The Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is not for everyone. Sometimes, it is really, really, really not for some people.
I just ran across a YouTube video from ChessTraps.net, titled "Italian The Headless Chicken". Hysterical. Yes, the Jerome Gambit has been called many things, from the "Jerome Gamble" to the "Ashcan Opening", but, this one takes the prize.
The Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1884 game is presented, without mention of the players, and the narrator is clearly repulsed.
I don't know how the next so-called trap managed to worm itself into our collection. It is simply horrendous and has little chess value whatsoever and you would all be advised never to try this one at home, it's so replete in mistakes...
Do check it out. Players who agree with the narrator, probably do not play the Jerome Gambit, anyhow. And - the lower they estimate the value of the opening, the more they open themselves to overlooking White's chances and opportunities.
The Jerome Gambit is not always called the Jerome Gambit. For example, many years ago George Koltanowski saw an example of it in action, and named it "the Ashcan Opening".
So I was not too surprised to find the following chess column in the Friday, July 13, 1917 issue of Western Mail (page 33) of Perth, Australia, entitled "THE VERDUN GAMBIT".
I have added diagrams and changed the notation from descriptive to algebraic - Rick (By the way, Boans was the name of a department store established by Harry and Benjamin Boans.)
All sorts and conditions of men foregather in the cosy corner so kindly provided by Messrs. Boans Bros. for players of chess and draughts. Some ponder long over their moves, with much wrinkling of brows, whilst others shift the wood with such rapidity that their arms must ache, rather than their heads. There are two incorrigible skittlers - one a grizzled veteran, who keeps up a running fire of irrelevant remarks, whilst the other is popularly regarded as a youthful master who fled from his native land to avoid arrest as a political prisoner. Writer watched them one day, and this is what he saw -
The Old Hand - The Exile
Boans, 1917
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+
At this point the Exile looked up, slightly dazed, and asked -"What do you call this opening?"
"Oh, this is the Verdun Gambit" replied the Old 'Un,"so called because its very hot whilst it lasts, but the defence must win in the end, if no mistakes are made."
The pair played several games beginning with the Verdun attack,
and oftener than not, the attack won.
But now for the sequel, M. Russki looked over the books, and found that the opening was really known as the Jerome Gambit. More than this, he came across an instance in which a certain rash amateur had the temerity to play the opening against Blackburne.
It chanced that I was present when the pair again met, and they opened in the usual fashion, as given above. Now, mark what happened!
6...g6 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qxh8 Qh4 9.O-O Nf6 10.c3 Ng4
At this stage the Veteran began to wear a worried look.
11.h3 Bxf2+ 12.Kh1 Bf5 13.Qxa8 Qxh3+ 14.gxh3 Bxe4 checkmate
Amidst the breathless suspense of the onlookers, the Veteran growled: "Absurd, let's try that again."
"By all means," chirped his opponent. And they tried it again, not once, but two or three times, and on each occasion the Exile came through with flying colours, to the undisguised disgust of the Veteran.
I met the latter in the street a day or two later, and asked innocently "Have you discovered the answer yet to Blackburne's counter-attack?"
"Answer," he snorted, "Why any kid of six could see that all White has to do is to play d4, at move 10. Wait till I meet Russki tomorrow."
I heard afterwards that when the pair met on the following day the Exile opened every game with the Queen's Gambit, and that the Veteran was in serious danger of having an apoplectic stroke. This I believe to be a piece of baseless calumny. The Veteran told me in confidence the other day that he'd got one or two new moves up his sleeve which would astonish young Russki considerably at their next meeting. I am still wondering if anything happened.
Tom Purser, a Blackmar Diemer Gambit player, writer, resource and oracle, has travelled a bit further afield to provide further information on John E. Ishkan, proponent of the "Ashcan Opening" (see "A New Opening?" and "The Ashcan Opening") otherwise known as the Jerome Gambit.
Name: John E Ishkan
Father's Surname: Ishkan
Death Date: 30 Oct 1984
Death Place: Bridgeport, Connecticut
Age: 60 Years
Birth Place: Connecticut
Birth Date: 12 Aug 1924
Marital Status: Never Married (Single)
State File #: 21079
Occupation: FOOD SERVICES
Industry: HALLBROOKE HOSPITAL
Residence : Fairfield, Connecticut
Address: 498 Knapps Hwy 06430
Race: White
Tom's comment was "I don't know why they don't include USCF ratings in these things."
Following up on the information in yesterday's post (see "A New Opening?") Bill Wall adds further information on the chessplayer Jon Ishkan, mentioned in the Precita Valley Chess Herald as playing the opening we now know as the Jerome Gambit...
The crosstable of the 1958 US Open lists player #119 as John E. Ishkan. His score was
loss #40 Boris Garfinkel
loss #59 Dale Ruth
win #126 H.E. Rock
win #61 E. Aronson
loss #133 Ted Bullockus
loss #76 Walter Grombacjer
loss #97 A.W. Burger
win #130 Ralph G. Houghton
loss #108 R. Hochalter
win #128 Paul Wagner
loss #69 W.H. Donnelly
loss #102 Donald R. Seifert
Since Ishkan beat Rock, Aronsen, Houghton and Wagner, at least one of those games featured the Jerome Gambit.
Additionally:
John E. Ishkan played in the 1955 US Open in Long Beach.
John E. Ishkan played in the 1957 US Open in Cleveland. He was #140, scoring 4.5 points.
According to the May 20, 1956 USCF rating list in Chess Life magazine, Ishkan lived in Fairfield, Connecticut and was rated 1731.
Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member, chess opening maven and book author Bill Wall sent me a copy of the September 1958 issue of the Precita Valley Chess Herald ("A Monthly Chess News Bulletin Published by the Precita Valley Chess Club Representing The San Francisco Bay Area Chess League") which had an interesting article.
A New Opening?
During the U.S. Open at Rochester, Minnesota, there was a small tourney taking place on the side. In it was one man named John Ishkan, who, during one round as White, played 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ After White's fifth move his opponent went up to George Koltanowski and asked, "What opening is this?". Kolty said that he did not know but that he would feed the moves to the IBM machine and find out. A little later the player of the Black pieces asked George, "Did the machine have the answer?" "Yes," was the reply, "It's the ASHCAN OPENING!" -- To complete the story, by the way, Ishkan won the game!
A few comments:
The July 1958 cover story of Chess Review was on "A Chess Playing Program for the I.B.M. 704" by Alex Bernstein. This is likely the "IBM machine" that George Koltanowski was joking about consulting with.
I was surprised that Kolty was unfamiliar with the Jerome Gambit, but there was little written about it in the 1950s (I can think only of L. Elliott Fletcher's 1954 Gambit's Accepted that had a game and analysis), certainly nothing in the recently released (1957) Modern Chess Openings, 9th Edition.
My files show a Koltanowski game from a 1953 blindfold simultaneous display in Brussels, which, while a Philidor Defense, has abit of a Jerome touch to it:
Koltanowski,G - NN
blind simul Brussels, 1953
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nd7 4.Bc4 h6 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Kf6 8.Qd5 Ne7 9.Qf7+ Kxe5 10.Bf4+ Kd4 11.Na3 b5 12.Qe6 Kc5 13.Be3+ Kb4 14.Qb3+ Ka5 15.Qxb5 checkmate
It is interesting to note that the same opening line appeared in a game between Alexandra Kosteniuk and Almira Skripchenko (both rated 2400+ at the time) over 50 years later, only this time it was drawn.
Kosteniuk,A - Skripchenko,A
PWPW S.A Chess Cup, Warsaw, POL (7), 20.06.2004
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nd7 4.Bc4 h6 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Kf6 8.Qd4 c5 9.Nxd7+ Ke7 10.Qxc5+ Kxd7 11.Qb5+ Ke7 12.Nc3 Kf7 13.Be3 Nf6 14.e5 Ng4 15.0-0 Qh4 16.h3 Nxe3 17.fxe3+ Kg8 18.Qb3+ Kh7 19.Nd5 Qg5 20.Rf7 Bxh3 21.Qd3+ Kg8 22.Nf4 Kxf7 23.Nxh3 Qxe5 24.Rf1+ Kg8 25.Qc4+ Kh7 26.Qd3+ Kg8 27.Qc4+ Kh7 28.Qd3+ Kg8 29.Qc4+ drawn
(By the way, you might want to check out Bill's new chess magazine White Knight.)
