The Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), played at club level, is full of psychology. Imagine the chess tyro facing "Jerome's Double Gambit" and immediately bemoaning, "I thought I knew the Italian Game, but this is a line I overlooked!" Even if he realizes that the opening is a bit sketchy, he might still rationalize "It must be good for something; nobody would sacrifice two pieces for nothing!" Of course, Black has his own psychological ploys, as the following game shows. alxaraya - raffa 3 0 blitz, FICS, 2019 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kf8 The Jerome Gambit declined. Black reasons, "If White wants me to take the Bishop, I won't take the Bishop!" The computers chuckle: Black trades a won game for a lost game. 5.Bxg8 Rxg8
White's Bishop has disappeared. The first player is a pawn up - perhaps, with a safer King. 6.Nxe5 White is obviously looking for 6...Nxe5, when 7.d4 would follow. 6...Bxf2+ "If sacrificing a Bishop to displace my King is a good idea, maybe I should do the same to you," thinks Black. There are only two other examples of this move in The Database. Of course, either 6...Nxe5 or 6...Qe7 were playable. 7.Kxf2 Nxe5
8.Rf1 Looking to castle-by-hand. There was also the wild 8.d4 Qf6+ 9.Ke1 Qh4+ 10.Kd2 Ng4 11.Qf3+ Ke8 12.Rf1 Nf6 13.Nc3 c6 14.Kd3 d6 15.e5 dxe5 16.dxe5 Bg4 17.Qf4 Rd8+ 18.Ke3 Nd5+ 19.Nxd5 Rxd5 20.Qf7+ Kd8 21.Qxg8+ Kc7 22.Qxg7+ Kb6 23.Bd2 Be6 24.Rad1 Qd4+ 25.Kf3 Qh4 26.Be3+ Ka6 27.g3 Qxh2 28.c4 Qh5+ 29.g4 Qh3+ 30.Kf2 Qh2+ 31.Ke1 Qh4+ 32.Bf2 Rxd1+ 33.Kxd1 Qh3 Black resigned, MrJoker - ThePawnSnatcher, Internet Chess Club, 2011. 8...Qh4+ This move is aggressive, but also falls to the criticism often seen of the Jerome Gambit: Don't bring your Queen out too early! Perhaps Black figured that his opponent would appreciate the idea. The defender folded in an earlier game, with 8...Ke7 9.d4 Ng6 10.Bg5+ Black resigned, MrJoker - Macuta, Internet Chess Club, 2011. 9.Kg1+ Ke7
Black's lead in development does not make up for his lost pawn and his unsafe King. 10.d4 Ng4 11.h3 Nf6 12.e5 Nd5 13.c4 Nb6
14.b3 Solid, protecting the c-pawn and opening lines for the Bishop. If you want an oddball, stronger move, take a look at 14.Rf4!?, attacking Black's misplaced Queen. Of course, 14...Qg3, now, loses Her Majesty to 15.Rg4. White's real idea is revealed after 14...Qh6 15.Re7+! when 15...Kxe7 16.Bxh6 cannot be answered by 16...gxh6 because 17.c5 or 17.Qf3+ would be too strong; while 16.Kg6 Bd2 is just better for White. 14...d6 15.exd6+ Kxd6 16.c5+ Kc6 17.cxb6 Kxb6
Bill Wall is not a professional psychologist, but when it comes to playing off-beat chess openings, he understands a lot about how his opponents think. This can be of considerable help when playing the Jerome Gambit. In some of the notes I give a number of complete Wall games that have been referred to in previous blog posts, but have never been presented in their entirety. Wall, Bill - Guest2928386 PlayChess.com, 2015 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8
The Jerome Variation of the Jerome Gambit, played by Alonzo Wheeler Jerome against David Jaeger in correspondence, 1880. 7.Qxe5
d6 8.Qg3 Nf6 9.d3 Bill has also tried 9.Nc3 Nh5 (or 9...Kf7 as in perrypawnpusher - truuf, blitz, FICS, 2011 [0-1, 32] or 9...Ng4 as in perrypawnpusher - klixar, blitz, FICS, 2007[1-0, 33]) 10.Qf3+ Qf6 11.d3 Qxf3
12.gxf3 Bd7 13.Ke2 Bd4 14.Be3 Bf6 15.Nd5 Bd8 16.Rhg1 Kf7 17.f4 c6 18.Nc3
g6 19.f3 Be6 20.Rad1 Rf8 21.d4 d5 22.Kd3 Bc7 23.Ne2 Ke7 24.e5 Ba5 25.c3
Bb6 26.a4 Rae8 27.Ra1 Ba5 28.b3 Kd7 29.Rg2 Kc8 30.Kc2 Ng7 31.Kb2 Kb8 32.b4 Bd8 33.a5 Bh3 34.Rg3 Bf5 35.Nc1 Ne6 36.Kb3 Be7 37.Rg1 Bh3 38.Nd3 g5
39.fxg5 Rxf3 40.Rg3 Rxg3 41.hxg3 Rg8 42.a6 Bxg5 43.Rh1 Bf5 44.Bxg5 Bxd3
45.Bh4 Bxa6 46.Kc2 Kc8 47.Rh2 Kd7 48.Rf2 Ke8 49.Rf6 Rg6 50.Rf5 b6 51.Rh5
h6 52.Bf6 Kd7 53.Rh3 Bc4 54.g4 a5 55.bxa5 bxa5 56.Rh2 a4 57.Kb2 Nf4 58.Ka3 Bb3 59.Rh4 Nd3 White resigned, Wall,B - Ahmadi,S, Chess.com, 2010. 9... Bg4
Okay, Bill's got me puzzled - and I know something about the Jerome Gambit. How can he afford to play 11.h3 and 13.a3 when he is playing a gambit, and time is supposed to be of the essence? As we will see, he accurately accesses his opponent as being unprepared or uncertain about the proper defense (although the light-squared Bishop is free and trying to protect the Kingside), so there is time for White to keep his options open. Sometimes letting Black keep his options open can lead to him making errors. 13...Bg6 14.Bg5 Qe5 15.Bf4 Qe6 16.Na4
If nothing else, Bill can eliminate his opponent's "two Bishops". 16...Nh5 17.Nxc5 dxc5 Not 17...Nxg3 18.Nxe6+ Ke7 19.Bxg3
Kxe6 20.f4. 18.Bd6+ Ke8 19.Qh2
19...Kd7 Too casual. It is not clear that the King is safer in his new position, and the (doubled) pawn that he give up is certainly of worth. 20.Bxc5 b6 21.Bd4 Qf7
Black's pieces are not so much developed as they are jumbled on the Kingside. His Bishop should have gone to f7 on his last move. 22.f4 Qe7 23.g4 Nf6
24.e5 Nd5 Bill points out that Knight retreats lead to trouble too: 24...Ng8 25.f5 Be8 26.f6 gxf6 27.exf6 Qf7 28.Rae1 or 24...Ne8 25.f5 Bf7 26.e6+. 25.f5 Be8 26.c4 Nc7 27.b4
Those crazy pawns! All 8 of them. It is important to mention that Stockfish 6 rates White about 1/2 pawn better in this position. If Black can remain calm, he should be able to hang on. 27...Rf8 28.e6+ Kc8 29.a4 Kb7
Black has castled-by-hand, but his King still needs to be careful. I've got him right where he wants me! he might have thought, somewhat confusedly. 30.a5 Na6 31.b5 cxb5 32.cxb5 Bxb5 33.Rfb1 Nc7
Black's light-squared Bishop continues to defend valiantly with the Knight, but - those pawns... 34.axb6 axb6 35.Qg2+ Kc8 Black's situation has deteriorated to the point that only 35...Kb8 would save him from a forced checkmate. 36. Rxa8+ Nxa8
37.Qxa8+ Kc7 38.Be5+
Admittedly, there is a lot of "psychology" behind playing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), starting with the notion that it is worth playing in the first place.
Often Black tries to counter with his own "psychology", but that is almost always a double-edged sword.
MrJoker - Macuta blit, 2 12, Internet Chess Club, 2011
There are times when the philosophy "If you want me to take the sacrifice, I won't take the sacrifice" might work, but here White is offering his opponent a won game, and Black is refusing.
5.Bxg8 Rxg8
6.Nxe5 Bxf2+
Here we go, again. White is expecting 6...Nxe5 7.d4 Bxd4 8.Qxd4 d6, so Black "disappoints" him again.
7.Kxf2 Nxe5
Black has certainly taken the steam out of the Jerome Gambit, although it has left him in a relatively straight-forward position, a pawn down.
As he soon learns to his dismay, it is not yet time to relax.
8.Rf1
mrjoker has also played 8.d4, as in MrJoker - ThePawnSnatcher, blitz, 2 12 Internet Chess Club, 2011: 8...Qf6+ 9.Ke1 Qh4+ 10.Kd2 Ng4 11.Qf3+ Ke8 12.Rf1 Nf6 13.Nc3 c6 14.Kd3 d6 15.e5 dxe5 16.dxe5 Bg4 17.Qf4 Rd8+ 18.Ke3 Nd5+ 19.Nxd5 Rxd5 20.Qf7+ Kd8 21.Qxg8+ Kc7 22.Qxg7+ Kb6 23.Bd2 Be6 24.Rad1 Qd4+ 25.Kf3 Qh4 26.Be3+ Ka6 27.g3 Qxh2 28.c4 Qh5+ 29.g4 Qh3+ 30.Kf2 Qh2+ 31.Ke1 Qh4+ 32.Bf2 Rxd1+ 33.Kxd1 Qh3 Black resigned
