Jerome Gambit: Uh, Yeah, Okay

My guess is that if you ever found yourself down a Queen and 5 pawns in the endgame, you might be willing to resign.

Even if you had been playing against the Jerome Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+.

In the case of the following game - the players shall remain nameless - Black was facing the Semi-Italian (or Anti-Fried Liver) Jerome Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.Bxf7+.

Soon, things became dire for the defender. 

Time to resign?

Well, no.

Maybe the two competitors were friends and were having a laugh. Or maybe Black simply wanted to see if White could avoid a draw by stalemate.

Checkmate

Uh, Yeah, Okay, stalemate avoided.

Has this happened before? Almost.

Try this one.

Here the defender against the Jerome Gambit winds up with an extra Queen and 4 pawns, with the game ending up like this

Checkmate

And, once more, as a warning to White that "If you strike at the King (with the Jerome Gambit), you must kill him" here is another scary predicament from The Database

Ending up

Checkmate

(I know that some chess sets have an extra Queen for each side, to be ready if a pawn promotes. I have seen players who need another Queen turn a Rook over to represent a Queen and play with it that way. But what if you run out of Rooks, too?)

Jerome Gambit: Mattoscacco

Long-time contributor to this blog Yury V. Bukayev points out an Italian language video focusing on the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) "Apertura Imbattibile di Scacchi | Gambetto Jerome" (and even mentioning this blog with a screen shot of "Jerome Gambit: I Am Not Encouraging "Perfect Chess").

One of a number of presentations by Mattoscacco, this video takes a light-hearted approach as it touches on main line Jerome play, as well as taking a peek at 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Bxf7+ and 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nxe4 4.Bxf7+. 

Although my knowledge of Italian is quite limited, I enjoyed looking at the variations given. 

At 17 minutes, it is worth a look - and listen.

Jerome Gambit: Four Squared

 

A short YouTube video by Four Squares (@FourSquares) showing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), "100 Chess traps #48 Jerome gambit", is one of many on the site. 

The short video showcases a quick checkmate. Although unidentified, the game is blackburne - karmmark, Jerome Gambit thematic tournament, ChessWorld.net, 2007. 

Check it out.

Jerome Gambit: Refuted.

The nightmare of playing a "refuted" opening is that sometimes actually gets refuted.

Faster time controls help the attacker. Surprise helps.

Sometimes it is not enough.

pablosko - yooooooooo

3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Qh4 

First appearing in Sorensen - X, Denmark, 1888 (1-0, 27).

7.O-O Nf6 8.dxe5 

White is under pressure, but taking the enemy Bishop when he has the opportunity (8.dxc5) is probably more helpful.

8...Ng4 

9.Qd5+ 

Striking out, but it does not save him.

9...Ke8 10.h3 Bxf2+ 11.Rxf2 Qxf2+ White resigned

Checkmate is next.

It does not always have to end this way.

Jerome Gambit: What Can We Learn? (Part 3)

[continued from the previous post]

perrypawnpusher - auswebby

3 days/move, "Giuoco Piano Game", Chess.com, 2022

28.Nxd5 

Played with a sense of resignation.

28...Rxc1 29.Rxc1 Rxd5 

As long as Black keeps his two pieces and King active, he will have the advantage.

30.Re1 Rd7 31.g4 Kb6 

32.Re5 Rd2+ 33.Re2 Rxe2+ 34.Kxe2 Kc5 

I know, I know, why haven't I resigned?

Hold on, I have one joke left.

35.Kd3 Kb4 36.f4 a5 37.Kc2 Ka3 38.Kb1 

38...Bd5 

After 38...Bxb3 I intended to resign, things looking hopeless after 39.axb3 Kxb3. Imagine my surprise after the game when Stockfish 15 pointed out that 40.g5 Kc4 41.g4 g6 42.f5 gxf5 43.gxf5 Kd5 44.f6 Ke6 45.Ka2 h5!? 46.gxh6 ep Kxf6 47.h7 Kg7 48.Kh3 Kxh7 49.Ka4 Kg6 50.Kxa4 would be a draw.  

So that's why auswebby played the text move.

39.g3 Bf3 40.g5 Be4+ 41.Ka1 Bf5 42.b4 axb4 43.g4 Bxg4 44.f5 

Now if 44...Bxf5 45.g6 Bxg6 (or 45...hxg6) the position would be a stalemate draw.

44...b3 45.axb3 Bxf5 46.g6 Bxg6 

White resigned

Excellent game by auswebby!

Jerome Gambit: What Can We Learn? (Part 2)

 

[continued from the previous post]

perrypawnpusher - auswebby

3 days/move, "Giuoco Piano Game", Chess.com, 2022

13.Be3 

I think it was Alexander Kotov, in his Think Like A Grandmaster, who described an imaginary, but common, situation: in a complicated position, a player looks at one line, then a second one, analyzing both but being unable to choose between one or the other - so he finally, quickly, plays a third move without much consideration.

The move in the game was the result of me not being sure which move was better, 13.Nd2 or 13.f4.

13...Qg6 

Taking advantage of the fact that White's Queen cannot safely escape exchange. The rogue Queen is part of Jerome Gambit strategy and tactics, and seeing her leave the board was not encouraging to me.

14.Nd2 Qxg3 15.hxg3 Be6 

With the option of playing either c3-c4 or f2-f4, White should feel comfortable with his central pawn preponderance, but exchanging pawns would open lines for the enemy pieces, so I decided to sit still, instead.

16.f3 

After the game Stockfish 15 suggested 16.a4 c6 17.a5 Bc7 18.f3 h5 19.b4 Rc8 20.Bf4 Kf7 21.Kf2 Rhg8 22.Bg5 Rge8 23.Rh1 Kg6 24.Bf4 d5 25.Bxc7 Rxc7 26.e5 Rf8, leaving Black two pawn's worth better. Of course, that was well beyond my understanding of the position.

In subsequent play I accidentally achieved part of that recommendation. 

16...Kd7 17.Kf2 Rac8 

One more "lockdown" variation suggested by the computer: 17...a5 18.d5 Bxe3+ 19.Kxe3 Bf7 20.a4 h5 21.c4 c6 22.Rh1 Rhe8 23.Kd4 Ra6 24.Ra3 Rb6 25.Rb3 Rb4 26.Rxb4 axb4 27.b3 Rc8 28.Rb1 Ra8 29.Ra1 Kc7 30.a5 c4+ 31.Kd3

Analysis diagram

Clearly White is worse here, but can he hold on in his fortress?

Back to the game.

18.d5 Bf7 19.Nc4 Bxe3+ 20.Nxe3 

My King is not as brave as Stockfish 15's and does not choose to advance by capturing the Bishop.

20...c6 

Black, for his part, would like to open lines.

21.dxc6+ 

Too obliging, but I somehow thought that opening lines would benefit me. (Perhaps it was the location of Black's King.) Consistent with keeping things close would have been 21.c4.

21...bxc6 22.c4 Kc7 

23.Rad1 Rhd8 24.Rc1 

Wavering. Doubling Rooks on the d-file made more sense, again with the idea that pressure on the pawn at d6 would keep things static.

24...Kb7 25.b3 d5 26.exd5 cxd5 27.cxd5 Nxd5 

Allowing Black to play ...d5 was not wise.

White now has a position where his pawn majorities on both sides might lead to something in a game played at blitz speed, but with the time control in this game being 3 days per move, that would be a slim hope - especially considering Black's extra Bishop.

It is interesting that Komodo 13.02, which is a bit more "human like" in its move choices, evaluates the position as about 1 3/4 pawns better for Black, while the stronger Stockfish 15 sees Black as 3 1/2 pawns better. 

[to be continued]

Jerome Gambit: What Can We Learn? (Part 1)

There is more to annotating a lost chess game than discovering which moves to attach the "?!" and "?" symbols.

When that game starts out as a Jerome Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+, it can always be tempting to give the 4th and 5th moves "?"s and sign off with "...and the rest is a matter of technique (for Black)".

But, I play the Jerome Gambit (376 games from the 5th move given above; scoring 81%), and a lot of other club players do, as well. 

So the question is: What can we learn from this defeat?

The following game took place in the 4th round of the 2022-2023 "Giuoco Piano Game" tournament at Chess.com. My opponent had scored 8 - 0 - 0 in his group in the 1st round, 5 - 0 - 3 in the 2nd round, and 6 - 1 - 1 in the 3rd round, for a total of 19 wins, 1 loss and 4 draws.

We had met once before, 7 1/2 years ago, and the blog post "Toward Disaster" gives a clue as to how perrypawnpusher - auswebby, "Giuoco Piano" tournament, Chess.com, 2015 (0-1, 37) turned out. He was rated about 60 points higher than me back then, maybe twice that for this game.

perrypawnpusher - auswebby

3 days/move, "Giuoco Piano Game", Chess.com, 2022

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

If I am playing in a Giuoco Piano or Italian Game tournament, regardless of the time control, I will  play the Jerome Gambit every chance I get.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 

The Jerome Defense to the Jerome Gambit (see "Jerome Gambit / Jerome Defense"), was mentioned by Alonzo Wheeler Jerome in his analysis published in the July 1874 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal.

A half dozen years later Jerome used the defense against his own gambit in two games: Jaeger - Jerome, correspondence, 1880 (0-1, 14) and Jaeger - Jerome, correspondence, 1880 (0-1, 40)

To take a broader perspective, The Database has 1,965 games with this move. White scores 48%.

I have played 40 games games against 6...Kf8, scoring 76%.

7.Qxe5 Qe7 

The analysis engine at lichess.org, commenting on a different game with the same position, fussed that 7...Qe7 was "inaccurate", preferring 7...d5.

Consulting The Database - which has almost 25,000 games starting with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ plus an additional 55,000 related games - I found 2,171 examples with 7...Qe7. White scored 42%. (That means Black scored 58%, which is not bad for an inaccuracy.) 

By contrast, in the 10 games where I faced 7...Qe7, I scored 70%. 

Although 7...d5 is very rare in the games in The Database, of the 5 games it contained, White scored only 20%, so the silicon beast may be onto something. That would make the move "Jerome Gambit Secret #17", I think.

8.Qf4+ 

I am not sure that 8.Qxe7+ would come to mind for the Jerome Gambiteer, but I note that The Database has 80 such games, with White scoring 59%.

8...Ke8 9.O-O d6 

10.c3 Qf7 11.Qg3 Ne7 12.d4 Bb6

White has two pawns for his sacrificed piece and a formidible pawn center. Black's extra piece gives him the Bishop pair. White's King is castled, Black's King is in on a center file with no quick escape.

Stockfish 15, which usually takes a somewhat skeptical view of the Jerome Gambit in its analysis, sees Black now as about a pawn and a half better (34 ply). That is about a two-pawn improvement for White since 4.Bxf7+, but there is plenty of work still to be done. 

[to be continued]