Again the tame 7...d6 defense holds up for Black, and the tactical wiles of the computer strike before the human can take it down.
RevvedUp - Shredder 8
blitz 2 12, 2006
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6
7.f4 d6 8.fxe5 dxe5 9.Qh3+
A move as old as the 1993 Fisher-Kirshner - Knightstalker match (see "A Few Words With... Micah Fisher-Kirshner"). The alternative 9.Rf1 appeared in Fritz 8 - RevvedUp and RevvedUp - Hiarcs 8.9...Kf7 10.Qh5+ g6
In 2006 I heard from Jeroen_61 of the Netherlands, who emailed me
Some time ago when Hiarcs 8 was released after receiving my copy I ran some small tournaments to see how things would go with Hiarcs. Other participants were Junior 7, Shredder Paderdorn (6.02) and Fritz 7. One of the tournaments I conducted with - the Jerome gambit as opening. They are games 40/40' + 40/40' + 40' (round robin two rounds, so 12 games in all). Only two were won by the white side.
Six of the games featured this line of play in RevvedUp - Shredder 8. (All were posted at a website that Jeroen_61 gave, although an attempt to use the url today got me the message De pagina is niet gevonden, which probably means just what it looks like.)
11.Qxe5
Oddly enough, the position is identical to that of the Blackburne line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 (see ''Nobody expects the Jerome Gambit!") except that Black's d-pawn is missing. This difference is probably in the second player's favor.
11...Bd4 12.Qf4+ Nf6
One reason not to use only database statistics in evaluating a position can be seen by the fact that I have 52 wins by White from this position, all computer games from Randy Tipton at HANGING PAWN :: Tip's Chess Blog (see "We are not alone..."). Of course, he only provided me with the Jerome Gambit wins, not the whole package of games.
13.c3 A "TN", but it is a prelude to a tactical oversight by RevvedUp.
13...Re8 14.cxd4 Rxe4+ White resigns
Here we have another Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) where the human makes a bit of a monkey out of the computer, by again taking advantage of its willingness to draw when in a worse position.
The line played is worth a look: if Crafty 19.19 takes a draw with the White pieces, is that good or bad for Jerome players? Or does it just put the kabosh on the 7...d6 variation?
Crafty 19.19 - RevvedUp
blitz 2 12, 2006
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6
7.f4 d6 This line goes back to D'Aumiller - A.P., Livorno, 1878 (see "Bright Ideas From Silicon" and "My Jerome Gambit Database"), and has been popular with computers at least since the Fisher-Kirshner - Knightstalker match of 1993 (see "A Few Words With... Micah Fisher-Kirshner"). Black returns a piece, keeping an advantage. However, White panics and immediately seeks to split the point by repeating the position; and Black, rated 1,000 points lower, is quite willing to oblige.
8.fxe5 dxe5 9.Qh3+ Kd6 10.Qd3+ Ke7 11.Qg3 Kd6 12.Qd3+ Ke7 13.Qg3 Kd6 14.Qd3+ Draw
I am reminded of Geoff Chandler's humorous comment about his Jerome Gambit game (see "Stuff happens...") that the Jerome Gambit is a forced draw...
I start the "modern" era of the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde somewhat arbitrarily, taking note of the contribution of L. Elliott Fletcher, whose quite enjoyable Gambits Accepted, a survey of opening sacrifices (1954) contains an interesting Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game. Alas, the players are listed as anonymous, and the location and date are not given.
Invented by an American named Jerome in the latter part of the nineteenth century much of the analysis given below was originated by another American, S. A. Charles, and subsequently revised by Freeborough and Ranken. The opening is frankly unsound but Black's task is by no means easy and he can quite likely go wrong...
Micah Fisher-Kirshner (see"A Few Words With... Micah Fisher-Kirshner") certainly deserves membership, for defending the honor of the Jerome Gambit against an early chess program, Knight Stalker (aka Fritz1) in a 1993 match.Certainly Master Jack Young ("Bozo" of "Bozo's Chess Emporium") should have his enthusiasm for the Jerome Gambit in his "Meet Jerome" article in Randspringer #6, 1990-1991 rewarded with membership.
Although FIDE Master Eric Schiller might shrug off the honor, he deserves a place in the Gemeinde for writing about the Jerome Gambit during a time when few even thought or knew about it, let alone analyzed it or shared their assessments. Unorthodox Chess Openings (1998, 2002), Gambit Chess Openings (2002), and Survive and Beat Annoying Chess Openings (2003) have new analysis, although the author's attitude was less tongue-in-cheek than thumb-in-eye
This is another cyberspace gambit. Virtually no attention was paid to this reckless move [4.Bxf7+] until its supporters started talking about it on the Internet. It can't be found in recent tournament games, and there is a good reason: It stinks. White whips up a brief attack, easily parried, and then spends a long time trying to justify the sacrifice. A popular gambit in cyberspace, but in the real world, it only succeeds in games where Black is a very weak player.
It is important to include Tim McGrew (see "A Few Words With... Tim McGrew") author of "The Gambit Cartel" series of articles at ChessCafe, and explorer of some of the vicissitudes of the Jerome Gambit.
The Gemeinde likewise has membership for Life Master Brian Wall, who has a 100% record with the Jerome Gambit (at least after one game) and who has presented devestating analysis of the Whistler Defense (see "Jerome Gambit Tournament: Chapter VIII") – one of the best refutations of the Jerome Gambit to date.
It's not every day (month, year, decade, century...) that an International Master mentions or makes a suggestion concerning the play of the Jerome Gambit, and because he has, IM Gary Lane (see "International Master Gary Lane") has a place in the Gemeinde; although this is not likely to be mentioned on the FIDE website.
There also are a number of players who deserve mention for their brave commitment to playing the Jerome Gambit, starting with Pete Banks ("blackburne"), whose game GM Lane analyzed in one of his "Opening Lanes" columns at ChessCafe.
Of note also are Louis Morin, whose name should have been mentioned here much earlier for his Jerome Gambit swash-buckling, and A.B. Hailey, who has produced his share of theoretical games.
Gary Gifford, current editor and publisher of the Unorthodox Openings Newsletter (and co-author of the brand new and exciting Winning with the Krazy Kat and Old Hippo) – see "But - Is this stuff playable??" – has been supportive of Jerome Gambit discoveries.
Finally, there are the many players who have ventured Jerome's Double Opening. It is not possible to mention all, but certainly those who have played in the five thematic Jerome Gambit tournaments mentioned on this blog should be welcomed into the Gemeinde: bobbob78, brain50, braken, breaker, calchess10, Capt.Mandrake, Carlos Azcarate, casker, dandoo, delboy138, drewbear, eddie43, Gary_Seven, gobo, hogmaster, HPotter, jelgava, jemasc, Kevin the fruitbat, koloman, mediax, mika76, panga74, Piratepaul, queen st, Rail2Rail, Sir Osis of the Liver, splott, Temmo, TJay2465, tonik, TWODOGS, vlad-tepes, willitfw and yorkypuddn.
Seeing my interest in the Jerome Gambit, people often send me games from the Micah Fisher-Kirshner vs KnightStalker match.
Mission San Jose, Fremont, California, USA, June, 1993: the computer wins the match, but the human scores (at least) 3 victories.
For a time I thought that we had discovered the first "human beats computer with the Jerome Gambit" game, but it turns out, according to Randspringer #6, 1990-91, that the irrepressible Jack Young – "Bozo," of "Bozo's Chess Emporium" – defeated Fidelity's Chess Challenger 10 (rated about 1300) in 1979.
So who was this Jerome Gambiteer, this silicon giant-killer? The USCF had KnightStalker rated in the mid 2200s!
In 1989 Michah won the California primary school K-3 individual championship, and in 1992 and 1994 he won California's elementary K-6 individual championship. In 2000 he was the state's high school individual champ.
I recently caught up with Micah Fisher-Kirshner, via the internet.
I was around 11 or 12 at the time... but yeah, it definitely brings back some hilarious memories of playing against Knight Stalker (or what later became Fritz I believe).
I can actually recall the situation of the games… I would play them on my dad’s 386
(I think that was the name of the HP computer) as part of my chess homework for the day or two.
Essentially during the summer my dad set up a schedule for myself and my brother and part of it was having to play against the computer for maybe an hour or so. You can imagine how tiresome that could theoretically get for a young kid.
I’m pretty sure I learned about the opening from one of my former chess teachers, Richard Shorman, whereupon I used it to really help develop some of my tactical skills in the game at the young age – what better way to learn how to fight in chess than by being down by so much?
I’m pretty sure at some point I put these games on one of my earlier versions of my website (probably v1 or v2 which I unfortunately never saved) and may have been copied from there to the rest of the Internet during those early days.
[According to ChessDryad.com's "California Chess History Hall of Fame" page Richard Shorman "has added more games to the CalGames Chess Database than anybody else" so he also may be a possibility - RK]
I should search around my place to see what I still have in terms of recorded games and put them all back up online – I doubt I have any more of those Jerome Gambit games than what you already have, but you never know.
As for myself, I graduated from UCSD in 2006 (my current website is way out of date – but my blog www.micahfk.com/blog is current) with a Master’s in Pacific International Affairs from the IR/PS graduate school (undergraduate Bachelor’s degree from The George Washington University in International Affairs).
I am currently on the board for Success Chess, but mainly I’m working as a Search Strategist in San Francisco at Red Bricks Media doing a lot of SEO and Analytics aspects for the company and clients.
So, there you go!
Following the student theme, if chess can be thought of as "a gymnasium of the mind" (Pratt) and the Blackmar Diemer Gambit referred to as a "high school for tactics" (Diemer), I suppose that the Jerome Gambit can be seen as a brawl behind the gym after school lets out...
If so, here's Round One:
Fisher-Kirshner,M - Knight Stalker
Mission San Jose, Fremont, CA: June, 1993
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Bd4 9.fxe5+ Kc6 10.b4 Nh6 11.Qh5 Bxa1 12.b5+ Kxb5 13.e6+ Ka4 14.Nc3+ Bxc3 15.dxc3 Qf6 16.Qc5 Qh4+ 17.g3 Qxe4+ 18.Be3 Qxh1+ 19.Kd2 Qg2+ 20.Bf2 Qxf2+ 21.Qxf2 dxe6 22.Qc5 Rd8+ 23.Kc1 Rd4 24.cxd4 b5 25.c4 a6 26.cxb5 c6 27.a3 a5 28.Qc4+ Kxa3 29.Kc2 a4 30.Qc3+ Ka2 31.Qb2# 1-0
(Artwork compliments of Jeff Bucchino, "The Wizard of Draws")
