Jerome Gambit: Naughty Opening

I have a Google Alert set up to notify me about the appearances of the name "Jerome Gambit" on the internet.

This morning it returned a link to a discussion on Reddit.com started by Chessmusings, that leads off

My favorite "naughty opening" is the Jerome Gambit. What's yours?

Cool. I appreciate the mention of my name, and this blog as well.

Who, Exactly, Was Smoking??

I found the following Jerome Gambit game on a Reddit sub, with a heading about playing drunk or stoned. Whether that would help White's play or not, I do not know; perhaps it would ease the pain of losing?

Readers can decide. The game certainly is exciting, regardless.

ohhiwrigley - anonymous
posted on reddit, 2016

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf6

Returning the two sacrificed pieces.

7.Qf5+ Ke7 8.Qxe5+ Kf8 9.Qxc5+ d6 10.Qd4 

White continues to play creatively. This position is not in The Database.

10...Qg5 11.O-O

This offers Black the opportunity of 11...Bh3, which he overlooks, tossing away a pawn, instead. Was this a high-speed blitz game?

11...c5 12.Qxd6+ Ne7 13.d3 Qh5 14.Qf4+ Ke8 15.Qg3 Rf8

Unwittingly setting up a trap that White falls into.

16.Qxg7 Ng6 

Instead, Black had 16...Rg8 which could be followed up by 17...Bh3, with an attack that wins material.

17.Bh6 Bg4 18.Qxb7 Be2 19.Qc6+ 

Certainly playable was 19.Qxa8+.

19...Kf7 20.Bxf8 Bxf1 21.Bxc5 Nf4 22.Qxa8 Bxg2 

White can now win another piece with 23.Qf8+ followed by 24.Qxf4, but he makes the very prudent decision - given Black's pieces clustered around his King - to be happy to have an extra exchange (after 23...Qxc5) and 5 more pawns, and to focus on development.

23.Nc3 Nh3+

This looks scary at first glance, but is actually just a fancy way to lose more material. (Again, time trouble suggests itself.) Still, what choice does Black have, other than to complicate things and hope?

24.Kxg2 Qg4+ 25.Kf1 Qg1+ 26.Ke2 Nf4+ 27.Ke3 Qg5

Give Black credit, he keeps on fighting, looking for chances.

28.Qxa7+ Kg6 29.Bd4 Nd5+ 30.Ke2 Qg4+ 31.f3 Qg2+
32.Kd1 Qxf3+ 

33.Kc1 Ne3 34.Qg7+ 

The move that White has been angling for. Now it is all over for Black.

34...Kh5 35.Qxh7+ Kg4 36.h3+ Kg3 37.Be5+ Kf2
38.Qh4+ Kf1 39.Kd2+ Kg2 40.Qg5+ Kf2 41.Nd1+ Kf1 42.Nxe3+ Kf2 43.Rf1 checkmate

Nice.

Reddit

While wandering the internet the other day, I ran into some interesting comments on the Busch-Gass Gambit ( See "Worth A Second Look" Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3; as well as "Busch-Gass Gambit") at Reddit: 
www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/2gcbgj/buschgass_gambit/


(Unrelated, but also interesting, was "Delightful Duel 'Banter Blitz' with Miss Tactics (IM Sopiko Guramishvili) and Miss Strategy (IM Anna Rudolf)".