Zeromov Gambit!?

Another recent discovery on the internet is a Serbian language video examining the famous Jerome Gambit game Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1885.

Having shown the first moves of the game - 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ the presenter takes an aside to look at 6...Ke6, before continuing with Blackburne's 6...g6. There, White executes a checkmate in 17 moves - ah, well, but, anyhow, back to Blackburne...

I had to chuckle. Knowingly or not, the chess player had just shown the game Ghandybh  - ishahir, Chess.com, 2009, presented on this blog in the post "Teach / Learn" about 5 1/2 years ago.

For that matter, there had been updates in "Jerome Gambit on YouTube!?" (the game Ghandybh  - ishahir, Chess.com, 2009) and "Jerome Gambit: Winning Strategy #1".

But what really shocked me about the Serbian video was the reference to the opening as the Jerome Gambit, or the Zeromov Gambit.

I had not heard that one before. Looks like I have more research ahead of me!

A Nigerian Abrahams Jerome Gambit

The other day I came across a chess thread on a Nigerian website, 
Nairaland.com, with a post by InesQor, who wrote 

I just finished a chess game on this new site I found (lichess) and the game was really odd to me.
I won, but I'm wondering if the Jerome gambit my opponent played could ever have been played better than it was. Or else, if it is so terrible an opening?! Better players in the house, what do you think?...
Caveat: I haven't played chess in a while so I'm not in the best of form: playing fast (thus, there are some blunders.)

I am not sure that I am a better player than you are, but I am glad to be of some assistance, InesQor!

Anonymous - Anonymous
3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2015

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+ Kxf7

The site lichess identifies this as "Bishop's Opening, Jerome Gambit". My preference is to refer to it as the "Abrahams Jerome Gambit" as opposed to the Jerome Gambit proper (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+).

The point is largely moot here, as with White's and Black's next moves, the game transposes to the "regular" Jerome Gambit.

4.Nf3

White would have better chances of an attack after 4.Qh5+, although Black still would be better.

The fact is that the Jerome Gambit is pretty much a terrible opening, although in a 3-minute blitz game between club players, it has some practical value.

4...Nc6 5.d3 

This move marks the game as a "modern" Jerome Gambit variation, as opposed to the "classical" lines which feature 5.Nxe5+ - a move that was almost always played back in the time of Alonzo Wheeler Jerome. However, modern players are not always willing to sacrifice a second piece.

5...Nf6 6.Bg5 Rf8 7.c3 Kg8 

Black has played very well, developing his pieces and castling-by-hand. It is up to White to show that he has any kind of compensation for his sacrificed piece.

8.Qb3+ Kh8 9.h4 Qe8 10.h5 Qe6 

Black offers to exchange Queens, snuffing out White's attacking chances. He could have gone further with the counter-attack 10...Ng4!?, sowing confusion in his opponent's ranks.

11.c4 Nxh5

A very sharp idea, if followed up correctly.

12.Rxh5 Bxf2+

Black misses 12...Qg4! with a chance to recover his sacrificed material (with interest), moving toward a strong attack on White's King. If he does not take advantage of his Queen's opportunities, White will recover - and the first player still has an extra piece.

13.Kxf2 Nd4 14.Qd1 d5

Things are looking complicated - and in a 3-minute game!

White has a chance to work on a counter-counter-attack, with 15.Be3, e.g. 15...dxe4 16.dxe4 Qg4 17.Qh1.

The game now bounces back and forth - time must have been running short for both players.

15.cxd5 Qb6 

A scary move - a strong tool in blitz - but the Queen would be better placed on g6. White's response is all bluff, however.

16.Rxh7+ Kxh7 17.Qh1+ Kg8 18.Kg3 Ne2+ 19.Kh4

Allowing checkmate, but White was worse in any event.

19...Qf2+ 20. Kh5 Ng3+ 21. Kg6 Nxh1 22. Nxe5 Rf6+ 23. Bxf6 Qxf6+ 24.Kh5 Qh6 checkmate

Very nice!

Happy Blog Birthday

Happy Blog Birthday.

This blog started on June 10, 2008, with "Welcome".

I posted daily for almost 5 years, before changing to the current arrangement of posting every-other-day.

Dozens of good Readers have contributed games and analysis.

Hundreds of players continue to experiment with the Jerome Gambit and its relatives.

Many thanks for 7 years of fun and excitement!

Doing the Enemy's Work

I like the Jerome Gambit in all its variations, and I love to show a snappy Jerome Gambit win; but sometimes it is necessary to balance the scale, and give Black a hand, too...

acuriel - DOCTOERDETROIT 
blitz, FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+ Kxf7 4.Qh5+ Kf8 5.Qf5+ Nf6 6.Qxe5

Here is a position in the Abrahams Jerome Gambit that has been reached in 72 games in The Database. What is Black's best move now?

6...Bxf2+ 

Of course.

However, the move was played in only 7 of the aforementioned games, less than 10% of the time! Defenders, step up your game!

7.Kxf2 

Unwittingly going along with Black's plan.

7...Ng4+ 

Forking King and Queen.

White resigned

Borrowed As Good As Own

If you stay up-to-date with ideas in the Jerome Gambit (by reading this blog, for starters) there will always be some new ideas to pick up and use in your game.

Wall,B - Guest539122
PlayChess.com, 2015

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bd6 

Sharing HauntedKnight - galpone, blitz, FICS, 2014 (1-0, 18) in "Familiar Territory" earlier this year I wrote

When I was playing over this game, I saw Black's move and chuckled. HauntedKnight practially owns this line.

That doesn't mean, of course, that Bill Wall can't "borrow" it.

7.dxe5 Bxe5 8.Qd5+ 

In "Shortcut" I expressed a preference for this move over the also-strong 8,Qh5+.

8...Kf8 9.Qxe5 Qe7 

Black's Queen comes to the rescue, but White has already recovered his sacrificed piece and is a pawn up, with a safer King.

10.Qf4+ Nf6 11.Nc3 d6 12.0-0 Qe5 13.Qxe5 dxe5

Exchanging Queens often means the end of danger to the King - but not today.

14.f4 exf4 15.Bxf4 Ne8 16.Bd6+ Kg8 17.Rf8 checkmate

Please note the White Bishop at d6!

Reddit

While wandering the internet the other day, I ran into some interesting comments on the Busch-Gass Gambit ( See "Worth A Second Look" Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3; as well as "Busch-Gass Gambit") at Reddit: 
www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/2gcbgj/buschgass_gambit/


(Unrelated, but also interesting, was "Delightful Duel 'Banter Blitz' with Miss Tactics (IM Sopiko Guramishvili) and Miss Strategy (IM Anna Rudolf)".

Toward Disaster

As I have mentioned in an earlier post, I have joined a Chess.com 12-player "Giuoco Piano" tournament (3 groups of 4 players each).

I immediately got to start a couple of Jerome Gambits, so we'll see how they turn out.The first game is racing along the lines of a refutation that has many blog posts here, all saying that White is lost, White is lost...

Well, sad to say, White did lose - but part of the reason was my refusal to play a thematic "Jerome pawn" advance which would have helped keep the play dynamic. The second big mistake was to not be as familiar with Jerome Gambit history as I should be. Ouch.

perrypawnpusher - auswebby
Giuoco Piano Tournament, Chess.com, 2015

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.Qxe5 Qe7 8.Qf4+ Ke8

Instead, 8...Nf6 was seen in a couple of correspondence games between Daniel Jaeger (White) and Alonzo Wheeler Jerome  in 1880.

More reently, Bill Wall faced 8...Qf6 in a handful of games: Wall,B - GoldCoinCollector, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 17);  Wall,B - GuestZCLK, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 15); 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.Nc3 Nf6 10.0-0 d6 

Or 10...Bd6 as in perrypawnpusher - Chesssafety, Chess.com 2012, (1-0, 25).

11.d3

White got away with the Knight jump 11.Nd5 in xcvbnm -SAHFAN, FICS, 2013 (1-0, 28), but I should have been more familiar with the game (in The Database) as Black was better most of the game; and White's win came only when his opponent blundered into a mate-in-2.

11...Be6 12.Be3 Bxe3 13.Qxe3 Kd7 14.f4 Rhf8 15.f5 Bg8 16.d4 Rae8 17.Rae1 Kc8 18.Qg3 

Instead, it was time for 18.e5. The text allows Black to take a step toward preventing that move, and my response (see the note to White's 11th move) sealed my doom.

18...Nd7 19.Nd5 Bxd5 20.exd5 Qf6 

I thought I had a few tricks against Black's King on the back rank, but, really, there was nothing.

21.Rxe8+ Rxe8 22.c3 Nb6 23.Re1 Qf7 24.f6 Rxe1+ 25.Qxe1 Qxf6 26.Qe8+ Qd8 27.Qf7 Qh8 28.b3 Nd7 29.c4 Kd8 30.Kf2 Qf8 31.Qxf8+ Nxf8 32.Kf3 Ke7 33.Ke4 Kf6 34.c5 Ng6 35.g3 b6 36.b4 Ne7 37.a3 b5 White resigned.