WWAWJD?

Further questions continue to arise regarding the announcement (see "Jerome Gambit Book") of my plan to write a book on the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), tentatively titled All Or Nothing! The Jerome Gambit, and sub-titled Losing, Drawing, and Even Winning with the World's Most Notorious Chess Opening.

Primary among them is

Q. Will All Or Nothing! focus only on the Jerome Gambit, or will it be a repertoire book, guiding readers on how to meet defenses other than 1...e5, like, say, 1...c5 or 1...e6 or 1...c6?

At this point I suspect that someone is trying to pull the Readers' legs, but it is probably germane to point out that years ago Jyrki Heikkinen, the creative gambiteer host of the blog "Gambits and Pieces" mentioned that he had played a Sicilian Jerome Gambit (see "Sicilian Jerome").

Certainly a "Jerome Repertoire" would feature Bc4 and Bxf7+, as well as Qh5 for White, but that is well beyond the scope of All Or Nothing!  I have no Alonzo Wheeler Jerome games or analysis to support such speculation, by the way.

In any event, it would be unwise for me to commit to a second book while the first one is in its planning stages, but I welcome thoughts from readers on such a "Jerome Repertoire".

So Much Fun...

Looking back at some of the highlights of the early posts to this blog was so much fun, I decided to do a little more digging and sharing... Here we go.

I have made at least a half-dozen trips to the White Collection of the Cleveland Public Library to look up Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games and analyses. I have also used my local library, interlibrary loan and the online Google Books.

For example, a few years ago I came across Volume XI of The Westminster Papers of London, "A Monthly Journal of Chess, Whist, Games of Skill, and The Drama" which had this note in its February 1, 1879 issue:

We shall be most happy to receive some games fairly well played in which the Jerome Double Gambit was adopted. They will be handed to our annotator indue course and will analyse them in an unprejudiced and impartial manner.

Unfortunately, the The March and April issues which complete Volume XI have no further reference to Jerome's Gambit; and, alas, they were the last issues of The Westminster Papers to be published 

Sometimes the searching turns up fun stuff. What about a "reversed Jerome Gambit?" Sounds crazy, but the posts on 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5, known by some as the "Busch - Gass Gambit", or, with the addition of 3.Nxe5 Nc6, as "Chiodini's Gambit" might be "Worth A Second Look"

Jumping on the trend, I invented the fictional "Jerome Gambit For Dummies" and provided educational material that I've added to from time to time (you can use the "search" feature on the blog). It's as lighthearted as "Whodunnit?", but that's okay. It makes more sense than "The Jerome Gambit shows up in the oddest places..."

The "Optical Illusion" variation of the Jerome Gambit continued to crop up.Jyrki Heikkinen shared his version of the "Sicilian Jerome Gambit". There was some work on "The Kentucky Opening". Then, there is that "Pie-in-the-Face" Variation"...

I opined on "A Side Line to Watch". I started sharing some "Stats" on the Jerome.

Who knows if there is a "Conspiracy of Silence" surrounding a particular variation of the Jerome Gambit? What about that "Critical Line 5...Kf8"?  What do we know about "The Life of Alonzo Wheeler Jerome"? What's with "the Nudge"? Did Adolph Albin actually play the Jerome Gambit? Can you handle the "Jerome Gambit Quiz"?

These are just some of the highlights of the blog posts made in 2009 alone (with 365 a year, there are plenty to choose from). Many games were presented that year, and I continued to share my Jerome Gambit wins and losses (my score is 83% in games with that refuted opening)

Sicilian Jerome Gambit

In a comment to my post "Attacking the King" Jyrki Heikkinen, the creative gambiteer host of the blog "Gambits and Pieces" mentioned that he had played a Sicilian Jerome Gambit (see "Sicilian Jerome"):

Jyrki Heikkinen - Timo-Pekka Lassila,

Tampere, Finland, 1987

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.Nf3 e5 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Ke8 7.Qxd4 Nc6 8.Nxc6 dxc6 9.Qc4 Qa5+ 10.Nc3 Bb4 11.Bd2 Bxc3 12.Bxc3 Qb5 13.Qd4 Kf7 14.a4 Qg5 15.O-O Bh3 16.Qc4 Kg6 17.g3 Bxf1 8.Rxf1 Rae8 19.f4 Qg4 20.f5+ Kh5 21.Qf7+ g6 22.Qxf6 Qxe4 23.h3 Qe3+ 24.Kg2 Qe2+ 25.Rf2 Qe4+ 26.Kh2 Black resigned

An equally outrageous anti-Sicilian line, although a bit less Jerome-ish, can be seen in Stefan Bücker's ChessCafe.com Over the Horizons column, titled "Don't Name the Gambit after Me", where he presents the Al Hadhrani Gambit (with deep analysis that improves on the outcome of this game):

Al Hadhrani - Klinger

Novi Sad Olympiad, 1990

1.Nc3 c5 2.e4 a6 3.Bc4 b5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Qh5+ g6 6.Qd5+ e6 7.Qxa8 Qc7 8.d3 Bb7 9.Bf4 d6 10.Qa7 b4 11.Na4 e5 12.Be3 Nd7 13.Nf3 Ne7 14.Bxc5 dxc5 15.Nxe5+ Nxe5 16.Nxc5 Bg7 17.Nxb7 Rb8 18.Qxa6 Rxb7 19.Qa4 b3 20.axb3 Qxc2 21.0-0 Qxd3 22.f4 Ng4 23.e5 Qxb3 24.h3 Ne3 25.Qxb3+ Rxb3 26.Rf3 N7d5 27.Ra2 Kg8 28.Ra8+ Bf8 29.g4 Kf7 30.f5 gxf5 31.gxf5 Bc5 32.Kh1 Rxb2 33.h4 Rb1+ 34.Kh2 Ng4+ 35.Kh3 Nxe5 White resigned