London Calling... Ten Months of Blog

Dear Jerome Gambit Gemeinde,

It's time to note that jeromegambit.blogspot.com has had daily posts (over 300 of them) for ten months now – an infant compared to many wonderful chess sites, but almost a toddler beside them. And there is still much room to grow!

We've not only explored the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) on these pages, but thanks to the creativity of many members, we've also taken on a host of loosely-named Jerome Gambit "relatives":

Abrahams Jerome Gambit

Bishop's Opening Jerome Gambit

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit

Boden-Kieseritzky Jerome Gambit

Danvers Jerome Gambit

Evans Jerome Gambit

Fried Jerome Attack

Jerome Elephant Gambit

Philidor Jerome Gambit

Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit

Sicilian Jerome Gambit

Best wishes, all!

Rick Kennedy ("perrypawnpusher")

Wasn't me!

When I was more active in over-the-board play, I played in a few tournaments sponsored by the Bishops Chess Club at Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio (you can check out some of Tom Green's Bishops Chess Club News). Somehow I managed to be absent when the following game was played:

Keusal - Freihofner

Trick or Treat Mini Swiss, C,

Bishops Chess Club, 2006

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nxe4 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ Ke7 7.Ng6+ Black resigned

White bypasses the Boden-Kieseritzky Gambit which he could have had with 4.Nc3, and instead goes Jerome-ish with 4.Bxf7+. Black was knocked out of his socks.

Although... It only seems fair to present a game that continued past the point where Black resigned: in this second game, Black outplays his opponent and achieves checkmate.

fsilverman - eforry

net-chess.com, 2002

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nxe4 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ Ke7 7.Ng6+ hxg6 8.Qxh8 d6 9.Qh4+ Nf6 10.0-0 c5 11.Nc3 Be6 12.Re1 Kd7 13.d3 a6 14.Bg5 Be7 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Qa4+ Nc6 17.Ne4 b5 18.Nxf6+ gxf6 19.Qh4 Bf7 20.Qg4+ f5 21.Qf4 Qf6 22.c3 a5 23.f3 a4 24.Re3 Rh8 25.g3 Ne5 26.h4 Bd5 27.g4 Qxh4 28.Rxe5 dxe5 29.Qxe5 Qh1+ 30.Kf2 Qxf3+ 31.Ke1 Rh1+ 32.Kd2 Rxa1 33.Qg7+ Kd6 34.Qxg6+ Ke5 35.Qe8+ Kf4 36.Qb8+ Kxg4 37.Qxb5 Qf2 Checkmate

Which isn't the full story... as White's "killer move" in game one, forcing resignation, could have been replaced with the stronger 7.Qf7+, when White's advantage is clear after the quirky line 7...Kd6 8.d4 Qf6 (look familiar?) 9.f3 Nc5 10.Nc3 c6 11.dxc5 Kxe5 12.f4+ Kf5 13.Qh5+ Ke6 14.f5+ Qxf5 15.Qe8+ Be7 16.Qxh8.

All of which only means... that Black should have answered 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nxe4 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ with 6...g6 (instead of 6...Ke7). After 7.Nxg6 hxg6 8.Qxh8 Qf6 9.Qxf6 Nxf6 the game is about equal.

Which hardly seems fair - and it's not. Black should answer 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nxe4 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ with 5...Kg8 and win!

graphic by Jeff Bucchino, the Wizard of Draws

Boden-Kieseritzky-Jerome Gambit??

My fascination with the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) sometimes gets me into adventures that I really shouldn't be able to get out of...

perrypawnpusher - jayshanker
blitz game 12 0, FICS 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6

Not everybody wants to play the Giuoco Piano with 3...Bc5. Lately I've been answering 2...Nf3 (the Petroff Defense) with 3.Bc4 and if 3...Nxe4 then 4.Nc3, the Boden-Kieseritzky Gambit (4...Nxc3 5.dxc3). So I figured in this game to transpose from the Two Knights Defense into the B-KG as well.

4.0-0 Nxe4 5.Nc3 f5

So far, so good, although Black's last move is quite unusual. Since a main defence against the Boden-Kieseritzky Gambit involves ...f6, protecting the black e5 pawn, White should be able to count on decent play after the text with 6.Re1.

Of course, that was not what I was thinking, as I had a case of Jerome-Gambit-on-the-brain...

6.Nxe4 fxe4 7.Nxe5 Nxe5 8.Qh5+


Not precisely Jerome-ish, as White retains his King Bishop, but the thematic foolish sacrifice of material for a dubious attack is recognizable.

8...g6

Tic tac toe! Once again, the "shock and awe" of responding to the sacrifice makes up for much of its theoretical un-soundness.

There should be more to a gambit idea than just crossing my fingers and hoping, as the following defense should have resolved the game quickly in my opponent's favor: 8...Ng6 9.Re1 Qh4! (I don't think I'll test my luck twice with this line.)

9.Qxe5+ Be7

10.Qxh8+ Bf8 11.d3 d6 12.Bh6 Kd7 13.Qxf8 Qxf8 14.Bxf8 Ke8

The rest is silence.

15.Bg7 Bd7 16.Rae1 Kd8 17.Rxe4 c6 18.Be6 Kc7 19.Bxd7 Kxd7 20.Rfe1 Kc7

21.Re7+ Kb6 22.Bd4+ c5 23.Bc3 a5 24.Rd7 Rc8 25.Ree7 Rc6 26.Rxb7+ Ka6 27.Ra7+ Kb6 28.Reb7 checkmate