Jerome Gambit: Iconic 9-move Checkmate

There has been a flurry, recently, of Jerome Gambit treatments of the Two Knights Defense. By now, the iconic 9-move checkmate from the following game has become well known.

Rawnessman - chepea2019
1 0 bullet, Chess.com 

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 

The Two Knights Defense. One way to avoid the Jerome Gambit.

4.Bxf7+


Or, not.

I have been calling this the "impatient Jerome Gambit" because White does not wait for ...Bc5 before sacrificing his Bishop.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4

There are 2 games in The Database with 6.Qh5+? which look like White was in too much of a hurry to play Jerome Gambit moves. Impatient, indeed.

A couple of recent games:

6.O-O Bc5 7.d4 Bd6 8.dxe5 Bxe5 9.Bg5 d5 10.exd5 Qxd5 11.Bxf6 Qxd1 12.Rxd1 gxf6 13.Nc3 Rg8 14.Rd3 Bh3 15.Rxh3 Bxc3 16.Rxc3 Rg5 17.Rxc7+ Kg6 18.Rxb7 Kh6 19.h4 Rag8 20.g3 Rg4 21.Rd1 Rxh4 22.Rdd7 Rc4 23.Rxh7+ Kg5 24.Rxa7 Rxc2 25.b4 Rc1+ 26.Kg2 f5 27.a4 f4 28.a5 fxg3 29.Kxg3 Rc2 30.Kf3 Rf8+ 31.Rhf7 Rc3+ 32.Kg2 Rxf7 33.Rxf7 Rb3 34.Rf3 Rxb4 35.Rg3+ Kf4 36.Rf3+ Ke4 37.Rg3 Ra4 38.Rg4+ Kf5 39.Rxa4 Ke5 40.a6 Kd6 41.Ra1 Kc7 42.a7 Kb7 43.a8=Q+ Kb6 44.Qa2 Kc5 45.Qb2 Kd6 46.Ra3 Ke6 47.Qa2+ Ke5 48.Rb3 Kd5 49.Qa4 Ke5 50.Rb5+ Kd6 51.Qa6+ Kc7 52.Rb7+ Black resigned, Uarekomodo9 - khalilmansour123, 1 0 bullet, Chess.com, 2020; and

6.f4 Nc6 7.e5 Nd5 8.e6+ dxe6 9.f5 exf5 10.O-O Qf6 11.d3 Bc5+ 12.Kh1 Bd4 13.Nc3 Bxc3 14.bxc3 Qxc3 15.Rxf5+ Ke6 16.Bd2 Qc5 17.Qe2+ Kxf5 18.Rf1+ Kg6 19.Qe4+ Kh5 20.g4+ Kh4 21.h3 Qe7 22.Qe1+ Qxe1 23.Rxe1 Bd7 24.Rf1 Rhf8 25.Re1 Rae8 26.Rb1 Nd4 27.c4 Ne2 28.Rxb7 Ndf4 29.Rxc7 Be6 30.Rc5 Rc8 31.Re5 Bd7 32.Bxf4 Nxf4 33.d4 Nd3 34.Ra5 Rxc4 35.Kh2 Rxd4 36.Rh5 checkmate, MrBizkit - reza6666666666, 3 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020.

6...Ng6 

Or:

6...Bd6 7.dxe5 Bxe5 8.f4 Re8 9.fxe5 Rxe5 10.O-O Rxe4 11.Nc3 Re6 12.Bg5 Qe8 13.Nd5 Qd8 14.Qh5+ Kg8 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.Nxf6+ Rxf6 17.Qg5+ Kf7 18.Rxf6+ Qxf6 19.Rf1 Qxf1+ 20.Kxf1 d6 Black resigned, KNVB - boringhard, 3 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020; 

6...Nc6 7.e5 Nd5 (7...Ng4 8.Qxg4 Bb4+ 9.c3 Be7 10.Qf3+ Ke8 11.O-O Rf8 12.Qh5+ g6 13.Qxh7 Bh4 14.Qxg6+ Ke7 15.Bh6 Bxf2+ 16.Rxf2 Rf3 17.Rxf3 Black resigned, Littleones21 - PonyoTWm, 5 3 blitz, lichess.org,  2020; 7...Qe7 8.O-O Nd5 9.Qh5+ g6 10.Qf3+ Ke8 11.Qxd5 d6 12.Qb5 dxe5 13.d5 a6 14.Qa4 b5 15.Qb3 Nd4 16.Qc3 Qb4 17.Qc6+ Nxc6 18.dxc6 Qd6 19.Be3 Qxc6 20.Na3 Bxa3 21.bxa3 Qxc2 22.Rac1 Qxa2 23.Rxc7 Qxa3 24.Bc5 Qa4 25.Re7+ Kf8 26.Ra7+ Kg8 27.Rxa8 Qg4 28.f3 Qf5 29.Rd1 Kg7 30.Ra7+ Kh6 31.Be3+ g5 32.g4 Qf6 33.h4 Qxf3 34.Bxg5+ Kg6 35.Rd6+ Qf6 36.Rxf6 checkmate, lautrec404 - pollen24, 3 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020) 8.Qf3+ Kg8 9.Qxd5 checkmate, ChessBrah - kevvvvvvv, 5 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020; and

6...Nc4 7.e5 Nd5 8.Qf3+ Ke8 9.Qxd5 Nb6 10.Qf3 d6 11.Qe4 dxe5 12.O-O Nc4 13.b3 Nd6 14.Qxe5+ Kf7 15.Bg5 Qd7 16.Re1 Nf5 17.Nc3 Qxd4 18.Qxf5+ Kg8 19.Qd5+ Qxd5 20.Nxd5 Bb4 21.Re8+ Kf7 22.Rxh8 Bc3 23.Rd1 Bg4 24.Rd3 Be5 Black resigned, mdc995 - Lukeskyrocket, 10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020

7.e5 Nd5 

Black has also recently tried:

7...Qe8 8.O-O Bb4 (8...Nd5 9.Qf3+ Kg8 10.Qxd5+ Qf7 11.Nc3 Qxd5 12.Nxd5 c6 13.Nc7 Rb8 14.f4 d6 15.f5 Bxf5 16.Rxf5 Rc8 17.Ne6 dxe5 18.Be3 Ne7 19.Rf2 exd4 20.Bxd4 b6 21.Raf1 Ng6 22.Rf7 a5 23.Nxf8 Rxf8 24.Rxg7 checkmate, Anonymous - Anonymous, Chess.com, 2020) 9.f4  d6 10.c3 Ba5 11.f5 dxe5 12.fxg6+ Kxg6 13.d5 Bb6+ 14.Kh1 Bg4 15.Qd3+ Kf7 16.Bg5 Rd8 17.Qc4 Qd7 18.Nd2 h5 19.Nf3 Qxd5 20.Nxe5+ Ke8 21.Qa4+ c6 22.Rae1 Bh3 23.Nf3+ Kf7 24.gxh3 Rhe8 25.Rd1 Qe4 26.Bxf6 Qxa4 27.Bxd8 Rxd8 28.Ng5+ Kg8 29.Rxd8+ Bxd8 30.Re1 Bxg5 31.Re8+ White resigned, TheCuriousGreg - nik11131719, 15 10 blitz, Chess.com 2020; and

7...Ne8 8.Qf3+ Kg8 9.Qd5 checkmate,  aniketbhave - LaReinaLoca, 10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020; but not everybody caught the checkmate right away: 9.O-O h6 10.Nc3 Kh7 11.Qh5 d6 12.f4 Rg8 13.f5 Bxf5 14.Rxf5 dxe5 15.dxe5 Qd4+ 16.Kh1 Bc5 17.Rf1 Qh4 18.Qf3 Nxe5 19.Qf5+ Ng6 20.Qxc5 b6 21.Qf5 Nf6 22.Bf4 Rgf8 23.Bg3 Qg4 24.Qd3 Nh5 25.Rxf8 Rxf8 26.Ne2 Kg8 27.h3 Qg5 28.Bxc7 Ne7 29.Bd6 Nf5 30.Qd5+ Kh8 31.Bxf8 Nfg3+ 32.Nxg3 Nxg3+ 33.Kh2 Qxd5 34.Kxg3 Black resigned, Hipernight - salissi, 5 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020; and 9.Qb3+ d5 10.exd6+ Be6 11.Qxe6 checkmate, gerodes - crappycovers4charity, 3 2 blitz, lichess.org, 2020. 

8.Qf3+ 

8.c4 Nb6 9.Qf3+ Kg8 10.c5 Bxc5 11.dxc5 Qf8 12.Qb3+ Qf7 13.Qxf7+ Kxf7 14.cxb6 axb6 15.O-O Nxe5 16.f4 Ng4 17.Nc3 d6 18.Bd2 Be6 19.Rae1 Rhg8 20.h3 Nf6 21.g4 Bd7 22.f5 Bc6 23.g5 Nh5 24.g6+ hxg6 25.fxg6+ Kxg6 26.Re6+ Kh7 27.Ne2 White won on time, justaddblu - Czechgrinder, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2020 

8...Kg8 

Ending things quickly. Instead:

8...Ke8 9.Qxd5 Nf4 10.Qe4 Qg5 11.Bxf4 Bb4+ 12.c3 Qe7 13.cxb4 Qxb4+ 14.Bd2 Qe7 15.O-O d6 16.Nc3 c6 17.d5 Bd7 18.dxc6 bxc6 19.exd6 Qxe4 20.Nxe4 Bf5 21.Nc5 Rd8 22.Rfe1+ Kf7 23.d7 h6 24.Rad1 Bxd7 25.Ba5 Rde8 26.Rxd7+ Re7 27.Rexe7+ Kf6 28.Rxg7 Re8 29.Bc3+ Kf5 30.h3 Re2 31.g4+ Kf4 32.Ne6+ Kf3 33.Rd3+ Ke4 34.Rd4+ Kf3 35.Rf7 checkmate, campani - rahulkonapur, 3 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020; or

8...Ngf4 9.Bxf4 Nxf4 10.Qxf4+ Kg8 11.d5 d6 12.e6 c6 13.Qf7 checkmate, Anonymous - Anonymous, Chess.com,  2020; and

8... Ke6 9.c4 Nb4 10.d5+ Kxe5 11.O-O Bc5 12.Re1+ Kd6 13.Bf4+ Nxf4 14.Qxf4 checkmate, ashwin2305 - GlobalWarmingOP, 3 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020

9.Qxd5 checkmate

This was also how the game 19Kuq-Zi85 - Tibob73, 5 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020 went.

Jerome Gambit: Remain Vigilant

Sometimes the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) explodes decisively. Other times, White has to bide his time, waiting for a tactical opportunity. In the meantime, Black has so also remain vigilant, as a slip could prove fatal.

Such a slip occurred in the following game.

TheCuriousGreg - kibria77
15 10 bliz, Chess.com, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ 

Komodo 10 actually prefers 5.d4 here. A recent example:  5...Qf6 6.dxe5 Nxe5 7.Qd5+ Qe6 8.Nxe5+ Kf6 9.Qxe6+ Kxe6 10.Ng6 Bb4+ 11.c3 Bc5 12.Nxh8 Nf6 13.O-O b6 14.Ng6 Ba6 15.Re1 Ng4 16.Be3 Bd6 17.f3 Nf6 18.Nf4+ Ke5 19.g3 Nh7 20.Bd4 checkmate, TCNB - Kawllie, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020. 

5...Nxe5

An example of how Jerome-ing an opening can disturb the defender: 5...Ke8 6.Qh5+ Black resigned, Anonymous - Anonymous, Chess.com, 2020. 

6.d4 

Another example of how Jerome-ing an opening can disturb the defender: 6.Nc3 Bb4 7.Nd5 Bc5 8.d4 Black resigned, Anonymous-Anonymous, Chess.com, 2020) 

The main 6th move alternative has also seen a lot of play, recently, and is worth looking at, game-by-game: 6.Qh5+ Ke6 (6...Ng6 7.f4 [7.O-O Nf6 8.Qe2 d6 9.d4 Be7 10.e5 dxe511.dxe5 Nd5 12.Qf3+ Ke8 13.Nc3 Nxc3 14.bxc3 Be6 15.Qxb7 Nxe5 16.Bf4 Bc8 17.Qb5+ Bd7 18.Qxe5 Rg8 19.Rae1 Bc6 20.Rd1 Black resigned, aniketbhave - MoeHoward55, 10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020; 7.Qf5+ Nf6 8.e5 Nh4 9.Qf3 Nxf3+ White resigned, aniketbhave - ComplexRailway, 10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020; 7. d4 Nf6 8. Qf3 Kg8 9. e5 Nh7 10. Qd5 checkmate, Freitag - NN, 3 2 blitz, Chess.com, 2020] 7...Qh4+ 8.Qxh4 Nxh4 9.O-O Be7 10.b3 g5 11.fxg5+ Ke8 12.gxh6 Rxh6 13.d4 Rf6 14.Rxf6 Bxf6 15.Bb2 c5 16.e5 Bg7 17.dxc5 Nf5 18.Nd2 Nfe7 19.Nc4 Nc6 20.Re1 b5 21.Nd6+ Kd8 22.Re4 Nge7 23.Nf7+ Kc7 24.Bc1 Nxe5 25.Bf4 N7c6 26.Bxe5+ Bxe5 27.Nxe5 Nxe5 28.Rxe5 d6 29.cxd6+ Kxd6 30.Rxb5 Ba6 31.Rh5 Kc7 32.g4 Rg8 33.g5 Be2 34.Rh7+ Kb8 35.h4 Rg6 36.Rh8+ Kb7 37.Rh7+ Kb6 38.Rh6 Rc6 39.Rxc6+ Kxc6 40.g6 Ba6 41.Kf2 Bc8 42.Kf3 Be6 43.Kf4 Kd6 44.Kg5 Ke7 45.h5 Kf8 46.Kf6 Bg8 47.g7+ Ke8 48.h6 a6 49.c4 a5 50.Kg6 Ke7 51.h7 Bxh7+ 52.Kxh7 Black resigned, Barbarossa2000 - johnnytaylor7, 10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020; 6...g6 7.Qxe5 Bd6 [7...d6 8.Qxh8 Qe7 9.d3 Ke8 10.Qd4 c5 11.Qd5 Nf6 12.Qc4 Bd7 13.Nc3 Bc6 14.Bf4 Nd7 15.O-O-O Nb6 16.Qg8 Nd7 17.Bxh6 Nf6 18.Qxf8+ Qxf8 19.Bxf8 Kxf8 20.Rde1 Ng4 21.f3 Nf2 22.Rhf1 Nxd3+ 23.cxd3 b5 24.a3 b4 25.axb4 cxb4 26.Nd5 b3 27.e5 Ke8 28.Nc7+ Kd7 29.Nxa8 Bxa8 30.exd6 Kxd6 31.Re4 Bxe4 32.fxe4 a5 33.Rf3 Ke5 34.Kd2 Kd4 35.Rf6 a4 36.Rxg6 a3 37.Ra6 axb2 38.Rd6+ Kc5 39.Rd5+ Kb4 40.Rd4+ Kc5 41.Rd5+ K4 42.Rd4+ Kc5 43.Rd5+ draw, aniketbhave - Pknocks11, 10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020] 8.Qxh8 b6 [8...Qe7 9.Qd4 c5 10.Qc4+ Kf8 11.d3 Qf6 12.O-O h5 13.Re1 Nh6 14.Bxh6+ Ke7 15.Re3 Qe5 16.g3 Qxb2 17.e5 Qxa1 18.exd6+ Kxd6 19.Bf4+ Kc6 20.Qa4+ Kd5 21.Qb3+ Kc6 22.Be5 d6 23.Bxa1 Black resigned, aniketbhave - charlie385, 10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020] 9.Qh7+ Kf8 10.Qxg6 Bb7 11.f3 Ne7 12.Qxh6+ Kf7 13.Qe3 Bc5 14.Qe2 Qh8 15.c3 Ng6 16.g3 Ne5 17.d4 Nc6 18.dxc5 bxc5 19.Be3 d6 20.Qc4+ Ke7 21.b4 Ne5 22.Qb5 Rb8 23.O-O a6 24.Qa5 c6 25.bxc5 dxc5 26.Qc7+ Kf6 27.f4 Nd3 28.Rd1 Nb2 29.Rd6 checkmate dopstra - u3ao, 5 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020; 6...Kf6 7.Qf5+ Ke7 8.Qxe5+ Kf7 9.d3 Bd6 10.Qd5+ Kf8 11.O-O Ne7 12.Qd4 c5 13.Qe3 Qc7 14.c4 Bxh2+ 15.Kh1 Bf4 16.Qxf4+ Qxf4 17.Bxf4 g5 18.Bd6 Ke8 19.Bxc5 b6 20.Bd4 h5 21.Bxh8 Black resigned, aniketbhave - danatherton2000, 10 0 blitz, Chess.com 2020) 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.d4 Nc6 9.Bf4+ Ke7 10.Nc3 (10.Qc5+ d6 11.Qd5 Ke8 12.Qh5+ Kd7 13.Qf7+ Qe7 14.Qf5+ Kd8 15.Qh5 Qxe4+ 16.Be3 Qxg2 17.Qh4+ Be7 18.Qg3 Qxh1+ 19.Ke2 Bg5 20.f4 Bf6 21.d5 Nd4+ 22.Kd3 Qd1+ 23.Bd2 Qxc2+ 24.Ke3 Nf5+ White resigned, aniketbhave - Lucasrapun, 10 0 blitz, Chess.com,  2020) 10... d6 11.Nd5+ Ke8 12.Qg6+ Kd7 13.Qf7+ Nge7 14.e5 dxe5 15.dxe5 Qe8 16.e6+ Kd8 17.Bxc7 checkmate, lakapburak - pxj923, 3 2 blitz, lichess.org,  2020 

6...Ng6 7.f4 

White has also tried 7.Nc3 Bb4 8.O-O Bxc3 9.bxc3 d6 10.Qh5 Nf6 11.Qf3 Kg8 12.e5 dxe5 13.Qg3 Bf5 14.dxe5 Nh7 15.Ba3 Ng5 16.f4 Ne4 17.Qe3 Kh7 18.g4 Qd7 19.Rad1 Qe6 20.gxf5 Qxf5 21.Kh1 Rad8 22.Rde1 Nd2 23.Rf2 Nc4 24.Qc5 Ncxe5 25.Qxe5 Nxe5 White resigned, TheCuriousGreg - luiseduardomunoz1058, 10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020.

7...d5 8.e5 Bf5 9.O-O Bb4 

To keep White's Rook off of e1, but it allows the pawns to start rolling. 

10.g4 Be4 11.f5 Nh4 12.c3 Be7 13.Nd2 Bd3 14.Rf2 c5 15.Nf3 Be4 

Black still has control of things, but he has to remain vigilant.

16.e6+ Kf8 17.Ne5 Rh7 

Well, yes, White was threatening the Knight fork at g6...

18.Ng6+

If this were not a blitz game, White would probably have found 18.Nd7+ Ke8 19.Qa4!? Nf6 20.Nxf6+ Kf8 21.Nxh7+ Kg8 22.Bxh6+!? Kxh7 23.Be3 when he would have a Rook and 3 pawns for a Bishop and a Knight, which would be about equal in the middlegame (and maybe a slight bit better in an ending).

18...Ke8 

Black avoids the messy alternative, 18...Nxg6 19.fxg6+ Nf6 20.gxh7+ Bxh7 21.g5 hxg5 22.Qh5, but stumbles into checkmate from the other wing.

19.Qa4+ b5 20.Qxb5+ Black resigned

20...Qd7 21.Qxd7 checkmate is too painful to allow on the board.

graphic by Jeff Bucchino, "The Wizard of Draws"

Jerome Gambit: Active and Passive Sacrifices

The Jerome Gambit is based upon active sacrifices: 4.Bxf7+ and 5.Nxe5+. The attacker practically throws his pieces at the defender.

The following game also contains a passive Queen sacrifice: White places Her Majesty where she can be attacked, and then he just leaves her there. Black might as well capture, as the alternative is to let a pawn advance and promote to another Queen.

TheCuriousGreg - MIN_0
15 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020

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.Qe3 N8e7 

10.f4 Rf8 11.O-O Kf7 

Black is thinking about castling-by-hand, always a prudent response to the Jerome Gambit.

Less accurate is 11...Bd7, as seen recently in the uneven game that continued 12.d4 c6 13.Nc3 Qb6 14.Bd2 Kd8 15.a4 c5 16.dxc5 Qxc5 17.Qxc5 dxc5 18.Nb5 Bxb5 19.axb5 b6 20.Rad1 Kc7 21.f5 Nh8 22.Bf4+ Kb7  23.Rd7+ Kc8 24.Rxe7 Kd8 25.Rxg7 Black resigned, pupuvi - DeschainPK, 10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020.

12.f5 Ne5 13.Qb3+ 

Pausing to chase the enemy King away from safety.

13...Ke8 14.d4 N5c6 15.Qd3 Bd7 

A curious Jerome Gambit position! White, the gambiteer, has only 2 pieces developed to Black's 4. The material balance still favors the defender, who has a piece for 2 pawns. There is the matter of Black's King stuck in the middle of the board, however.

If White believes he has the advantage (and I believe he does), it's time for him to show it.

16.Bg5 h6 17.Bh4 g5 

This move is risky. It turns White's f-pawn into a protected passer. Worse, it allows White to open up the Kingside by capturing enpassant.

18.fxg6 Qc8 19.Rxf8+ Kxf8 20.Qf3+ Ke8 

The ugly alternative was 20...Bf5 21.Bxe7+ Nxe7 22.g4 Qe6 23.gxf5, when White's extra, avanced, pawns will prove decisive.

21.Qf7+ Kd8 22.d5 Be8 23.dxc6 

Funny. White can offer up his Queen. He can get another.

23...Bxf7 24.gxf7 Black resigned