Shared Difficulty

I have always found the Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit to be one of the more difficult variations in the Jerome. This is probably due to the additional development which, among other things, restricts my Queen from making wild advances.

Even Bill Wall has experienced relative "difficulty", scoring only 91% in his games with the line. The following game is quite a rarity.

Wall, Bill - Guest343560
PlayChess.com, 2013

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+

5...Kxf7 6.Qe2

Also seen are 6.d4 and 6.Nxe5+.

6...d5

Other moves have allowed Bill to utilize his Queen on a different diagonal, e.g. 6...Rf8, which led to 7.Qc4+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qc4 Qe7 10.d4 exd4 11.Nxd4 Nxe4 12.Nxc6 Qh4 13.O-O Rxf2 14.Nxe4 Rxg2+ 15.Kxg2 Bh3+ 16.Kh1 Qg4 17.Qf7 checkmate Wall,B - Roberts,C, Chess.com, 2010. See also Wall,B - Hamilton,E, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 22); Wall, Bill - NFNZ, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 15); and Wall,B - Guest1872464, PlayChess.com, 2014 (1-0, 30).

Or 6...d6 7.Qc4+ as in Wall,B - Guest1459913, PlayChess.com, 2013 (1-0, 38).

Or 6...h6 7.Qc4+ d5 8.Qxc5 as in Wall,B - DarkKnight, PlayChess.com, 2012 (1-0, 23),

7.exd5

Better was 7.Nxd5, as in Wall, Bill - Samvazpr, Chess.com, 2010 (0-1, 25) 

7...Nd4 

This is an improvement over 7...Nxd5 8.Qc4 Nce7 9.Nxe5+ Ke6 10.Qxc5 Kxe5 11.Nxd5 Nxd5 12.c4 b6 13.d4+ Ke4 14.Qc6 Be6 15.Qxe6+ Kxd4 16.cxd5 Qxd5 17.Be3+ Kc4 18.Rc1+ Kb5 19.Qxd5+ c5 20.O-O Rhd8 21.Qc4+ Kc6 22.b4 Kb7 23.Qd5+ Ka6 24.Qc6 Rac8 25.Qa4+ Kb7 26.Rfd1 Rxd1+ 27.Rxd1 cxb4 28.Qxb4 Rc7 29.Qb5 h6 30.Rd7 Rxd7 31.Qxd7+ Ka6 32.Bd2 g5 33.a4 g4 34.Qb5+ Kb7 35.Bxh6 a6 36.Qd7+ Kb8 37.Bf4+ Ka8 38.Qc7 b5 39.Qb8 checkmate, papernoose - jsit, FICS, 2004. 

8.Nxe5+ Kg8 9.Qc4 Qd6 10.O-O a6 11.Nd3 Ba7 12.Rb1 Bf5

Black is developing, while White struggles to get his pieces coordinated. An attack on White's King combined with an attack on his Queen brings the game to a quick conclusion.

13.a3 Ng4 14.g3 Nxh2 15.Kxh2 b5 White resigned

Okay With The Delay

Lately, not a lot of opponents have answered 3...Bc5, which would give Bill Wall a chance to play the Jerome Gambit. In the following game he shows some patience, and it turns out that he is okay with the delay.

Wall,B - Marz
PlayChess.com, 31.08.2014

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 

The Two Knights Defense.

4.0-0

This reasonable move was looked at in "Jerome Gambit vs Two Knights Defense (Part 4)".

Bill has also played 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 as in Wall,B - Samvazpr, Chess.com 2010 (0-1, 25); Wall,B - Roberts, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 17); Wall,B - DarkKnight, Cocoa Beach, FL 2012 (1-0, 23); Wall,B - Guest1459913, PlayChess.com, 2013 (1-0, 38);  Wall,B - Hamilton,E, FICS 2011 (1-0, 22); Wall,B - Guest1872464, PlayChess.com, 2014 (1-0, 30).

Of course, Philidor1792 has played 4.Bxf7+ here, any way, in 3-minute games.

4...Bc5

Or 4...Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ as in Wall, B - NTLZ, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 42).

Now there is a chance for a Delayed Jerome Gambit.

5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Bd6 

This kind of retreat is seen by White in response to the "fork trick" in the Italian Four Knights Game. Here 7...d6 improves.

8.dxe5 Bxe5 9.f4 Nxe4

Looking for more trouble. Instead, 9...Bd6 10.e5 Bc5+ 11.Kh1 d5 12.exf6 gxf6 when White has an edge.

10.fxe5+ Nf6

Defense with 10...Ke8 is best, but after 11.Qg4 Qe7 12.Qxe4 White is a piece up.

11.exf6 g6 

Now the Jerome Gambiteer finishes with style.

12.Qd5+ Kf8 13.Bh6+ Ke8 14.f7+ Ke7 15.Qe5 checkmate

Something had to happen

The following game from Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member Bill Wall arrived with a note: "For your database. I got lucky in the end. I just had to play aggressive, keep the threats open and something had to happen."


Wall,B - Darkmoonstone
Chess.com, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+

The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

5...Kxf7 6.Qe2 d6

This is an improvement over 6...Rf8 in Wall,B - Hamilton,E, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 22) and Wall,B - NFNZ, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 15); and a bit better than 6...d5 in Wall,B - Samvazpr, Chess.com, 2010 (0-1, 25).

7.0-0 h6 8.h3 Rf8 9.d3 Nd4 10.Nxd4 Bxd4 11.Nb5 Bd7

White works with the tools that he has: he will get rid of the pesky Black Bishop (allowing f2-f4) and replaces it with a doubled pawn.

12.Nxd4 exd4 13.f4 Kg8 14.Qe1 Qe7 15.Qb4 Bc6

Black focuses on developing his pieces and improving his position, rather than protect the pawn at d4 with the "ugly" (but stronger) 15...c5. White accepts the gift.

16.Qxd4 Qf7 17.Bd2 Qg6 18.f5 Qe8 19.Bc3 Rf7 20.Rf3 Nd7 21.Rg3 Ne5

22.Rf1 Qe7 23.Qe3 Kh8 24.f6

Returning the pawn to develop play against Black's Queen and King. While Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgames tend to be drawish, their middlegames favor the attacking player.

24...Rxf6 25.Rxf6 Qxf6 26.d4

26...Nc4 27.d5

A tricky move that does Black in.

27...Qh4

After the exchanges 27...Nxe3 28.Bxf6 gxf6 29.dxc6 Nc4 30.cxb7 Rb8 31.Rc3 Na5 32.b4 Nxb7 33.Rxc7 White can probably hold the draw, as Black's extra Knight will not easily protect his isolated pawns.

28.Bxg7+ Kh7 29.Qd3

Black resigned.

After 29...Ne5 30.Bxe5 dxe5 31.dxc6 White would clearly be winning.