Proto-Jerome Gambits? (Part 3)

Of course, as Alonzo Wheeler Jerome was developing his Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e4 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) there is always the possibility that he was influenced by the games of the Italian chessplayer Gioachino Greco (c. 1600 – c. 1634), who started off his own gambit with 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Qe2, with the possibility of 3...Nf6 4.Bxf7+ followed by 5.Qc4+ picking up the Bishop on c5. 

Actually his idea was to follow up with 4.f4.

The idea of Qe2 for White in the Jerome Gambit has shown up in a number of games, however. See: "Home Cooking" for one set of examples, and "Adolf Albin Plays the Jerome Gambit (Part 1)" and "(Part 2)" for another interesting game. Of course, there are any number of games by Bill Wall, including this one.

Back to the Wall

Truth be told, not all of Bill Wall's early efforts involving the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) and Jerome-ish openings saw him on the side of the angels.

Nilsen,E - Wall
Taylorsville, NC, 1978

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Qe2

Without the Knights developed, the idea behind this Queen placement is at least as old as Greco. Here, White will soon transpose into one of the "modern Jerome Gambit" lines, as explored in "Home Cooking" and "Adolf Albin Plays the Jerome Gambit (Part 1)" and (Part 2).

4...Nf6 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7

This position can be reached by the move order 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Qe2 Nf6

6.Qc4+ d5 7.Qxc5 Nxe4

8.Qb5

Or 8.Qe3 Re8 9.0-0 (9.d3 Nf6 10.0-0 Bg4 11.Ng5+ Kg8 12.h3 Bh5 13.f4 h6 14.Nf3 d4 15.Qf2 e4 16.dxe4 Nxe4 17.Qh4 Qxh4 18.Nxh4 Ng3 19.Rf2 White resigned, Mahmoud - Wahls, Novi Sad Ol, (men) 1990) 9...Kg8 10.c4 Nf6 11.cxd5 Nxd5 12.Qe4 Nf6 13.Qa4 e4 14.Ne1 Nd4 15.Nc3 a6 16.Nc2 c5 17.Ne3 Be6 18.Qd1 Bf7 19.Kh1 Bh5 20.f3 exf3 21.gxf3 Qd7 22.Kg2 Re5 23.h4 Rf8 24.d3 Ne8 25.Ng4 Ref5 26.f4 Nf6 27.Nxf6+ R8xf6 28.Qd2 Rg6+ 29.Kf2 Rf8 30.Ke1 Qh3 31.Ne4 Rg2 White resigned, Albin - Schlechter, Trebitsch Memorial Tournament, Vienna 1914.

8...a6 9.Qd3 Nxf2

10.Qc3

White needed to take the piece and allow the fork: 10.Kxf2 e4 11.Qc3 exf3 12.Qxf3+ Kg8 with only a small disadvantage.

10...Nxh1 11.Nxe5+

White's counter, but he has overlooked something.

11...Nxe5 12.Qxe5 Re8  White resigned.

Wild!

A discussion started in "London Calling... Seven Months of Blog", (is there another totally obscure and disreputable tactical opening line or gambit that I could go digging for information about, while I'm researching the Jerome Gambit?) eventually led to a comment by chessfriend and Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member Pete Banks ("blackburne") to the post "Worth a Second Look... (Part 1)"

Rick,

I've just started a Lolli Gambit (aka Wild Muzio) tournament on Chessworld. It's similar to the Jerome in that a Bishop is sacced very early on f7. 1.e4 e5 2.f4 ef 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5. Bxf7ch?! It seems to have more potential for quick wins than the Jerome. there have been several wins for White in under 10 moves already.

Pete

Now that's wild!

I did some quick research to learn more about Pete's suggestion, and ran into this game attributed to Greco:

Greco,G - NN, Europe, 1620
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Ne5+ Ke6 7.Qxg4+ Kxe5 8.Qf5+ Kd6 9.d4 Bg7 10.Bxf4+ Ke7 11.Bg5+ Bf6 12.e5 Bxg5 13.Qxg5+ Ke8 14.Qh5+ Ke7 15.0-0 Qe8 16.Qg5+ Ke6 17.Rf6+ Nxf6 18.Qxf6+ Kd5 19.Nc3+ Kxd4 20.Qf4+ Kc5 21.b4+ Kc6 22.Qc4+ Kb6 23.Na4 checkmate

Anyone whose King has been hounded to death while facing the Jerome Gambit will sympathize with poor NN, above.

From http://wapedia.mobi/en/Giambattista_Lolli:

Giambattista Lolli (1698 in Nonantola, Italy- 4 June 1769) was an Italian chess player. Lolli was one of the most important chess theoreticians of his time. He is most famous for his book Osservazioni teorico-pratiche sopra il giuoco degli scacchi (English: Theoretical-practical views on the game of chess), published 1763 in Bologna. It contains analyses of chess openings, in particular the Giuoco Piano. In the King's Gambit the variation 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5. Bxf7+ is designated after Lolli. It illustrates the Italian masters' style of uncompromising attack, which clearly differs from the rather more strategic considerations taken by, for example, the French chess player Philidor. In addition, the book contain listings of 100 chess endgames. One of these positions was used by Wilhelm Heinse in his novel Anastasia und das Schachspiel (English: Anastasia and the game of chess).

W. John Lutes' fantastic Cunningham Gambit (1980) (anything written by Lutes is fantastic - he was a relentless researcher) has an in-depth history of the King's Gambit, and it's worth tracing the Wild Muzio a bit.

One such series of Italian manuscripts were written by the brilliant analyst and player, Giulio Cesare Polerio, around 1590. He had accompanied Leonardo da Cutri to Spain in 1575 and had first-hand knowledge of the opening analysis done by the Spanish players. As well, his recorded variations and comments show that he had both played and analyzed the King's Gambit for some time.

Polerio discusses the King's Gambit at considerable length and a few examples are necessary to illustrate the extraordinary depth of his play... 1.e4 e5 2.f4 ef 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Ne5+ Ke6 7.Qxg4+ Kxe5 8.Qf5+ Kd6 9.d4... ["And although he has lost two pieces, yet he will win the game by force from the given position, provided he knows how to go on with the attack. If Black observes the loss of the game after 6...Ke6, and does better, perhaps by 6...Ke8!, then 7.Qxg4 Nf6 8.Qxf4, and seeking to Castle, White will have the best attack, despite having lost a piece for severals Pawns, as Black can no longer Castle."]

In a footnote, Lutes adds

5.Bxf7+ is presently known as the Lolli Muzio Gambit, from its having appeared in the Osservazioni Teorico-pratiche sopra il Giuoco degli Scacchi; ossia Il Giuoco degli Scacchi..., 1763, written by Giambatista Lolli.

Polerio's observation that the best defense is 6...Ke8! 7.Qxg4 Nf6! (7...Qf6 was Lolli's idea) was borne out by extensive analysis by Zukertort (1868), Schmid (1886), Alapin (1889), and Savenkoff (1897). The main line runs: 8.Qxf4 d6 (8...Bd6 [Zukertort, 1868] 9.0-0 Rf8! 10.d4 Nc6 11.Qh6!, gives White a strong attack. Analysis by Paul Bohl, 1884; Alapin, 1899; and Savenkoff, 1897) 9.Nf3 (9.Nc4 Nc6 10.0-0 Bg7 11.d3 Be6 12.Qg3 Qe7. -/+. Allgaier, 1802) Rg8! 10.e5 de 11.Nce5 Bd6 12.0-0 Bh3 13.Re1 Bc5+ 14.d4 Bxd4+ 15.Be3 Rxg2+ 16.Kh1 Rg4! -/+. Dr. C. Schmid: Deutsche Schachzeitung, 1886, p. 325.

The Lolli connection shows up later, after several authors, including Greco

With Greco, the King's Gambit became a fearsome weapon of attack. He whipped together the best analysis of the old Italian masters and hammered out a system of uncompromising assault on the enemy f7 square; sacrificing as many Pawns or pieces as necessary to achieve this objective...

According to Lutes,

Lolli took Ercole del Rio's bare analysis from the Sopra il giucco delgi Scacchi..., 1750, and added copious notes and explanations; as well as a few well chose contributions. The following variations from Lolli are of interest: (A) 1.e4 e5 2.f4 ef 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Ne5+ Ke8! 7.Qxg4 Qf6 8.Qh5+ Ke7 9.Nf7 Qxf7 10.Qe5+ Qe6 11.Qxh8 Nf6 12.b3 Nc6 13.Bb2 Ne5 14.Nc3 c6 15.0-0-0 (K at b1 and QR at e1) Qf7 16.Nd5+ cd 17.ed Bg7 18.Rxe5+ Kd6 19. Qd8 b6 20.d4 Bb7 21.Ba3 mate...

Again, playing through the analysis, it's hard not to see themes that show up in the later Jerome Gambit.