Still Nothing Going On

If yesterday's Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game seemed a bit odd, what to make of the following one, where the same player of the White pieces reprises his unusual opening schema, this time against a player only about 250 points higher than himself.

Again, hostilities cease rapidly.

MAILMANUK - callipygian
blitz, FICS, 2002

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

4...Kxf7 5.d4 exd4 6.Ng5+ Kg6 7.h4

Black now defends, and White comes to the same abrupt end.

7...Qe7 8.h5+ Kh6 9.Nf7 checkmate

Nothing Going On

One of the fun things about an offbeat opening like the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is that a game can move along like nothing is going on, lulling one or both players into a sense of calm – and then something unexpected happens.


MAILMANUK - IFDThor
blitz, FICS, 2002

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

4...Kxf7 5.d4 exd4 6.Ng5+ Kg6 7.h4

Black is rated about 350 points above his opponent. He is not particularly alarmed at defending against the Jerome Gambit. He is not distressed by the slightly unusual 5.d4, or the more unusual 6.Ng5+, or the innovative 7.h4. He simply whips out a "Swiss army knife" style defensive move, and ends the game.

7...Qf6 8.h5+ Kh6 9.Nf7 checkmate

How Long?

I think I have shared before that one chessfriend of mine said he enjoys playing chess at a local bar and he has found that the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is a perfect opening to play there, as, win or lose, the game is usually over quickly...

The other day I was wondering about the other end of the time spectrum: how long can a Jerome Gambit game last, especially a blitz game? I consulted The Database, and found some interesting answers.

MAILMANUK - Buckeyeski, blitz, FICS, 2002

After149 moves, this game was drawn by the "50 move rule" (although it could have been drawn, for the same reason, over 35 moves earlier)



HIARCS 11.1 UCI - Rybka 2.3.1 32-bit, 2008

Here, the two silicon monsters battled for 147 moves. 





DOCTOERDETROIT - jpiza, blitz, FICS, 2009

Here, consistent with our topic, on move 145, Black lost on time.