Last year I reported on a couple of Jerome Gambit tournaments (#1 and #2) at the RedHotPawn.com web site. They were a mix of players apparently new to the opening with some who had a measurable knowledge of the main lines.
The first round of a new tournament is coming to a close, with names familiar and new. I think it will be fun, again, to share the games and choose a few for individual attention.
Stay tuned.
The following game shows that sometimes it takes only a little bit of wandering off the path for Black's game in the Jerome Gambit to suddenly to bad. Philidor 1792 wraps up quickly thereafter.
Philidor 1792 - Guest388983
3 0 blitz, PlayChess.com, 2014
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6
7.Qd5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+ Qe7 9.Qe3 Nf6 10.Nc3 d6 11.0-0 Kf7
12.f4 Re8 13.f5 Ne5 14.d3 Bd7 15.Qg3 Kg8
Black has done well, castling-by-hand and hanging onto his piece for two pawns advantage. Suddenly, his game turns sour.
16.Bg5 Qf7
It is not automatically apparent that this move is wrong, but Black's game suddenly grinds to a halt.
17.Bxf6 Qxf6 18.Nd5 Qd8 19.f6
Black's King is in danger, and his pieces are curiously ineffective here, as Houdini showed me. Probably he should try 19...g6, and when White threatens to bring his Queen to g7 for mate, he can answer 20.Qh4 with 20...h5. The continuation 21.Qg5 Kh7 follows the same idea, when White can then win the exchange with 22.Ne7 Rxe7 23.fxe7 Qg8
analysis diagram
White can now put a full cramp in Black's position with 24.Rf4 Qg7 25.Raf1 Be8 26.Rf8 when it will take a lot of work to untangle Black, for example 26..Rb8 27.Qf6 Qxf6 28.R1xf6 Nc6 29.d4 a6 30.d5 Ne5 and White's bind still holds.
19...Ng6 20.f7+ Black resigned
Black will be down only the exchange and a pawn (after 21...Kf8 22.fxe8+/Q Kxe8), but his King will be at risk, and White will have the initiative.
Here is a recent game played by Philidor 1792, from a cache of games he sent not long ago. His opponent declines the offer of a second piece with an inaccuracy that is worth knowing - and punishing.
Philidor 1792 - Guest834593
3 0 blitz, PlayChess.com, 02.11.2014
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8
While declining the second piece is as old as Jerome - Brownson, Iowa, 1875 (1/2-1/2, 29), the safest place for Black's King to retreat to is f8, not e8.
6.Qh5+
It's possible that 6.Nxc6 is stronger, but who can resist checking the King?
On the other hand, White's Knight capture is tricky, as 6...bxc6? is not the correct response - see perrypawnpusher - rodrigojalpa, blitz, FICS, 2008 (1-0, 25); perrypawnpusher - zsilber, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1/2-1/2, 42); Wall,B - Qwerty, Chess.com 2010 (1-0, 9); and Wall,B - LFTN, FICS, 2012 (1-0, 20).
Neither is 6...dxc6? the right move - see Wall,B - Gebba, Chess.com 2010 (1-0, 11).
Although I have suggested the untried 6...Bf2+ in "Don't Drive Like My Brother", the best response for Black, still untried as far as The Database is concerned is 6...Qh4!?, as after 7.d4 Qxe4+ 8.Qe2 Qxe2+ 9.Kxe2 Bb6 10.Nb4 Bxd4 11.Nd5 Kd8 Black has an equal game. (Of course, he turned down a second piece to get there.)
6...g6
Silly alternatives: 6...Kf8 7.Qf7 checkmate, perrypawnpusher - platel, blitz, FICS, 2011 and 6...Ke7 7.Qf7+ Kd6 8.Qd5+ Ke7 9.Nxc6+ Kf6 10.Qf5 checkmate, Kennedy - WeakDelphi, 2 12 blitz, 2008.
7.Nxg6 Bxf2+
Instead, 7...Qf6 was no solution in perrypawnpusher - schachix, blitz, FICS, 2013 (1-0, 10).
8.Kxf2 Qf6+
Black goes astray: 8...Nf6 was the way to keep an edge.
9.Nf4+ Kd8 10.d3 Nge7
Or 10...d6 11.Rf1 Qd4+ 12.Be3 Qf6 13.c3 Black resigned, Hultgren,R - Harrow, Campbell, CA 1960.
11.Nc3 d6 12.Rf1 Ng6 13.Kg1
Usually it is Black who has to castle-by-hand. White is two pawns ahead, with a safer King.
13...Qd4+ 14.Kh1 Nge5 15.Nfd5 Be6 16.Be3 Black resigned
Black's Queen is trapped in the middle of the board!
Bill Wall sent me his first Jerome Gambit of 2015 with the following note.
I just can't help myself. As soon as I see 3...Bc5 I just have to play 4.Bxf7. I told myself not to play it and work on other Italian variations. But oh no. I see 3...Bc5, I have to play 4...Bxf7+. It must be a Jerome addiction.
Anyway, I played a nice Jerome on FICS, my first Jerome of the year. He got his knight trapped, forgetting to make an exit for himself, and I later mated him. He had a good game up to 16...c6, blocking a pawn I might have taken, but overlooking his knight can't move anywhere safe after 17.h3.
Wall,B - CMSK
FICS, 2015
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.Qxe5 Qe7
The Jerome Gambit, Jerome variation, first outlined in the Dubuque Chess Journal, July 1874.
Three of Bill's games continued 7...d6: Wall,B -GoldCoinCollector, Chess.com 2010 (1-0, 17); Wall,B - GuestZCLK, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 15); and Wall,B - Schichua,S, FICS, 2013 (1-0, 22).
8.Qf4+ Nf6
Instead, Black continued with 8...Qf6 in Wall,B - Guest340293, PlayChess.com, 2012, (1-0, 41), Wall,B - Josti, PlayChess.com, 2013, (1-0, 26), and Wall,B - Guest4644930, PlayChess.com, 2014 (1-0, 26).
9.d3 d6 10.Nc3 Be6 11.0-0 h6
12.Be3 g5
Black is feeling aggressive!
13.Qf3 Kg7 14.e5
Bill notes better may be 14.Bxc5 dxc5 15.e5 Nd7 16.Qxb7.
14...Ng4 15.Bxc5
Not 15.Qxb7? Nxe3.
15...dxc5 16.Rae1
Still, Bill cautions,16.Qxb7?! Rab8 17.Qxa7 Rxb2.
16...c6?
As Bill mentioned in the note above, this strands the Black Knight. Better: 16...Rhf8 17.Qe2 (17.Qxb7 Rab8 18.Qxa7 Rxb2) 17...h5;
16...h5 17.Qxb7 Rab8 18.Qxa7 Rxb2 19.Re2.
17.h3 Raf8 18.Qg3
Or 18.Qd1 Nxf2 19.Rxf2 Rxf2 20.Kxf2 Rf8+ 21.Kg1.
18...h5
If 18...Nxf2 19.Rxf2 Rxf2 20.Qxf2 Rf8 21.Qe3.
19.hxg4 h4
Black's attack looks dangerous, but it will become clear that White is in control.
20.Qh3 Qd7 21.Ne4 Bxg4 22.Qe3 Rh5
Admitting his Kingside pawn structure needs reinforcing, but this allows a fork.
23.Nf6 Rxf6 24.exf6+ Kxf6 25.Qxc5
25...h3 26.Qf8+ Kg6 27.Re7 hxg2 28.Qf7+ Kh6 29.Qg7 checkmate
Scouring the internet with Google the other day, I ran across A Jerome Gambit Database set up by an anonymous creator who appears to have knowledge of Bill Wall's games, Rev. Tim Sawyer's blog, and this site as well. Feel free to check it out. If you have any more information about the site or author, please let me know.
After the previous post on the Jerome Gambit Declined, here is a fun example (or three: also see my two games against walkinthespirit: #1 and #2).
HauntedKnight - bozidaranas
blitz, FICS, 2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.Bxf7+ Kf8 6.Bb3
Transposing to the main Declined line, 4.Bxf7+ Kf8 5.Bb3 Nf6 6.0-0. Black, given one, only, and his last chance to accept one or two pieces, shows that he wants no part of White's goofy attack - and strikes back
6...d5 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.Nxe5
White responds with the "fork trick".
8...Nxe5 9.d4 Be7 10.dxe5 Nb4
It is too late to quibble that 10...c6 was stronger.
11.Qf3+ Ke8 12.Qf7+ Kd7 13.Rd1+ Black resigned
Working on my book, All or Nothing!, The Jerome Gambit, has forced me to take a better look at variations that I have generally dismissed.
The first line to get more attention is one that I have thought little about, the Jerome Gambit Declined.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kf8
In the broader sense of things, it seems odd that Black would give up an "objectively" won game (White has sacrficed one piece and may sacrifice a second) to be down material, all at move 4.
In fact, the line is rarely played: of 10,670 games in The Database that have White's first four moves, above, only 245 - roughly 2% - contain 4...Kf8. Less than 1/2 % contain 4...Ke7.
Yet, Black may have his reasons, if only based in psychology. For starters, he does not give White the wild play he is looking for - in fact, Black becomes the gambiteer, offering a pawn and position for slightly better development. White must take further risks if he want's to challenge that situation.
White's best move in response to Black declining the Bishop is to play 5.Bb3 (or the similarly-motivated 5.Bc4 or 5.Bd5) settling for a solid pawn plus and eventual play against Black's displaced King. Also good for White is 5.Bxg8, exchanging rather than retreating the Bishop.
It is quite possible that Black declines the Jerome Gambit in hopes that White will continue to offer the piece with 5.Nxe5!? or 5.0-0!? with the plan to transpose into the Jerome Gambit accepted, where Black eventually takes the Bishop, having taken two moves to do so, instead of the usual one. This is convoluted thinking, that White, having been spared a losing game, will want to persist in seeking his attack/disadvantage, rather than settle for an advantageous non-Jerome Gambit position...
The Jerome Gambit: it has its own logic!
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