"New" Old Analysis - But Not Quite

I recently stumbled over Part 10 of the "Index To The Chess Openings" on page 100 of the June 27, 1891 issue of the Chess Player's Chronicle. 

"New" old analysis of the Jerome Gambit, I thought!

It turns out that the CPC was simply reprinting the analysis of the 1884 American Supplement to Cook's Synopsis of Chess Openings, the Supplement "containing American Inventions In the Chess Openings Together With Fresh Analysis in the Openings Since 1882; also a list of Chess Clubs in the United States and Canada",
edited by J.W. Miller. The author of the analysis was S. A. Charles of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5! [5...Kf8? 6.Nxc6 dxc6 (6...bxc6 7.d4) 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Qf3 (8.d4 Bg4 9.Qe1 Kf7) 8...Qd4 9.d3 Bg4 10.Qg3 Bd6 11.c3 +] 6.Qh5+ [6.d4 Bxd4 7.Qxd4 d6! (7...Qf6 8.Qd1 d6 9.0-0 g6 10.f4 Nc6) 8.Nc3 (8.0-0 Nf6 9.f4 Nc6) 8...Nf6 9.Bg5 h6! 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.0-0-0 Be6 12.Kb1 Nc4 13.Qd3 b5 14.f4 Nxb2 15.Kxb2 b4!] 6...Ke6! [6...Ng6? 7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qc3 Nf6 10.d3] 7.Qf5+ [7.f4 d6 8.Qh3+ (8.f5+ Kd7 9.d3 Nf6 10.Qd1 Nxe4 +) 8...Ke7 9.f5 Bxf5 10.exf5 Qd7 11.d4 Bxd4 12.Qh4+ Nf6 13.Qxd4 Qxf5 +; 7.0-0 d6! (7...g6 8.Qh3+ K moves 9.Qc3) 8.Nc3 Nf6 9.Qd1 Nd3 (9...Kf7 10.d4 Bg4 11.f3 {11.Qd2 Bb6 12.dxe5 dxe5!} 11...Nxf3+ 12.gxf3 Bh3 +) 10.cxd3 Kf7 11.Ne2 Bb6 12.Kh1 Ng4 13.d4 Nxh2 14.Kxh2 Qh4+ 15.Kg1 Qxe4 16.d3 Qg4 17.Be3 d5 18.f3 Qe6 19.Bf2 c6 +] 7...Kd6 8.f4 [8.d4 Bxd4 9.Na3 Nc6] 8...Qf6 9.fxe5+ Qxe5 10.Qf3 Nf6 11.d3 Kc6 12.Nc3 d6 [12...d5 also looks good] 13.h3 Qh5 14.Qg3 Be6 15.Ne2 Raf8 16.Nf4 Nxe4 17.dxe4 Qe5 18.Qd3 Bf5 +

Pleasant

Some games are just pleasant.

In the following game my opponent faces the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) with sangfroid, using a relatively unusual defensive idea (castle-queenside-by-hand) and topping it off with a blockading piece sacrifice.

The developing storm clouds over the center and Kingside convinced me that it was a good time to split the point.
perrypawnpusher - steelrfan44
GameKnot.com, 2009

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

Steelrfan44 agreed beforehand to allow the Jerome.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 Nf6 9.d3 d6 10.Qe3 Bd7
White has his two central pawns vs Black's piece and centralized King – but Steelrfan44 has his own plans.

11.f4 Qe7 12.Nc3 Bc6 13.0-0 Kd7

14.b4

I considered this almost a positional move. A center pawn break did not look promising, and I was not ready to compromise my Kingside, as a counter-attack could come there with little risk to Black's King. There was some space to be grabbed on the Queenside, however; and perhaps my Bishop belonged on b2.

An alternative from a game by Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member Louis Morin: 14.Qh3+ Kd8 15.Bd2 Bd7 16.Qf3 c6 17.Rae1 Kc7 18.e5 dxe5 19.fxe5 Ng4 20.Qg3 Be6 21.d4 Rad8 22.Re4 Kb8 23.Rxg4 Bxg4 24.Qxg4 Qe8 25.Be3 Ka8 26.Ne4 h5 27.Qe2 h4 28.Nd6 Qe6 29.Bg5 Rdf8 30.Rxf8+ Rxf8 31.c4 h3 32.g3 Qf7 33.Nxf7 Rxf7 34.Qg4 Kb8 35.Qe6 Rf3 36.Qe8+ Kc7 37.Qd8 checkmate, guest1989 - guest883, ICC 2002

14...a6 15.a4 b6 16.Bb2 Rae8

17.Qd4 Kc8

In retrospect, 17...Bb7 18.b5 a5 – which anticipates Steelrfan44's defensive plan – would have been safer.

18.b5 Bxb5 19.axb5 a5

I had a difficult time figuring out what was going to happen next – proof of the effectiveness of my opponent's idea.
In the meantime, I noticed that the e-, f-, g- and h-files were full of Black's pieces, and few of mine – except my King and Rook.
20.Nd5 Nxd5 21.Qxd5 Rhf8

Definitely time to sue for peace.

22.Qa8+ Kd7 23.Qc6+ Kd8

I was later dumbfounded to see that Rybka assessed White as being almost 2 1/2 pawns better, but I could hardly have expected to have analyzed as it had: 24.g3 Qf7 25.Bd4 Ne7 26.Qb7 Nc8 27.f5 Qd7 28.c4 Qe7 29.Ra2 g6 30.f6 Qe6

24.Qa8+ Kd7 25.Qc6+ draw

100 Posts - What more to say?

Huddersfield College Magazine
July 1879

"Review of Mr. Gossip's Book" Theory of the Chess Openings
(1879)

...The Jerome Gambit

We do not well know why this opening (a branch of the "Giuoco") is styled a gambit, as it consists in White sacrificing a piece on the fourth move, and Staunton in his Handbook defines a gambit as a sacrifice of a Pawn.The Americans recognize the force of this by styling the opening "Jerome's double opening," although we don't quite see the meaning of this. How "double"? We think that the simple and natural definition of Jerome's Attack - as Cochrane's attack in the "Petroff" where a piece is also given up by White on his fourth move - would suffice.Like all presents of a piece early in the opening, the party so venturesome comes to early disaster. Mr. Gossip was right, therefore, in not devoting too much space to a debut which he could not establish as sound...

[Gossip replied next month, August 1879, but said nothing about the Jerome]


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Cincinnatti Commercial Gazette
March 13, 1880

"Review 6th Edition German Handbook"

We are somewhat disappointed that the "Thorold Variation" of the "Allgaier Gambit" should be dismissed with only a casual note in the appendix, and that the "Jerome Gambit" should be utterly (even if deservedly) ignored.

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Cincinnati Commercial Gazette

November 29, 1884

"Chess and Checkers"
"The Jerome Gambit"

Chess Editor Commercial Gazette
I notice in your chess column of to-day a review (copied from The New Orleans Times Democrat) of some analyses published in the American Supplement to Cook's Synopsis including my own analysis of the Jerome Gambit...The principal portion of the analysis is based on a number of correspondence games played between Mr. Jerome and myself, with some few compilations from other sources, including the above-mentioned. The result led me to regard the sacrifice of the Bishop as unsound, but that Black may easily err in his defense and lose...

Very respectfully,
S. A. Charles

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American Supplement to the "Synopsis," containing American Inventions In the Chess Openings Together With Fresh Analysis in the Openings Since 1882; also a list of Chess Clubs in the United States and Canada

edited by J.W. Miller, Editorial Staff of the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette

The "Jerome Gambit," 4.BxPch, involves an unsound sacrifice; but it is not an attack to be trifled with. The defense requires study, and is somewhat difficult.

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The Pittsburgh Chronicle-Telegraph

October 29, 1884

Our readers will perhaps remember that about two years ago we published an analysis of the Jerome Gambit which was furnished by its author. The following is from the New Orleans Times-Democrat, in an extended review of the American Edition of Cook's Synopsis. The "brilliant but unsound" (why, may we ask, is this antithesis so common that one would almost infer it to be necessary?) Jerome Gambit, invented by Mr. Jerome, of Paxton, Ill., about a decade ago, constitutes the next of the Americana, and concerning the analysis given by Mr. S. A. Charles we can only venture to say that it seems to combine much careful original work with variations compiled from such investigations as have been published upon this hazardous attack...

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Pittsburgh Chronicle-Telegraph

February 27, 1884

In Cincinnati we met a number of players in the Mercantile Library, the chess room of which... We also had the pleasure of contesting several games with Mr. Jerome, of Paxton, Ill. He is well known as the author of the so-called Jerome Gambit, in which white sacrifices the Bishop by taking KBP on the fourth move of the Giuoco Piano game. Neither the gambit nor its author proved strong in the contest.