So, the latest game I received from Cliff Hardy, who has been specializing in tortured Jerome Gambit games, is a 1-minute (no increment) bullet game on the website lichess.org - against an International Master.
Of course.
In a game where each player had about one second per move to think, things quickly became exciting.
Notes by Cliff. [A few by me - Rick] Diagrams by me.
Cliff Hardy - IM Pavel Sevostianov
1 0 bullet, Lichess, 2018
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4....Kxf7 5.Nxe5+
In another bullet game recently on Lichess, I forgot this was the move to play, got confused and played 5.Ng5+?? here instead but got justifiably destroyed in short order. I'm glad I didn't make that mistake in this rare chance to play the Jerome against an IM, where I was at least hoping to put up a half-decent game and not waste the opportunity.
5...Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6
[Interesting - is the IM unfamiliar with the various Jerome Gambit refutations, or does he figure that this will be good enough? It turns out that his "second best" moves are still pretty good. - Rick ]
7.Qd5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+ Qe7 9.Qe3 Nf6 10.Nc3 c6
10...d5! -+ would have been the best move here, according to Stockfish, as Black should eventually be able to get the pawn back on d5 (if White were to take it), though it may then take Black a few moves of development first before he could get into a position to win it back.
11.f4?
Which pawn to push? 11.d4 =+ would have been much better, it turns out.
11...d6? =+
Pushing the d-pawn further again with 11...d5! -++ would have been more aggressive.
12.O-O Kf7
13.d3?! -+
13.f5 Ne5 14.d4 =+ would have been a better and feistier way to play it for White.
13...Re8 14.f5 Ne5 15.h3 Kg8 16.Bd2 d5 17.Rae1 dxe4?
Surprisingly, quite an error - 17...Qd6 -+ would have been a better move.
18.dxe4??
18.Nxe4! +- would have been stronger, when White's threat of Nxf6+ and then attacking the pinned knight on e5 with d4 or Bc3 would have been surprisingly difficult to diffuse e.g. 18...Bd7 19.Nxf6+ Qxf6 (19...gxf6 20. d4 ++-) 20.Bc3 +-.
18...Nc4 19.Qd3 Nxd2 -++
19...Nxb2 -++ would also have been good.
20.Qxd2 Bd7
21.Qf4 Qc5+ 22.Kh1 Qe5 23.Qf3 Re7 -++
OK, I'm getting crushed like a bug - but I've still got my Jerome pawns... [And then, there's that clock thingy - Rick]
24.g4 Rae8?? 25.Re2??
All right, not the best move - 25.g5! += and the black knight would have been trapped.
25...h6 26.h4 Nh7 27.Qg2 b6 28.g5 hxg5 29.hxg5 Bc8?
Black appears to be struggling for ideas, despite his material advantage - 29...g6! -++ (intending 30.fxg6 Nxg5) was a brilliant defence to White's pawn onslaught that the computer found.
30.f6 Rc7 31.f7+
OK, now I'm back in the game, though Stockfish found another surprising resource here in 31.Rf5!?, since 31...Bxf5?? (31...Qd4 32.f7+ = would have been similar to the game) would walk into trouble on the e-file after 32.exf5 +-.
31...Rxf7 32.Rxf7 Kxf7 33.g6+ Kg8 34. gxh7+ Kh8!
Black can probably take the h-pawn any time he wants and, by playing this way, keeps more options open by not allowing White to play the queen swap with 34...Kxh7 35.Qh2+.
35.Qh2 Bg4?
...Though he allows the queen swap now anyway... - keeping the queens on with 35...Qg5 -+ would have been more attacking.
36.Rg2??
The last straw for White - 36.Qxe5 Rxe5 37.Re3 would have been about equal.
[White still can win if he stays alive - regardless of the material disadvantage - long enough for Black's flag to fall. He almost makes it. - Rick]
36...Bf3 37.Kg1 Bxg2 38.Qxg2 Re6 39.Kf2 Rf6+ 40.Ke2 Rh6 41.a3 Rh2 42.Kf3 Rxg2 43.Kxg2 Qg5+ 44.Kf3 Qf6+ 45.Ke2 Qg6 46.Ke3 Qh5 47.Ne2 Kxh7 48.Nf4 Qh6 49.Kf3 Qh4 50.Ke3 Qg5
Not that it matters, but better would have been 50...Qg3+!
51.c3 Qf6 52.Kf3 Qe5 53.Ke3 g5 54.Nh3 Qh2
Again, better would have been 54...Qg3+!
55.Nf2 Qg3+ 56.Ke2 g4 and Black won on time.
(White had 1.6 seconds left on his clock when Black lost on time).
