Excitment in a Jerome Gambit Sideline

I recently encountered a 10-minute game played online at lichess.org that featured a rather unusual line of play for White in the Jerome Gambit - and to be "unusual" in such an unusual opening means that the play got complicated and messy, just the kind of thing that a Jerome Gambit player enjoys taking advantage of!

I have placed all (few) game examples from The Database in the notes, to give Readers an idea of how stressed play can become in the variation.

StatsRowan - firstrow
10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2016

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Nf6 8.Qf5+ 

The usual (and recommended) move is 8.Qxe5+, but White has an interesting idea in mind. In quick games "interesting" often equals "dangerous" and regularly becomes "entertaining". 

8...Kf7 9.fxe5 d6 

Here we have White's idea and Black's response: White's Queen stays on the f-file and pins Black's Knight, planning to win it with the pawn that has gone to e5; while Black opens up an attack on the Queen.

The alternate move of the Black d-pawn has also been seen. From The Database: 9...d5 10.Qf4 (10.exf6? Bxf5 11.exf5 Qxf6 12.Rf1 Qh4+ 13.g3 Rhe8+ 14.Kd1 Qg4+ 15.Rf3 Qxf3#, Tysonx - cmstub, FICS, 2010; 10.Qf1 dxe4?! [10...Re8!?] 11.exf6 Qxf6? 12.Qc4+ Be6 13.Qxc5 c6? 14.Rf1 Bf5 15.Nc3 Black resigned, Superpippo - Gars, FICS 2002) 10...dxe4?! 11.exf6 Bd6 12.Qe3 (12.Qh4!?) 12...gxf6 13.O-O Qe7 14.Nc3? (14.d4 exd3 15.Qxd3 +/=) 14...Bc5 White resigned, DrRai - abudhabi, FICS, 2013. 

10.Qf3

Or 10.Qf4 dxe5 11.Qxe5 Bd6 12.Qd4 Bg3+ 13.hxg3 Qxd4 14.d3 Re8 15.Nc3 Bg4 16.Ne2 Bxe2 17.Kxe2 Nxe4 18.Rf1+ Nf6+ 19.Kd1 Qg4+ 20.Rf3 Re6 21.Bf4 Rae8 22.Rc1 Re1+ 23.Kd2 R8e2+ 24.Kc3 Rxc1 25.Bxc1 Rxg2 26.Rf1 Rxg3 27.Rf4 Qe6 28.b3 Qe5+ 29.Kb4 Qe1+ White resigned, unixo - nurfaza, GameKnot.com, 2008. 

10...dxe5 11.Nc3 Bg4 

Also seen: 11...c6 12.d3 Bb4 13.O-O Bxc3 14.bxc3 Rf8 15.Bg5 Kg8 16.d4 Qb6 17.Kh1 Nd7 18.Qg3 Rxf1+ 19.Rxf1 exd4 20.Bh6 g6 21.Qd6 Qd8 22.Qxd4 Qe7 23.h3 b5 24.e5 Bb7 25.e6 c5 26.Qxd7 Qxd7 27.exd7 Bc6 28.Rf8+ Rxf8 29.Bxf8 Bxd7 30.Bxc5 a6 31.Kg1 drawn, bobbob78 - panga74, GameKnot.com, 2008. 

12.Qg3 Qd7 

Or 12...Rf8 13.h3 Bh5 14.d3 Qd4 15.Rf1 Kg8 16.Bd2 Nxe4 17.Rxf8+ Rxf8 White resigned, Petasluk - Belive, FICS, 2006. 

13. Qxe5 Rhe8

This routine, not-so-deeply-analyzed move brings trouble.

14.Qxc5 Nxe4 15.Qc4+ Be6 16.O-O+ Kg8 17.Qxe4 Bd5

More trouble. Possibly time problem.

18.Qxd5+ Qxd5 19.Nxd5 c6

The last slip.

20.Nc7 Black resigned

A Jerome Gambit Brawl

Although there are plenty of refutations of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) adventurous people keep playing it, and many times, instead of a "simple" win for Black, those games become out-and-out brawls.

For example, here's a battle from the latest Jerome Gambit tournament -

bobbob78 - panga74

www.gameknot.com 2008

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Nf6

An unusual defensive idea, but he gets away with it.

8.Qf5+

The way to proceed: 8.Qxe5+ Kf7 9.Qxc5 d6 10.Qg5 Re8 11.d3 Kg8 12.0-0 Ng4 13.f5 Qxg5 14.Bxg5 h6 15.Bd2 h5 16.Nc3 b6 17.Nd5 c6 18.Nc7 Ba6 19.Nxa6 Kf7 20.Nc7 h4 21.Nxa8 Rxa8 22.Rf4 Nf6 23.Rxh4 c5 24.Rf1 Rc8 25.Rf3 c4 26.Bc3 Ne8 27.Rg3 a5 28.Rh7 Kg8 29.Rh4 a4 30.Rhg4 Rc7 31.h4 Ra7 32.Bd4 a3 33.b3 cxb3 34.cxb3 Rc7 35.f6 g6 36.Rxg6+ Kf7 37.Rg7+ Ke6 38.Rxc7 Nxc7 39.Rg7 Ne8 40.Re7 checkmate, blackburne - plummy, www.chessworld.net 2007

8...Kf7 9.fxe5 d6 10.Qf3 dxe5

White has now, instead, a regular Jerome Gambit position: two pawns for a piece and he has his work cut out for him.

11.Nc3 c6 12.d3 Bb4 13.0-0 Bxc3 14.bxc3 Rf8 15.Bg5 Kg8

16.d4 Qb6

Black is not sitting still: his King has castled by hand, and White's center is under attack.

17.Kh1 Nd7 18.Qg3 Rxf1+ 19.Rxf1 exd4

The position looks simple, but it is not. Black's move asks to be checkmated in 4.

20.Bh6 g6 21.Qd6

This still mates, but White had two pleasant Queen offers: 21.Qe5 Nf6 22.Qe8+ Nxe8 23.Rf8 checkmate.

21...Qd8 22.Qxd4

White is still winning, and there still is a mate (in 12) but surely 22.Qe6+ Kh8 23.Rf7 Qg8 24.Bf4 Qg7 25.Qe8+ Qg8 26.Be5+ Nxe5 27.Qxe5+ Qg7 28.Qxg7 was simpler.

22...Qe7 23.h3

But this is not nice: Black is now winning.

23...b5 24.e5 Bb7

It was time for some consolidation with a move like 24...Qe6, when Black has stopped all the mate threats and is still up a piece.

25.e6 c5

Giving the piece back, trading Queens, and possibly looking toward a Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame -- but White's advanced pawn gives him a big edge.

26.Qxd7 Qxd7 27.exd7 Bc6 28.Rf8+

A miscalculation: White is looking for the endgame, too; and probably the draw. With the Rook on d1, instead, White can win.
28...Rxf8 29.Bxf8 Bxd7 30.Bxc5 a6 31.Kg1 draw

graphic by Jeff Bucchino, "The Wizard of Draws"

Count one for the Count!

With one game left to be completed, vlad-tepes has won his 7-player double round robin Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) tournament at GameKnot (see "Jerome Gambit and Vlad Tepes", "Jerome Gambit, Vlad Tepes and... Garlic!" and "Jerome Gambit: Return to Transylvania") with an impressive score of 11 points out of 12.

That includes defeating the Jerome Gambit 6 out of 6 tries (ouch!) but also winning with it 5 out of 6 tries. The Jerome Gambit has scored 39% so far.

Here's an interesting game by the tournament winner, foreshortened just when things were getting interesting, by the sunrise, at is were. Pity, as White was getting ready to sink his fangs into his opponent.

vlad-tepes - panga74
www.GameKnot.com 2008

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qxc5 d6 8.Qe3 h6 TN 9.d4 N8e7 10.Nc3 Kg8 11.Bd2 a6 12.0-0-0 Kh7 13.f4 Rf8 14.f5 Nh8 15.g4 Nc6 16.h4

Black lost on time

White has an edge, but there is plenty of interesting play ahead.

Next, we see vlad-tepes defending against the Gambit, and making it all look oh-so-easy...


panga74 - vlad-tepes
www.GameKnot.com 2008

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.a3 d6 6.h3 h6 7.d3 Nf6 8.0-0 Rf8 9.Nc3 Kg8 10.Nd5 Nxd5 11.exd5 Nd4 12.Nxd4 Bxd4 13.c3 Bb6 14.Be3 Bxe3 15.fxe3 Rxf1+ 16.Qxf1 Qe7 17.e4 Bd7 18.Qe2 Rf8 19.Rf1 Rxf1+ 20.Qxf1 Qf6 21.Qe2 Qf4 22.Qc2 Qg3 23.Kh1 Qe3 24.c4 b6 25.b4 g5 26.a4 h5 27.b5 g4 28.hxg4 hxg4 29.Qd1 g3 30.Qf1 Qh6+ 31.Kg1 Qh2 checkmate

Stuff like that makes me wonder if I'll ever play 4.Bxf7+ again.

bobbob78 came in second place in the vlad-tepes mini-tournament, scoring 9.5 out of 12, and giving the leader his only loss.

vlad-tepes - bobbob78
www.GameKnot.com 2008

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qxc5 d6 8.Qe3 Nf6 9.Nc3



9...Rf8 10.0-0 Bd7 11.f4 Kg8 12.d4 Ng4 13.Qd3 Qh4



White has his pawns up and moving, but Black has castled by hand and is on the counter-attack. A Black Queen at h4 almost always spells t-r-o-u-b-l-e for White.

14.h3 Nf6 15.Bd2

White might have tried 15.f5 followed by Bc1-e3-f2 instead, to achieve the same end.

15...Rae8 16.e5 Nh5 17.Be1 Qd8 18.f5 Ngf4 19.Qc4+ Kh8 20.e6


White is giving it his best shot, but it's not going to be enough.

20...b5 21.Nxb5 Bxb5 22.Qxb5 Qg5 23.Qc6 Nxh3+ 24.Kh2 N3f4 25.g3 Ne2

26.Qe4

The Queen needed to go to Qg2, but in the long run the result would be the same.

26...Nhxg3 27.Bxg3 Qxg3+ White resigned