Good to the End

The Jerome Gambit is a strange opening. White gets what he wants by giving Black a winning game. Black often fights to reach an even game, by giving up his advantage. The winner is the one who makes sense of this, and wins in the end.

Wall,B - Guest75785
PlayChess.com, 2014

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d4 Nxd4

I have to say that I am not very familiar with this "modern" (no 5.Nxe5) Jerome Gambit variation, even though I discovered that there are over 530 games in The Database with this position, including games by Jerome Gambit regulars like Darrenshome, DragonTail, drumme, ItsAllBullCheck, and yorgos.

Of course, Bill Wall is willing to experiment just about any game.

6.Nxe5+ Kf8 7.Be3 Ne6 8.Qh5 Qe7

Bill notes 8...Qf6 9.Nxd7+ Bxd7 10.Bxc5+ Ne7 11.Nc3 Nxc5 12.Qxc5 Qb6; not 8...g6? 9.Nxg6+.

9.Nc3 c6

White has equalized. It is important to remember the old adage: In the Jerome Gambit, when White has equalized, he has the advantage.

10.Ng6+ hxg6 11.Qxh8 Bxe3 12.fxe3 Ng5 

Bill prefers 12...Nd8.

13.Rf1+ Nf7 14.h4 Qe5 

As is frequently the case, 14...d5! is the move.

15.0-0-0 Qh5 16.Rxf7+ Kxf7

Not 16...Ke8?? 17.Qxg8#

17.Rf1+ Nf6 18.Qxh5 gxh5 19.e5 d5 20.exf6 gxf6

Black - or is it White? - has made it through the opening and the middle game and now has a roughly even endgame.

21.e4 d4

Or 21...Be6 22.exd5 cxd5 23.Nb5

22.Ne2 c5 23.e5 f5 24.Nf4 Be6 25.Nxh5 Rh8 26.g4

26...Kg6

Better 26...Rh6 or 26...b5. 

27.Nf4+ Kf7 28.gxf5 Bxf5 29.h5 Re8

This is a mistake that turns a position with a lot of drawing potential into a loss. The "Jerome pawns" can no longer be contained.

30.Nd3

Threatening 31.Rxf5+.

30...Ke6 31.Nxc5+ Kd5

Not 31...Kxe5? 32.Re1+

32.Rxf5 Kxc5 33.Rf7 Rxe5 34.h6 Rh5 35.h7 Kc6

36.Kd2 Rh3 37.Ke2 a5 38.Kf2 b5 39.Kg2 Rh5 40.Kg3 b4 41.Kg4 Rh2 42.Kg5 Black resigned

Watch it!

After playing over the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) and Jerome-ized lightning games (three minutes or less per side per game) played by ItsAllBullCheck, what I've got to say about the chess clock to those who would defend that crazy Bishop check is: watch it!

Russian International Master Ilya Odessky, in his one-of-a-king book Play 1.b3!, has some things to say, in general, along that line

Opening theory also changes in rapid chess. Unavoidably. Because the opening is like the start of a race, and runners have to train differently, depending on the distance they run. For a classical chess player, the opening is extremely important and has universal significance. It really matters whether one side has more space, the bishop pair, or an exposed king.

For a professional speed player, these things also matter, but much less so. The most important thing for him is an advantage on the clock. Second in importance is the possibility to surprise the opponent, lure him into a position with which you are familiar and he is not. This itself is usually transformed into an advantage on the clock, It is good to pose problems from the very start, so that he has to find the one and only good continueaiton; then, in order to find it, he has to use time, which in speed chess means more than the two (or even three!) bishops...

I remember an article in a chess magazine, I cannot recall which. But the author was one of the world top 10. Talking aobut a strong rapid tournament, and about what had happened on one of the top boards, he suddenly started to discuss the opening 1.d4 e5!? And several times referred to "the theory". And he started a serious discussion of the line - what Kasimzhanov thinks of the position, what Aronian thinks...

And just as suddenly, he stopped. Because he had said more than he intended – he had suddenly started revealing some of the theory of speed chess. Then the curtain was pulled across again.

Lightning Strikes

As science fiction stories developed, I noticed that the top speed that a rocket could travel went from "the speed of light" to "the speed of thought" – the latter being much, much faster, I guess.

Below are some Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bx5 4.Bxf7+) games played at "lightning" speed – three minutes (or less) per side per game. They're entertaining, but some seem to reverse the science fiction hierarchy, as the moves of the lightning games sometimes seem to occur faster than the speed of thought...

ItsAllBullCheck - Jolema

lightning game FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d4 Bxd4 6.c3 Bc5 7.Qb3+ Ke8 8.0-0 Nf6 9.Bg5 d6 10.Nbd2 Bg4 11.Qxb7 Rb8 12.Qxc6+ Ke7 13.b4 Black resigned

ItsAllBullCheck - NightEagle

lightning game FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ Ke7 7.Qf7+ Kd6 8.Nc4+ Kc6 9.Qd5 checkmate

ItsAllBullCheck - Nineyes

lightning game FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kf8 5.d4 Nxd4 6.Bb3 Nxb3 7.axb3 Qf6 8.0-0 d6 9.Bg5 Qg6 10.Bh4 Bg4 11.Bg3 h5 12.Nh4 Qxe4 13.Kh1 Bxd1 White resigned

ItsAllBullCheck - Nineyes

lightning game FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d4 exd4 6.c3 d5 7.exd5 Qxd5 8.Ng5+ Kf8 9.0-0 Nf6 10.cxd4 Nxd4 11.Nc3 Qf5 12.Qb3 Nxb3 13.axb3 Be6 White resigned

ItsAllBullCheck - alexborz

lightning game FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d4 Bxd4 6.c3 Bc5 7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qd5 Bg4 10.Ng5 Nf6 11.Qf7 checkmate

ItsAllBullCheck - alexborz

lightning game FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d4 exd4 6.c3 Nf6 7.cxd4 Bxd4 8.Ng5+ Kg6 9.f4 d5 10.f5+ Kh6 11.Nf7 checkmate

ItsAllBullCheck - chakku

lightning game FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Na5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Nxg6 hxg6 8.Qxh8 Nf6 9.Qh3 d5 10.Qg3 Qe7 11.Qxg6+ Qf7 12.Qg3 Nxe4 13.Qd3 Qxf2+ 14.Kd1 Black resigned

ItsAllBullCheck - geneve

lightning game FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d4 Bxd4 6.c3 Bb6 7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Ng5 Qf6 9.0-0 Nge7 10.Qb3 Rf8 11.Nf3 d6 12.Bg5 Qe6 13.Bxe7 Qxb3 14.Nbd2 Qe6 15.Bxf8 Kxf8 White resigned

ItsAllBullCheck - luisfveloz

lightning game FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d4 exd4 6.c4 Nf6 7.Ng5+ Kg6 8.f4 h6 9.f5 checkmate

ItsAllBullCheck - sympatoche

lightning game FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d4 Bxd4 6.c3 Bb6 7.Bg5 Qe8 8.Qb3+ Qe6 9.Qc2 d6 10.Be3 Nf6 11.Ng5+ Black resigned

Fantastic!

In the last few days I have picked up hundreds of Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) and Jerome-ish or Jerome-ized games (e.g. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nd4 Bxf7+) – perhaps as many as a thousand – from games played at the Free Internet Chess Server (FICS).

I am still organizing and reviewing the games, but it is quite possible that they will have an impact on current Jerome Gambit theory, and may even cause me to review and revise some of the information that I posted in the first year of this blog.

How exciting!

I will share what I learn, as I am able.

In the meantime, welcome to the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde, DragonTail, majorminor, JKELSEY, GmCooper, weenar, ItsAllBullCheck and KnightBiker (among others), all playing at FICS.