If it's raining outside, you can put on a hat, rain coat, and boots, and carry an umbrella. That will help. If you only take out a little parasol from the last cocktail you had - it won't provide much shelter.
So it is, when you are facing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+). You may not need the most exacting defense - say, Whistler's, or the "annoying defense", or even Jerome's defense - but you will need to have some kind of defense prepared. Otherwise, you will just get soaked.
Witness the following game. It shows how White can wrap things up early.
Wall, Bill - Dippoldi
PlayChess.com, 2019
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4
6...Bb4+
This can work, if it is followed up correctly.
7.c3 Bd6
According to The Database, Black has won every time he has played the alternative, 7...Qh4!? - 13 times - except for the 2 times that it was played against Bill Wall.
8.dxe5 Bxe5
Bill points out that 8...Bf8 and 8...Be7 were the way to go. White would have only a small advantage, if any.
9.Qd5+
Also successful was 9.Qh5+ - 9...Ke6 10.Qf5+ Kd6 11.Na3 Ne7 12.Nc4+ Kc6 13.Qxe5 d6 14.Na5+ Kd7 15.Qg5 c6 16.Nc4 b6 17.Bf4 Ng6 18.Qf5+ Kc7 19.Qf7+ Qd7 20.Bxd6+ Kb7 21.Qf3 b5 22.Ne5 Nxe5 23.Bxe5 Ka6 24.g3 Bb7 25.a4 c5 26.axb5+ Kxb5 27.O-O Rhe8 28.c4+ Kc6 29.Rad1 Rxe5 30.Rxd7 Kxd7 31.Qf7+ Kc8 32.Qf8+ Kc7 33.Qxg7+ Kd6 34.Qxb7 Ree8 35.Rd1+ Ke6 36.Qd7+ Kf6 37.Rd6+ Ke5 38.Rd5+ Kf6 39.Rf5+ Kg6 40.Qf7+ Kh6 41.Rh5 checkmate, Sir Osis of the Liver - Crusader Rabbit, Jerome Gambit Tournament 4, ChessWorld, 2009.
9...Kf6
Just about as effective as 9...Kf8, seen in Wall, - Holzkopp, PlayChess.com, 2017 (1-0, 27).
10.f4
Deadly enough was 10.h4 - 10...Ne7 11.Bg5+ Kg6 12.Qxe5 d6 13.Qxe7 Qxe7 14.Bxe7 Re8 15.h5+ Kf7 16.Bg5 Rxe4+ 17.Be3 Bf5 18.Nd2 Re6 19.O-O-O a5 20.Rde1 Rae8 21.Nb3 Re5 22.Nd4 Bg4 23.Kd2 c5 24.Nb5 Rd5+ 25.Kc1 c4 26.Nc7 Black resigned, HauntedKnight - anaribusm, FICS, 2012.
10...Qe7
Also coming to no good end: 10...Kg6, as in Wall,B - Guest6953174, PlayChess.com 2016 (1-0, 15) and 10...c6 11.fxe5+ Kg6 12.Qd6+ Kf7 13.O-O+ Black resigned, Wall,B - Guest11386950, PlayChess.com, 2019.
11.fxe5+ Qxe5
Even LuigiBot could not escape, trying 11...Kg6 - 12.O-O Nh6 13.Rf3 Rf8 14.Rg3+ Kh5 15.Qd1+ Rf3 16.Qxf3+ Kh4 17.Rh3 checkmate, Fandral - LuigiBot, FICS, 2013.
12.O-O+ Black resigned
If the Jerome Gambit comes as a surprise, the defender has to construct some kind of defense, even if it is home-made. In the following bullet game, Black's efforts lead to a quick disaster.
angelcamina - medved29
1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Be7
With one minute (and no increment) for the whole game, it is difficult to create a defense from scratch.
Instead, 7...d6 would have been the Blackburne defense, while 7...Qe7 would have been the Whistler defense. Both lead to lively play.
8.Qxh8 Bf6
Black's idea, but it doesn't work. He could have kept his deficit at the exchange and a couple of pawns with 8...Nf6 9.Qxd8 Bxd8 10.Nc3 d5, but he would still face the prospect of being ground down.
9.Qxh7+ Bg7 10.O-O d6 11.f4 Nf6 12.Qh4 Qe7
13.Nc3 Be6 14.e5 dxe5 15.fxe5 Rh8 16.Qg3 Black resigned
Black will lose the Knight, leaving him a Rook and a couple pawns down.
The following bullet game (1 minute, no increment) reminds me of the campy 1960s "Batman" tv show, when battles between the heroes and the villains would have large words such as "Pow!" and "Bam!" superimposed over them, comic book style. See for yourself.
angelcamina - fred314
1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6
7.Qxe5 Nf6
A simple solution that protects the Rook, but Black's best defenses - the Whistler (7...Qe7) and the Blackburne (7...d6) - both rely on offering the Rook.
8.Qxc5 c6
Or 8...d6 as in angelcamina - janpecsok18, lichess.org, 2018 (1-0, 17)
9.Qe3 Re8
Steady and principled, although 9...Nxe4!? directly was playable.
10.d3 d5 11.f3 dxe4 12.fxe4 Bg4
Mysterious. White's pressure on the King now builds and builds.
13.O-O b6 14.Qg3 Bh5 15.Bg5 Qd4+ 16.Kh1 Kg7 17.Bxf6+ Qxf6 18.Rxf6 Kxf6
19.Nc3 Kg7 20.Rf1 Rf8 21.Rxf8 Rxf8 22.Qe5+ Kh6 23.Kg1 Be2
Threatening checkmate, but overlooking the reply.
24.Nxe2
Black resigned
"This just doesn't seem to be my day" is a lament that many chess players make. Certainly the defender (who appears to be receiving "Jerome Gambit odds") in the following game can agree.
angelcamina - burns88
1 0 bullet, lichess.org
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6
This is an exciting move, as it can often lead to the Blackburne or Whistler Defenses.
7.Qxe5 Qf6
Black shows that he is unfamiliar with the Jerome Gambit, and disaster follows, quickly. Just not his day.
8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Ne7 10.O-O Re8 11.d3 Kg7
Dangerously placing the King on the same diagonal as the Queen.
12.Bd2 d5 13.Bc3 d4 14.Bxd4 Nd5 15.Bxf6+ Kxf6 16.Qd4+ Kf7 Black resigned
I have looked at Black's defense in the following game before. It is another one of those lines that feels like it might work, because it is similar to a couple of lines that do - but is, in fact, a scary looking error. In a bullet game, it comes off more as a bluff that does not fool the opponent.
angelcamina - yisustorres19
1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Bd6
Black could play the Blackburne Defense with 7...d6, or the Whistler Defense with 7...Qe7. In the first, White can take the Rook and avoid disaster if he knows the complicated followup. In the second, taking the Rook is immediately self-destructive.
So - why not 7...Bd6?
8.Qxh8 Qf6
Okay, this is an indication that Black is constructing his defense move-by-move. It was time, instead - especially since the time control was one minute, no increment - to go all-out for something scary like 8...Qh4 9.d3 Nf6, temporarily trapping White's Queen as in the Blackburne Defense. Then, after 10.Nd2 Ng4 11.Nf3 Qxf2+ 12.Kd1 White's King looks at risk. The question is, how does Black continue? The greedy 12...Qxg2 allows White to checkmate, starting with 13.Ng5+. Best for Black seems to be 12...Bf8, unblocking the d-pawn, and after 13.h3 Qxg2 14.Qxh7+ Bg7 15.Ng5+ Kf6 16.hxg4 d6 17.Qh2 Bxg4+ 18.Ke1 the attack on White's King has run down, and Black's bluff has been called.
9.Qxh6+ Qg7 10.Qxg7+ Kxg7 11.0-0
White is ahead the exchange and 3 pawns. He just has to play ordinary chess now, nothing fancy.
11...Be5 12.f4 Bd4+ 13.Kh1 Nf6 14.c3 Bb6
15.e5 Ng4 16.h3 Nf2+ 17.Kh2 Nd3
Blocking White's development - but he soon gives the idea up.
18.Na3 Nxc1 19.Raxc1 d6 20.d4 dxe5 21.fxe5 c6 22.Nc4 Bc7 23.Nd6 Bf5
24.Nxf5+ gxf5 25.Rxf5 Rf8 26.Rxf8 Kxf8 27.Rf1+ Ke7
The game has simplified, and only the clock can hurt White. He creates a couple of Queens and finishes things.
28.g4 c5 29.g5 cxd4 30.cxd4 Bb6 31.Rf4 Ke6 32.g6 Kd5 33.g7 Bxd4 34.g8=Q+ Kxe5 35.Rxd4 Kxd4 36.h4 Kc5 37.h5 Kb4 38.h6 b5 39.h7 Ka5 40.h8=Q a6 41.Qc3+ b4 42.Qd8+ Kb5 43.Qdc7 Ka4 44.Q7c6+ Ka5 45.Q3c5 checkmate
Playing the Jerome Gambit is always a calculated risk. How much does your opponent know? How much can he figure out? How quickly can he think his way through the complications?
The following game features bold play by angelcamina, who enters the most dangerous variation of one of the most dangerous defenses to the Jerome Gambit - and lives to tell of it. He knows what he is doing; his opponent, less so. With only 1 minute on the clock, knowledge and experience beat improvisation.
angelcamina - ssez222
1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2018
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Qe7
As in the better-known Blackburne Defense, 7...d6!?, Black offers a Rook. The Queen move, apparently the invention of Lt. G. N. Whistler, who played in a correspondence match against Alonzo Wheeler Jerome, is even stronger.
8.Qxh8
Wow! White takes the Rook and hurls a challenge: can you make me pay?
Analytically, the move leads to a crushing position - for Black. (Komodo 9 says he is almost 6 pawns ahead.) Of course, the defender has to find the follow-up. (Here is a discussion from a previous post.)
Also, as a reflection of the complexity of the position, I have to mention that in the 494 games with the capture of the Rook in The Database, White scores 66%!
8...Qxe4+
This is, of course, Black's point. He should be able to combine attacks on the White King and Queen to wrap things up quickly.
9.Kf1 Bd4
This is an inspired idea, and probably cost Black important seconds of thinking time. It still leads to advantage, but the brutal 9...Qh4!? was the way to seek quick victory.
Maybe. Even after that move, The Database give 4 games: two wins by Black, but two checkmates by White.
10.Qxh7+
Possibly overlooked by Black.
10...Bg7 11.d3 Qg4 12.Nc3
White is the exchange and a couple of pawns ahead. More importantly, his King and Queen are safe and he can begin to seek aggressive play, himself.
12...d5
Possibly not best, but the computer recommendation is discouraging: 12...Nf6 13.f3 Qxf3+ 14.gxf3 Nxh7.
13.Qh3 Qb4
Black, too, has aggressive thoughts, and so retains his Queen - but he would have done better to exchange it, to mess up White's pawns.
Now White moves in for the knockout.
14.Qf3+ Bf5 15.Qxd5+ Kf6 16.g4 Bxg4 17.Bg5 checkmate.
Wandering around the internet today, I encountered a YouTube video (one of the Hindi Chess Videos) titled "Brilliant chess combination by Black Death". As you might guess, it covered the Jerome Gambit game Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1884.
I am always interested in another look at that classic game, even if it does include a crush of my favorite opening.
This time, the presenter mentioned, in passing, what is known as the Whistler Defense - 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Qe7!? - which is much less known (and much less mentioned) than Blackburne's 7...d6!?. It also punishes White quickly, if he dares to take Black's Rook with 8.Qxh8?
(As a quick aside, The Database shows that White has a scoring edge after the capture of the Rook, 25 - 23 - 4, but that should not be taken as a recommendation.)
The presenter follows up with the logical 8...Qxe4+ 9.Kf1 Qh4 (best) 10.g3 Qh3+, and then things begin to wrap up the analysis with 11.Kg1 (not the best move, but nothing but a quick ending can be done about White's suffering) b5 - soon to be followed by ...Bb7.
I have only one game in The Database that wanders down this unfortunate (for White) path: ZahariSokolov - ekwador, standard, FICS, 2017, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Qe7 8.Qxh8 Qxe4+ 9.Kf1 Qh4 10.g3 Qh3+ 11.Kg1 b5 12.d4 Bb7 13.Qxh7+ Qxh7 14.Nd2 Qh3 15.f3 Bxd4 checkmate.
Ouch. According to The Database, ZahariSokolov is 2 - 3 with White, after taking the Rook in this line, but I don't expect him to be playing it again, any time soon.
As I discovered recently, a few of my older games that have escaped scrutiny on this blog, so I am sharing them.
The following game is as quiet as expected after Black's 7th and 8th moves.
AlonzoJerome - adroit
5 5 blitz, ICC, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Bxf2+
The line we have been examining
Instead of offering a Rook with the Blackburne Defense, 7...d6!?, or preparing a wicked counterattack with Whistler's Defense, 7...Qe7!?, my opponent plays what I have elsewhere referred to as an "inoffensive defense" (see "An Inoffensive Defense") and a "calming defense" (see "Nothing Happened").
8.Kxf2 Qf6+ 9.Qxf6+ Nxf6 10.Nc3 d6
11.d3 Bd7 12.Bg5 Ng4+ 13.Ke2 h6 14.Rhf1+ Kg7 15.Bf4 g5 16.Bg3 h5 17.h3 h4 18.Be1 Ne5
19.d4
Tempting. Perhaps 19.Nd5 c6 20.Ne3 Rhf8 21.Bc3 was better.
19...Ng6 20.Bd2 g4 21.hxg4 Bxg4+ 22.Kd3 Rhf8
23.Nd5
After the game Stockfish 8 recommended 23.Nb5, to be met by 23...Bd7 24.c4 (Not 24.Nxc7 Rxf1 25.Rxf1 Rc8 and the Knight can't withdraw because of 26...Bb5+) 24...Bxb5 25.cxb5 with an advantage to White.
23...c6 24.Ne3 Bd7 25.Nf5+ Black resigned
The pawn at d6 will fall, and being down two is enough for my opponent.
