another piece with 5...Nxe5. The Danish author was already being influenced by Steinitz's "positional" style, as opposed to his (and the chess world's) earlier "romantic" (attacking) style.

On the other hand, Rybka shows a clear preference for 5...Nxe5 over 5...Kf8 (by about 3/4 of a pawn) – showing that even with its positional "insights" the computer software still has a materialistic side.

6.Nxc6

Hallock: The continuation adopted by Jerome, 6.Qh5 [instead] looks promising.

Jerome: The move suggested in note (b) 6.Qh5, is not my idea, but belongs to Mr. Norton himself, and I have to acknowledge that I thought it unsound when he suggested it to me, during the process of the game, because 6...Qf6 gets up a counter attack at once; but 7.Ng4 compels Black to "crawfish" and permits White to castle with a good game. However if Black play 7...Qe7 it makes White 's game uncomfortable. But White may play 7.Nxd7+ Bxd7 8.Qxc5+ with 3 Pawns for his Knight which the books hold to be an equivalent. And I would not hesitate to exchange Queens if offered. Norton thinks [5...Kf8 6.Qh5] 6...Qe7 best; I think [5...Kf8 6.Qh5] 6...Nxe5 best; if 7.Qxe5 Qe7.

The variation 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8 6.Qh5, which was mentioned by Brownson in the March 1875 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal, while commenting upon Jerome - Brownson, USA, 1875 (1-0, 28), is currently known as the Banks Variation, after the game Banks - Rees, Wolverhampton, 2003 (1-0, 45).

Jerome's mention of 5...Kf8 6.Qh5 Qf6 7.Ng4 Qe7 is a red herring, as his later suggestion of 7.Nxd7+ Bxd7 8.Qxc5+ – a line which Banks successfully followed against Rees – gives White comparatively better prospects.

Modern theory holds 6...Qe7 to be the best response to 6.Qh5.

6...dxc6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.e5

Jerome: Norton's first mistake was in playing 5.e5 instead of 5.Qf3 as in game 472, Dubuque Chess Journal where the defense was the same.

8...Bg4

Hallock: An excellent move cramping White's game and enabling Black to optimally deploy his forces.

Jerome: Ending notes (c) and (d) at the first glance, seems as safe as endorsing U.S. Treasury notes, but closer examination will show that 8...Bg4 loses Bishop as I think I will prove in the correction of note (f).

White's 8.e5 was an error – one that Sorenson made note of in his Nordisk Skaktidende article, giving "8.e5 Bg4 9.Qe1 Kf7!", showing that he was likely aware of this Hallock - Norton game.

The above-mentioned Jerome - Brownson, USA, 1875 game continued with 8.Qf3, better than Norton's 8.e5, but not as strong as 8.d3 (which would show up a couple of years later in Lowe - Parker, England, 1879 – one of the games recently supplied by Senior International Master of Correspondence Chess Tim Harding). Nonetheless, even after 8.d3 Black would retain the advantage.

Hallock's response, 8...Bg4, is a good move, as he maintains, with positional strengths; although Rybka sees 8...Ng4 as a bit less than 1/2 a pawn better.

We will tackle Jerome's argument that "8...Bg4 loses [the] Bishop" in tomorrow's post.

[to be continued] 

The Norton - Hallock Game (Part 2)

After the correspondence game Norton - Hallock – a Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) – appeared in the February issue of the American Chess Journal – see "The Norton - Hallock Game (Part 1)" – the Gambit's creator was quick to respond.

Jerome's letter to editor William Hallock, below, is from the February 1877 American Chess Journal.

The Jerome Gambit

A.W. Jerome Defends His Opening as tested in game 79.

Paxton, ILL March 7, 1877

Editor, American Chess Journal,

Your card received this morning, and I thank you for your kind offer of room in The Journal for an article on the "Jerome Double Opening," alias "Jerome's Absurdity."

I have neither the time nor the ability to prepare such an article, for it would require analyses without number almost, and I have satisfied myself that my head is not level enough for such work. Of this I need not be very much ashamed when even Mr. Carpenter oversights occasionally.

Besides I believe "the proof of the pudding" is in the eating therov and not in "chewing the string." Norton, Shinkman and Kinnier have beaten me in "eating the pudding" more in consequence of dexterity in handling the "chess sticks" than in any superiority of their pudding over mine. In most of their tests they have made dough of my pastry, by reason of the lack of one essential ingredient in my part, viz foresight.

But in game 7 with Norton, and in the variation of that game from 22nd move, I think my side has been played as well as it could be, and the outcome will probably justify your opinion expressed in the November Journal, that "against careful, steady play the opening cannot win." A master might make a draw from the present position in each game. I probably cannot do that against Norton.

To those who like a lively, exciting game, I would say, try an "absurdity." If the first player gets no fun out of it, the second will.

But all joking aside, I maintain that the loss of the King's and Kings' Bishop's pawns, and privilege of castling comes very close in value to the one piece which has been sacrificed, and the second player must be on the alert or he will be quickly defeated.

Your game with Mr. Norton would seem to show the reverse to be truth but Norton's first mistake was in playing 5.e5 instead of 5.Qf3 as in game 472, Dubuque Chess Journal where the defense was the same. That game was drawn, but should have been won. Note (a) to your game with Norton says 5...Kf8 "seems equally good with 5...Nxe5" which is a mistake in fact and theory. 5...Nxe5 if properly followed up wins White's KBP, wheras 5...Kf8 leaves White's pawns intact while Black has lost two strong pawns and doubled another. This defense was adopted by G.J. Dougherty of Mineola, NY, a strong amateur, against whom I first played the opening, and I think he will agree that 5...Kf8 is not a good defense. He generally played 6.bc and that was the play of Mr. J. C. Young of Danville, KY, who subsequently abandoned the game. Why, I do not know, as it was not necessarily lost to either of us. It is a question with which Pawn it is best to take.

The move suggested in note (b) 6.Qh5, is not my idea, but belongs to Mr. Norton himself, and I have to acknowledge that I thought it unsound when he suggested it to me, during the process of the game, because 6...Qf6 gets up a counter attack at once; but 7.Ng4 compels Black to "crawfish" and permits White to castle with a good game. However if Black play 7...Qe7 it makes White 's game uncomfortable. But White may play 7.Nxd7+ Bxd7 8.Qxc5+ with 3 Pawns for his Knight which the books hold to be an equivalent. And I would not hesitate to exchange Queens if offered. Norton thinks 6...Qe7 best; I think 6...Nxe5 best; if 7.Qxe5 Qe7

Ending notes (c) and (d) at the first glance, seems as safe as endorsing U.S. Treasury notes, but closer examination will show that 8...Bg4 loses Bishop as I think I will prove in the correction of note (f).Note (e) says "waste of time" not so; on the contrary is much better than 10.c3, for it 10...Re8 11.d4 Bxd4 12.cd Qxd4 and the KP is lost and Black has the best position. 10.Kh1 is good and safe. In note (f) there seems to me to be quite an oversight for if 13...Nxf2 14.Rxf2 and then if 14...Qf6 as suggested in the note, 15.d4 and it is Black's goose which is immediately done brown. Of course 13...Nxf2 is not best. Again I cannot see the easy win after 15...Rxe5 the attack is with White.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8 6.Nxc6 [6.Qh5 Qf6 (6...Nxe5 7.Qxe5 Qe7) 7.Ng4 (7.Nxd7+ Bxd7 8.Qxc5+) 7...Qe7] 6...dxc6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.e5 Bg4 9.Qe1 Kf7 10.h3 Re8 11.Kh2 Rxe5! 12.Qxe5 Bd6 13.f4 Bxe5 14.fxe5 Be2 15.Rf2 Qd4 16.Rxe2 Re8 17.d3 Rxe5 18.c3 Qd5 White resigned

Never fear, good readers: tomorrow's post will apply Hallock's and Jerome's comments to the Norton - Hallock game in a much more understandable fashion.

The Norton - Hallock Game (Part 1)

Responding to the Jerome - Norton games (see "The Jerome - Norton Games" Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4), the editor of the American Chess Journal, William Hallock, conducted a game in which he defended against the Gambit, allowing D.P. Norton the white pieces.

The game was discussed in consecutive issues of the American Chess Journal. Today's post will present what appeared in the February 1877 issue (with notes by Hallock), and tomorrow's post (with comments by Jerome) will cover what appeared in the March 1877 issue.

Third and fourth posts will be necessary to reconcile the two, as will be seen.

Norton,D.P. - Hallock,W.S.
correspondence, 1877

Having in a former number (see Journal for November) expressed a doubt as to the soundness of Jerome's Gambit, the following correspondence game was played "by special request" for the purpose of proving that there was more in the Jerome Gambit than we had been willing to admit.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8

The usual continuation is 5...Nxe5 but this seems equally good.

6.Nxc6

The continuation adopted by Jerome, 6.Qh5 looks promising.

6...dxc6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.e5 Bg4

An excellent move cramping White's game and enabling Black to optimally deploy his forces.

9.Qe1 Kf7

Very good again. Brings the KR into the field. Obviously the capture of the Knight would lose the Queen.

10.h3

A mere waste of time. Should have played Kh1 or c3

10...Re8

Sound and brilliant.

11.Kh2

If White answer 11.hxg4 Nxg4! 12.g3 (12.Qe4 Qh4! 13.Qf3+ Kg8 14.Qh3 Bxf2+ 15.Kh1 Rxe5 wins easily) 12...Rxe5 13.Qd1 Nxf2 etc If 14.Rxf2+ (if 14.c3 Qg5) 14...Qf6

11...Rxe5! 12.Qxe5 Bd6 13.f4 Bxe5 14.fxe5 Be2

15.Rf2 Qd4 16.Rxe2 Re8 17.d3 Rxe5 18.c3 Qd5 White resigns

The Jerome - Norton Games (Part 3)

The third Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) correspondence game between Alonzo Wheeler Jerome and D. P. Norton was published in the November 1876 issue of the American Chess Journal. Comments are by the ACJ editor, William Hallock.

Jerome,A - Norton,D.P.
1876

Unfinished game by correspondence between A.W. Jerome and D. P. Norton

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bxd4 7.Qxd4 Qf6

8.Qd1 Ne7 9.0-0 Rf8 10.f4 N5c6 11.c3 Kg8 12.Be3 d6

13.Nd2 b6 14.f5 d5 15.Qc2 dxe4 16.Nxe4 Qf7 17.f6

and here the author of the Double Opening asks "Now what is Black's best move?" From a cursory glance at the situation it seems to us that Ba6 would be a satisfactory reply for Black.

We are not at all disposed to turn up the nose at Mr. Jerome's pet, as he seems to infer; on the contrary we regard it with favor, and therefore have frequently given games at this opening an airing in the Journal, thus introducing it to the chess public, and subjecting it to that criticism and analysis which will speedily determine its claim to a place in chess literature. We consider it stronger than the Harvey-Evans and not much inferior to the Cochrane attack, but like most openings where a piece is sacrificed to obtain a violent attack, the first player will generally find himself the loser when met by a careful and steady defence. For this reason it will never find favor among match players or the professional representatives of the game. But among the lighter lances - those who cultivate chess an an amusement and not as a means of obtaining bread and butter - it will, no doubt, become quite popular, as it affords a sparkling variation to the tiresome Piano game.

It seems unfair to let William Hallock have the "last word", as his suggestion 17...Ba6 loses a piece and the exchange to 18.Ng5, for example: 18...Qg7 19.Qb3+ Kf8 20.fxe7 Nxe7 21.Nf7+ Rxf7 22.Rxf7.

On the other hand, Alonzo Jerome should not get off easily, either, as 17...Nf5 18.fxg7 Qxg7 would maintain Black's advantage after, say, 19.Bf4 Ba6.

The Jerome - Norton Games (Part 2)

A second Alonzo Wheeler Jerome - D.P. Norton correspondence game was published in the September 1876 issue of the American Chess Journal.

The ACJ editor, William Hallock, was at times skeptical of the value of the Jerome Gambit, and this led to exchanges with Jerome (see "A sparkling variation to the tiresome Piano game"), and to a game between Hallock and Norton.

The notes to the game below are from the American Chess Journal.

Jerome,A - Norton,D.P.
1876

One of a series of games now being contested by corresondence between A.W. Jerome of Paxton, Ill. and D. P. Norton of DesMoines, Iowa, for the purpose of testing the merits of the Double Opening invented by Mr. Jerome.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Nf3+

A new departure. 8...Qf6 is the usual play. The text move prevents White from castling.

9.Kf1

9.Kd1 seems better.; If 9.gxf3 Qh4+ 10.Kd1 Qf2 and Black has the better position.

9...c6

If 9...Ne7 10.e5+ Kc6 11.Qe4+ d5 etc

10.gxf3 Qe7

10...Bd4 is good; 11.c3 Nh6 12.e5+ Kc7 13.Qe4 Bc5

11.b4

A beautiful attacking move.

11...Bb6

Weak and inconsiderate, losing a Pawn and the exchange. If Black captures the pawn then 11...Bxb4 12.c3 Bc5 13.d4 Bxd4! 14.Ba3+ c5 15.cxd4 Kc7 16.dxc5 Qf6! and White has the better game. 11...Bd4 was better, followed by 12.c3 Nh6 etc.

12.Bb2 Kc7 13.Qe5+ Qxe5 14.Bxe5+ d6 15.Bxg7 Bh3+

16.Ke2 Bg2 17.Rd1 Ne7 18.Bxh8 Ng6

If 18...Rxh8 19.f5 and Black's game is seriously cramped while White's Pawns would be very strong and difficult to stop.

19.d4

Preferring to save his centre Pawns and [to play]

19...Rxh8 20.Kf2 Nxf4 21.c3 Rg8 22.Nd2 Kd7 23.Ke3 Rf8 24.Rg1 Bd8 25.Kf2 Rg8 26.Ke3 Nh3 27.f4 Nxg1

28.Rxg1 Rg4 29.Nf1 Bh3 30.Ng3 Rh4 31.Nf5 Bxf5 32.exf5 Bf6 33.Rg3 Rxh2 34.a4 Rh1 35.a5 Re1+ 36.Kf3 Re7 37.Rh3 c5! 38.bxc5 dxc5 39.Rh6 cxd4! 40.cxd4 Bxd4 41.f6 Rf7 42.Ke4 Bxf6 and wins

The Jerome - Norton Games (Part 1)

Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's analysis of his gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) was first published in the April 1874 Dubuque Chess Journal.

Jerome tested lines of play in both over-the-board and correspondence games. He played at least four games with D. P. Norton of DesMoines, Iowa.

The first published Jerome - Norton game appeared in the June 15, 1876 issue of the American Chess Journal (notes from the ACJ):

Jerome,A - Norton,D.P.
1876

Played recently by correspondence.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Qe7 8.Qxh8

Played experimentally; and analysis will probably show the capture to be unsound.

8...Qxe4+ 9.Kf1

Best. If 9.Kd1 Qxg2 10.Qxh7+ Kf8 11.c3 d5 12.Re1 Qf3+ 13.Kc2 and Black can force mate shortly.

9...Nf6 10.d3 Qf5

The defence was playing for the capture of White's Queen.

Black has a won game as follows: 10...Qd4 11.Be3 Qxb2 12.Bxc5 d6 13.Bxd6 Best 13...cxd6 14.Qd8 Best 14...Qxa1 15.Qc7+ Best and Black wins.

11.f3 Bf8

Necessary in order to hold the Queen in limbo and prevent Bh6

12.Nc3! d5

Forced in order to prevent Ne4

13.h4

The best move. If 13.Bh6 Bxh6 14.Qd8 Qxf3+ 15.gxf3 Bh3+ &; and Black has a slight advantage.

13...Qd7 14.h5 Bg7 15.hxg6+ Kxg6

Overlooking one of Black's resources on his 18th move, viz 15...Ke6 Best 16.Rxh7 Bxh8 17.Rxd7 Bxd7 and Black has a piece, will capture the doubled pawn and Knight to win.

16.Rh6+ Bxh6 17.Bxh6 b6 18.Ne2!

Sound and beautiful. Anticipating 18.Qf8 Bb7. Q goes, Kxh6 with a winning position.

18...Qf7

Forced. 18...Bb7 now would lose the game

19.Qf8 Qxf8 20.Bxf8

and the result was a draw

It is possible that this game – showing the difficult result of capturing Black's Rook (8.Qxh8) in what would be called Whistler's Defense, based on the Jerome - Whistler correspondence match – is one reason that Jerome apparently preferred 6.d4 to 6.Qh5+ in his early play of the gambit.

Alas, it was not meant to be...

The March 1891 issue of The International Chess Magazine carried news of a 6-game match in Havana, Cuba between Joseph Henry Blackburne and Andres Clemente Vazquez, from March 5 to March 11.


Vazquez, current Mexican Consul General in Cuba, was an early advocate of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+). The past and future Mexican Chess Champion's handicap game in 1876 against Giraudy was introduced in the November 1876 issue of the American Chess Journal with some fanfare

Odds givers will also find the Jerome Gambit a summary method for disposing of the neophyte. And by the way, we observe that this new opening has found its way to Mexico – An American idea in the halls of the Montezumas. Signor Andres Clemente Vazquez, the Mexican Champion and editor of La Estrategia Mexicane, has been trying the "Double" [Jerome's Double Gambit] on an amateur at the odds of Queen's Rook, and that, too, with brilliant success, as will be seen by the following game, which we copy from La Estrategia.

In 1876 Vazquez was 3-0 with the Jerome Gambit in his second match against William Harrington, games he included in his book of that year, Algunas Partidas de Ajedrez.


Of note is that in his third edition of Analisis del juego de ajedres (1889) Vazquez included (along with the Giraudy game and a Harrington game) analysis of Blackburne's 1885 crushing defeat of the Jerome Gambit played by an amateur (for the game, see "Nobody expects the Jerome Gambit!", "Flaws (Part I)" and "Flaws (Part II)").

After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qxh8 Qh4 9.0-0 Nf6 in the Blackburne game, Vazquez suggested that instead of 10.c3 White should have played 10.Qd8, and after 10...Bb6 11.e5 dxe5 12.Qd3 White would have had the better game. (This is the earliest incidence of this analysis that I have seen; Munoz and Munoz, in reporting the Anonymous - Blackburne game in the August 1885 Brooklyn Chess Chronicle, had simply suggested 10.Qd8)

So, in the 4th game of the Blackburne - Vazquez match, with The Black Death leading two games to one, Vazquez had the White pieces and played: 1.e4 e5

In the second game of the match Blackburne had dodged with 1...c6, a Caro-Kann.

2.Bc4 Nc6

Best authorites recommend here 2...Nf6 wrote Steinitz.

3.Nf3 Bc5

The Italian Game! And now... and now... the Jerome Gambit???

And now Vazquez moved 4.0-0 and played a delayed Evans Gambit after 4...Nf6 with 5.b4.... He was checkmated in 40 moves.

The position after the third move again arose in the 6th game, with Blackburne leading the match 4-1, and Vazquez transposed to the pacific Four Knights Game with 4.0-0 Nf6 5.Nc3, losing in 33 moves.

Alas, a Jerome Gambit game was not to be.


(It is interesting to note that Mr. Blackburne's Games at Chess, published in 1899, has the more straight-forward move order for the 4th match game: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5, etc. On the other hand, P. Anderson Graham, in his summary of "Mr. Blackburne's Successes" in the same book, refers to Vazquez as the champion of Brazil!)

The Life of Alonzo Wheeler Jerome

Alonzo Wheeler Jerome was born March 8, 1834 at Four Mile Point, New York. Little is known about his life, and nothing of his early years.

At the age of almost 30, with the United States fighting its Civil War, Jerome was drafted into the Union army in September of 1863, where he served as quartermaster until he was transferred, in April 1865, as quartermaster sergeant, to the 26th infantry regiment of the United States Colored Troops, under the command of Colonel William B. Guernsey, on Long Island, New York.

The 26th USCT served under the Department of the South (Union Army) in South Carolina and was very active on Johns and James Island, Honey Hill, Beaufort, and a number of other locations.

While it is not know when Jerome took up playing chess, it is known that shortly after arriving at their first camp, the soldiers of the 26th immediately went about building both a chapel and a school; the latter, as many of the soldiers expressed an interest in learning to read and write. Might there have been time for the royal game, as well?

Jerome was mustered out of the army as a 2nd Lieutenant in August 1865, at Hilton Head, North Carolina. He returned to Mineola, New York, where he worked in a factory that manufactured agricultural machinery. It was here that Jerome first played his gambit, he said, against G.J. Dougherty.

He moved to Paxton, Illinois in 1868, where he took up the position of manager of a hemp and flax company.

On March 6, 1873, Jerome married 21-year old Jane “Jennie” A. Ostrom, of Paxton. Like Jerome, Jenny had been born in New York.

The Jeromes had one child, a boy, born 1874, who apparently died young (or was institutionalized), as he appears in one census at age 6, but not in future censuses.

Jerome’s public life as a chess player apparently began when a game of his, a King’s Gambit, appeared in the March 1874 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal. The next issue carried the “New Chess Opening” article. The July issue carried the first Jerome Gambit game that he played against William Shinkman.

In 1875, Jerome and Brownson met and played their games, later printed in the Journal. In one game Brownson offered the McDonnell Double Opening – 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc4 3.b4 Bxb4 4.f4. It is not surprising that he was intrigued by the Jerome Gambit.

Two 1876 games by Jerome were published by the Dubuque Chess Journal, one, a Jerome Gambit, against Shinkman, and the other, a postal odds game (Queen for Queen’s Rook) against the child chess prodigy (later, chess problemist) Frank Norton.

When the Dubuque Chess Journal ceased publication in 1876, it was replaced by the American Chess Journal, and Jerome continued his campaign on behalf of “Jerome’s Double Opening” in its pages for two more years.

News about Jerome then grows scarce. J.W. Miller occasionally mentioned him in his chess column of the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette and S.A. Charles referred to him in his Jerome Gambit writings.

In 1884, of course, Jerome was healthy enough to travel to the Cincinnati Mercantile Library and play a few games with his gambit against Miller.

In 1899, citing diabetes and heart problems, Jerome applied for a disability pension. By that time he and Jennie were living in Springfield, Illinois, where he was working as a guide in the state capital building.

Alonzo Wheeler Jerome died from the complications of a gastric ulcer March 22, 1902 in Springfield, Illinois. He was survived by his wife.

The extraordinary and forgotten Jerome Gambit

I always enjoy John Elburg's book reviews.

Of course, who wouldn't enjoy his look at International Master Gary Lane's latest title, The Greatest Ever Chess Tricks and Traps ? --

Gary Lane provides the reader in this greatest ever chess tricks and traps book with a amazing collection short cuts.
Some are well known as the seven move lost from the poor Ree against Petrosian,at the Wijk aan Zee tournament from 1971, but many others as for example the game Banks – Karmmark, Internet Blitz 2007, are brand new.
Where white went for the extraordinary and forgotten Jerome Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+?
These moves, as we can read in this entertaining work from Lane is named after the American player Alonzo Wheeler Jerome 1834-1902 of Paxton, Illinois, and was analysed in the American Chess Journal in 1874. It has to be remembered that in the 19th century people liked to attack and never defend.
This book from Lane is not only a very exciting game collection but above all, a very good read.
Nearly all major openings are divided with a instructive example of play and all games in this book are pleasantly indexed with names and openings.
All together I counted around 110 complete games where some are good for over two pages of text!
As for example the following victory in the opening: Skurski, Jan (2069) - Gasik, Piotr (2189) [B12] POL-ch sf Polanczyk (6), 09.11.2000 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 dxe4 4.fxe4 e5 5.Nf3 exd4 6.Bc4 Bb4+ 7.c3 dxc3 8.Bxf7+ Kxf7 9.Qxd8 cxb2+ 10.Ke2 bxa1Q 11.Ng5+ Kg6 12.Qe8+ Kh6 13.Ne6+ g5 14.Bxg5# 1-0
As we can read in the book from Lane black has tried to avoid defeat at this point with no success.
Conclusion: This book is overloaded with unbelievable shortcuts!