Jerome Gambit: More Fun Quick Finishes

Some evenings I work late into the night, researching and analyzing, trying to find the elusive path to bringing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) a step or two further away from "just another refuted opening" and a step or two closer to being a "real" opening. (See "Jerome Gambit: Pinocchio" and "Jerome Gambit: Velveteen Rabit Part 1".)

Then, in the next morning's email, I get another handful of games with notes like "This is my first Jerome Gambit, ever, and I totally crushed the guy!" and I realize that the Jerome is not about finally becoming a boring, normal opening.

The Jerome Gambit is about playing chess and having fun.

So - here are some more quick hits that recently arrived.

The checkmate in the following game never gets old. We have seen this kind of thing before, and we will, no doubt, see it again.

GraysonTheHoff - tengodosperras
3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Ng6 7.e5 Nd5 8.Qf3+ Kg8 9.Qxd5#


The Jerome Gambit can inspire the sacrificial tendency in other openings, too. Jerome Sicilian, anyone?

UnitedN51 - Usern4me
3 2 blitz, Chess.com, 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 a6 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ne5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf6 7.Qf5#



Here, the Petroff Defense, by transposition, meets the Jerome Gambit. Any guess which wins?

Hipernight - newguy587
3 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nxe4 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kg8 6.Qh5 Nf6 7.Qf7#


I don't know a lot about playing the Jerome against the Hungarian Defense, but players are kind enough to teach me.

EN93 - AreaPedonale
10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Be7 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.d4 d6 8.Qf5#


My daughter bought me Murray Chandler's How to Beat Your Dad at Chess. I am sure she meant no harm. The following game could have wound up in that book. I hope the son didn't get grounded.

Son - Dad
friendly blitz, 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Be7 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.d4 Nc6 9.Qd5#


Finally, a Jerome Gambit that ended when the defender realized that his defense hadn't really defended.

Leicand - joskyano
3 2 blitz, lichess.org, 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Qh5+ Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: The Velveteen Rabbit (Part 3)

[continued from earlier post]

perrypawnpusher - warwar
"Italian Battleground ", Chess.com, 2018

Although White will be only the exchange up, the Rook's ability to attack both sides of the board will be sufficient to bring home the win.

31.b3 Bxg4 32.c4 b6 33.Kf2 

There was also the straight forward 33.c5 bxc5 34.dxc5 dxc5 35.Rc1 which would open lines for the Rook. I wanted to position my King, first.

33...h5 34.Kg3 h6

35.Kf4 a6 

Black is getting squeezed. If 35...Bd7, then 36.Rh1 Bg4 37.c5 was one way to proceed. My choice was slower.

36.b4 Bd7 37.c5 bxc5 38.bxc5 dxc5 39.dxc5 Black resigned

Black cannot stop White's passed pawn and protect his own pawns at the same time.

Jerome Gambit: Velveteen Rabbit (Part 2)

[continued from earlier post]

perrypawnpusher - warwar

"Italian Battleground" , Chess.com, 2018

17...Nxe4 18.f6

As I wrote earlier, now "it will be interesting to see which one of us unveils his 'improvement' on the play first." 

18...Nxf6!?

My opponent takes the pawn, with a move not seen in any of the games in The Database, in effect saying "Show me!".

I think the text move leads to an edge for White, despite Black being up a piece, but it is necessary to prove that - and my opponent had a defensive plan in mind.

19.Rf4 Kg7 20.Raf1 Be6 21.Qg3+ 

21...Ng4

A scientific idea - the proper way to deal with a gambit is to take the material, and then return it at a time when it will intefere with the attack.

22.hxg4

Later, I became curious and asked Stockfish what I should have decided upon, here. It cranked out 22.d5!?.

I could see some of that - capturing the pawn with 22...Bxd5 would allow White to swing a Rook over to the g-file, doubling with the Queen, i.e. 23.Rxg4+. It turns out that, then, White would have a mate in 30-something moves, but I would never have figured that out.

But, what if Black did what he sometimes does, protect his King while giving White the choice of which piece to grab back - as with 22...Kh8!? ? Stockfish was confident that after 23.dxe6 Ne5 White would still be better (almost 3 pawns better, according to the computer), but even now I can not become excited by the position.

All in all, I am happy with having just captured the Knight.

22...Qg5 

Black's idea. It falls victim to my initiative, however.

23.Ne4 Qd5 24.Nf6 Qg5

25.Nxe8+

Later, I discovered that this was not Stockfish's choice, either. It liked 25.Re4!?, with White holding the advantage of almost a Queen. I still don't understand that.

25...Rxe8 26.Qc3 Kg8 27.Qxc7 

Okay, White is the exchange and a pawn better. A win, right?

"Won" games don't win themselves.

27...Qe7 28.Qxe7+ Rxe7 29.Re1

Wrong Rook. I had better with 29.Re4 d5 30.Re5 Re8 31.Rf6!? when, after an exchange of Rooks, Black's pawns are too weak to save from attack.

29...Rf7 30.Rxf7 Kxf7 

Black's King and Bishop are more active than they should have been allowed to be.

[to be continued]

Jerome Gambit: Velveteen Rabbit (Part 1)

The title of today's post was laid out, previously

Like Pinocchio or the Velveteen Rabbit, the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) longs to become a "real" chess opening, or at least a "normal" one. 

Of course, that is a bit of a stretch for something so often refuted. 

Yet, occasionally, I experience a sense of "normality", as I noted a while back in my post "Still More Errors in Thinking 4.0"

I mean, I play a game, I publish it on this blog, someone takes that information and uses it in another one of my Jerome Gambits. I publish that game in this blog, someone elses uses that information in another of my Jerome Gambits...

Just like a real opening.

perrypawnpusher - warwar
"Italian Battleground", Chess.com, 2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

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

This variation does not have a name, but it could well be titled the Brownson Defense, after O.A. Brownson, who played it in Jerome - Brownson, Iowa, 1875 (1-0, 28), shortly after the Jerome Gambit's debut. 

The defense was subsequently played by William Carrington in the first game of his second match against the Mexican champion, Andres Clemente Vazquez, in 1876 (1-0, 34).

It should be noted that Vazquez played a match against Steinitz in 1888, and one against Blackburne in 1891. The latter match included two Giuoco Piano openings played by Vazquez, and it would have been fascinating - if downright risky for the first player - if one of the strongest players of the Jerome Gambit at that time had used it against the player whose crush of it against "Amateur" a few years earlier had covered the attack in ignomy. Alas, Vazquez opted for 4.0-0 both times.

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6 

There are 186 games with this position in The Database, with White scoring a surprising 71%. This more likely reflects the comfort, knowledge and experience of the player with the White pieces, rather than an "objective" evaluation of the state of affairs. 

10.O-O Kf7

Black will castle-by-hand, bringing his Rook to the e-file.

White will urge his "Jerome pawns forward."

11.f4 Re8 12.f5 Ne5 13.d4 

13...Neg4

After enticing White's pawns forward, Black takes a swipe at his Queen.

14.Qb3+ Kf8 15.h3 Nh6 

16.Bxh6 gxh6 17.Nd2

Here we have a strange looking position, quite possibly even, with White's extra (and healthy) pawns and development balancing Black's extra piece and unsafe King.

[to be continued]