Jerome Gambit: Too Much of A Good Thing?

In the particular Jerome Gambit line in the following game, Black is faced with returning one of the two pieces that White sacrificed. He has two general ways to respond - choose a piece to withdraw from danger, or ignore the attack and develop another piece. Either option could work. However, trying both leads to great danger. 

Wall, Bill - Shookspear, William
lichess,org, 2017

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bb4+ 

I like to imagine that Black is feeling clever here, knowing that he has to give back either the Knight or the Bishop, and deciding to have the Bishop capture on c3, taking a pawn, before saving the Knight. There are 255 game examples in The Database.

7.c3 Nf6

Black reverts to option number two: focus on development and let White mess up his pawn structure by capturing a piece. The move ...Nf6 would be better played while leaving the Bishop on c5, however.

8.dxe5 Bxc3+ 

According to plan, but it is not going to be successful.

9.Nxc3 Ne8 

I was surprised to find a related game in The Database, with 9...Ng8, and the outcome - a win for Black - was a bit of a shock, but play could be improved for both sides:  10.Qd5+ Ke8 11.O-O Ne7 12.Qc4 c6 13.Bg5 d5 14.exd5 cxd5 15.Nxd5? (15.Qb5+) Be6? (15...Qxd5) 16.Nxe7 (16.Nc7+) Bxc4 White resigned, Idealist - HarryPaul, FICS, 2002. 

10.O-O Rf8 11.Qh5+ Kg8

Feeling good. White has helped Black castle-by-hand.

12.Bg5 g6 13.Qh4 Black resigned

Oh, dear. Black can try 13...Nf6 14.Bxf6 Rxf6 (if 14...Qe8 then 15.Nd5) 15.exf6 but that would leave him down a Rook and a pawn.

Wilderness

Compared to the urban superhighways of the Ruy Lopez or King's Indian Defense, the Jerome Gambit is a path through the woods. Some lesser-played lines are a trudge through the wilderness. In the following game, White, with 155 games in The Database, travels, then wanders, then gets a bit lost - fortunately for him, his opponent is even less prepared for the journey.

fehim - sonikf
blitz, FICS, 2015

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+Kf8 8.Qxc5+ N8e7

A playable, but not often played, move. (More often seen is 8...d6.) All of the relevant games from The Database can be given or linked to.

9.O-O d6 10.Qe3

10.Qc4 was seen in  Wall,B - Guesty1960624, PlayChess.com, 2013 (1-0, 30) while fehim, himself, tried earlier: 10.Qb4 b6 11.d3 Bb7 12.Bg5 h6 13.Be3 Qd7 14.Nd2 Kf7 15.Qb3+ Qe6 16.Qc3 Rhf8 17.Qxc7 Rab8 18.Qc3 Kg8 19.Nf3 Rfc8 20.Qd2 Ne5 21.Nd4 Qf6 22.h3 N7c6 23.Nf5 Ne7 24.Ng3 d5 25.f4 N5g6 26.e5 Qf7 27.d4 Nf5 28.Nxf5 Qxf5 29.g4 Qxc2 30.Qb4 Nh4 31.Rf2 Qe4 32.Re1 Nf3+ 33.Kf1 Nxe1 34.Qxe1 Rc2 35.Rxc2 Qxc2 36.Qd2 Qxd2 37.Bxd2 Rc8 38.Bc3 Kf7 39.a3 Ke6 40.Kf2 a6 41.Kf3 b5 42.f5+ Ke7 43.Kf4 g5+ 44.fxg6 Rg8 45.h4 Rxg6 46.h5 Rg8 47.Kf5 Rf8+ 48.Kg6 Rf4 49.Kxh6 Rxg4 50.Kh7 White forfeited on time. fehim - HarryPaul, FICS, 2006.

10... Kf7

Alternatives:

10...Nc6 11.d4 Qe7 12.f4 Kg8 13.f5 Nf8 14.c3 h6 15.Na3 Nh7 16.Bd2 Nf6 17.Rae1 a6 18.Nc2 Bd7 19.e5 dxe5 20.dxe5 Nd5 21.Qe4 Nb6 22.Kh1 Rf8 23.g4 Qh4 24.e6 Bc8 25.Rg1 Re8 26.Bf4 Re7 27.b3 h5 28.g5 Black forfeited on time, MrJoker - rex3, Internet Chess Club, 2012;

10...h6 11.d4 Kg8 12.c4 (12.f4 as in mrjoker - hp9000, Internet Chess Club, 2009 [1-0, 19])12... Kh7 13. f4 c5 14. dxc5dxc5 15. Qxc5 Qb6 16. Qxb6 axb6 17. Be3 Ra6 18. Nc3 Rf8 19. g3 Bg4 20. Kg2 h5 21. h3 Bd7 22. a4 Bc6 23. b4 Nf5 24. Bg1 Black forfeited on time, MrJoker - ilongavab, Internet Chess Club, 2012 (1-0,24);

10...b6 as in perrypawnpusher - Jaqueperpetuo, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 25); 

10...Ke8 11.d4 Rf8 12.f4 Kf7 (12...d5 as in guest645 - guest1600, Internet Chess Club, 2001 [1-0, 31]) 13. f5 Nh8 14. Qb3+ d5
15. Bg5 c6 16. Nc3 h6 17. Bxe7 Qxe7 18. exd5 Kg8 19. dxc6+ Nf7 20. Nd5 Qd6 21.c7 Kh7 22. Rae1 b6 23. c4 Bb7 24. Re6 Qd7 25. Re7 Qc8 26. Qg3 Bxd5 27. Qg6+ Kg828. f6 Ng5 Black resigned, Ghandy - pratmanu, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 28); 

10... Be6 as in mrjoker - cherryhead, Internet Chess Club, 2008 (1-0, 50); and

10...Bd7 as in guest4097 - guest4686, Internet Chess Club, 2004 (1-0, 25);

11.f4 Rf8 12.f5 Ne5 13.Qb3+ d5 

White is working to interfere with Black castling-by-hand. He should take a moment, now, to support his center with 14.Nc3. Instead, he continues to go after the enemy King.

14.f6 gxf6 15.exd5 Qxd5 16.Qg3

White does not want to exchange Queens and weaken his chances for an attack, but this move puts Her Majesty in a risky position and strengthens Black's counter-attack.

16...Bf5

Even stronger is 16...Rg8.

17.d3 Bg6 18.Nc3 Qe6 19.Bh6 Rg8 20.Rae1

In this complicated position Stockfish 6 recommends the bizarre 20...Be4!? 21.Bg5 Bf5!? when White's Bishop, not Black's, will be in danger, finishing up with 22.h4 h6 23.d4 Qb6 24.Qf2 hxg5 25.dxe5 Qxf2+ 26.Rxf2 gxh4 27.exf6 Kxf6 28.Rxf7 Kxf7 29.Rxf5; Black is ahead the exchange.

However, the defender gets lost in the woods.

20...Qd6  21.Rxe5 Black resigned

This is a complicated position (exchanging Queens first with 21.Qxe5 Qxe5 22.Rxe5 might have helped White) and it is difficult to see Black resigning while just a pawn down, but perhaps he had his fill of the wilderness or his clock was winding down.

Another Delayed Jerome Gambit

In the following game Black's pieces do not know what to do with White's advancing pawns, and so decide to retreat and jump out of the way - leaving the field open for White's Queen.


Philidor1792 - bichara22
Casual Game Online chess portal http://ch (1), 2013

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Bb3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+

Another delayed Jerome Gambit, as in Philidor 1792 - guest1063, blitz 3 0, www.bereg.ru, 2013 (1-0, 37) and Philidor 1792 - guest3, 3 0 blitz, www.bereg.ru, 2013 (1-0, 22).

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Re8 

Black'smove is reasonable, but there is only one other example in The Database, Cossyphus - HarryPaul, blitz, FICS, 2004 (0-1, 33)

8.0-0 Bd6 9.f4 Ng6 10.e5 Be7 11.f5 Nh4 12.Nc3 Ng8

The "Jerome pawns" advance, scattering all resistance.

13.Qh5+ g6 14.Qxh7+ Kf8 15.fxg6+ Black resigned

Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's Dream

If Alonzo Wheeler Jerome, the creator of the Jerome Gambit, ever dreamed of an exciting game, it might very well have looked like the following one.

Wall,B - Guest1157782
playchess.com, 2013

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Ng6

The kind of move - withdrawing a piece from attack - that someone unfamiliar with the Jerome Gambit might make quickly. (Best was 7...Qf6).

My guess is that at this point Bill got out his psychic micrometer, measured the apparent depth of his opponent's experience with (or understanding of) the opening, and chose a line of play that was most efficacious against an unschooled or uneasy opponent. 

8.f5+

Also seen:

8.Qf5+ as in Idealist - pvm, FICS, 2003 (1-0, 42), Petasluk - jackla, FICS, 2008 (1-0, 31), and Petasluk - popasile, FICS 2011 (0-1, 35);

8.Qxc5 as in Permanence - Pianisimo, FICS, 2008 (1-0, 17) and Permanence - jgknight, FICS, 2008 (0-1,38); and

8.Qd5+ as in Siggus - svetma, FICS, 2007 (1-0, 36).

All of these games can be found in The Database.

8...Kd6

Or 8...Ke5, which led to a quick win for White in Superpippo - HarryPaul, FICS 2001 (1-0, 15).

9.fxg6 Kc6

Instead, Black had to fight back with 9...Nf6.

10.Qd5+ Kb6 11.Qb3+ Kc6

Surprisingly enough, Black's King can escape with 11...Ka6 - if he keeps his wits about him. Sure, White can then win back a piece with 12.Qc4+ b5 13.Qxc5, but after the counter-attack 13...Qh4+!? Black can get his Queen over to protect His Majesty, e.g. 14.Kf1 Qxe4 (Black could also try 14...Ne7 with the idea of 15...Rf8+)15.d3 Qc6 when 16.Qxc6 dxc6 17.gxh7 gives White a small advantage, according to Houdini 3.

12.Nc3 hxg6 

Now White finishes things off.

13.Qd5+ Kb6 14.Na4+ Ka5 15.b4+ Kxa4 16.Qb3+ Kb5 17.a4+ Kc6 18.Qd5+ Kb6 19.Qxc5+ Ka6 20.Qa5 checkmate

Superpippo!

My Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) and related openings database has about 60 internet blitz games played by Superpippo. It is clear that he enjoys the opening, plays it come fair or foul weather, and wins and loses with equanimity. I'd like to introduce Superpippo to readers of this blog with a game that is, well, kind of goofy... 

Superpippo - HarryPaul 

blitz FICS, 2001

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

So far, so good. Black doesn't have to play creative chess, he only has to decide which Jerome Gambit refutation he wants to play.

7.f4 Ng6

This move, despite the soundness of the basic idea – save one piece and return another – is too "creative" and leads to an even game. With a regular opening, having Black reach equality this early is an accomplishment for the second player, but in the Jerome Gambit – where White spots his opponent two pieces – it is a sign that something has already gone wrong for Black. 

8.f5+

Rybka 3 suggests: 8.Qxc5 Kf7 9.0-0 Qf6 10.Nc3 Qc6 11.Qf2 d6 12.f5 N6e7 13.d4 Qb6 14.Qe2 Nf6 15.Qc4+ d5 16.Nxd5 as even.

analysis diagram

8...Ke5

Brave King. Foolish King.

9.fxg6+ Kxe4

See the above note.

10.Qxc5

White can now win as he likes, for example 10.Nc3+ Kd4 11.Qd5 checkmate

10...hxg6

This allows a mate-in-one

11.Nc3+

Superpippo had his finish already planned out, and so he didn't bother with 11.d3 checkmate.

11...Kf4 12.d3+ Kg4 13.h3+ Kh4 14.Qd4+ Kh5 15.Qg4 checkmate