The Jerome Gambit: Reza

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Spicy!

It is said that "variety is the spice of life."

While a defender may know that Bill Wall is going to play the Jerome Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+, he certainly will not know what variation Bill is going to spring upon him.

Wall,B - Guest2360621
PlayChess.com, 2013

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qa3

This is the 6th different Queen move that Bill has played in this position. As he notes, " I try to make a new move every time when I can, to see what happens. The Queen can probably go anywhere as long as it is not taken or trapped."

Previously,

9.Qe3 - Wall,B - Parsom, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 25); Wall,B - HeHe, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 19); Wall,B - Reza,A, Chess.com, 2011 (1-0, 43); Wall,B - G3LC, PlayChess.com, 2011 (1-0, 22); Wall,B - Guest3312852, PlayChess.com, 2012 (1-0, 26);

9.Qh5 - Wall,B - Guest1475978, Sofia, 2013 (1-0, 28);

9.Qb5+ - Wall,B - Zhu,Y, Chess.com, 2011 (1-0, 19); Wall,B - Guest327668, PlayChess.com, 2012 (1-0, 22);

9.Qc4 - Wall,B - Royercordova, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0,18);

9.Qc3 - Wall,B - NFTM, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 22); Wall,B - Jaar,J, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 19).

For the record, Houdini 3, given 10 minutes "thought" for "infinite analysis", prefers 9.Qe3 (-.92), followed by 9.Qc3 (-1.17) and 9.Qb5+ (-1.29).

9...Nf6

The current game is the only one in The Database with this line. Bill suggests as an alternative 9...Qh4.

10.0-0 Be6

Not 10...Nxe4? because of 11.Qa4+.

11.f4 Bf7 12.f5 Ne5 13.d4 Nc6 14.d5

Bill suggests as well the alternative 14.Qd3

14...Ne5

15.Re1 Qd7 16.Bf4 Nc4 17.Qc3 b5 18.b3 Nb6 19.e5 dxe5 20.Bxe5

Threatening 21.Bxf6+, winning the knight. Now Black could keep things in balance with 20...Nxd5, but the threatened discovered check is too uncomfortable.

20...Kd8 21.Bxf6+ Kc8 22.Bxg7

A little stronger might be Bill's suggestion 22.Re7

22...Rg8 23.f6

Threatening Re7

23...Nxd5 24.Qd4 Qd6 25.c4 bxc4 26.bxc4 Nb6

A bit better was 26...Nb4, threatening ...Nc2, winning the Rook, although White is still better after 27.Qxd6 cxd6 28.Nc3.

27.Qxd6 cxd6 28.Re7