If it's raining outside, you can put on a hat, rain coat, and boots, and carry an umbrella. That will help. If you only take out a little parasol from the last cocktail you had - it won't provide much shelter.
So it is, when you are facing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+). You may not need the most exacting defense - say, Whistler's, or the "annoying defense", or even Jerome's defense - but you will need to have some kind of defense prepared. Otherwise, you will just get soaked.
Witness the following game. It shows how White can wrap things up early.
Wall, Bill - Dippoldi
PlayChess.com, 2019
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4
6...Bb4+
This can work, if it is followed up correctly.
7.c3 Bd6
According to The Database, Black has won every time he has played the alternative, 7...Qh4!? - 13 times - except for the 2 times that it was played against Bill Wall.
8.dxe5 Bxe5
Bill points out that 8...Bf8 and 8...Be7 were the way to go. White would have only a small advantage, if any.
9.Qd5+
Also successful was 9.Qh5+ - 9...Ke6 10.Qf5+ Kd6 11.Na3 Ne7 12.Nc4+ Kc6 13.Qxe5 d6 14.Na5+ Kd7 15.Qg5 c6 16.Nc4 b6 17.Bf4 Ng6 18.Qf5+ Kc7 19.Qf7+ Qd7 20.Bxd6+ Kb7 21.Qf3 b5 22.Ne5 Nxe5 23.Bxe5 Ka6 24.g3 Bb7 25.a4 c5 26.axb5+ Kxb5 27.O-O Rhe8 28.c4+ Kc6 29.Rad1 Rxe5 30.Rxd7 Kxd7 31.Qf7+ Kc8 32.Qf8+ Kc7 33.Qxg7+ Kd6 34.Qxb7 Ree8 35.Rd1+ Ke6 36.Qd7+ Kf6 37.Rd6+ Ke5 38.Rd5+ Kf6 39.Rf5+ Kg6 40.Qf7+ Kh6 41.Rh5 checkmate, Sir Osis of the Liver - Crusader Rabbit, Jerome Gambit Tournament 4, ChessWorld, 2009.
9...Kf6
Just about as effective as 9...Kf8, seen in Wall, - Holzkopp, PlayChess.com, 2017 (1-0, 27).
10.f4
Deadly enough was 10.h4 - 10...Ne7 11.Bg5+ Kg6 12.Qxe5 d6 13.Qxe7 Qxe7 14.Bxe7 Re8 15.h5+ Kf7 16.Bg5 Rxe4+ 17.Be3 Bf5 18.Nd2 Re6 19.O-O-O a5 20.Rde1 Rae8 21.Nb3 Re5 22.Nd4 Bg4 23.Kd2 c5 24.Nb5 Rd5+ 25.Kc1 c4 26.Nc7 Black resigned, HauntedKnight - anaribusm, FICS, 2012.
10...Qe7
Also coming to no good end: 10...Kg6, as in Wall,B - Guest6953174, PlayChess.com 2016 (1-0, 15) and 10...c6 11.fxe5+ Kg6 12.Qd6+ Kf7 13.O-O+ Black resigned, Wall,B - Guest11386950, PlayChess.com, 2019.
11.fxe5+ Qxe5
Even LuigiBot could not escape, trying 11...Kg6 - 12.O-O Nh6 13.Rf3 Rf8 14.Rg3+ Kh5 15.Qd1+ Rf3 16.Qxf3+ Kh4 17.Rh3 checkmate, Fandral - LuigiBot, FICS, 2013.
12.O-O+ Black resigned
Here is another "smothered checkmate". It is interesting that it is the computer program that falls victim to the Queen sacrifice and mate.
chessmoods - LuigiBot
standard, FICS, 2012
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.Bxf7+
Transposing to a "modern" (vs "classical") version of the Jerome Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.0-0 Nf6, etc. The Database has 1,065 games with this position. White scores 41%.
5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+
Now White decides to go "classical" after all. It is as if the game started 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 and then continued 6.0-0 Nf6 7.d4 (or 6.d4 Nf6 7.0-0). If LuigiBot has a "book" it is likely it is out of it.
6...Nxe5 7.d4 Re8
Black sees no reason to retreat a piece from the d-pawn's attack, as White will win one, anyway. So, he develops.
8.dxc5 d5 9.Bg5 dxe4 10.Nc3 Bg4 11.Qe1 Qd4
Black is certainly active and better. The game still has to be won, however.
12.Bxf6 Kxf6 13.Nxe4+ Kf7 14.c3 Qd5 15.Ng5+ Kg8 16.Qc1 Qxc5
Now Black's King is safe, and there is still the matter of the extra piece. What's to worry? Well, for starters, humans can be pretty tricky...
17.h3 Nd3 18.Qc2 Be2
The computer can not see far enough ahead to avoid the Queen sacrifice.
19.Qb3+ Kh8 20.Nf7+ Kg8 21.Nh6+ Kh8 22.Qg8+ Rxg8 23.Nf7 checkmate
Nice.
This is not the first time that LuigiBot has been bested by the Jerome Gambit. See "Poor, Poor Computer" for example.
Creativity in chess has its place, even in the following game, as long as it doesn't overstep its boundaries.
Fandral - LuigiBot
standard, FICS, 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bb4+ 7.c3 Bd6
The computer software LuigiBot (rated in the 1500s at FICS) comes up with an interesting maneuver that has also been seen in the past by Jerome Gambiteers Darrenshome, jfhumphrey, stretto, Sir Osis of the Liver, and HauntedKnight. It is playable, if Black figures out the proper continuation.
8.dxe5 Bxe5
Missing the proper 8...Be7.
9.Qd5+ Kf6 10.f4 Qe7
Black should bite the bullet, instead, and play 10...Bxc3+ 11.Nxc3 Ne7, when material would be even, and White would be a bit better due to more central control by the "Jerome pawns" and a safer King.
11.fxe5+ Kg6 12.0-0 Nh6 13.Rf3 Rf8
Hoping to hold off the attack, but allowing mate.
14.Rg3+ Kh5 15.Qd1+ Rf3 16.Qxf3+ Kh4 17.Rh3 checkmate
Here we continue from our previous post, "Updating the Blackburne Defense (Part 1)", a look at the Blackburne Defense and what is new (or newer).
For earlier efforts, see also "Update: Old Dog Can Still Bite","Junk Openings", "A Closer Look (Part V)", "Update: Blackburne Defense" and "Traps and Zaps".
perrypawnpusher - lfcanales
blitz, FICS, 2014
9...Nf6 10.Qd8 Qxe4
Black's move allows White's Queen to escape and counter-attack. There are a number of alternative moves for Black, two of which bear attention.
Not 10...a6?, as in piratebopper - MiloBot, FICS, 2010, (1-0, 24).
Nor 10...a5? as in perrypawnpusher - MiloBot, blitz, FICS, 2010, (1-0, 24).
Played, if in a stumbling manner, is 10...Bd7?. The core game continued 11.Qxc7 (instead, 11.Qxa8? Nxe4? [Black should finish Blackburne-style: 11...Ng4 12.h3 Bxf2+ 13.Kh1 Qg3 14.Rxf2+ Nxf2+ 15.Kg1 Nxh3+ 16.Kh1 Nf4 17.Qf8+ Kxf8 18.d3 Qxg2#] 12.d4 Bxd4 13.Be3 Bxb2 14.Qxb7 Bxa1 15.Qxc7 Nf6 16.Qxd6 Kg7 17.Qc5 Ne4 18.Bd4+ Bxd4 19.Qxd4+ Kh6 20.f3 Black resigned, UNPREDICTABLE - choron, FICS, 2009) 11...Bb6? (instead, 11...Rc8 12.Qxb7 Ke7 is "gloriously obscure" according to Dr. Andrew Walker, University of Nottingham, personal communication, 2001. Probably 13.Qb3 with the idea of Qg3 is White's answer - not 13.Nc3? Ng4 when Black mates) 12.g3?! (12.Qxd6) 12...Qh3 13.Qxd6? Bc6 14.g4 Qxg4+ White resigned, Harris,S - Quayle,E, Los Angeles, CA, 1944.
Certainly solid, and Rybka's recommendation, is 10...Bb6. White should spring his Queen with 11.e5 dxe5 12.Qd3. The earliest reference that I have seen to this line is from The Art of the Checkmate by Renaud and Kahn (1953), which says White has the advantage. This proved true in Wall,B - Foo,N, Palm Bay, FL, 2010 (1-0, 33).
The most exciting move in the position is Chandler's 10...Bh3!?, when White has to temporarily forego the Rook at a8 and focus on checking Black: 11.Qxc7+ (11.g3? Qxe4 12.Qxc7+ Kf8 White resigned, Siggus -toe, FICS, 2007; 11.Qxa8? Qg4 12.Qe8+ Nxe8 13.g3 Qf3 14.Re1 Qg2#) 11...Kf8! (11...Kg8 lost in Chandler,G - Dimitrov, T/5 minute special game 2004; in Hiarcs 8 - RevvedUp, blitz 2 12, 2006 [1-0, 17]; and AsceticKingK9 - blackburne, ChessWorld JG6, 2011 [1-0, 22] ) and analysis by Geoff Chandler and, later, Dennis Monokroussos (see the two posts on his blog) show that the outcome is a draw, as it is too dangerous for either player to look for more.
11.Qxc7+
This is an improvement over 11.Nc3 Qe7 (11...Qxc2 12.Qxc7+ Nd7 13.Nd5 Qe4 14.Nc3 Qe5 15.d3 Qd4 16.Re1 Qxf2+ White resigned, ionman - GriffyJr, FICS, 2005 (0-1,16); Interested readers should check out "Ionman vs The Bots" ) 12.Qxe7+ Kxe7 as in RevvedUp - Shredder 8, blitz 2 12, 2006 (0-1, 25).
11...Kg8
radicalmove played over a dozen games against LuigiBot on FICS in 2012, testing the somewhat weaker 11...Bd7 (see "Poor, Poor Computer" for a couple of examples). The games are in The Database.
Likewise, ionman took on the computer GriffyJr a couple of times at FICS in 2005, over the somewhat weaker 11...Qe7 (the games are also in The Database). White triumphed in Shredder 8 - RevvedUp, blitz 2 12, 2006 (1-0, 28).
12.Nc3
Maybe a little better was 12.Qd8+ Kf7 13.d3 Qe5 14.Bh6 Qe8 15.Qxe8+ Nxe8.
12...Qxc2
The pawn is poison.
13.Qd8+
After the game Houdini preferred 13.d4!? Bb6 (13...Bxd4 14.Bh6 Bd7 15.Qc4+ d5 16.Qxd4) 14.Qe7 when White steals the Knight in broad daylight.
13...Kg7 14.Qe7+ Kh6 15.Qxf6 Black resigned
If I told you that an online player recently challenged a computer (rated about 350 points higher than himself) to a game of chess, choosing to play an often-refuted opening and facing its best-known defense (highlighted in a brutal miniature by a master known as "the Black Death") – well, you might be inclined to say "Poor, poor human."
Oh, but you noticed: this post is titled "Poor, Poor Computer" (my emphasis).
Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of the Jerome Gambit!
radicalmove - LuigiBot
rated standard game, FICS, 2012
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 d6
Blackburne's Defense, made famous by the game Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1885. See "Flaws (Part I) and Flaws (Part II)".
8.Qxh8 Qh4 9.0-0 Nf6 10.Qd8
White's 10th move was suggested shortly after the Blackburne game was played, but it did not become widely known. Most players understand the end of Black's counter-attack to be a combination of "Nobody Expects the Jerome Gambit!" and "Mars Attacks!"
10...Qxe4
This is a move that computers are fond of. See "Ionman vs the Bots" for some examples.
11.Qxc7+
Instead, 11.Nc3 was seen in the game RevvedUp - Shredder 8, blitz 2 12, 2006 (0-1, 25) from the incredible match, RevvedUp vs Hiarcs 8, Shredder 8, Yace Paderborn, Crafty 19.19 and Fritz 8. See "Jerome Gambit: Drilling Down (1)" for starters.
11...Bd7 12.d3 Qd5 13.Nc3 Qc6 14.Qxc6 Bxc6
LuigiBot has traded off its harassed Queen, but the situation looks kind of grim in any event. White is ahead the exchange and a couple of pawns; about a piece worth of material. Quite a change from less than a dozen moves ago!
15.Be3 Re8 16.Rae1 Re6 17.Bxc5 dxc5 18.Rxe6 Kxe6
Radicalmove is content to continue to reduce the play to a basic endgame.
19.a3 Kf5 20.h3 h6 21.b4 cxb4 22.axb4 Kf4 23.b5
As if the current game were not bad enough, the two combatants played another game the same day (I do not know which was played first, but it might be the longer one) with the same result: 23.Re1 Bd7 24.h4 Bc6 25.g3+ Kf5 26.d4 Ne4 27.Nxe4 Bxe4 28.c4 b6 29.c5 h5 30.cxb6 axb6 31.Ra1 Bd5 32.Ra6 b5 33.Ra5 Ke4 34.Rxb5 Kxd4 35.Rb8 Kd3 36.b5 Kd4 37.b6 Kc5 38.b7 Kd4 39.Rd8 Ke4 40.b8Q Kd4 41.Qb7 Ke5 42.Qxd5+ Kf6 43.Rd7 Black resigned, radicalmove - LuigiBot, rated standard game, FICS, 2012.
23...Bd7 24.Re1 Bf5 25.h4 Bg4 26.g3+ Kf5 27.d4 Nd7 28.Na4 Bf3 29.Nc5 Nxc5 30.dxc5 Be4
31.c4 Ke5 32.c6 a5 33.cxb7 Kd4 34.b8Q Bf5 35.Qb6+ Kxc4 36.Qxa5 Bd3 37.Qa4+ Black resigned
Building on yesterday's initial exploration into The Database, "[l]ooking for the 'essence' of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), or at least an insight into how it 'works', " I checked and found 23 games where White had won in 5 moves.
How do you win with White in the Jerome Gambit in 5 moves??
The following game held the answer
mediax - jemasc
Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament
ChessWorld, 2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ White claimed a win on time
Ah, yes, the "The-Clock-Is-My-Friend" motif. (Or the "My-Opponent-Lost-Interest-In-The-Game" dynamic; or the "My-Opponent-Is-Playing-Too-Many-Games-At-Once-And-Decided-To-Give-This-One-Up" strategy.)
Admittedly, that was not very enlightening.
More interesting was the question: How does White lose in 5 moves, as he did 34 times in The Database?
Again, time was a factor in many of the games, but half of White's 5-move losses went like this
Kaarvek - LuigiBot
standard. FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+
with White resigning before or after 5...Qxg5.
This was the first non-trivial finding of my research, but it came with a serious caveat.
It turned out that when I did a search in The Database for games that had the position after White's 5th move, I found 379 of them, averaging 24 moves in length, with the longest (a win for Black) lasting 91 moves.
On top of that, White won 81 of the games, and 9 were drawn, for a score of 23% for the first player.
My conclusion (more proof that the Jerome Gambit can lead to strange chess): [theoretical] Do not play 5.Ng5+ because it loses a piece, and [practical] it cuts White's scoring percentage in half.
Every once in a while I have to post some games, to caution those who experiment with the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) that a certain line just is not playable.*
Kaarvek - LuigiBot
standard, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+ White resigned
burraburra - chintoo
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+ Qxg5 6.d4 Qxg2 White resigned
darumsdad - MRKumar
standard, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+ Qxg5 6.d3 Qxg2 White resigned
FURST - cubs
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+ Qxg5 6.Qf3+ Qf6 7.Qxf6+ Nxf6 White resigned
roadcyclist - roomys
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ng5+ Qxg5 6.Qf3+ Nf6 7.0-0 Nd4 8.Qc3 Ne2+ White resigned
Why do players continue to try an early Nf3-g5+ ? Perhaps because of games like the following
drumme - jherman
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d4 exd4 6.Ng5+ Ke8 7.Qf3 h6 8.Qf7 checkmate
(*-The Database has 379 games with the 5.Ng5+ line, including 81 wins and 10 draws for White, scoring 23%, so I guess that it is not completely unplayable.)
