In the following game, the question is, "Can White take the Rook?"
The answer, as he shows quite well, is simply "Yes".
The Jerome Gambit may be a disreputable opening, but it is still necessary to construct a viable defense in order to defeat it. If the defender is surprised and confused, his chances are much reduced, especially in a blitz game.
Anonymous - Anonymous
5 3 blitz, lichess.org, 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5
Will Black try the Blackburne Defense with 7...d6, or Whistler's Defense with 7...Qe7 ?
7...Be7
This will only work if White does not capture the Rook, because then Black will be able to get in the move 8...Nf6.
8.Qxh8 Bf6 9.Qxh7+ Kf8 10.Qxg6 d6 11.d4 Bd7
Black works on his development, but the game has already swung in his opponent's favor.
12.Bh6+ Ke7 13.e5 dxe5 14.dxe5 Bxe5 15.O-O Nf6 16.Re1 Kd6
17.Nc3 Be6 18.Rad1+ Bd5 19.Rxd5+ Kc6 20.Rxd8 Rxd8 21.Rxe5 b5 22.Qxf6+ Kb7 23.Qxd8 a5 24.Rxb5+ Kc6 25.Qd5 checkmate
In the following game, White is the happy recipient of the return of his two sacrificed pieces. Some of that material comes in handy when he wants to further invest in his attack.
Anonymous - Anonymous
5 3 blitz, lichess.org, 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke7
This move is not seen often, but White must have been pleased when it happened, as the two sacrificed pieces are quickly recovered.
7.Qxe5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+ d6
Instead, the wild brofessor45 - thrivingturtle, 10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020 continued 8...Qe7 9.Qxc7 Nf6 10.d3 Qb4+ 11.c3 Qd6 12.Bf4 Qxf4 13.Qxf4 d5 14.Qd6+ Kg8 15.O-O dxe4 16.Re1 e3 17.Rxe3 Kf7 18.Re7+ Kf8 19.Nd2 Bg4 20.Rae1 Bh5 21.Re8+ Kf7 22.R1e7+ Kg6 23.Qg3+ Kh6 24.Qe3+ g5 25.Re6 Raxe8 26.Rxf6+ Kg7 27.Qxg5+ Bg6 28.Qxg6+ hxg6 29.Ne4 Rxe4 30.dxe4 g5 31.Rb6 Rh5 32.Rxb7+ Kf6 33.Rxa7 g4 34.f3 gxf3 35.gxf3 Ke5 36.Ra5+ Kf4 37.Rxh5 Kxf3 38.Rf5+ Ke2 39.h4 Kd2 40.Rb5 Kc2 41.h5 Kc1 42.h6 Kb1 43.h7 Ka1 44.Rd5 Kb1 45.h8=Q Kxb2 46.e5 Kxc3 47.e6+ Kc4 48.Rd7 Kc5 49.e7 Kc6 50.Ra7 Kb6 51.Ra4 Kb5 52.Ra7 Kb6 53.Ra8 Kb7 54.Ra4 Kc7 55.e8=Q Kd6 56.Ra7 Kd5 57.Qhh5+ Kd4 58.Ra4+ Kd3 59.Qf3+ Kd2 60.Rb4 Kc2 61.Qb8 Kd2 62.Rb2+ Kc1 63.Qf1#
9.Qe3 Nf6 10.O-O Ng4
This kind of attack sometimes rebounds. Here, not much comes of it.
11.Qf4+ Nf6 12.d4 Kg8
13.a4 b6 14.Rd1 Bb7 15.Nc3 a6 16.e5 Nd5 17.Nxd5 Bxd5 18.Qg3 h6
White is safely a couple of pawns ahead, and has no reason to hurry... Wait! It's a 5-minute game. Here he goes!
19.Rd3 Qe8 20.Bf4 Rd8 21.exd6 Qe2 22.dxc7 Rc8 23.Qh4 g5 24.Bxg5 hxg5 25.Qxg5+
25...Kf8 26.Qf6+ Bf7 27.Qd8+ Qe8 28.Qd6+ Kg8 29.Rg3+ Bg6 30.Rxg6+ Qxg6 31.Qxg6+ Kf8 32.Qf6+ Ke8 33.Qxh8+ Kd7 34.Qg7+ Kc6 35.h4 Rxc7 36.Qf6+ Kb7 37.h5 Rh7 38.c4 Rxh5 39.Qf3+ Kc7 40.Qxh5 Black left the game
Very nice.
Recently I received the following Jerome Gambit game. At first, I did not know what to make of it.
Anonymous - Anonymous
5 3 blitz, lichess.org, 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qxh8 Nf6 9.Qxd8 White won
That was kind of strange... Except, a couple of days later, the same line played out in another game, a 3 0 blitz, although the defender struggled on for a dozen more moves before resigning.
How to explain Black's 8th move? A weak chess player? A hurried-by-the clock chess player? A scared-by-the-Jerome-Gambit chess player? An overconfident-and-therefore-inattentive chess player?
I finally decided that I had been onto something when I wrote "Half a defense is worse than none at all..." a decade ago.
My guess is that 7 out of 10 players who have ever heard of the Jerome Gambit had been exposed to Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1884: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qxh8 Qh4 9.O-O Nf6 10.c3 Ng4 11.h3 Bxf2+ 12.Kh1 Bf5 13.Qxa8 Qxh3+ 14.gxh3 Bxe4#
What if the defenders in both recent games remembered only a part of Blackburne's defense, or remembered it incompletely?
"Hmm... silly Jerome Gambit... accept the sacrificed Bishop... accept the sacrificed Knight... give back a Rook... trap the enemy Queen with my Kight - No, wait, I was supposed to play 8...Qh4 first!!"
I found an earlier game with even more pain.
KONB - elmflare
standard, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qxh8 Qh4 9.O-O Nf6
This time the Queen is trapped, but take note of White's next move. Meanwhile, Black repeats Blackburne's killer attack on the King, including sacrificing another Rook, and his Queen.
10.Nc3 Ng4 11.h3 Bxf2+ 12.Kh1 Bf5 13.Qxa8 Qxh3+ 14.gxh3 Bxe4+ 15.Nxe4 Black resigned
White's Knight on c3 - instead of a pawn, as the Amateur played against Blackburne - ruined Black's fireworks display.
So, is 10.Nc3 White's way out of his Blackburne nightmare?
Actually, a game played at the end of May of this year said: No!
flash_ahaaa - thefinalzugzwang
2 1 blitz, lichess.org, 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qxh8 Qh4 9.O-O Nf6 10.Nc3
10...Bh3 11.Qxa8
Best might have been 11.Qxf6+ Kxf6 12.gxh3 Qxh3, with a Rook, a Knight and a pawn for his Queen, although Black would still be better.
11...Qg4 12.g3 Qf3 White resigned
Surprisingly enough, Grandmaster Larry Evans had discussed this line in his Chess Catechism (1970). He gave 10...Bh3 a "!". In discussion on this blog, "GM Larry Evans and the Jerome Gambit", Bill Wall pointed out 10...Ng4, that elmflare played, above.
(Is 10.Qd8!? the real solution to White's trapped Queen? That's a long story, and one that will have to wait for another day.)
I like to play over Bill Wall's Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games. They are exciting, and they often make the opening seem so normal.
Wall, Bill - Anonymous
lichess.org, 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bb4+
One way to deal with the pawn fork.
7.c3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3
The alternative is 8.Nxc3, and Bill has played that, too.
8...Nc6
The game has a bit of a hypermodern feel to it, Black's piece vs White's pawns.
9.O-O
White is happy with his pawn center, and leaves it in place, for now. A wild alternative was 9.d5 Ne5 10.f4 Nc4 11.0-0 Qe7 12.Qd4 Nd6 13.e5 Nf5 14.Qf7, which Komodo 10 sees as still in Black's favor, and which FM Stefan Bücker would probably enjoy.
9...d6 10.Be3 Nf6 11.Qb3+ Kf8
Black hasn't quite castled-by-hand, as his King blocks in his Rook.
12.e5 dxe5 13.dxe5 Nxe5
Instead, the Knight on f6 needed to retreat.
14.Bc5+ Ke8 15.Re1 Nfd7
The "best" Black has is to surrender both Knights with 15...Qd5 16.Qxd5 Nxd5 17.Rxe5+ Kf7 18.Rxd5.
16.Qe6+ Black resigned
Here is another (see "Jerome Gambit: Full-Bodied Defense") Jerome Gambit game which should be routine and boring. Black makes a mistake on move 7, turning his clear advantage into a clear disadvantage. In fact, this had happened twice before in Bill Wall games, and they showed "1-0" in 10 moves or less (in a third game, Black struggled on for 10 more moves).
So, Bill takes his advantage and moves on to the win. Things were not that simple, though. Watch.
Wall, Bill - Anonymous
lichess.org, 2019
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 g6
It is fun, kicking White's Queen. However, this move gives up the Knight at e5 and the Rook at h8. (If you worry about being greedy, you can substitute capturing the Bishop at c5.)
8.Qxe5+ Kf7 9.Qxh8
Here, Black resigned in Wall, Bill - DGTS, FICS, 2011.
9...Qh4+ 10.g3
Here, Black resigned, in Wall, Bill - Guest1681797, PlayChess.com, 2013,
10...Qh3
Or 10...Qf6 11.Qxh7+ Qg7 12.Qxg7+ Kxg7 13.Nc3 d6 14.Nd5 Bb6 15.b3 Bg4 16.Bb2+ Kh7 17.Nxb6 axb6 18.Kf2 Re8 19.h3 Be6 20.g4 Black resigned, Wall, Bill - Guest862403, Play.Chess.com 2014.
11.d3 d5
So, here we go. White is up the exchange and a couple of pawns. His Queen is a bit uncomfortable in the corner, at h8, however, and his King is not altogether safe. What to do?
12.Qe5
Perfectly reasonable. Anyone who has ever seen Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1884 (see "Nobody expects the Jerome Gambit!" and "Jerome Gambit: Dr. Harding Checks In") would not wait for ...Nf6, locking in White's Queen.
Now, White goes on to win in three dozen more moves.
But - wait. Stockfish 10, recommends, instead, 12.f5!?, with a whole lot of crazy tactics - 12...Bxf5 (not 12...gxf5 because of 13.Nd2 dxe4 14.Nxe4!? fxe4 15.Rf1+ and attack) 13.Qe5 and the f-file will be trouble for Black, especially after ...Qg2 is met by Rf1. Just one example of play is 13...dxe4 14.Qxc5 exd3 15.Qxc7+ Kf8 16.Qc5+ Kg7 17.Nc3 Qg2 18.Rf1 dxc2 19.Be3 Re8 20.g4 Qxg4 21.Kd2 - and you can see why Bill simply chose to remove his Queen!
12...c6
Black supports his d-pawn - but Stockfish 10 will have none of it. To keep only about a three-fourths of a pawn behind, Black should try 12...Qg2 13.Rf1 Bg4!? 14.Qxd5+ Kg7 15.Nc3 b6!? when 16.f5 Nf6!? 17.Qc4 (not 17.Qxa8? Bd4! with a forced mate) Qxh2 18.d4 Qxg3+ 19.Rf2 Qg1+ 20.Qf1 Qxf1+ 21.Rxf1 Bxd4 22.fxg6 hxg6 23.Nb5 Be5 24.Bf4 Bxf4 25.Rxf4 g5 26.Rf1 Nxe4 27.Rg1 Nf6 leaves Black with a pawn for the exchange...
So - Black's choice of a move is understandable, too.
13.f5 gxf5 14.Nd2 Nf6 15.Nf3 Qg2 16.Rf1 Qxc2
It is humorous to point out that Stockfish 10 sees White as being the equivalent of 4 pieces ahead. I am not sure that Bill's King felt that way!
17.Ng5+ Kg7 18.Bd2 Qxd3 19.exf5
This will support White's Knight when it comes to e6. For sheer madness, take a look at 19.Rf3 Qc4 20.Rf4
19...h6 20.Ne6+ Bxe6
21.fxe6
This is fine, altough Stockfish 10 recommends 21.O-O-O!? Qc4+
22.Bc3 Bd4 23.Qxd4 Qxd4 24.Rxd4 Bg8 when White would still be up the exchange.
21... Bd4 22.Qc7+ Kh8 23.O-O-O Qc4+ 24. Kb1 Ne4 25. Bc1 Qb4
26.e7
Cold blooded. Others might have returned the exchange with 26.Rxd4 to deal with one threat to b2, or tried 26.Ka1 to avoid the nasty 26...Nc3+ fork. Instead, Bill enlists the "Jerome pawn" in his checkmate threats.
26... Nc3+ 27.Ka1 Nxd1 28.Qd8+ Rxd8
Abject surrender, although 28...Kh7 29.Rxd1 Bg7 30.Qxa8 Qxe7 would also leave him a Rook down.
29.exd8=Q+ Kg7
30.Qd7+ Kh8 31.Qe8+ Kh7 32.Rf7+ Bg7 33.Qd7 Qd4
34.Qf5+ Kg8 35.Re7 Qf6 36.Re8+ Kf7 37.Qh5+ Qg6 38.Re7+ Black resigned
He will soon be down a Queen for a few pawns.
