In my February 11, 2010 blog post, "Provoked", I noted about a chessfriend and Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member,
Welton Vaz de Souza is a nice guy.
Sure, from time-to-time he crushes opponents with the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), but he's a nice guy.
Suggestion: don't provoke him in a game of chess.
I was reminded of that when I ran into the following game.
Richad - NeoNunes
blitz, FICS, 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4
The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.
4.0-0
This is one of the orthodox treatments of the BSG, along with 4.Nxd4 or 4.c3. Not everyone wants to play the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit, 4.Bxf7+!?
4...b5
This move, however, proves to be too much provocation. White decides on a Delayed Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.
5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe5+
As I noted in that older post,
It turns out that 5.Bxf7+ is so strong (or 4...b5 so ill-advised) that White could simply grab back a piece here with the alternative 6.Nxd4. If Black responds 6...exd4 then White has 7.Qh5+ and a few checks later the Rook on a8 will be captured.
After 6.Nxd4 Nf6, White retreats his Knight with 7.Nf3 and is better.
6...Ke6
Instead, 6...Ke8 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Nxg6 was seen in Ghandybh - BoogieKnights, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 16) and mikelovell - rogerlovell, FICS, 2012 (1-0, 44).
The alternative, Black's strongest move, 6...Ke7, was seen in Rub - Wall,B, Palo Alto, 1989, (0-1, 12), mukund - jantonacci, FICS, 2013 (1-0, 10) and Chabus - AlfonsoX, FICS, 2013 (1-0, 14).
7.f4
Stronger was 7.c3, as in mukund - jantonacci, FICS, 2013 (1-0, 10) and Chabus - AlfonsoX, FICS, 2013 (1-0, 14).
7...Nf6 8.c3 Nc6 9.d4
9...Nxe5
Courting danger.
10.fxe5 c6 11.exf6 gxf6 12.Qg4+ Kd6 13.Bf4+ Ke7
14.Nd2
This move is good enough, but White misses the hilarious 14.Be5!?
when Black cannot capture the Bishop, as he will be checkmated; so the cheeky prelate can go on and capture at f6.
Black's next move hangs a piece, but White is in no hurry: he builds his attack and breaks through.
14...Bg7 15.Rae1 Rg8 16.e5 d5 17.exf6+ Kf7 18.Qh5+ Kf8 19.fxg7+ Rxg7 20.Bh6+ Kg8 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.Rf7+ Kg8 23.Qxh7 checkmate
(May 2014 was the highest visited month in the history of this blog, going back to 2008. Many, many thanks to readers - and please feel free to continue to visit. - Rick)
When Alonzo Wheeler Jerome played his gambit in the late 1800s and early 1900s, he aways followed up 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 with 5.Nxe5+, the move that I use to mark the "classical" side of the opening.
More recently, we have seen a selection of 5th move alternatives for White - 5.c3, 5.d3, 5.0-0, to give a few examples - so I have referred to the "not-5.Nxe5+" lines as those leading to the "modern" Jerome Gambit.
In "Ask Houdini" I indicated that it was time to take a closer look at the "modern" 5.c3. The earliest examples that I have of the move in the nearly 29,000 games of The Database are some blitz and lightning games played online at FICS by JeffreyOM from 1999 and 2000. Admittedly, this finding is of only slight historical interest, as my games collection is overwhelmingly drawn from FICS games, starting in 1999; although it can be pointed out that I have yet to find an over-the-board game with 5.c3, from any year.
In any event, here is a modern game with the modern line by a couple of modern players.
Wall,B - Zois
Chess.com, 2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.c3
Here we go. White decides to limit his generosity and not sacrifice a second piece. He prepares for a large pawn center, and, in some cases, he can bring his Queen to that a2-g8 diagonal.
5...d6
A reasonable response, although Houdini 3 prefers 5...d5. Interestingly enough, The Database has 162 games with 5...d6 (White wins 44%) and only 38 with 5...d5 (White wins 20%). This is reminiscent of Bill's reflection: why worry about a refutation if no one plays it?
6.d4 Bb6
7.dxe5 dxe5
A couple of alternative moves:
7...Nxe5?! 8.Nxe5+ dxe5? (8...Kf8 9.Qf3+ Nf6 10.Nc4 Bc5 11.e5 dxe5 12.Nxe5 Qe7 13.Bf4 h6 14.0-0 Kg8 15.Ng6 Black resigned, thmavz - miomatteo, FICS, 2011) 9.Qxd8 Black resigned, thmavz - Richad, FICS, 2012; and
7...Bg4?! 8.Ng5+? Kf8? 9.Qxg4 Qe7 10.e6 Nf6 11.Qh3 h6 12.0-0 Ne8 White resigned (this looks like a loss on time - Rick), manago - savage13, Chessworld.net, 2008.
8.Nxe5+ Ke8 9.Qh5+ g6 10.Nxc6 gxh5 11.Nxd8 Kxd8
Objectively, Black's extra piece outweighs White's 2 extra pawns, especially if you consider that he has the two Bishops. However, this is the kind of position for White that a Jerome Gambiteer is likely to be both familiar and comfortable with.
12.a4 Nf6
That didn't take long. Black is happy with his advantage, he sees nothing to fear on the Queenside, so he confidently develops his Kingside - and drops a piece. Even when defending against the Jerome Gambit, your game will not play itself.
13.Bg5 Ke7 14.e5 Rg8 15.Bxf6+ Ke6 16.g3 c5 17.f4 Bd7
18.Rf1 Bc6 19.f5+ Kd5
Black's King should stay on the Kingside to help defend against the "Jerome pawns". He can probably keep them from Queening, but only at the cost of significant material.
20.c4+ Kxc4 21.Rf4+ Kd5 22.Nc3 checkmate
