Jerome Gambit: Those Jerome Pawns, Again (Part 1)

My latest Jerome gambit game started out in a rather organized fashion. It was only when things got messy that I was able to wrestle a better position from the hands of a prepared and well-motivated opponent. 

The passive Rook sacrifice at the end of the game allowed the "Jerome pawns" to shine, again.

perrypawnpusher - ManWithABigPlan

2d/move, Chess.com, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ 

The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit. 

The line always makes me feel uneasy, although I generally do pretty well - The Database has 65 games with White scoring 75% - this is not as good as my results with the main line Jerome Gambit - 81% - or the Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit - 88%.

5.Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Bxd4 8.Qxd4 d6 

Black has a piece for a pawn. He is well-placed to castle-by-hand.

White has the typical Jerome strategems: he can castle either Kingside or Queenside, he can play Bc1-g5 with pressure on f6, he can advance his pawn f2-f4.

The text move is probably the strongest response.

I have also seen

8...Qe7 in perrypawnpusher - HGBoone, 6 12 blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 27), perrypawnpusher - BigKalamar, 2 12 blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 49), and perrypawnpusher - OudeKwakkelaar, 2 10 blitz, FICS, 2014 (1-0, 16); and

8...Re8 in perrypawnpusher - hklett, 2 12 blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 20), perrypawnpusher - KaZC, 2 12 blitz, FICS, 2010 (1/2 - 1/2, 61),  perrypawnpusher - Fazmeister, 2 12 blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 36),  perrypawnpusher - JoseSoza, Italian Game Tournament, Chess.com, 2012 (0-1, 34), and perrypawnpusher - spince, 2 12 blitz, FICS, 2014 (0-1, 41), 

9.O-O 

After the game, Stockfish 13 showed a slight preference for 9.Bf4 and 9.Bg5. I never considered the first move - although I now see that the early Jerome Gambit enthusiast yorgos played it 10 times, scoring 50%, a dozen years ago. I have played the second move once, in perrypawnpusher - wuolong, Chess.com, 2013 (1-0, 16). 

9... Re8 10.Bg5 c5 

Striking out at the Queen like this always seems anti-positional to me, leaving a hole at d5, but it has been successful in a number of past games.

I have also faced

10...Kg8 transposing to perrypawnpusher - hklett, 2 12 blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 20) above, and 

10...Be6, in  perrypawnpusher - andrewLLL, Italian Game Battlefield, Chess.com, 2020 (1-0, 39). 

11Qd2 Kg8 12.f4 Nf7 

Black removes his Knight from attack by the pawn, protects the d-pawn and attacks the Bishop at g5. It is hard to find another move that does that much work.

Now I was ready to complete my development, and was not afraid of a possible ...Nxg5, as that would open up the f-file for my Rook and place an annoying pawn at g5.

[to be continued]

Jerome Blow & The Shortest Checkmates: New!

I recently received a series of emails from chessfriend Yury Bukayev. I have put them together for you. They reference the line of thought started in "The Database: The Long And The Short Of It (Part 1)". 

I'd like to tell you about the new record of the fastest checkmates, and the game was serious. Thus, my elderly father Vyacheslav Bukayev is inspired by my Jerome gambit traps in my series "JG: The New in Its Opening Theory, in Its Psychology", and he said that he also created his interesting idea, so he asked me for playing with him last weekend. I agreed. Our first game (Bukayev, Vyacheslav  -  Bukayev, Yury) became very "tragical". After 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+ Kxf7 he played 4.Ne2, I responded 4...Qh4. Then he tried to castle his King, but he dropped his King accidentally on the square f1. I hurried to say him: "Don't worry! You'll be able to correct it during our next game!" Then after this tragical move 5.Kf1 I finished the game by 5...Qxf2#, of course. I understood what was the beginning of his plan: after 4.Ne2 Qh4 5.0-0 (instead of 5.Ng3) he provoked me to capture the pawn e4. Probably, he was inspired here by the Part 6 and the Part 7 of my Jerome gambit series. In any case, the checkmate isn't his shame here, and he agreed that a possible publishing of this our game will be absolutely normal.

 

Here are my constructed games I made today to get a record for White. All of them are joke games with a mixture of the Vidmar Joke opening and the Jerome blow. 

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Ke7 3.Bxf7 Kf6. Here are several ways:

4.d4 Be7 (or 4...Qe7) 5.Qf3#

4.d3 Be7 (or 4...Qe7) 5.Qf3#

4.h4 Be7 (or 4...Qe7) 5.Qf3#

4.Qh5 Be7 (or 4...Qe7) 5.Qf5# 

4.Qg4 Be7 (or 4...Qe7) 5.Qf5# 

It is fun, it's a combination of two handicap opening methods. 

Sorry, I forgot 4.Nh3 Be7 (or 4...Qe7) 5.Qf3#. Moreover, we have not "a mixture" of the Vidmar Joke opening and the Jerome blow, but a pseudofight of them! It is not a combination of GM Hikaru Nakamura's two favourite handicap opening methods, but a pseudofight of them!

I played that short game with my father 11.07 (on Sunday), it was a classical game, not a rapid. 

I have written in my previous letters about my constructed "joke" games which are "fun"... But in fact, there are no "jokes", no "fun" here. Thus, it is normal that the worst Black's "defence" leads to the fastest White's win. I may say "joke", if someone transforms it into his practice of defending for his joke goal.

 

 

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit Report Card (Part 7)

 

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit, like other Jerome Gambit variants, can lead to complex play. The following game is the last in the series, looking to see whether this blog presented useful information for playing the line, or if the first player had to go off adventuring on his own.

In this case, the help available was not enough to overcome, among other things, a rating difference of some 250 points.

Upon reflection, I need to do more investigation into the BSJG, and post more on this blog.

peon_5429 - Sapozhnik53

20 20 classical, lichess.org, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+ 

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke7

An interesting choice.

6.c3 Ne6 7.Nf3 

I was surprised to see that, according to The Database, this move is a novelty.

More frequently seen is 7.d4, a move that was covered a few months ago along with the game perrypawnpusher - HanPeng, 10 0 blitz, FICS, 2021 (1-0, 36) in the blot post "BSJG Dumpster Fire".

7... d6 8.d4 Nf6 

The game has transposing into position which appears 22 times in The Database. Black has a piece for two pawns, and an oddly placed King. Stockfish 13 rates the second player a bit more than a pawn and a half ahead, as compared to after 7.d3, when it gives Black less than a 1/3 of a pawn advantage. (Ergo, the blog had useful information.)

From here on out, Black outplays his opponent, until the game ends at move 33.

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit Report Card (Part 6)

 

This post is the next-to-last in a series of posts developed after I stopped by the lichess.com website and examined a number of Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+) games, only to see that White had scored 1 - 7 in those matches.

How much help would those players have found for their BSJG play, had they visited this blog beforehand? I wondered...

renzinodies - illusionspy

10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+ 

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.O-O 

If you read yesterday's post, you will not be surprised by what I have to say now.

Although there are only 10 other examples of this move in The Database, if you were to search the 3,365 previous blog posts here, you would have found absolutely nothing on this line.

True, the move is contrary to the whole idea of the BSJG, and almost every single game that I have posted (hint, hint) has continued 5.Nxe5+, but when it comes to helping the opening explorer - this blog wasn't. (The lack of specific knowledge was not the decisive factor deciding the game, but things might have taken a different turn.)

The game continued in interesting fashion.

5...Nxf3+ 6.Qxf3+ Qf6 7.Qb3+ Ke8 8.d3 Bc5 9.Be3 Bb6 10.Bxb6 axb6 

Black has the advantage of a piece for a pawn. The game lacks the usual attack on Black's King, so White develops carefully and waits for his chance.

11.Nd2 Ne7 12.c3 d6 13.f3 Be6 

14.Rf2 

A blitz oversight.

14...Bxb3 15.axb3 White resigned

Sigh.

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit Report Card (Part 5)

Once more: this post is another in a series developed after I stopped by the lichess.com website and examined a number of Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+) games, only to see that White had scored 1 - 7 in those matches.

I wanted to find out how many of those games were because of information that was missing or overlooked at this site. This can be particularly crucial in blitz game, where a player can get into trouble quickly.

Sasan73 - bccxo

3 2 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Nd4  

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+ 

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.O-O 

Okay. Wow. We can stop right here. I was surpsed to find 129 games with this position in The Database; there are almost 3,365 posts on this blog; and not one discusses 6.0-0. Really.

Sure 6.c3 is suggested a number of times, but there is nothing like "stay away from 6.0-0" or "6.0-0 is not as effective as" or even "brave players might investigate 6.0-0".

Definitely a fail.

Also, if you play over the game, there is a bit of information that I probably only delivered in mirror image fashion: White's material compensation for his sacrificed piece (s) comes in the form of pawns from Black's Kingside.

6...Nf6 7.d3 Bc5 8.c3 Ne6 9.Bg5 Be7 10.Nd2 d6 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.Qh5+ g6 13.Nxg6 hxg6 14.Qxg6+ Ke7 

Against expectations, White will find that it is his King who is in danger. He has opened up lines against his own monarch and when Black grasps the intitative, there will be a killing attack.

15.f4 Rg8 16.Qf5 Nd4 17. Qa5 Nc2 18.Rac1 Ne3 19.Rf2 Bh4 20.g3 Bxg3 21.hxg3 Rxg3+ 22.Kh2 Qg8 23.Qxc7+ Ke8 Black won on time

So: Defnitely have to put 6.0-0 on the "to do" list.

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit Report Card (Part 4)

 

Here we go again. This post is another in a series developed after I stopped by the lichess.com website and examined a number of Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+) games, only to see that White had scored 1 - 7 in those matches.

I wanted to find out how many of those games were because of information that was missing or overlooked at this site.

Bonaventure - Osvaldo1

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+ 

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

I have pointed out that Black can often "solve" the various Jerome lines if he has enough time - but often he does not.

The games are usually complicated, which means that White has to be careful of his time, as well.

That is his problem in this game. White does well and plays hard - he just runs out of time, first. This is not really the fault of the information present on this blog. 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Nxg6 Nf6 8.Qe5+ Ne6 9.Nxh8 Bg7 10.Nf7 Kxf7 11.O-O Qe7 12.c3 d6 13.Qb5 a6 14.Qe2 Bd7 15.d4 Rg8 16.e5 dxe5 17.dxe5 Nd5 18.Qh5+ Kf8 19.f4 h6 20.f5 Qc5+ 21.Kh1 Ng5 22.e6 Nxe6 23.fxe6+ Ke7 24.Qf7+ Kd6 25.Qxd7+ Ke5 26.c4 Bf6 27.cxd5 Qc4 28.Bf4+ Ke4 29.Nc3+

Kd3 30.Rad1+ Kc2 31.Qa4+ Kxb2 Black won on time

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit Report Card (Part 3)

 

It is tempting to explain the loss in the following game simply to the fact that when you flip a coin, sometimes it comes down "heads", sometimes it comes down "tails".

One-minute bullet games can sometimes feel that way.

Paviles (2317) - efaresco (2346)

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.c3 Nc6 

Well, this looks like a blog fail. After a number of suggestions over the years that "6.c3 is best", there are a couple of unannotated games - TrippL - boggus, FICS, 2008 (0-1, 34) and pigsfeet - steveod, FICS, 2012 (1-0, 27) - and a few short bits of analysis in "Those who cannot remember the past..." and "Clearly Unclear" with not a lot of guidance. 

7.Nc4 

If you looked hard into past blog posts, you could find a few bits of relative comment 

White can withdraw his Knight, 7.Nf3, with an even game; but the recommended move is 7.d4 with a poisoned pawn in the follow-up: 7...Nxe5 8.dxe5 Kxe5? 9.Qd5+ Kf6 10.Bg5+ Black resigned APe-Sali, blitz, FICS, 2009

And also

A calmer follow-up (although the game had its explosive moments) is 7.d4, which SotoG had played a year earlier: 7...Nxe5 8.dxe5 d5 9.Qg4+ Kf7 10.Qh5+ g6 11.Qf3+ Kg7 12.exd5 Bc5 13.Bf4 Ne7 14.c4 Rf8 15.Qg3 Nf5 16.Qd3 Qh4 17.g3 Bxf2+ 18.Kxf2 Nxg3 19.hxg3 Qxh1 20.e6 b6 21.Qf3 Kg8 22.Qxh1 Black resigned, SotoG - Ludek, blitz FICS, 2000...

And 

Rybka (blunder check, 5 minutes per move) suggests: 7.d4 Nxe5 8.dxe5 as well, continuing 8...Kf7 9.e6+ Ke8 10.Qh5+ g6 11.exd7+ Qxd7 12.Qe5+ Kf7 13.Qxh8 Nf6 14.Nd2 Bg7 15.Nf3 Bxh8 16.Ne5+ Ke6 17.Nxd7 Nxd7 18.Be3 b6 19.0-0-0 – absolutely out-of-this-world play for both Black and White... 

There was nothing to find on the text move, despite the fact that there are 8 previous games with it. 

7...Nf6 8.O-O Kf7 9.d4 d6 10.Qe2 Be7 11.Bg5 Re8

 

White has done well, on his own. He has the usual 2-pawns-for-a-piece material balance, slightly favoring Black.

The game continued, and Black's advantage grew, slipped away, and grew again - until he won on time in 30 moves.

Perhaps White would have done better if there had been more information to rely on.