Jerome Gambit for Dummies (2)

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

This is the first Critical Position in the Jerome Gambit. Although 99% of the time (according to my database) Black captures the Bishop, the move is not forced. It is simply a choice for the second player between having an objectively winning game (4...Kxf7) and having the worse position (after 4...Kf8/4...Ke7 5.Bb3). Yet a few defenders will adopt the sly attitude If he wants me to take the Bishop, then I won't take it. There is some "psychology" in this, too: the Jerome Gambiteer suddenly finds himself or herself "stuck" with a calm, but immesurably "better" game than had been expected a move before. This change of fortune can take some getting used to. Those who resist may wish to resort to 5.Bxg8 or 5.Qe2 (if 5...Kxf7 6.Qc4+); or transpose to the Evans Jerome Gambit with 5.b4. 

  4...Kxf7 This is the second Critical Position. The "classical" Jerome Gambit continues with 5.Nxe5 (about 84% of the games in my database) while "modern" Jerome Gambits continue with alternatives such as 5.Nc3, 5.d3, or 5.0-0. For the record, after a very long think (over 12 hours) Deep Rybka 3.0 Aquarium assesses Black as being 1.91 pawns better after 5.Nxe5+ as well as after 5.Nc3. It sees White being only 1.72 pawns worse after 5.d3 or 5.0-0.

One fifth of a pawn doesn't seem like a lot to me, and I still prefer the complications of 5.Nxe5+. Jerome Gambiteers who feel they can knuckle down and simply outplay their opponents with the "modern" variations are free to disagree with me.

5.Nxe5+

This is the third Critical Position. Black's most frequent response is the logical 5...Nxe5, but he has alternatives in 5...Kf8, 5...Ke8 and 5...Ke7. The first of these "others" is a respected defense going back to Jerome - Brownson, Iowa 1875 (1/2-1/2, 29). The other two are blunders that give White the advantage after 6.Qh5.

After 5.Nxe5+ Kf8, the Banks Variation (see "Jerome Gambit and Vlad Tepes..." and "Jerome Gambit, Vlad Tepes... and Garlic!") is tempting, but probably Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's 6.Nxc6 is best.

5...Nxe5 This is the fourth Critical Position. White most frequently follows up with 6.Qh5+, although 6.d4 is also played, and there are a number of rare other moves.

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

Jerome Gambit: Return to Transylvania

I jumped at a chance to play a couple of games with mika76, who had played some interesting games in the GameKnot Vlad-Tepes Mini-Tournament.

This challenging battle finished first.

perrypawnpusher - mika76
www.GameKnot.com, 2008

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8 6.Nxc6
Side-stepping the Banks variation as looked at in "Jerome Gambit and Vlad Tepes..." and "Jerome Gambit, Vlad Tepes... and Garlic!"

6...bxc6

Usually Black captures with the other pawn, as in Jerome - Brownson, Iowa, USA 1875: 6...dxc6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Qf3 Qd4 9.d3 Bg4 10.Qg3 Bb6 11.e5 Nh5 12.Qh4 Be2 13.Qxd4 Bxd4 14.Re1 Bxe5 15.Rxe2 Re8 16.g3 Kf7 17.f4 Bd4+ 18.Kf1 Nf6 19.Nd2 Rxe2 20.Kxe2 Re8+ 21.Ne4 a5 22.Kf3 h6 23.c3 Ba7 24.Be3 Bxe3 25.Kxe3 Ng4+ 26.Kf3 Nxh2+ 27.Kg2 Ng4 28.Re1 b6 29.a4 Rd8 1/2-1/2

7.d4 Bb6 8.0-0 d6 9.Nc3


perrypawnpusher - hdig, blitz game, FICS, USA, 2007 continued instead: 9.f4 Bb7 10.Nc3 Qf6 11.e5 dxe5 12.fxe5 Bxd4+ 13.Kh1 Qxf1+ 14.Qxf1+ Ke8 15.Bg5 Kd7 16.Qf7+ Kc8 17.Qe8 checkmate

9...Qe7 10.f4


It's the same old story: Black has the advantage; White gathers up what he has and goes to work...

10...Nh6

An interesting, provocative idea.

11.f5 Bd7 12.g4
Eying the Knight, but White should have tried 12.f6 Qe6 13.Bxh6 gxh6 14.Qd2 when Black's edge is small.

12...Bxd4+

Giving back the piece for some pawns, a standard defensive maneuver for Black; but here he had more, by playing out what he had started: 12...Qh4 13.g5 Nf7 and White loses the too-quickly-advanced g-pawn.

White has weaseled his way out of a tough situation.

13.Qxd4 Nxg4 14.Bf4

Safe-guarding the Kingside.

14...Rb8 15.Rae1 Qf6 16.Qxa7

Here mika76 took a break from our game. I've mentioned before that this kind of thing is laudable: people lead busy lives and there is much more to the world than the Jerome Gambit.

16...Qh4

Oh, no. Come back to the board too quickly, you might miss something...
17.Qxb8+ Black resigns.
(I inquired about take-backs, but the site doesn't allow them.)

Jerome Gambit Blog: Tidying Up

Time to clean up a few things in this blog...

"In The Beginning..." refers to the first appearance in print of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) as being in the Dubuque Chess Journal, April 1874, Vol. VI, No. 50, p. 358-9.

This is a correction to the reference in the Oxford Companion to Chess, Whyld and Hooper, first (1984) and second editions (1992), noting "It appeared first in American Chess Journal, 1876." The authors are correct in that the June, September, November and December issues of the ACJ had Jerome Gambit content -- the Dubuque Chess Journal simply had prior coverage.
I have not been able to find an earlier reference than April 1874.

"To Infinity... And Beyond! (Part II)" and "Breaking News" indicated that at some time in the future Stefan Bücker's quarterly chess magazine, Kaissiber, would carry my article on the Jerome Gambit. Current speculation is there may be a short article in the October 2008 issue.

In "Nobody expects the Jerome Gambit!" I mentioned that Blackburne, in Mr. Blackburne's Games at Chess (1899) referred to the Jerome Gambit as "the Kentucky Opening." I have yet to discover how it is that the British master came up with that name.

"Is This Blog About YOU??" and "You, too, can add to Jerome Gambit theory" both have been well-answered by games from ongoing Jerome Gambit thematic tournaments, and the occasional Comment to this blog or email to its Editor (richardfkennedy@hotmail.com). Of course, fresh games and analysis are always appreciated.

In "The Man, The Myth, The Legend..." I mentioned placing a classified ad with the online Paxton, Illinois (home of Alonzo Wheeler Jerome) website, http://www.paxtonil.com/, seeking information about the originator of the Jerome Gambit. While I have received no reply, and the ad has expired (and no longer appears), I can report that if you have an unwanted Paxtonopoly game, please contact the PRIDE office at 379-3388 or email pride@paxtonil.com.
I am no further enlightened on the things that puzzled me in " 'Tis A Puzzlement..."

After some progress on learning about the Jerome Gambit game Harris,W.A. Sgt. - Quayle,Ernest H.Los Angeles, California, USA 1944, as given in "The Joy of Discovery" Parts I, II, and III, the trail has gone cold.

"We are not alone..." heralded HANGING PAWN:: Tip's Chess Blog's coverage of the Jerome Gambit, and the offer therein of not just the computer vs computer Jerome Gambit games where White won (via download), but all of the games (contact the blogmaster). To date I have not received the larger stash.

With Rail2Rail winning his Jerome Gambit thematic tournament at ChessWorld, (see "Rail2Rail by a length" and "Rail2Rail Nails It") I had hoped for an annotated game or two from the winner; but nothing, yet.

"My head is spinning" Truly. Rybka 3.0 – or, in my case, Deep Rybka 3.0 Aquarium – is the real deal. It has got to be the tool for the serious (and very serious) chess player. Like having a "Grandmaster In A Box". A rather intimidating Grandmaster, at times – but: Wow!

After "The Salvio Gambit??" and "The Salvio Gambit?? (More)" I have not heard back from my friends at Chess.com, so I will tentatively suggest that I got my analysis correct.

Having fun with "Jerome Gambit and Vlad Tepes..." and "Jerome Gambit, Vlad Tepes and... Garlic!" I've started a couple of games at GameKnot with he-of-the-garlic, mika76.

As always, I'm "Looking for a few Jerome Gambit games..."
"Hey Wiki, it's me, Ricky!" So far the link to this blog from the Wikipedia article on the Jerome Gambit has been intact - and people are following it. Gotta love that.















Clipart from Clipartheaven.com

Jerome Gambit, Vlad Tepes and... Garlic!

As I've mentioned (see "Jerome Gambit and Vlad Tepes..."), the GameKnot website has always been a good place to find Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games.


The Vlad-Tepes Mini-Tournament is the most recent example.
splott - mika76
vlad-tepes's mini-tournament
http://www.gameknot.com/, 2008

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8 6.Qh5

The Banks Variation.



6...Qe7 TN

Suggested by International Master Gary Lane in his "Opening Lanes" (see "International Master Gary Lane") column at Chess Cafe. (Readers: when was the last time you heard of an IM making a substantive contribution to Jerome Gambit theory??)
Mika76, however, tells me that he came up with the move on his own.

7.Ng6+



White bites, but it is already a poisonous mistake. His King needs to take cover with something like 7.Qf3+ Nf6 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Nc3 d5 10.d3 with castling one way or the other coming up.

7...hxg6 8.Qxh8

White has a Rook and two pawns against a couple of pieces, but he will not live to see sunrise.
8...Qxe4+ 9.Kf1
After this comes mate, but there was no peace in 9.Kd1, either.

9...Qd4 10.Ke1 Qxf2+ 11.Kd1 d6 12.h3 Qxg2 13.Re1 Qf3+ 14.Re2 Bf2 15.d3 Nd4 16.Nc3 Qh1+ 17.Kd2 Nf3 checkmate

Jerome Gambit and Vlad Tepes...

The GameKnot website has always been a good place to find Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games.

The Vlad-Tepes Mini-Tournament, a double round robin Jerome Gambit rumble, is almost done. It looks like Vlad-Tepes himself will be the top scorer.

The Jerome Gambit has been scoring a bit above 40%, as expected.

Today and tomorrow will feature a couple of interesting games. My apologies to splott, who turns up on the losing side of both encounters. They are not representative of his play – he likely will place third in the tournament.

vlad-tepes - splott
www.GameKnot.com
Vlad-Tepes Mini-Tournament, 2008

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8



This is a reasonable defense, first mentioned by Alonzo Wheeler Jerome in his premier analysis in the March 1874 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal; and first played, as far as I can tell, by William Carrington in the 9th game of his second match with Mexican Champion Andres Clemente Vazquez, two years later.

6.Qh5


The Banks Variation, named for Pete Banks ("blackburne"), modern Jerome Gambit aficianado and member of the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde.

"Yes, it is always nice to threaten checkmate after just six moves" wrote International Master Gary Lane in annotating the game Banks - Rees, Halesowen, 2003, for his "Opening Lanes" column at ChessCafe (see "International Master Gary Lane").

The move 6.Qh5 was mentioned by Brownson in the March 1875 Dubuque Chess Journal, approved by Hallock in the February 1877 American Chess Journal ("Q-KR5 looks promising"), an apparently played by the opening's creator ("The continuation adopted by Jerome") – although I have no record of any of his games with the Queen move played at move 6 .

An alternative move for White would be 6.0-0 Nxe5 7.d4 Bxd4 8.Qxd4 d6 9.f4 Nc6 10.Qd3 Be6 11.e5 Bf7 0-1 as in easy19 - 1dumb, www.GameKnot.com, 2008

Jerome recommended instead that White trade off the advanced Knight, to disrupt Black's pawn structure: 6.Nxc6



6...dxc6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Qf3 Qd4 9.d3 Bg4 10.Qg3 Bb6 11.e5 Nh5 12.Qh4 Be2 "It seems impossible to prevent the threatened loss of a piece, and no wiser course for Black is apparent from this point than the one chosen. The position is singular, and it is curious that White in so constrained a position should be enabled to regain his lost piece" wrote Brownson in the March 1875 Dubuque Chess Journal. 13.Qxd4 Bxd4 14.Re1 Bxe5 15.Rxe2 Re8 16.g3 Kf7 17.f4 Bd4+ 18.Kf1 Nf6 19.Nd2 Rxe2 20.Kxe2 Re8+ 21.Ne4 a5 22.Kf3 h6 23.c3 Ba7 24.Be3 Bxe3 25.Kxe3 Ng4+ 26.Kf3 Nxh2+ 27.Kg2 Ng4 28.Re1 b6 29.a4 Rd8 drawn by agreement, Jerome - Brownson, Iowa 1875

6...Qf6

Or 6...Nxe5 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qf4+ Qf6 9.Qxf6+ Nxf6 10.d3 Kf7 11.Nc3 Bd7 12.0-0 Rhf8 13.Bg5 Ng4 14.Nd5 Kg8 15.Nxc7 Rac8 16.Nd5 Bxf2+ 17.Rxf2 Kh8 18.Rf4 Rxf4 19.Bxf4 Rxc2 20.Bxd6 a6 21.Rf1 h6 22.h3 Rc6 23.Bf8 Kh7 24.hxg4 Bxg4 25.Rf7 Rg6 26.Rxb7 1-0 blackburne-hollandia, www.ChessWorld.net, 2004

7.Nxd7+ Bxd7 8.Qxc5+


"White now has three pawns for the piece. This is reasonable considering that White has played the Jerome Gambit" – IM Lane.

8...Nge7

International Master Lane wrote about the alternative, 8...Qd6 "Black is probably worried about his exposed king, so offers to exchange Queens. I prefer 8...Nge7, when Black relies on his greater piece activity top maintain the advantage" 9.Qxd6+ cxd6 10.c3 Nf6 11.f3 Kf7 12.0-0 Rhe8 13.d4 Kg8 14.Bf4 d5 15.e5 Nh5 16.Bg5 Nxe5 17.dxe5 Rxe5 18.Bc1 Bb5 19.Rd1 Rae8 20.Bd2 Re2 21.Na3 Bd3 22.Re1 Nf4 23.Rxe2 Nxe2+ 24.Kf2 Rf8 25.b4 Nf4 26.Bxf4 Rxf4 27.Ke3 Rh4 28.Kxd3 Rxh2 29.Rg1 Kf7 30.Nb5 Rh6 31.Re1 a6 32.Nd4 g6 33.a4 Rh2 34.g4 Ra2 35.a5 Ra3 36.Re5 Ra2 37.Rxd5 Rh2 38.Rd7+ Kf6 39.Rxb7 h5 40.gxh5 gxh5 41.Rb6+ Kg5 42.Rxa6 h4 43.Ne6+ Kf5 44.Ke3 Rc2 45.Nd4+ 1-0 Banks - Rees, Halesowen v Lucas BS 2003

9.Nc3 Qg6

Another Banks/blackburne game continued instead: 9...Kf7 10.d3 Rhf8 11.0-0 Kg8 12.f4 Qd4+ 13.Qxd4 Nxd4 14.Rf2 b5 15.Be3 b4 16.Ne2? Nxc2 17.Rc1 Nxe3 18.Rxc7 Rad8 19.Rf3 Nd1 20.b3 Ng6 21.Kf1 Bg4 22.Rg3 Bxe2+ 23.Kxe2 Nc3+ 24.Ke3 Rc8 25.Rb7 a5 26.f5 Rb8 27.Ra7 Ra8 28.Rb7 Rfb8 29.Rc7 Nb5 30.Rd7 Ra7? 31.Rxa7 Nxa7 32.fxg6 Nc6 33.gxh7+ Kh8 34.Rh3 Rd8 35.g4 Ne5 36.d4 Nxg4+ 37.Kd3 Nf2+ 0-1 blackburne - Rail2Rail, JG2 thematic www.chessworld.net 2008.

10.g3 Bg4 11.f4 Bf3 12.f5 Qg4 13.0-0 Bxe4


In a relatively even game Black overlooks a tactic. He should probably have looked into the idea of using his Rook at h8 to attack the White King, by advancing the h-pawn to attack the one at g3.

14.Rf4 Qh5 15.Nxe4 Qd1+


Black's game continues to falter, and soon Vlad-Tepes is swooping in for the kill.

16.Rf1 Qe2 17.d3 Rd8 18.f6




18...gxf6 19.Bh6+ Ke8 20.Nxf6+ Kf7 21.Ng4+ Ke8 22.Qh5+ 1-0






Oh, my aching neck!