Jerome Gambit: That Was Quick

Even considering that it was played at bullet speed, the following game seems to have been over quickly.

angelcamina specializes in speedy Jerome Gambits.

angelcamina - DenBlood

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+  

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8

6.Qh5+ 

White charges ahead. 

The recommended 6.Nxc6 Qh4!? remains largely unexplored.

6...g6 

A quick ending: 6...Ke7 7.Qf7+ Kd6 8.Nc4 checkmate, angelcamina - SammmDBest, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2021. 

7.Nxg6 Qf6 

Many times the defender does well by placing his Queen here - but not this time.

Recommended by Stockfish 15 is 7...Bxf2+ (the Bishop is lost; this way it gains a pawn in return) 8.Kxf2 Nf6 9.Qh4 Rg8 10.Rf1 Rxg6 11.Kg1 d5 and Black is better.

A couple of alternatives:

7...hxg6 8.Qxh8 Kf8 9.O-O d6 10.c3 Be6 11.d4 Bb6 12.d5 Bf7 13.dxc6 bxc6 14.Bh6+ Ke7 15.Bg5+ Nf6 16.Bxf6+ Ke6 17.Bxd8 Rxd8 18.Qxd8 Bxf2+ 19.Rxf2 d5 20.exd5+ cxd5 21.Rf6+ Ke5 22.Nd2 c5 23.Qe7+ Be6 24.Qxe6 checkmate, angelcamina - MegaBane, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019; and 

7...Nf6 8.Qh4 Nxe4 9.Qxe4+ Ne7 10.Nxh8 d6 11.Qxh7 Be6 12.O-O Qd7 13.Ng6 Nxg6 14.Qxg6+ Bf7 15.Re1+ Kf8 16.Qh6+ Kg8 17.c3 Qf5 18.d4 Bb6 19.Bg5 d5 20.Bf6 Qh7 21.Qg5+ Qg6 22.Qh4 Qh7 23.Qg3+ Qg6 24.Qxg6+ Bxg6 25.Nd2 c6 26.Re7 Bc7 27.Rae1 Bd6 28.Rd7 Bf8 29.Nf3 Rb8 30.Be7 b5 31.Bxf8 Kxf8 32.Ree7 Be8 33.Rxa7 White won on time, angelcamina - stockfishdanirealno1, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2021. 

8.Nxh8+ Kd8 9.Qxc5 Qxh8 

Moving quickly, overlooking something that 9...d6 would have prevented.

10.Qf8 checkmate

That was quick.

Merry Christmas 2022

 

Merry Christmas!

Jerome Gambit: In Weakness There Is Strength

One of the strengths of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) and its relatives is their weakness - opponents routinely underestimate White's chances, play routine moves, and get into trouble.

The following game is a good example.

TheOldgit - wopa

2 12 blitz, FICS, 2022

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Na5 

It looks like Black would like to win "the minor exchange" - 4.Bb3 Nxb3 5.axb3.

White can accomodate him now, and bag a pawn, with 4.Nxe5 Nxc4 5.Nxc4.

Instead, White prefers to follow the path of Jerome.

4.Bxf7+ 

This sacrifice is legitimate.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 

White also is a bit better after 5...Ke7 6.d4 d6 7.Nd3 Qe8 8.O-O Kd8.

6.d4 Bd6 

My daughter-in-law has a t-shirt that reads "Go ahead, underestimate me. That will be fun".

The words might as well refer to the Jerome Gambit.

Not to be too harsh on wopa. The Database shows a couple dozen games with the optimistic 6...Bd6. Of course, it scores 0 - 24. 

Better was 6...Nf6. 

7.Qg4+ Kf6 8.Bg5 checkmate

Ouch.

Jerome Gambit: Suspicion Helps

pablosko - pradipdb

3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Qf6 

Interesting move. What is Black up to?

7.O-O Bxd4 8.Bg5 

A fun move, but playing into his opponent's hands.

Blitz. Things happen.

8...Qxg5 9.Qxd4 Nf3+ White resigned

That's got to hurt.

Jerome Gambit: Chess for Students

Pleased to be mentioned, along with the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), on Jon Bain's Chess for Students page on Facebook.

Not quite sure whose picture accompanies the text, however. Jim Edmond of the Footscray Not Western Bulldogs?

JG: The New in Its Opening Theory, in Its Psychology (Part 13)

 JG: The New in Its Opening Theory, in Its Psychology (Part 13)   

  

(by Yury V. Bukayev) 

 

 

As a further development of my Part 11 (the post of August 16, 2022 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!? Ke8!? 10.d4!? Nc6 11.0-0!  

 

After 11…Bf8 White has the following two possibilities: 

 

I)12.d5! AN  

 

A)12…Nce7 

A1)13.Qd3 d6 (13…Nf6 14.c4! with the idea 15.e5 and with the attack) 14.c4! with the idea 15.e5 and with the attack 

A2)13.Qf3! with the same idea, with the attack 

 

B)12…Qe7 13.Kh1! (13.dxc6 Qc5+ 14.Kh1 Qxc3 15.cxd7+ Bxd7 16.Nxc3, and White loses his attack, the position is good for Black) 13…Qc5 (13…Qb4 14.Qd3! with the attack) 14.Qd2! with the attack 

 

 

II)12.e5! Qe7!? 13.Rd1!? AN, and White’s attack continues.  

 

 

These theoretical difficulties for Black can be mortal for him in your game, even without very large difficulties of other kinds, which are present always at games. So I recommend you to play this line, if you are a lover of the Jerome gambit with 5.Nxe5+. You can get it also by my other sequences of moves: 9.d4 Nc6 10.0-0 Ke8 11.f4 Bf8; 9.0-0 Ke8 etc.; 9.f4 Ke8 10.0-0! Nc6 11.d4 Bf8.   

 

 Of course, ‘the Fantastic Star Jerome Gambit Deferred’ and ‘the Triumphant Jerome Gambit Deferred’ (these are my most strong deferred lines of JG, real parts of JG, they were invented and published in 2022 in my analytical research ‘Lose Never with a Strong Deferred Jerome Gambit! (Part 2)’) will be much more attractive for a lot of experts of the modern chess opening theory than the standard line of JG.