The Spectre of the Jerome Gambit (Part 1)

The following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game might just as well be titled "How do we make this checkmate work?" 

White persists in his efforts and eventually reaches his goal of checkmating the enemy King. (I add some of my own efforts in the notes.)

There is something else going on, however, besides the observable attack.

For most club players, it is easier to attack than defend; and that works in the Jerome Gambit's favor, as its whole idea is attack.

The essence of a gambit is that White (in this case) gives up material for something. We refer to the Jerome Gambit, not the Jerome Blunder (although some might prefer that name, and the editor of the American Chess Journal referred to it in 1877 as Jerome's Absurdity). The defender struggles to make sense out of an opening that isn't familiar - but White wouldn't sacrifice pieces for nothing, would he?

Also, most club players have been exposed to "Checkmate in X moves" problems, but they have rarely faced "Black to move and escape the mating net" challenges. They learn how to attack, but they also learn that a King out in the open is one that will perish.

So, being attacked can be unsettling, and for a club player it may very well lead to a distracted or diminished mental state.

All of which addresses the point that sometimes the Jerome Gambit wins when it "objectively" shouldn't. 

EdnaDrown - n3wes

10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

How does Black react, Yikes or Yay ?

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

Is Black knowingly playing one of the strong defenses against the Jerome Gambit, or is he foolishly trying to hang onto all of his gained material?

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.Nc3 

This move is not as forcing as 8.f4, but it indicates that White is going to go after the enemy King in a different way.

8...Qf6 9.Nb5+ 

Okay, you might know that this move has scored only 11% in 28 games (The Database knows), but I am not so sure that n3wes knows. He sees bad news coming, and prudently takes appropriate steps.

9...Kc6 10.a4 Qxf5 11.exf5 Nf6 

So far, Black had made progress with his defense, notably exchanging Queens and developing his pieces. His King is still exposed, and he will have to do something about that.

12.d4 Bb4+ 13.c3 Nd3+ 14.Ke2 Nxc1+ 15.Raxc1 Bd6 

Materially, Black has the two Bishops for a couple of pawns. His problems are not over, however.

His position has the ominous chain: a Bishop that blocks a pawn that blocks a Bishop that hems in a Rook; a typical danger when facing the Jerome Gambit.

Also, his King remains exposed.

There is still a lot of action to come (although some of it will be in the notes).

[to be continued]

Jerome Gambit: Elephant Perspective

 

I have been reading The Exhilarating Elephant Gambit (2020) by Jakob Aabling-Thomsen and Michael Agermose Jensen. It is quite enjoyable: well-researched, well-written and well laid out.

Although the opening is a defense for Black, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5, I found the following quote to be easily applicable to the Jerome Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ - You just have to substitute "Black" for "White" to make the transition.

Playing an unusual opening has some general advantages:

We are playing on our turf, whereas White is out of his comfort zone.

The burden of proof is on White to refute our supposedly "unsound" opening. It is one thing to lose with White in a complicated Najdorf Sicilian, but the prospect of losing when you are supposed to be better at move 2 brings with it a whole different type of pressure.

Faced with such a surprise, many players react in one or more of the following ways: becoming either overconfident or playing overly defensively; choosing a second-rate response in the hope of taking you "out of the book"; and/or burning significantly more time than usual in the opening, leading to time pressure later, especially at faster time controls.

Jerome Gambit: Filling

Past, light-hearted views of the future often included the idea of compressed food - a whole meal with a variety of foods, all in one tiny pill.

The following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game is a down-to-earth similarity. Who would have guessed that a 1-minute bullet game would be so filling?

Enjoy, but consume slowly to appreciate.

Static27o - kahaqqani

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

This line appears frequently - there are 3,747 examples in The Database. White scores 56%. [These appear to be the accurate numbers. For some reason I got them mixed up in the earlier post "Jerome Gambit: In the End, It Was the Pawns (Part 1)"]

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6 

10.O-O 

Static27o has the right idea, getting his King off the e-file. The danger is lessened when White has played Jerome's "nudge" 7.Qd5+ (Jerome - Brownson, Iowa, 1875) as above, but White will need to castle at some point, so it is a move well-played in bullet.

10...Kf7 11.f4 Re8 

White puts his faith in his central "Jerome pawns", Black in his Rook on the e-file.

12.f5 Rxe4 

An oversight, but a very understandable one. White has already shown that he plays fast-and-loose with the basics of "good" chess by playing the Jerome Gambit. Surely, he has overlooked the capture of his e-pawn? This is a reasonable assessment for thinking in a bullet game.

But, it is wrong. Statich27o either knows a whole lot about the Jerome, or his tactical skills are finely honed.

Black should have tried 12...Ne5, when 13.d4 would have followed in the footsteps of Vazquez - Carrington, 2nd match, 1876 (1-0, 34).

13.Qb3+ 

The primacy of check. White's Queen escapes danger.

Another way, but probably one that demanded more thinking time, was 13.fxg6+ Kg8 (13...Kxg6, unpinning the Knight which protects the Rook, falls to 14.Rxf6+ followed by 15.Qxe4) 14.gxh7+ Kh8 (not 14...Kxh7, when 15.Qd3 would pin the Rook to the King, threatening to win it with 16.Nc3; in the meantime, White would retain the threat of Rxf6) 15.Qf2.

13...d5 14.fxg6+ hxg6 15.Nc3 

Stockfish 14 give White an edge here. With a safer King, I think he would find his position easier to play.

15...Qh8 

This move is hard to explain. It could be an oversight, it could be that with the annoying pins against his pieces, Black decided to abandon the Rook. It also could be the clock.

There was something to say for 15...Re5 16.d4 Re8 17.Nxd5 Be6 18.c4 Bxd5 19.cxd5 Qd6 although White would still be better.

16.Qxd5+ 

Certainly good enough, although 16.Nxe4 would have taken full advantage of the pins.

16...Re6 17.Ne4 c6 18.Qb3 Ke7 

Freedom from the pins.

White turns to some "normal" moves to complete his development.

19.Nxf6 gxf6 20.d3 Re5 21.Bf4 Rh5 

Possibly under the impression that the enemy King is in danger - or maybe it is the only chance left? White quickly shows the true picture.

22.Rae1+ Kd7 23.Qf7+ Kd8 24.Qc7 checkmate

If you would like to cross swords with Static270, you can catch him at his online club.

Jerome Gambit: Jerome-Knight Gambit

 

I know that I said I would take leave of the Jerome Gambit variant (an "impatient Jerome Gambit") against the Two Knights Defense - 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Bxf7+ - until I had more new material (analysis and games) but it suddenly dawned upon me that I should also have mentioned the related Jerome-Knight Gambit  - 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Bxf7+ - which I also took a look at, years ago.  Interested Readers can check out both the Jerome-Knight Gambit and some games (The Database currently has 445 examples.)

It might even be worth checking out "One More Thought" that I had on the relationship between those variations.

JG: The New in Its Opening Theory, in Its Psychology (Part 9)

 

JG: The New in Its Opening Theory, in Its Psychology (Part 9)   

(by Yury V. Bukayev) 

 

 

As a further development of my Part 2 (the post of October, 16, 2020 on Rick Kennedy’s blog), this continuation of my theoretical research on the standard line of the Jerome gambit (JG) is about position after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qh3+! Ke7 8.Qc3!? Bd6!? 9.f4!. If your very cautious opponent (Black) is surprised by 7.Qh3+, then, most probably, he’ll prefer to play 7…Kf7: I proved it in some of my previous parts including my Part 8, where the new way of fight against the defence 7…Ke7 8.Qc3!? Bxf2+!? was considered (the post of September, 22, 2021 on Rick Kennedy’s blog). Nevertheless, you should be ready to meet this very important position in such game too.    

Here Black can find enough good defence where he returns no pieces on its first stage: 9…Ke8! N [The moves 9…Kf7!? N and 9…Kf8!? N are also possible. These my three new moves-inventions have the same idea - to open key squares for Black's Queen and Black's Bishop] 10.0-0! [10.fe? Qh4! 11.Kf1 Qf4! 12.Kg1 Be5!?, and Black wins. Although White can win here by traps 11.g3 Qe4 12.Kf2 Qh1 13.ed Qc1 14.Qg7 (or 14.Qe5 Kd8 15.dc#) 14…cd 15.Qh8 Kf8 16.a4 b5 17.ab Bb7 18.Ra4 Qb1 19.Rf4 Ke7 20.Qg7 +-, the probability of these Black’s mistakes isn’t very large.] Here Black should play 10…Nf7 or 10…Nc6. In both cases the move 11.Qxg7 isn’t good, White has two enough good ways: 11.b3 and 11.d4. It’s enough rare case in theory of JG, where on this opening stage White regains no pieces and lets opponent’s King retreat back from the centre, but can create very large difficulties for the opponent. Even a very cautious opponent can think here mistakenly that it’s very easy to achieve the score “0:1”, so he’ll start to make “active” moves without his usual caution.     

For example, here is one of “active” variations of play: 10…Nc6 11.b3 Bb4 12.Qe3 d6 13.Bb2 Bc5 14.d4 Bb6 15.c4 Qf6 16.e5 Qh6 17.c5 Ba5 18.a3 Nge7 19.b4 Bxb4 20.axb4 Nxb4 21.exd6: Black has an extra Knight, but White’s attack is strong.  

Here it becomes clear that my else new invented ways (N) - 9.0-0!?, 9.d4 Nc6 10.a3!? (10.0-0!?) - are enough good too. 

Of course, the Natural star Jerome gambit deferred (the strong deferred line of JG - the post of September, 17, 2021 on Rick Kennedy's blog) will be much more attractive for a lot of experts of the modern chess opening theory than the standard line of JG, but the defence 6…Ke6 after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ requires their new attention and large revision already now, we can understand finally.  

Jerome Gambit: Facing Up to 4.Bxf7+ in the Two Knights (Part 3)

The 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Bxf7+ game, Draper, Dr - Child, AW., Belfast - Dublin team correspondence match-2 1891-2, 1891 (0-1, 20), that we looked at in the previous post  - because of its similarity to the Jerome Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ - is creative, but does not give a lot of direction on how the opening is to be played.

Fortunately, we have some guidance from Jerome Gambit players.

Philidor 1792 (265 games in The Database, 27 with this line) wrote in the post "What's Going on Here?"

Since I wrote to you last time, I've played many Jerome games and found some fun ideas.

First of all, I explored the Modern Jerome Gambit and realized that here, in contrast to Double Jerome Gambit, one doesn't need to wait when opponent develop his bishop to c5 square (because the Qh5+ idea isn't involved), so why not to play Bxf7+ in response to Be7 or Nf6, without waiting Bc5 move? 

As you wrote in your blog some people believe that "it is bad investment to sacrifice the second piece with 5.Nxe5" and prefer to "focus on development". (If there is any soundness to be found in the Jerome, then I believe it involves replacing 5. Nxe5+ with a different move. - Gary K. Gifford). Why do we need a black bishop on c5 then? 

So I tried to play Bxf7+ after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 as a response to any black move. After that I saw that in the arising positions the main idea of the Halloween Gambit is applicable. For example after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Ng6 7.e5 the black knight doesn't have any secure square (the g4 and h5 squares are controled by the white queen and after Nd5 or Ne4, Qf3+ with a fork may follow.)

The Halloween Gambit, by the way, is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nxe5 Nxe5 5.d4.

 You can find game examples by Philidor 1792 in "Unasked Questions".

I will return to this topic when I have more to share.