Jerome Gambit: Win, How? (Part 2)

[continued from previous post]

perrypawnpusher - schnappa
Italian Game Classic, Chess.com, 2019

11.d3

Alonzo Wheeler Jerome played this move, with a transparent threat to pin and win Black's Queen, in games against Shinkman in 1874 (0-1, 21), Brownson in 1875 (1-0, 42), Amateur in 1876 (1-0, 20) and Pane in 1878 (1-0, 41). The Database has 9 games where Black overlooked the threat and lost his Queen - 7 of those wins were mine.

11...Ke7 

The Chess.com analysis rated 11...Ke7 to be an  "inaccuracy" (The Database: 11 games, White scores 64%), seeing 11...Kc6 as best (The Database: 11 games, White scores 27%).

The alternative, 11...Kc6, attributed to B.K. Neufville, “gives Black an opportunity for a counter attack and makes an exciting contest” according to Jerome, in the American Chess Journal, of April 1878.

12.Nc3

An "inaccuracy", according to the analysis, which considered 12.c3 as "best".

I should give the alternative title of "Jerome Gambit Secrets #10" to the current post, as The Database shows only 1 game with 12.c3, and it continued 12...d6 13.Bg5? Qxg5 White resigned, which was a result quite likely to keep the variation "secret".

12...d6 

This move was "inaccurate"; 12...Bd4 was "best".

(If you are getting tired of all of this "inaccurate" stuff, so am I. Considering the whole game, the computer assessed me as being 91.9% "accurate", while my opponent was  89.7% "accurate". I don't know what that means.)

The latter move, 12...Bd4, was played against me in perrypawnpusher - karleinkarl, blitz, FICS, 2012 (0-1, 16), a sad game where, in a bit of an echo, I allowed Black to pin my Queen to my King.

13.Bf4 

So far, we are following Jerome - Brownson, Iowa, 1875, which continued 13.Bf4 Qe6 14.O-O-O Qg4 15.Qf1 g5 16.Bg3 Be3+ 17.Kb1 Bf4 18.Bf2 c5 19.h3 Qh5 20.h4 Be6 21.hxg5 Qxg5 22.Bh4 Qg4 23.Nd5+ Bxd5 24.exd5 Rae8 25.d4 Bg5 26.Bxg5 Qxg5 27.dxc5 dxc5 28.Qb5 b6 29.d6+ Kf7 30.Rhf1 Kg7 31.Qc6 Rhf8 32.a3 Rd8 33.g4 Nxg4 34.Qc7+ Kg8 35.Rxf8+ Rxf8 36.Qxa7 Qd8 37.Qa4 Ne5 38.Qe4 Ng6 39.Qe6+ Rf7 40.d7 Nf8 41.Qe8 Qxd7 42.Rxd7 Rxd7 43.Qb8 Black resigned

13...Qh5

The Chess.com analysis announced "inaccuracy", preferring 13...Qd4 (which does not show up in The Database at all) as "best".

In perrypawnpusher - vz721 -Italian Game thematic, Chess.com, 2013, I now castled Queenside, allowing the exchange of Queens. Looking over that game while I was putting together this post, I was shocked to see that both I and my opponent seem to have overlooked the response 14...Bg4!?


In any event, against schnappa I now played the kind of move that you would more likely see in a 1 0 bullet game, just to mess with my opponent ("threatening" to remove his Knight at f6, which protects his Queen) and give me time to figure out if I wanted to swap Queens, after all.

14.Nd5+ 

And here, much to my surprise, Black resigned.

Of course, 14...Nxd5? would be a mistake, but any reasonable King retreat - 14...Kd8, 14...Kf7 or 14...Kf8 - would be fine. He should avoid 14...Ke6, which would allow the fork 15.Nxc7+, and both 14...Kd7? and 14...Ke8? (resurrecting the primary threat) would fall to 15.Nxf6+.

The Chess.com analysis rated the final position as -2.29, giving Black over a 2 pawn advantage, which makes sense to me.

It recommended the following continuation: 14...Kf7 15.Qxh5+ Nxh5 16.Rf1 Nxf4 17.Rxf4+
 Kg6 18.Nxc7 Rb8 19.Kd2 Bd4 20.Raf1 Be5 21.R4f2 b5 22.Nd5 Be6 23.Ne7+ Kg5 24.Nc6 Rbc8 25.h4+ Kh6 26.Nxe5 dxe5 27.a3 Kg6 28.g3


My best guess is that demands of the outside world temporarily distracted my opponent.

Jerome Gambit: History in Play

My first win with the Jerome Gambit, in the second round of the "Italian Game Classic" tournament at Chess.com, was a bit of a journey through the opening's history.

An unfortunate slip by my opponent allowed me a tactical shot that brought the game to an early conclusion.

perrypawnpusher - PDX84
Italian Game Classic, Chess.com, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

Black courageously thinks of holding onto both sacrificed pieces. The compter chess analysis at Chess.com, after the game, identified the move as "best".

7.Qf5+

Alonzo Wheeler Jerome first suggested this move in the April 4, 1874 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal. He also played 7.f4 and 7.O-O in correspondence games against S.A. Charles, and suggested 7.b4 "for analysis"; this was covered in the October, 1881 issue of Brentano's Chess Monthly.

A check of The Database shows 507 games with 7.Qf5+, with White scoring 48%, as opposed to 517 games with 7.f4, with White scoring 61%. There are no games with 7.b4.

7...Kd6 8.f4 Qf6 9.fxe5+ Qxe5 10.Qf3 

Not 10.Qxe5+ this time. That move has given me mixed results, and a loss most recently: perrypawnpusher - djdave28, Italian Game Tournament, Chess.com, 2014, (1-0, 22); perrypawnpusher - djdave28, Italian Game Tournament, Chess.com 2015, (1-0, 32); and perrypawnpusher - Altotemmi, Giuoco Piano Tournament, Chess.com, 2016, (0-1, 51). 

The Queen exchange is at least as old as Jerome, A - Jaeger, D, correspondence, 1878 (0-1, 68).

10...Nf6 

This move makes a lot of sense.

Jerome faced 10...Ne7 in a correspondence game against Jaeger in 1878 (0-1, 68).

 Lowe,E - Cudmore,D, correspondence, 1881, continued 10...b5 (½-½, 48).

Keeble,J - Cubitt,J, Norwich 1886, continued 10...c6 (1-0, 17).

11.d3 Ke7 

Black dodges the crudest of threats - 12.Bf4, pinning his Queen to his King. The idea is at least as old as Vazquez - Giraudy, Mexico, 1876 (remove White's Queen Rook) 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.d4 Bxd4 9.c3 Bb6 10.f4 Qf6 11.fxe5+ Qxe5 12.Bf4 Qxf4 13.Qxf4+ Ke7 14.Rf1 Nh6 15.Qe5+ Kd8 16.Qxg7 Re8 17.Qg5+ Re7 18.Rf8 checkmate. Still, I've scored points from this "Optical Illusion" variation of the Jerome Gambit - see "Optical Illusion (1)", "Optical Illusion (2)" and "Disdainful Defender Defense".

Instead, 11...Kc6 was seen in Jerome, A - Colburn, correspondence 1879 (0-1, 34) and Jerome, A - Charles, S.A., correspondence, 1881 (unfinished).

12.Nc3 Bb4 

Pinning the White Knight to keep it off of d5.

Instead:

12...g5 was seen in Jerome, A - Shinkman, W, Iowa, 1874 (0-1, 21);

12...d6 was seen in Jerome, A - Brownson, O, Iowa, 1875 (1-0, 43);

12...c6 was seen in Jerome, A - Amateur, off hand game, 1876 (1-0, 20); and

12...d5 was seen in Jerome, A - Pane, M, correspondence, 1878 (1-0, 41).

13.Bd2

I was amused to see that I had played 13.O-O here, years ago, in perrypawnpusher - PREMK, blitz, FICS, 2005. The idea was that 13...Bxc3 14.bxc3 Qxc3 15.Qg3!? would give White good play for the sacrificed pawn.

13...Rf8 14.O-O d6 

Instead, in the post mortem, Komodo 10 recommended the brutal 14...Bd6, with the idea of forcing exchanges to eliminate White's attacking chances and highlight Black's piece-for-a-pawn advantage, e.g. 15.g3 c6 16.Bf4 Bc5+ 17.Kg2 Qh5 18.Na4 Qxf3+ 19.Rxf3 d6 20.Nxc5 dxc5 21.Raf1 Bg4 22.R3f2 Be6 

15.Nd5+ Black resigned

White will recover his sacrificed piece. He will be a pawn up, with better development and King safety. Black decided not to play on.

George J. Dougherty Club Members (Early Years)

"The George J. Dougherty Club" was recently established, along the lines of the "Vera Menchik Club" – the latter reserved for male chess players who, despite their airs of superiority, lost to the women's World Champion, between the World Wars  – to acknowledge those who have lost to the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), starting with Mr. Dougherty, who Alonzo Wheeler Jerome named as his first victim.

OG (Original Gamester) members include Dougherty (1874?), O.A. Brownson (1875), Morton B. Pane (1878), Daniel Jaeger (1879), J.K. Zimmerman (1880) and numerous unnamed Amateurs, all who had the notoriety of losing to Jerome, himself, and his Gambit.

As my researches continue, I will add further names.

Special mention must be made of William Carrington, who, in his second match against the Mexican Champion, Andres Clemente Vazquez, in 1876, faced and surrendered to the Jerome Gambit three times.

Likewise, M. Giraudy must be singled out for recognition as the first known player to face the Jerome Gambit in an odds game (odds of Queen Rook) in 1876, again played by Andres Clemente Vazquez, only to lose in under 20 moves. 

(Un)Seen Before (sort of)

I was surprised to meet my opponent so soon after out last game (see "More Than Meets the Eye") but he didn't seem surprised to see my Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) again.

Although udofink had played a workable defense the first time, he switched up on me for our second game.

Unfortunately, he wandered into what I've casually referred to as an "optical illusion" – Bill Wall correctly does not include this "name" in his "Jerome Gambit Nomenclature" – that I've posted about before: see "Optical Illusion (I)" and "Optical Illusion (II)".

perrypawnpusher - udofink
blitz 10 0, FICS, 2010

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6

The earlier perrypawnpusher  - udofink,  blitz FICS, 2010 continued 6...Ng6 7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Be6 10.f4 Qh4+ 11.g3 Qg4 12.f5 Bf7 13.fxg6 Bxg6 14.d3 Kd7 15.0-0 Nf6 16.Nc3 c6 17.Qf4 Qe6 18.Bd2 Rhf8 19.Qg5 Rf7 20.Rae1 Raf8 21.e5 dxe5 22.Qxe5 Qh3 23.Bf4 Ne8 24.Qd4+ Kc8 25.Qxa7 Nd6 26.Qa8+ Kd7 27.Qa3 Nc8 28.Qc5 b6 29.Qd4+ Black resigned

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qf6

Racing the Queen to the Black King's defense, a wise idea mentioned as early as in Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's analysis ("New Chess Opening") in the April 1874 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal. Black gives back a piece, but he adds to his development and threatens a Queen trade, which could break White's attack.

9.fxe5+ Qxe5 10.Qf3 Nf6 11.d3

From the Dubuque Chess Journal

compelling either K or Q to move as White threatens Bf4; or Black can play ...g5

Or at least you would think so.

Over the years Jerome faced 11...Ke7 (Amateur, Brownson, Kinnieu, Pane and Shinkman) and 11...Kc6 (Neufville and Charles).

This is the sixth time that I have reached this position, having seen 11...Ke7, 11...Bd4, 11...Re8, 11...Bb4+ and

11...Rf8 

12.Bf4 Black resigned

I can't explain Black's oversight, except to guess that it had to do with the time limit or that he was facing an opening that was so terrible that it didn't require all of his attention. 

Maybe he just didn't see my move.