Jerome Gambit: Winning Ugly is Still Better Than Losing Ugly (Part 1)

Whew.

I just finished another Jerome Gambit game in the third round of the Giuoco Piano Thematic tournament at Chess.com, It was not pretty at all. You could say that I was losing - up until my opponent resigned. Of course, that is the "objective" evaluation of the Jerome, anyhow.

Yeah.

perrypawnpusher - IlToscano
Giuoco Piano Thematic, Chess.com, 2017

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qf6 

This defense is solid and good. It also avoids the complexities of 8...Qh4+, which I faced in perrypawnpusher - constipatedguru, blitz, FICS, 2017 (1-0, 20).

9.fxe5+ Qxe5 10.Qf3 

Staying away from 10.Qxe5+ which has given me mixed results, and a loss most recently: perrypawnpusher - djdave28, Italian Game Tournament, Chess.com, 2014, (1-0, 22); perrypawnpusher - djdave28, Italian Game Tournament, Chess.com 2015, (1-0, 32); and perrypawnpusher - Altotemmi, Giuoco Piano Tournament, Chess.com, 2016, (0-1, 51) 

10...Nf6 

Easily an improvement over 10...Ke7, which I faced in perrypawnpusher - gtomlinson, blitz, FICS, 2007 (1-0, 28) and 10...h6, which I faced in perrypawnpusher - paulpee, blitz, FICS, 2012 (1-0, 71).

11.d3 

About the same as 11.Nc3 as in perrypawnpusher - Dogyou, blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 21). 

11...Kc6 

Black wishes to avoid the embarassment of getting his Queen pinned to his King - a trick that might work in blitz (see below) but this game was played at 3 days per move.

Or Black could play 11...Ke7 as in perrypawnpusher - PREMK, blitz, FICS, 2005, (1-0, 14); perrypawnpusher - karleinkarl, blitz, FICS, 2012 (0-1, 16);  and perrypawnpusher - vz721, Italian Game thematic, Chess.com, 2013 (1-0, 29); 

Or 11...Rf8 as in perrypawnpusher - BronxBoyII, blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 18); perrypawnpusher - udofink, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 13);  perrypawnpusher - mconst, blitz, FICS,  2010 (1-0, 42); and perrypawnpusher - recreation, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 13);  

Or 11...Bb4+ as in perrypawnpusher - ViennaMike, blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 19); 

Or 11...Re8 as in perrypawnpusher - Estebang, blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 28) 

Or 11...Bd4 as in perrypawnpusher - Rossgil, blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 26) 

12.c3 Bb6 13.Bf4 Qh5 14.Nd2 

I was not pleased to see the Queens leave the board, but I didn't have a better idea.

14...Qxf3 15.Nxf3 d6 

I added all of the game links above to show that I was supposed to be familiar with this line, and therefore supposed to know what I was doing against IlToscano. Yet, he has done very well, and the one pawn that I have for my sacrificed Bishop is clearly inadequate compensation.

I decided that I should again do what far better players than me have done in similar Jerome Gambit situations - abandon the "attack at all costs" idea, and let my opponent, who has the advantage, do the attacking. If he was not going to slip up when defending, perhaps he might err when atacking? Psychology is always a part of Jerome play.

[to be continued]

Some History of the Jerome Gambit (Part 1)

I was a bit surprised how much I had to hunt in the posts of this blog for examples of the line that we have been discussing, at the behest of Филидор1792, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.d4 Bxd4 9.Na3 – see "An Intriguing Letter" Parts 1, 2 and 3 – especially since the line has a long and interesting history in the story of the Jerome Gambit.

The Database has only 3 games with the line – or 5, if you count the pair recently contributed by Филидор1792. One, Jerome - Norton, correspondence, 1887, was presented with light commentary; another, perrypawnpusher - BronxBoyII, blitz, FICS, 2008, appeared without notes as an aside in another game; and the third, alechinez - marcinho, standard, FICS, 2009, has yet to appear.

Even if we back up a move, leaving off White's 9th, The Database has less than a couple dozen game examples, only two (excluding the ones named above) appearing in this blog: Tonetti - Ruggieri, Rome, 1863 (without notes) and Vazquez - Giraudy, Mexico, 1876 (without notes and without White's Queen Rook).

Clearly, I have some work to do!

...said the spider to the fly

If you play the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) against an opponent twice (like my games against BronxBoyII, JoeJox and tejeshwar), you may ruin the advantage of surprise – and your opponent may have his own surprise waiting for you...

perrypawnpusher - marbleschess

blitz 10 0, FICS, 2009

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

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

Improving on 6...g6 7.Qxe5 Nf6 from our first game.

7.Qd5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+ Qe7

This looks like a TN, and a good one at that. Now the pawn-grab 9.Qxc7 for White is a good way to commit suicide: 9...Qxe4+, etc.

9.Qe3 Nf6 10.d3 d5 11.f3

Falling back and digging in. See my game against Mooncat for a similar idea.

11...dxe4 12.fxe4 Ng4 13.0-0+

Well, that's one worry (King safety) taken care of, and a second piece developed, but Black is still clearly better.

13...Ke8 14.Qg3 Qc5+ 15.Kh1 Be6

A good developing move, although 15...Rf8 might have been stronger.

16.Nc3 Kd7

Preparing to both swing the Queen Rook into play and castle-by-hand. Marbleschess, it is clear, was no longer in awe of the Jerome Gambit.

Perhaps that is what saved me.

17.h3

Better might have been 17.Bf4, but I had a pretty good guess how my opponent was going to respond to my move, and I had an unsettling surprise.

17...N4e5 18.d4

Perhaps what Ossip Bernstein was thinking about when he mentioned "the equalizing injustice of chess."

Now White would have a slightly better game after Black plays 18...Qc4 19.Rd1 Raf8 20.dxe5+ Kc8, but instead his opponent goes to pieces.

18...Qxd4 19.Rd1 Qxd1+ 20.Nxd1 Rad8 21.Bf4 Kc8 22.Bxe5 Nxe5 23.Qxe5

23...Bd7 24.Nc3 Rhe8 25.Qg3 g6 26.Nd5 Black resigns

Optical Illusion (I)

I've think there must be some kind of optical illusion in one variation of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) – either that, or maybe people sometimes play blitz chess a little bit too fast for their own observational abilities.

How else to explain the following game?


perrypawnpusher - Estebang
blitz game 2 12, FICS, 2009

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

5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qf6
Black follows one of the Jerome Gambit refutations first set out in Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's analysis published in the Dubuque Chess Journal in April 1874. (Of course AWJ didn't see it as a refutation.)
9.fxe5+ Qxe5 10.Qf3 Nf6 11.d3


Black's Queen exerts pressure along the a1-h8 diagonal: if the dark-squared White Bishop should move, there can come ...Qxb2 and then ...Qxa1.

In this position against me, Rossgil (forthcoming) played 11...Bd4, focusing on that diagonal; BronxBoyII played 11...Rf8, drawing bead on my Queen; and ViennaMike played 11...Bb4+, to exploit a second diagonal, a4-e1.

11...Re8 12.Bf4


Awkward.

12...Qxf4 13.Qxf4+ Ke7

Black's game never quite recovers.

14.Qe5+ Kf8 15.Qxc5+ Kg8 16.Nc3 c6 17.e5 Ng4 18.d4 b6 19.Qc4+ Kf8 20.0-0+ Ke7 21.Qf7+ Kd8 22.Qxg7 Ne3 23.Qg5+ Kc7 24.Qxe3 d6 25.exd6+ Kd7 26.Rf7+ Kd8 27.Qg5+ Re7 28.Qxe7 checkmate

Best Lines

From the upcoming post on Jerome Gambit [1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+] for Dummies comes the question:

What if I don't know how to play against the best lines in the opening, and my opponent avoids them, anyhow?

perrypawnpusher - ViennaMike

blitz 8 5, FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qf6 One of the many winning defenses against the Jerome Gambit. 

 9.fxe5+ Qxe5 10.Qf3 Nf6 11.d3 So far, following in the footsteps of BronxBoyII, but instead of repeating his error at this point – ViennaMike comes up with one of his own.

11...Bb4+

Unaware of Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's analysis and advice. See "In The Beginning..."

12.c3 Ba5

Sad to say, the proper line was to give up the Bishop with 12...Ke7 13.cxb4. White then would only have a small advantage after 13...d6 14.0-0 Be6 15.Nc3 Kd7.

13.Bf4 Rf8 14.d4

Being cute. Simply 14.Bxe5+ Kxe5 15.Qf5+ Kd6 16.Qxa5 was enough to reach an overwhelming position.

14...Qxf4 15.Qxf4+ Kc6 16.d5+ Kb5 Avoiding the loss of his Bishop, after all, after 16...Kb6 17.b4.

17.Na3+ Ka4 18.b3+ Kxa3 19.Qc1 checkmate

Tic Tac Toe

The Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) can be compared, perhaps unkindly, to the childhood game of tic tac toe, a pasttime which, as most adults know, has been solved: the player who moves first can win or tie, and need never lose. The second player, however, need only know which first moves to avoid to gain the tie and avoid the loss.

Likewise, with so many refutations of the Jerome Gambit available, the player of the Black pieces need only choose one of them – and the full point arrives gift-wrapped.

Well, sometimes...
Consider the following blitz game that I recently played on the Free Internet Chess Server (FICS):

perrypawnpusher - BronxBoyIIFICS rated blitz game 10 3, 2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6
7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4

An earlier game against the same opponent continued: 8.d4 Bxd4 9.Na3 Ne7 10.Bg5 Nxf5 11.Bxd8 Bxb2 12.Rd1+ Kc6 13.exf5 Rxd8 14.Nb5 Kxb5 15.Rb1 Nc4 16.0-0 Rf8 17.Rfe1 Rxf5 18.Re4 d5 19.Rxc4 Kxc4 20.Rxb2 Kc3 White resigns, perrypawnpusher-BronxBoyII, FICS blitz game, 2008

8...Qf6 9.fxe5+ Qxe5 10.Qf3 Nf6 11.d3
Black is playing very well. What should he be thinking about now?

As pointed out "In The Beginning...", Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's first analysis of his gambit, appearing in the April 1874 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal, noted of White's move: "Compelling either K or Q to move as White threatens Bf4; or Black can play ...g5".
Alas, my opponent must have missed that post – and with it his chance to score a second win against me and the Jerome Gambit.
11...Rf8 12.Bf4
12...Nxe4

This move looks good – at first, rapid glance, only.
13.Bxe5+ Kc6 14.Qxe4+ d5 15.Qxh7 Re8 16.Qh5
Here 16.Qxg7 was also possible, and after 16...Bd7 then 17.Kd1 (avoiding the trap 17.Nc3 Rxe5+ 18.Qxe5 Re8 19.Qxe8 Bxe8 which allows Black to recover some of his missing material).

16...d4
Better was 16...Bd7, as in the note above.
17.Qxe8+ Bd7 18.Qxa8 Black resigns