Thanks to the efforts of my good chessfriend, Pete Banks ("blackburne"), and the kind understanding of ChessWorld's Powers That Be, I was invited to participate in their latest thematic Jerome Gambit tournament.
Something about mentioning the opportunity to include "the World's greatest authority" on the subject, or some such silliness.
It is a 10-player, double round robin tournament, with up to 5 days available per move. (Players often move faster, and sometimes find themselves on the site at the same time, in which case a slice of the game is played move-upon-move.)
My games are completed, others have a handful left to finish up.
I must admit that the challenge of the tournament was irresistible. I've researched the Jerome for years and played it mostly successfully in a dozen or so offhand Internet blitz games, but this opportunity was serious.
The field is a mixture of those familiar with the Jerome Gambit (the third thematic for both blackburne and drewbear, for example) and those new to the opening.
Balanced against my foolishly inflated rating (based on three games at the site – some of my opponents have played thousands) that puts me at the top of the heap, is the tiny little dilemma of standing up for an opening that has a handful of refutations. Gulp!
The whole world's watching!
As if.
Win the tournament, though? I was actually hoping mostly not to embarrass myself. Even that would take everything that I had learned from Alonzo Wheeler Jerome – plus a whole lot of luck.
My first goal for the tournament was therefore, out of necessity, a dark one: I would need to polish up those refutations and go 9-0 with the Black pieces, against Jerome's Double Opening!
(Thanks to Ryan North of Toronto, Canada for his use of his Dinosaur Comic. Cerebral stuff. Funny.)
