Jerome Gambit: More Recent Videos

The recent increase in attention to the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) has led to an increase in videos on the opening at YouTube.com. I have already posted one list of links, but here is another, of recently created videos.

The last video listed ("Everything You Should Know About The Jerome Gambit"), by GM Cemil Can Ali Marandi, is particularly interesting, and quite good, and I point it out - to those who want to know how to meet the Jerome Gambit, and for those who want to prepare for when they play those who take the grandmaster's suggestions.

The next-to-last video ("Das Jerome Gambit || Das schlechteste Gambit im Schach?!"), by GM Huschenbeth, is also good, although it helps if you know a bit of German.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU46n4Y_8Mg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUJK162EzLs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQz59OM9r-E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI7mVbHvuFM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osIkwIPff84

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DABYM3mdXW0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n20i4fbgZj8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgrl64N6q3s

Jerome Gambit: Recent Videos

If you go to YouTube.com, and search for the Jerome Gambit, you will find a surprising number of videos.

Here are links to some of the more recent ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6rTPo3Wst0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GObYMqwr4w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onPQENTm84k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDtH7KeN834

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nkh44gCCPAE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjJnyEGkU0k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHvFfeFpEFs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x9WVAuecjg

Please Read

About a week-and-a-half ago, I started getting emails suggesting that I check out a certain online link. It led to a video of a program originally on Twitch that had taken up residence on YouTube.

In it, a grandmaster was having a humorous time with the Jerome Gambit, this blog, and me. That wasn't much of a surprise - except that most top players would not give the Jerome even a second glance, while the video was 17 minutes long.

So, everyone in the video, including those in the scrolling comments - and, later, those who commented in YouTube - had a good laugh at a chess opening that was probably refuted shortly after it was first played. The Jerome Gambit certainly had a great future behind it.

Okay. 

A video lampooning a blog running for 12 years, posted to every day or every-other-day on that bizarre opening? Are you kidding? Hilarious.

Okay.

The amusement grew. For real, a weird guy who has been researching the Jerome Gambit for a couple of decades, and keeping that blog up-to-date? I mean, come on, does he actually think that it's a good opening?

The grandmaster just had to play some Jerome games online, and then send one to me, borrowing a username and changing his rating. Would it wind up posted on the blog? It was! Untold amounts of  ROTFL!

Okay, too.

The guy was funny. He got into the Jerome Gambit with bravado, looking like its second-biggest fan. He had played fair with me, too - when he sent his game to me, it was in an email with his own name on it. I figured something was up.

Then, Pepe the Frog made an appearance in the video. Originally in Matt Furie's comic, "Boy's Club", the character was later adopted by far-right groups to espouse their causes, much to the creator's embarassment. Despite claims that the anthropomorphic amphibian has been white-washed back to decency, for a lot of people today, the meme still screams hatred and prejudice.

Not okay.

About that point in the video, things started getting awkward, as when the GM was trying to play a game online, and exclaimed  "Dammit, I'm black.... Maybe it works for black as well. I mean it is called the Jerome". Huh?

Then came a brilliant suggestion that Jerome might have originally blundered away a couple of pieces, and then just claimed that he had invented a new opening. Good stuff - if it hadn't been voiced in a stereotypically offensive imitation of a Black person's voice. Not much later, there was an energetic lampooning of the "privilege" that the Jerome, with the white pieces, was all about. The observers in the comments caught it all, and loved it, too.

It took me several runs-through, with CC, to catch much of it.

It was not okay.

Why spoil a surreal chess performance, with such racist offensiveness? What a sense of timing. With with what seems like an endless string of killings of Black people in this country - the most recent, of George Floyd - and the widespread protests of endless police violence being met with more police violence, was any of that necessary? Is it ever necessary?

No.

Even if our prejudices cling to us like a shadow we can't outrun - we can try.

Imagine my excitement at getting an invitation to join the grandmaster on his chess show this week, via Zoom, to further discuss the Jerome Gambit -  that passion of mine for 20 years.

Imagine my disappointment, too. 

Of course, I declined the offer.



    

Jerome Gambit: New Games Coming

GM Aman Hambleton, of CHESSBRAHS, over at chess.com, also at Twitch, has stirred up a good bit of interest in the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) in the last few days, due to his video (mentioned in the previous post) concerning the Jerome (it can be found on YouTube.com).

I also have to credit GM Eric Hansen, who I watched on the CHESSBRAHS site try for two hours to get a Jerome Gambit game going, but was frustrated in his attempts. 

As a result, I have received many emails and messages, as well as a good selection of new Jerome Gambit games - including one by the computer program Leela Chess Zero, rated over 3600!  

I plan to share those games, although it may take me a few days to get them posted on this blog. Please be patient - and keep an eye out.

In the meantime, it is always possible to use the "search this blog" function to explore this site further. I have also found that if I use an internet search engine (like Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo) for a string of moves - say, "6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Qe7" it will turn up links to relevant posts on this blog.

Thank you - Rick   

Jerome Gambit: The Choice of Chess Hooligans!

Searching the internet the other day, I ran across a couple of videos (Russian language, I believe), each covering an online Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game, with commentary by the player of the White pieces - in this case, Chess-For-All, at lichess.org.

One was aptly titled "Jerome Gambit - A Killer Weapon in the Italian Game!" and the other was referenced as "Jerome Gambit - the choice of chess hooligans!"

Chess-For-All has appeared in these posts, before - see "Jerome Gambit: A Day in the Life".

A check at lichess.org showed me that Chess-For-All is the handle of Alexey Pugach, of Dnepr, Ukraine (FIDE rating 2166). Pugach has his own collection of educational chess videos on YouTube, by the way.

That name might sound familiar to Readers, and a quick look back at the post "Jerome Gambit: More GMs? (Part 1)" would show that he had previously played under the handle ChessCoachUA.

A check of Chess-For-All's games at lichess.org turned up 25 Jerome Gambits, most played at a 3 0 blitz, or 1 0 bullet, time control, scoring an impressive 78%.

I have added Chess-For-All's Jerome Gambits to The Database.

Here is one of the YouTube games. 

Jerome Gambit: Or Players of Not-So-Small Elo

Following up on the previous post, I want to draw your attention to a very nicely done French language YouTube video:

Presentation of the Jérome Gambit an opening reserved for players of fast games or players of small elo level.

Jerome Gambit: Simply A Chess Bomb!

I love it when a chess player gets excited about a Jerome Gambit game, even if it is the notorious destruction of the opening, Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1884.

So I enjoyed Suren Aghabekyan's YouTube video, "This Is Simply A Chess Bomb!", part of his "Chess with Suren" series.

It was nice to see that he not only showed that 10.Qd8 was the saving (winning) idea that White had missed against Blackburne, he showed how the Queen can be freed from the back rank.

Check it out.

[For those of you who are counting, and especially for those of you who are not, this is blog post #2,800. Just saying.]

Jerome Gambit: The Headless Chicken

The Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is not for everyone. Sometimes, it is really, really, really not for some people.

I just ran across a YouTube video from ChessTraps.net, titled "Italian The Headless Chicken". Hysterical. Yes, the Jerome Gambit has been called many things, from the "Jerome Gamble" to the "Ashcan Opening", but, this one takes the prize.

The Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1884 game is presented, without mention of the players, and the narrator is clearly repulsed.

I don't know how the next so-called trap managed to worm itself into our collection. It is simply horrendous and has little chess value whatsoever and you would all be advised never to try this one at home, it's so replete in mistakes...

Do check it out. Players who agree with the narrator, probably do not play the Jerome Gambit, anyhow. And - the lower they estimate the value of the opening, the more they open themselves to overlooking White's chances and opportunities.

Is Jerome Gambit Sound?

?

I just stumbled over a web page by Mato Jelic titled "Is Jerome Gambit Sound?" which asks the eternal question, referencing a game that had appeared on this blog previously.

If you visit the page, you will find a video that no longer works - but there is a link to YouTube.com, however, so you can still check it out there.

Enjoy.

The Jerome Gambit: "Somewhat Problematic For Black"

I recently enjoyed watching the short YouTube video by chessthisout on "italian game for black less popular lines" which covers 7 less popular lines in the Giuoco Piano ("for players of ratings up to 1600 in FICS") - including the Jerome Gambit (unnamed in the video), "which can be somewhat problematic for Black if he doesn't play it properly".

The two main Jerome lines covered are 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.0-0 and 5.d4, but not 5.Nxe5+, which means the move might come as quite a surprise for the unprepared defender. For that matter, 5...Bxd4 is the recommended response to 5.d4; the more challenging 5...Qh4 is not mentioned, which means the move might come as quite a surprise for the unprepared attacker.

I was shocked to see that chessthisout covered the alternative 4.Nxe5, and I told myself that certainly there wouldn't be any game examples of that move in The Database. I was wrong, there are 22 games - almost all of them transposing to the main line Jerome Gambit after 4...Nxe5 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7?! (better is 5...Nxf7). Whew!

Coffeehouse Chess Videos

David Kane (Kuasm) has started a series of "Coffeehouse Chess" videos at YouTube, focusing upon openings that are dodgy and dubious, showing refutations and then basic ideas, for those who want to play the lines for fun or in casual chess.

So far he has covered the Englund Gambit (1.d4 e5) and the Blackburne Shilling Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc3 Nd4). They are certainly worth viewing.

He has said that he will look at the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+). I am especially looking forward to this one.

Italian game for black less popular lines

I just ran across a video "Italian game for black less popular lines" offering

Italian game for amateurs explained. I explain here 7 less popular lines in Giuoco Piano...

I intended to make those openings as easy and short as possible since they are for players of ratings up to 1600 on FICS.

What is interesting is that the author covers the Jerome Gambit (without naming it), showing only two of the "modern" lines: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 and now 5.0-0 and 5.d4. There is no mention of the 5.Nxe5+ lines.

New Jerome Gambit Videos

Erik Knutson (USCF 2080) has recently posted a couple of videos at YouTube, introducing the Jerome Gambit. They are well-produced and give a good introduction to 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+.

Video 1, (3 minutes), March 15, 2012


Video 2, (9 minutes 30 seconds), March 20, 2012

Erik promises a third video soon, with a couple of illustrative games. Watch for it!

Jerome Gambit on YouTube!?

I recently ran across a YouTube video (above). It turns out that the game is Ghandybh  - ishahir, Chess.com, 2009: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Nc6 9.e5+ Ke7 10.Qg5+ Ke6 11.Qxg7 Nge7 12.Qf6+ Kd5 13.Nc3+ Kc4 14.Qf7+ d5 15.exd6+ Kd4 16.Nb5+ Ke4 17.d3 checkmate.

Very, very cool.