Mr. Fletcher's Gambits

I recently stopped by the website of the Bedford Chess Club, where I noted an interesting entry concerning "Mr. Fletcher's gambits", referring to  L. Elliot Fletcher's delightful book, Gambits Accepted, A Survey of Opening Sacrifices (1954).

The Bedford CC site has examples of 84 gambits that Fletcher covered, as well as 11 gambits that he had missed.

Interestingly enough, the site does not give the Jerome Gambit game that Fletcher provided, but includes the significant Sorensen - X, Denmark, 1888 (1-0, 27).

Fletcher quotes a club game for the Jerome; and none of the surviving games by Jerome himself were won by White. But apparently the Danish player and problemist Soren Sorensen showed an interest in the gambit. 

It is relevant to point out to Readers Sorensen's early article on the Jerome Gambit that was translated into a number of languages and was very influential in popularizing the opening.

I quickly emailed the Club secretary 

Dear Mr. Gill, 

I was delighted to come across your post on "Mr. Fletcher's gambits". A pleasant book I recall fondly, and hope your Club members appreciate as well. 

My own interest in gambits focuses on the Jerome Gambit, which I have researched for 15 years and maintain a blog about (jeromegambit.blogspot.com). I was impressed that you substituted the Sorensen game for Mr. Fletcher's anonymous club game. 

As a small, niggling point, I wanted to mention that I have 7 Jerome Gambit wins by Alonzo Wheeler Jerome in my database (which also includes 9 losses, 2 draws and 6 incomplete games). They are out there, they just required some digging. 

By inference I conclude that you did not accept Eric Schiller's erronious contention in his "Unorthodox Chess Openings" (1998) that the famous Blackburne win (London, 1880) was against Jerome himself; just so. 

Best wishes, 

Rick Kennedy

I soon learned that I had contacted the wrong person. Still, it was great to hear back from Bedford 

Good evening. 

I have to own up to being the perpetrator of the games collection on the Bedford club site based on Elliott Fletcher's book. Given that since I discovered the book in my 'teens (half a century ago) I have had a predilection for dodgy gambits, I guess I should share your view of Fletcher's book as "delightful". Revisiting the book I did find his uncritical attitude to a lot of complete trash a bit annoying and at times his analysis is seriously ropey (the irritation only vents itself openly, I think, in the last note to game 21). 

I think I probably found the Sorensen game courtesy of your blog and apologise for the fact that I didn't look hard enough to find the White wins by Jerome. I am asking the webmaster to amend the noted to Sorensen-NN on the website accordingly. 

I didn't know that friend Schiller was claiming that Blackburne's victim was Jerome himself. Had it been, I think Blackburne might have mentioned the fact in his own collection of his best games; and the fact that Tim Harding finds no evidence for it is pretty strong negative evidence as far as I am concerned. I accept that Schiller is a far stronger player than I will ever be, but (like you, I think) I don't rate him as an author. 

Regards,
Neil Hickman

It was easy to finish up with

Dear Mr. Hickman, 

I had a pleasant, good-natured chuckle at your comment that you found Fletcher's "uncritical attitude to a lot of complete trash a bit annoying" and that "at times his analysis is seriously ropey". Well put - and I agree. Nobody is likely to mistake "Gambits Accepted" for, say, Tartakower and Du Mont's "500 Master Games of Chess". Gary Kasparov's comment that "chess is not skittles" holds true for his portion of the chess world... 

Still, I am delighted at an actual, published  look (before the internet!) at amateur games by an amateur player. "Gambits Accepted" reminds me a bit of Rainer Schlenker's "Randspringer" - with weaker analysis, of course. 

I want to apologize for my snarky comment relating to Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's wins with his gambit. Finding them is not so easy, unless you're a bit of a fanatic (with too much time on his hands) like myself. 

I agree, if AWJ had crossed the pond to have his head handed to him by Blackburne in London in that famous Jerome Gambit game, Dr. Harding would have uncovered some trace of it. Certainly, over here, I have found no trace that the gambiteer ever even left the US. 

Thank you for your time. 

Best wishes,Rick 

Advice to Defenders of the Jerome Gambit: Don't Slow Down

When I ran in school, my teacher said not to stop at the finish line, but to aim for a spot well beyond there. He said that would keep me moving as fast as possible while I was racing. Otherwise, I would slow down at the end, and this would be to the benefit of my opponents.

The same advice can be given to those who defend against the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+): When you realize that you have received a piece or two in a "refuted" opening, keep "running" - keep competing - and do not slow down or relax your attention too soon.

Chessfriend Vlastamil Fejfar, of the Czech Republic (see "A Fierce Jerome Gambit Battle", shares a recent online game where his opponent ignored this advice. The result was as expected.

vlastous - rubicon
ChessManiac.com, 2016

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Qf6 

Vlasta and Readers have seen this move before, as I noted in an earlier post

A line seen as early as in a note in G.H.D. Gossip's 1891 The Chess Player's Vade Mecum and Pocket Guide to the Openings with all the latest theoretical discoveries and traps in the openings revealed, and more recently supported by FM Eric Schiller in his books on unorthodox openings. (It is fun to read MrJoker's comments about some of Schiller's analysis - see "Joker's Wild" 1, 2and Conclusion.) 

I would like to point out that Schiller in his Unorthodox Chess Openings (1998) wrongly identified Henry Joseph Blackburne's opponent in his classic destruction of the Jerome Gambit as Alonzo Wheeler Jerome, himself. Fifteen years of research into the Jerome Gambit has not turned up any evidence that AWJ ever travelled to London, let alone was able to play HJB at Simpson's Divan. (Certainly Dr. Tim Harding would have included this tidbit, were it not merely a figment of Schiller's imagination, in his exhaustive Joseph Henry Blackburne A Chess Biography.)

In any event, Black has every reason to feel comfortable with his position, as he has played a "refutation" that both time and reference books have presented as sufficient.

8.Rf1 g6 9.Qh3+ Kf7 

But - Black relaxes too soon, as Vlasta immediately demonstrates. Best was the alternative 9...Ke7.

10.fxe5 Qxf1+ 11.Kxf1 d5 12.Qc3 b6 13.d4 Black resigned

White's material advantage is decisive. 

A) Good B) Bad C) Ugly D) None of the Above

IM John Watson and NM Eric Schiller's new Taming Wild Chess Openings Good, Bad, and Ugly (New In Chess, 2015) is a revised and expanded print version of their 2014 same-titled EPlus ebook; which, in turn was an updated version of their Big Book of Busts (Hypermodern Press,1995).

Alas, call the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bx5 4.Bxf7+) "good", "bad" or "ugly" - it does not appear "wild" enough or in need of "taming" as it does not appear in Taming Wild Chess Openings.

One can certainly make the case that the Jerome Gambit is "annoying," however, so it is not suprising to find it in the authors' earlier Survive and Beat Annoying Chess Openings The Open Games (Cardoza, 2003),

As the Jerome can be thought of as both "unorthodox" and a gambit, it is understandably found in Schiller's Unorthodox Chess Openings (Cardoza, 1998, 2002) and his Gambit Chess Openings (Cardoza, 2002).

A Choice of Checkmates

An enjoyable game, the following contest ends up with White having the choice of three different ways of delivering checkmate, depending which piece he wants to use!

Wall,B - Guest5541035 
PlayChess.com, 2014

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Qf6

A nice change from the "annoying defense" 7...d6. 

The first example that I have of 7...Qf6 in my notes is from NM Eric Schiller's Unorthodox Chess Openings (1998). Calling 6...Ke6 "the real test of the opening" he notes, after 7.f4

White will win back one of the sacrificed pieces. Black should react calmly by developing and protecting the king. It is useful to keep in mind that for an attack to succeed the attacker usually requires greater force than that which defends the king. Here the Black king is surrounded by pieces, and White has only the queen and a pair of pawns. The Black king can retreat to e7, but this would confine the Black queen. Therefore the correct move [7...Qf6] suggests itself.

8.Rf1

This seems stronger than Schiller's recommended 8.Nc3.

The Database has 9 game examples with 8.Nc3, with Black (including Wall, once) winning 6 of them (White scores 33%). This is opposed to 52 games with 8.Rf1, with White winning 32 (scoring 62%).

Bill warns against 8.fxe5? Qf2+ 9.Kd1 Qxg2. 

8...g6 

Or 8...Ne7 9.fxe5 Qxe5. 

9.Qh3+

Threatening 10.fxe5. 

Not 9.fxe5? Qxf1+ 10.Kxf1 gxh5 or 9.Qd1? Qh4+ 10.g3 Qxh2 11.fxe5 Qxg3+ 12.Rf2 Qxf2#.

9...Ke7 

Two alternatives: 

9...Kf7? 10.fxe5 Qxf1+ 11.Kxf1 d6 12.Qc3 Black resigned, Wall,B - Guest1690223, PlayChess.com. 2012;

9...Ng4 10.Qxg4+ Ke7 11.Nc3 d6? 12.Nd5+ Wall,B - Guest3164644, PlayChess.com 2013 (1-0, 20).

10.Nc3

Threatening 11.Nd5+ forking King and Queen. White could also grab back a piece with 10.fxe5.

10...d6

Less tricky, but perhaps a bit more prudent, is 10...c6 as seen in Wall,B - XCCY, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 21)] 

11.Nd5+ Kf7 

Better is 11...Kd8, as long as Black doesn't slip like 12.Qg3 Qe6 13.fxe5 dxe5 14.d4 Ne7? as in Wall, B - Aburasian, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 33).

Of course not 11...Ke8? when 12.Nxf6+ gains Black's Queen with check.

12.Qb3 Qh4+ 

It was time to give some material back. Not 12...Qe6? 13.fxe5+ Kg7 14.Nxc7; but maybe 12...Nf3+ 13.Rxf3 Qh4+ or even 12...Nd3+!?.

13.g3

Simplest. As Bill notes, if 13.Kd1? Bg4+; and there is no need to protect the h-pawn with 13.Qg3 Qxg3+ 14.hxg3 Nc6 when Black retains his two extra pieces.

13...Qg4

Maybe Black now saw that 13...Qxh2 would be well-answered by 14.fxe5+. If so, it is a shame that he didn't press further to find 13...Nf3+!? 14.Qxf3 Qxh2 (about even) or 14...Qh5!?

Now White takes over. 

14.fxe5+ Kg7

Retreating elsewhere brings disaster. 

15.d3 

Taking care of business, first. Instead, 15.Nxc7?? is a horror show after 15...Qxe4+.

15...dxe5 

Instead, 15...c6? can boomarang, for example: 16.Qc3 cxd5 17.e6+ Nf6 18.Qxf6+ Kg8 19.Qf7# 

16.Nxc7 

Bill shows that the alternative, 16.Qc3, looks pretty trappy and good for White after 16...Bd4 17.Qxc7+ Bd7 18.Rf5!? gxf5 19.Qxd7+ Kg6 20.c3. 

But if Black answers solidly, instead, with 16...Bd6, then White has only 17.Nxc7, when 17...Nf6!? might come as quite a shock. Houdini says then that after 18.Nxa8 Qh5 19.h4 Bh3 20.Rf2 Rxa8 Black's two pieces will balance out White's Rook and two pawns.

Tricky play!

But, now Black blunders.

16...Rb8?? 

17.Ne8 checkmate.

Or 17.Qf7 checkmate.

Or 17.Rf7 checkmate

Be Prepared!

The chessboard can be a scary place, and it is always a good idea to be prepared for what might show up there. This advice also refers to defenders who face the unbalanced Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+). Luckily for them, many refutations of the gambit have been published.

Lucky for the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde, chess games, do not, yet, "play themselves".

Wall,B - Guest3164644
Playchess.com, 2013

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Qf6 

A defense suggested by NM Eric Schiller in his 1998 Unorthodox Chess Openings.

8.Rf1

Unfortunately, this move is not covered in UCO.

8...g6 9.Qh3+

Threatening 10.fxe5

9...Ng4

Seen previously:

9...Kf7 10.fxe5 Qxf1+ 11.Kxf1 d6 12.Qc3 Black resigned, Wall, B - Guest1690223, Playchess.com, 2012; and

9...Ke7 10.Nc3 c6 d6 (10...c6, Wall,B - XCCY, FICS, 2011 [1-0,21]) 11.Nd5+ Kd8 12.Qg3 Qe6 13.fxe5 dxe5 14.d4 Ne7 15.dxc5 Nxd5 16.Bg5+ Ke8 17.exd5 Qxd5 18.Rf2 Be6 19.Rd2 Qxc5 20.0-0-0 Rf8 21.Qh4 h5 22.Bh6 Rf5 23.Rd8+ Rxd8 24.Rxd8+ Kf7 25.Rf8+ Qxf8 26.Bxf8 Kxf8 27.Qd8+ Kg7 28.Qxc7+ Kh6 29.h4 Rf1+ 30.Kd2 Rf2+ 31.Ke3 Rf5 32.Qd8 a6 33.Qh8 checkmate, Wall,B - Aburasian, Chess.com, 2010. 

10.Qxg4+ Ke7 11.Nc3 d6? 

12.Nd5+ Kd8 13.Nxf6 Bxg4 14.Nxg4 h5 

White is up two pawns.

15.Nf2 Kd7 16.Nh3 Re8 17.d3 Nf6 18.Ng5 Ng4

Black has done well in attending to his development. He should not try to mimic White's wandering Knight.

19.h3 Nh2 20.Rh1 Black resigned

Joker's Wild (conclusion)

We conclude an article (see "Joker's Wild (1)" and "Joker's Wild (2)") by Louis Morin ("mrjoker") of Montreal, Canada, a long-time Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) Gemeinde member. He completes his response to the "Bashing the Jerome Gambit" chapter in Schiller and Watson's Survive & Beat Annoying Chess Openings (2003), and your editor has a few words to add.

17.b5! Kb6

17...Kxb5?? 18.Qd3+ is completely hopeless for Black. Try it!

18.Qd3! c6

19.Nc4+ Kc7 20.Nxd6

with much the better game for White. So after their suggested 6...Ke6 7.f4 Qf6! Schiller and Watson should have seen the obvious 8.Rf1 and analyzed reasonable moves such as 8...g6 or 8...Nd3+ (best in my opinion). But as it is their "piece of analysis" does not teach us very much. One can only wonder if the rest of the book has the same pedagogical value.

Louis Morin (mrjoker)
Montreal, Canada

It is likely that the analysis in "Bashing the Jerome Gambit" is Eric Schiller's work, as it is largely a repeat of his analysis given in Unorthodox Chess Openings (1998, 2002) and Gambit Chess Openings (2002). Other analysis in Survive & Beat Annoying Chess Openings is more reliable – I am thinking of the coverage of the Danish Gambit, for example.

Here's a game that shares the first 8 moves with the above analysis, although Black varies with 8...g6: mrjoker - jmt (1516), blitz, ICC, 2008,1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Qf6 8.Rf1 g6 9.Qh3+ Ng4 10.Qxg4+ Ke7 11.Qe2 Qd4 12.c3 Qg7 13.d4 Bb6 14.g4 d6 15.f5 g5 16.e5 dxe5 17.dxe5 Kd8 18.f6 Qf7 19.Bxg5 h6 20.Bh4 Be6 21.Nd2 Kc8 22.b3 a6 23.Ne4 Kb8 24.0-0-0 Ka7 25.c4 Ba5 26.Kb2 Rb8 27.Bf2+ Ka8 28.Nc5 Bb6 29.Qe4 Black resigned

UON

In discussing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) I have mentioned the Unorthodox Openings Newsletter on a number of occasions, the most recently being this blog's "birthday" post (see "Happy Birthday: Twelve months of blog...").

Any reader interested in offbeat or unusual chess openings should become familiar with the 23 issues of the free UON. Its current editor, Gary K. Gifford, is also open to reader-written articles – a good way to get your own ideas out in front of a sympathetic group, for support and feedback.

Issues #1 - #14 can be found in the "files" section of the Yahoo Group "Unorthodox Chess Openings". Issues #15 - #23 can be found in the "files" section of the Yahoo Group "Chess Unorthodox UON".

To be able to download the files, I think it is necessary to officially join the particular Yahoo Group, but that takes only a minute or so, and costs nothing.

There is an impressive number of openings covered in the Unorthodox Openings Newsletter, and some recent issues are almost books themselves – for example, #19 is 70 pages, #17 is 80 pages and #21 is 103 pages.

Happy exploring!

Real - and Un-Real

Recently I exchanged emails with someone interested in unorthodox chess openings, in particular, the Jerome Gambit, via the Unorthodox Chess Openings newsgroup at Yahoo!



To: UnorthodoxChessOpenings@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tue, 26 May 2009 23:27:40 +0000
Subject: [UnorthodoxChessOpenings] Jerome Gambit for Dummies



Hello,
Is this book available in Europe? Thanks in advance for any information.

Regards




From:Rick Kennedy (richardfkennedy@hotmail.com)
Sent:Thu 5/28/09 6:18 AM
To: unorthodoxchessopenings@yahoogroups.com

Bonjour,

For now, Jerome Gambit for Dummies exists only in my imagination, as host of the blog jeromegambit.blogspot.com; and in the creativity of the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde - those who fearlessly play 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+.

Please stop by, feel free to chuckle or guffaw - and send in your own Jerome Gambit games, won or lost, as White or Black.

Rick / perrypawnpusher

From: unorthodoxchessopenings@yahoogroups.com

Sent:Thu 5/28/09 9:13 AM
To: UnorthodoxChessOpenings@yahoogroups.com

Hello,

Thanks you for answer, all is clear. I have never played the Jerome Gambit but why not!! I play many times Bishop Opening. Do you know a Jerome database for download?

I hope to study a little this gambit before play it

Regards.


Well, it turns out that my correspondent was was just in time! Check out tomorrow's post.

A Conspiracy of Silence?

Yesterday's post ("Travelling a Dangerous Path") showed a line in the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) that was challenging enough to give even one of the premier players of the Jerome – Pete Banks ("blackburne") – enough to keep him on his toes.

It can be hard playing against a line recommended by either International Master Gary Lane – The Greatestest Ever Chess Tricks and Traps (2008) – or FIDE Master Eric Schiller – Unorthox Chess Openings (1998, 2002), Gambit Chess Openings (2002), and Survive and Beat Annoying Chess Openings (with John Watson, 2003): 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke3 7.f4 and either 7...d6 (Lane) or 7...Qf6 (Schiller).

But what about the alternative 7th move, 7.Qf5+ ? It turns out that blackburne has played that move, too, for example: 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Bd4 9.fxe5+ Bxe5 10.d4 Qh4+ 11.Kd1 Nh6 12.Qxe5+ Kc6 13.Qc5 checkmate, blackburne - Temmo, Chessworld, 2008.

Hope you didn't blink: that was a fast win, there.

I have to admit that although more than half of my losses with the Jerome Gambit have come after playing 7.Qf5+, I have a few wins with it, as well. Over a dozen.

So, what do our friends IM Lane and FM Schiller have to say about that alternative to 7.f4, 7.Qf5+ ?

Nothing.

That's right: nothing.

It's almost as if the two, each of whom enjoys writing about and playing offbeat openings, are announcing the death of the Jerome Gambit (for the umpteenth time) to the chess world at large when it comes to 7.f4 – and then giving a wink and a nod to the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde when it comes to 7.Qf5+.

Editorial oversight, or Conspiracy of Silence?

You decide.

I hope he's not holding his breath...

From the Unorthodox Chess Openings news group on the internet, a number of years ago:

20.07.2002
[Internet - Unorthodox Openings - Nakamura]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ -- In UnorthodoxChessOpenings@y..., "richardfkennedy" wrote: Until the time that there is a "Dumb Chess Openings" group, I guess that a discussion of the discredited Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5) will have to show up in UnorthodoxChessOpenings... :-)

Actually, I am researching the Jerome, especially its early years, which go back to the 1870s and Alonzo Wheeler Jerome. (Some of what I have discovered is at www.chesshistory.com.) I would be interested in anyone's experiences or games with the line.

Many thanks!

From: "hawgambit"
Date: Sat Jul 20, 2002 2:39 pm
Subject: Re: Jerome Gambit

Greetings from Hawaii, Richard F. Kennedy.

You are a new member who just joined our Unorthodox Chess Openings Newsgroups recently. I do welcome you as a new member.

I will post 15 Jerome Gambit Games (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+) in the files section.

I have played the Jerome Gambit before in blitz games and have analyzed this gambit. Currently I do not believe that this gambit is sound.

It seems that once white trades queens he is lost in the endgame. White has to avoid trading queens.

I recently did some further analysis of the Jerome Gambit and came to the same conclusion.

If you do find some good lines for white, I wlll be first to congratulate you.

Best Regards
Clyde Nakamura

Jerome Gambit: Drilling Down (23)

A game wherin the human discovers that, all jokes aside (see "Jerome Gambit: Drilling Down (22)") that the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) isn't a "forced draw" after all...



RevvedUp - Fritz 8
blitz 2 12, 2006

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6


7.f4 d6
Dutifully returning one of the sacrificed pieces. As Eric Schiller wrote about the Jerome Gambit in his Unorthodox Chess Openings (1998, 2002), "Being two pieces up has its advantages!"

8.fxe5 dxe5 9.Qh3+


9...Ke7

Too bad! Earlier, RevvedUp had played 9...Kd6, and Crafty 19.19, troubled by it's self-assessment of being in a lost position, forced a draw by repetition -- which Black readily agreed to.

10.Qh4+ Nf6 11.d3 Kf7 12.Nc3 Ng4 13.Rf1+

Fritz8 is looking to start some trouble, but so is RevvedUp. An alternative to consider was 13.Bg5 Qd4 14.0-0-0.

13...Kg6 14.Qg3 Be7 15.Ke2

White's King is very uncomfortable. His Queen is, too.

15...Bh4 16.Qf3 Be6 17.h3 Nh2 18.Qe3 Nxf1 19.Kxf1 Rf8+ 20.Ke2 Qf6 21.Nd5 Qf1+ 22.Kd2 Bxd5 23.exd5 Bg5 White resigns

The next worst thing...

Continuing the discussion from "London Calling... Seven Months of Blog" and "The next best thing..." based on my self-challenge

I also got wondering the other day: is there another totally obscure and disreputable tactical opening line or gambit that I could go digging for information about, while I'm researching the Jerome Gambit [1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+]??

There's been discussion lately on the Fred opening, 1.e4 f5, in the Unorthodox Chess Openings group at Yahoo – including where the name "Fred" came from in the first place (several theories, nothing conclusive).

Sometimes the opening is referred to as the Duras Gambit, which is a lot less obscure: In my database I have four games (from 1936 and 1938) where GM Oldrich Duras played the opening, actually scoring two wins, a draw and a loss.

The earliest game example I could find was Pillsbury - Magana, Paris 1902, a blindfold simultaneous exhibition game (1 of 16) Paris, 06.1902: 1.e4 f5 2.exf5 Kf7 3.d4 d5 4.Qh5+ g6 5.fxg6+ Kg7 6.Bd3 Nf6 7.Bh6+ Kg8 8.gxh7+ Nxh7 9.Qg6+ Bg7 10.Qxg7 mate.

You have to admit, 1.e4 f5 stand right up/down there with 1.h4 as a possible companion to the Jerome Gambit!

Another nail in the coffin...

Readers are aware that I have not shied away from presenting refutations of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) when I run into them (or am run over by them). It's time to give Master Eric Schiller credit (again) for both writing about the Jerome Gambit and providing a reasonable refutation for one of the main lines.

His Unorthodox Chess Openings (1998, 2002), Gambit Chess Openings (2002) and Survive & Beat Annoying Chess Openings (2003) have the following line:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7

This rather extravagant gambit is included by popular request, as the Internet newsgroup rec.games.chess.analysis had quite a bit of discussion on it in the summer of 1997 and several of the participants asked me to include it. White sacrifices a piece just to draw the enemy king into the game... (Unorthodox Chess Openings)

5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+

This too ambitious gambit has a following in some gambit circles, but it is totally unsound and Black has very little cause for concern. Just play aggressively and don't fall into passive cowardice. (Survive & Beat Annoying Chess Openings)

6...Ke6 7.f4

White will win back one of the sacrificed pieces. Black should react calmly be developing and protecting the king. It is useful to keep in mind that for an attack to succeed the attacker usually requires greater force than that which defends the king. Here the Black king is surrounded by pieces, and White has only the queen and a pair of pawns. The Black king can retreat to e7, but this would confine the Black queen. Therefore the correct move suggests itself. (Unorthodox Chess Openings 2)

7...Qf6! 8.Nc3 Ne7 9.Rf1 g6 10.Qh3+ Ng4 11.Qxg4+ Kf7

Black can easily defend with ...Rf8 and ...Kg8, and can also move the d-pawn, attacking the enemy queen. (Gambit Chess Openings)

We are not alone...

I was wandering the Internet the other day when I came upon an interesting blog -- HANGING PAWN :: Tip's Chess Blog sub-titled A Patzer's experiments with Engines and Unorthodox Chess Openings

Of course, what caught my eye was his information on the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), featuring computer vs computer games – http://hangingpawn.blogspot.com/2008/07/jerome-gambit.html

You might want to drop by the blog, though, because the author, Randy Tipton of Baltimore, Maryland, is researching and playing a whole handful of unorthodox chess openings, including:

Bird's Opening
Bird's Opening - 1.f4 e5
Bird's Opening - Hobb's Gambit
Bird's Opening - Sturm Gambit
Dutch Defense - Korchnoi Attack
Jerome Gambit
Nimzovitch Defense - Lean Variation
Nimzovitch Defense - Wheeler Gambit
Polish Defense - 1.c4 b5

Polish Defense - 1.d4 b5
Polish Defense - 1.Nf3 b5

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