Jerome Gambit Toolbox

There are a number of recurring tactical ideas in the Jerome Gambit which I like to think of as tools in a toolbox - at hand to help White construct an effective game.

perrypawnpusher - subhann

10 5 blitz, FICS, 2016

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+

The "nudge", a small, but useful tool in the Jerome Gambit toolbox. A good number of opponents take time trying to figure out what the move means. White uses a tempo, but he will get it back against 7...Kf8 or 7...Ke8 if Black later castles-by-hand; while if Black chooses 7...Ke7 or 7...Kf6, his King will be in  the way of effective development.

7...Kf8 8.Qxc5+ N8e7

A relatively rare move. See "Wilderness". I have only met this once, in perrypawnpusher - Jaqueperpetuo, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 25)

9.O-O d6 10.Qe3 Be6

A bit careless, encouraging White to pull out another tool.

11.f4

Of course: the threatened pawn fork.

11...Bd7

Instead, 11...Bf7 was seen in mrjoker - cherryhead/Internet Chess Club, 2008 (1-0, 50).

White can still use the center pawn press.

12.f5 Ne5 13.d4 Nc4 14.Qd3

14...b5 15.b3 Nb6 16.f6 

The "Jerome pawn" advances to open up the enemy position. It is not immediately decisive, as White still has to complete his development to follow through on the open lines, but the advantage it provides is clear.

16...gxf6 17.Rxf6+ Kg7 18.Qf3 

18...Rf8

This move turns the game over to White. Stockfish 7, after the game, suggested 18...Bf5!? returning the extra piece, although after 19.Bg5 Bg6 20.Re6 Rf8 21.Bf6+ Kg8 22.Rxe7 Qxe7 23.Bxe7 Rxf3
24.gxf3 White would have a two pawn advantage.

19.Bh6+ 

One last tool - the Bishop check from h6.

19...Kh8 20.Rxf8+ Ng8 21.Rxd8 Rxd8 Black resigned

White wins the exchange after 22.Qf7 Nxh6 23.Qf6 Kg8 Qxd8+ with an overwhelming material lead 

Wilderness

Compared to the urban superhighways of the Ruy Lopez or King's Indian Defense, the Jerome Gambit is a path through the woods. Some lesser-played lines are a trudge through the wilderness. In the following game, White, with 155 games in The Database, travels, then wanders, then gets a bit lost - fortunately for him, his opponent is even less prepared for the journey.

fehim - sonikf
blitz, FICS, 2015

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+Kf8 8.Qxc5+ N8e7

A playable, but not often played, move. (More often seen is 8...d6.) All of the relevant games from The Database can be given or linked to.

9.O-O d6 10.Qe3

10.Qc4 was seen in  Wall,B - Guesty1960624, PlayChess.com, 2013 (1-0, 30) while fehim, himself, tried earlier: 10.Qb4 b6 11.d3 Bb7 12.Bg5 h6 13.Be3 Qd7 14.Nd2 Kf7 15.Qb3+ Qe6 16.Qc3 Rhf8 17.Qxc7 Rab8 18.Qc3 Kg8 19.Nf3 Rfc8 20.Qd2 Ne5 21.Nd4 Qf6 22.h3 N7c6 23.Nf5 Ne7 24.Ng3 d5 25.f4 N5g6 26.e5 Qf7 27.d4 Nf5 28.Nxf5 Qxf5 29.g4 Qxc2 30.Qb4 Nh4 31.Rf2 Qe4 32.Re1 Nf3+ 33.Kf1 Nxe1 34.Qxe1 Rc2 35.Rxc2 Qxc2 36.Qd2 Qxd2 37.Bxd2 Rc8 38.Bc3 Kf7 39.a3 Ke6 40.Kf2 a6 41.Kf3 b5 42.f5+ Ke7 43.Kf4 g5+ 44.fxg6 Rg8 45.h4 Rxg6 46.h5 Rg8 47.Kf5 Rf8+ 48.Kg6 Rf4 49.Kxh6 Rxg4 50.Kh7 White forfeited on time. fehim - HarryPaul, FICS, 2006.

10... Kf7

Alternatives:

10...Nc6 11.d4 Qe7 12.f4 Kg8 13.f5 Nf8 14.c3 h6 15.Na3 Nh7 16.Bd2 Nf6 17.Rae1 a6 18.Nc2 Bd7 19.e5 dxe5 20.dxe5 Nd5 21.Qe4 Nb6 22.Kh1 Rf8 23.g4 Qh4 24.e6 Bc8 25.Rg1 Re8 26.Bf4 Re7 27.b3 h5 28.g5 Black forfeited on time, MrJoker - rex3, Internet Chess Club, 2012;

10...h6 11.d4 Kg8 12.c4 (12.f4 as in mrjoker - hp9000, Internet Chess Club, 2009 [1-0, 19])12... Kh7 13. f4 c5 14. dxc5dxc5 15. Qxc5 Qb6 16. Qxb6 axb6 17. Be3 Ra6 18. Nc3 Rf8 19. g3 Bg4 20. Kg2 h5 21. h3 Bd7 22. a4 Bc6 23. b4 Nf5 24. Bg1 Black forfeited on time, MrJoker - ilongavab, Internet Chess Club, 2012 (1-0,24);

10...b6 as in perrypawnpusher - Jaqueperpetuo, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 25); 

10...Ke8 11.d4 Rf8 12.f4 Kf7 (12...d5 as in guest645 - guest1600, Internet Chess Club, 2001 [1-0, 31]) 13. f5 Nh8 14. Qb3+ d5
15. Bg5 c6 16. Nc3 h6 17. Bxe7 Qxe7 18. exd5 Kg8 19. dxc6+ Nf7 20. Nd5 Qd6 21.c7 Kh7 22. Rae1 b6 23. c4 Bb7 24. Re6 Qd7 25. Re7 Qc8 26. Qg3 Bxd5 27. Qg6+ Kg828. f6 Ng5 Black resigned, Ghandy - pratmanu, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 28); 

10... Be6 as in mrjoker - cherryhead, Internet Chess Club, 2008 (1-0, 50); and

10...Bd7 as in guest4097 - guest4686, Internet Chess Club, 2004 (1-0, 25);

11.f4 Rf8 12.f5 Ne5 13.Qb3+ d5 

White is working to interfere with Black castling-by-hand. He should take a moment, now, to support his center with 14.Nc3. Instead, he continues to go after the enemy King.

14.f6 gxf6 15.exd5 Qxd5 16.Qg3

White does not want to exchange Queens and weaken his chances for an attack, but this move puts Her Majesty in a risky position and strengthens Black's counter-attack.

16...Bf5

Even stronger is 16...Rg8.

17.d3 Bg6 18.Nc3 Qe6 19.Bh6 Rg8 20.Rae1

In this complicated position Stockfish 6 recommends the bizarre 20...Be4!? 21.Bg5 Bf5!? when White's Bishop, not Black's, will be in danger, finishing up with 22.h4 h6 23.d4 Qb6 24.Qf2 hxg5 25.dxe5 Qxf2+ 26.Rxf2 gxh4 27.exf6 Kxf6 28.Rxf7 Kxf7 29.Rxf5; Black is ahead the exchange.

However, the defender gets lost in the woods.

20...Qd6  21.Rxe5 Black resigned

This is a complicated position (exchanging Queens first with 21.Qxe5 Qxe5 22.Rxe5 might have helped White) and it is difficult to see Black resigning while just a pawn down, but perhaps he had his fill of the wilderness or his clock was winding down.

Things are looking up

With a game like the following, I get the sense that it is possible to play the Jerome Gambit effectively (at least every once-in-a-while) and even have a bit of fun in the process.

perrypawnpusher - Jaqueperpetuo

blitz, FICS, 2011

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

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

7.Qd5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+ N8e7

Not a frequent response (usually seen is 8...d6), but understandable: Black develops a piece even as he blocks White's check.

9.0-0 d6 10.Qe3 b6

This reminds me of my game with jdvatty.

Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member Louis Morin (mrjoker, guest) has the most experience with the 8...N8e7 defense:

10...Ke8 11.d4 Rf8 12.f4 d5 13.f5 Nh8 14.exd5 Rxf5 15.Rxf5 Bxf5 16.Nc3 Qd7 17.Bd2 Bxc2 18.Qe5 Qf5 19.Qxg7 Kd7 20.Re1 Nf7 21.Rf1 Qg6 22.Rxf7 Qxg7 23.Rxg7 Kd6 24.Nb5+ Kd7 25.Bf4 Rc8 26.Bxc7 a6 27.d6 axb5 28.Rxe7+ Kc6 29.d5+ Kxd5 30.d7 Rxc7 31.d8Q+ Black resigned, guest645 - guest1600, Internet Chess Club 2001;

10...Bd7 11.f4 Bc6 12.d4 Ke8 13.f5 Nf8 14.c4 d5 15.cxd5 Bb5 16.Rf2 c6 17.Nc3 Ba6 18.Bd2 cxd5 19.e5 Nd7 20.f6 Ng6 21.fxg7 Rg8 22.Nxd5 Rxg7 23.e6 Nb6 24.Nf6+ Ke7 25.Bb4+ Black resigned, guest4097 - guest4686, Internet Chess Club, 2004;

10...Be6 11.f4 Bf7 12.d4 Kg8 13.f5 Nf8 14.b3 Nc6 15.c4 Qf6 16.Bb2 Qe7 17.Nd2 Re8 18.Rae1 Nb4 19.Qg3 Nd7 20.e5 dxe5 21.dxe5 Kf8 22.e6 Nf6 23.exf7 Qxf7 24.Rxe8+ Qxe8 25.Re1 Qd7 26.Ne4 Qxf5 27.Nxf6 gxf6 28.Bxf6 Rg8 29.Re8+ Kxe8 30.Qxg8+ Kd7 31.Qf7+ Kc6 32.Qe8+ Kb6 33.Bd4+ c5 34.Qb5+ Kc7 35.Qxc5+ Qxc5 36.Bxc5 Nxa2 37.Bxa7 Kc6 38.Be3 Nb4 39.Kf2 Nc2 40.Ke2 b5 41.cxb5+ Kxb5 42.g4 Kb4 43.h4 Kxb3 44.g5 Kc4 45.h5 Nxe3 46.Kxe3 Kd5 47.g6 hxg6 48.h6 Ke6 49.h7 Kf7 50.h8Q Black resigned, mrjoker - cherryhead, Internet Chess Club, 2008;

10...h6 11.d4 Kg8 12.f4 c5 13.c3 cxd4 14.cxd4 Kh7 15.f5 Nf8 16.f6 gxf6 17.Qxh6+ Kg8 18.Qxf6 Neg6 19.Qf7 checkmate, mrjoker - hp9000, Internet Chess Club, 2009.

11.f4 Bb7 12.f5 Ne5 13.d4

13...Nc4

This gives White a useful tempo without getting anything in return. Black had better chances from harassing the Queen with 13...Ng4 although after 14.Qf4 Nf6 15.Nd2 his advantage would be minimal.

14.Qd3 Na5 15.f6

After the game, Fritz10 preferred the positional 15.d5, when White would have a solid grip on the light squares. That is all well and good, but I wanted to attack the King!

15...gxf6 16.Rxf6+ Ke8 17.Nc3 Rf8

Black is skeptical of White's plan: can't the Rook just be traded off?

His assessment is largely correct – White needs more pieces to join the attack before it can become successful – but the answer was to counter-attack to keep the first player occupied. Rybka and Fritz10 like the idea of ...Qc8 followed by ...Qg4, combined with ...Rg8.

As it goes, White can exchange Rooks and use a gained tempo to bring his other Rook into play, something Black cannot imitate.

18.Rxf8+ Kxf8 19.Bh6+ Ke8

It was not at first clear that 19...Kg8 was the better King move.

Of course, after 19...Kg8, the f8 square would be protected three times (King, Queen, Rook) instead of once, as it is after the text. That would be a defensive improvement, but White could still make progress, taking advantage of the weakened light squares, with 20.b4.  If Black's Knight retreats with 20...Nc6, then 21.Qc4+
has to be met with 21...d5, when 22.exd5 maintains the attack on the Knight at c6 while threatening the one at d7 with a possible d5-d6+. White will keep a small advantage.

20.Rf1 Ng6 21.Qf3 Qe7

Black is holding on, although his extra piece is not doing much at a5.

White's most consistent course now would be to play 22.h4, with the idea of driving off Black's Knight on g6 which is one of the protectors of the f8 square. If Black answers 22...Nc6, bringing his offside Knight back into play, then 23.h5 Nxd4 24.Qf2 allows White to win one of the Knights.

Instead, I was content to keep Black's position cramped and torture his Knights a bit more.

22.Nd5 Bxd5 23.exd5

White's initiative will last into the endgame, for example: 23...Kd8 24.Qf5 Qd7 25.Bg5+ Kc8 26.Qxd7+ (another exchange to gain a tempo) Kxd7 27.Rf7+ Kc8 28.Rxh7 when White's Kingside pawns will allow him to triumph. 

However, Black now moves to free his un-moved Rook and comes to grief.

23...Kd7 24.Qf5+ Kd8

If 24...Ke8 then 25.Bg5 wins as well, e.g. 25...Qg7 26.Re1+, etc. 

25.Bg5 Black resigned