Jerome Gambit: Easy Come...

When playing over a 1-minute game by angelcamina, at lichess.org, it is easy to forget that he completes his wins in 60 seconds - or less - because the play seems so, well, easy...

angelcamina - FutureWorld_Champion

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qb5+ c6 10.Qc4 

In earlier games angelcamina has retreated his Queen to b3 or b4

10...Qe7 11.O-O Ne5 

Instead, 11...Nf4 might have furthered his attacking chances on the Kingside. 

12.Qa4 Bd7 13.d4 c5 14.Qb3 

Black is attacking White's center, as White's Queen looks to grab the enemy b-pawn.

14...c4 

This change in plans - as opposed to, say, 14...cxd4 15.Qxb7 Bc6 - may be motivated by the attractiveness of attacking the Queen in a 1-minute bullet game.

15.Qg3 

It was safe to play 15.Qxb7 Nf3+ 16.gxf3 Rd8, but White seemed suspicious. Time control issue.

15...Ng6

White's game certainly looks easier to play.

16.Nc3 Kd8 17.f4 Nf6 18.e5 dxe5 19.fxe5 Nh5 20.Qf3 

Black's hanging Knight on h5 keeps him from playing the otherwise very useful 20...Bc6. 

20...Qh4 21.Qxb7 Ke7 

Black's King is the one in danger. White's moves come easily. 

22.Nd5+ Ke6 23.Nc7+ Ke7 24.Nxa8 Ngf4 25.Bxf4 Nxf4 26.Qb4+ Kd8 27.Qxc4 Qh5 28.Rxf4 Qe2 

A final slip, probably clock-induced.

29.Qxe2 Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: Updating Early Secrets (Part 6)

 

As befitting a blog on an unusual opening such as the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), it looks like I unwittingly produced two different earlier posts containing different "Jerome Gambit Secret #16".

The first looks at a position that could have arisen from one of my games.

A position search in The Database turns up 16 games.

However, in 9 of them, it is White to move, while in 7 of them it is Black to move.

Even more baffling, in those 9 with White on the move, none of the first players found Qg5+, winning the Black Queen.

But, all is not lost. In 4 of the games, Black played a move that allowed White to still play Qg5+ and win the Queen. In 3 of those games, White did so, but the fourth ended with the note "0 - 1, cheat detected".

You can't make this stuff up.

The second "Jerome Gambit Secret #16" focused upon the following position, where White was hunting the Black King, but the defender was still, technically, better

Black played 10...Bxf2+ and after 11.Kxf2 Ng4+ White resigned.

Finally, "Jerome Gambit Secret #17": 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.Qxe5 d5

The Database has only 5 games with this position, but White has scored only 20%.

Jerome Gambit: Updating Early Secrets (Part 5)

Here are a few more updates, as we noted a few posts ago, 

From "Jerome Gambit" Secret No More"

Jerome Gambit Secrets continue to be revealed. Most recently, I had to cross #13 off the list, as it was not longer secret. This one was on behalf of the defender, and to White I can only say with a smile "Don't say I didn't warn you"

"Jerome Gambit Secret #14" came in a line where Black avoided the Jerome: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Na5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 

Many of us would now choose 6.Qh5, but the move looked at was 6.Nc3, which still leads to an equal position. The Database has 9 games with 6.Nc3, with White scoring 44%. It is interesting that lichess.org has 27 games, with White scoring 68%.

"Jerome Gambit Secret #15": 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+ Qe7 9.Qe3 d5

...d5 is a thematic move for the defense against the Jerome Gambit, and it is not surprising that Stockfish 15.1 evaluates the resulting position as about 2 1/3 pawns better for Black. Yet, The Database has only 12 games with the move, with White scoring 58%.  Even more, lichess.org has 230 games, where White scores 65%. As is often the case in the Jerome, playing the "best" move does not necessarily make the position less complicated.

Jerome Gambit: Updating Early Secrets (Part 4)

 

Continuing the series, started  a few posts ago, here are a few more updates from earlier blog posts featuring "Jerome Gambit Secrets".

"Jerome Gambit Secret #10": 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qf6 9.fxe5+ Qxe5 10.Qf3 Nf6 11.d3 Ke7 12.c3

Moving a pawn instead of a Knight to c3 was the suggestion, although it does not appear to be much of an improvement. The Database has 33 games with 12.Nc3, with White scoring 70%; compared to 10 games with 12.c3, with White scoring 40%. Stockfish 15.1 does see 12.c3 as about a 1/2 pawn better compared to 12.Nc3, but both leave Black better.

In "Jerome Gambit Secret #11", after the Bishop-return line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bb4+ 7.c3 Bxc3+ 8.Nxc3 Ng6 9.O-O 

the computer recommended either 9...d5 or 9...h5 for Black.

The Database has one game with 9...d5 (a win for Black) and no games with 9...h5, so the moves remain largely "secret".

Things were a bit different with "Jerome Gambit Secret #12": 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Qe7 8.Qd5+

The highly dangerous (for White) 8.Qxh8 appeared in Jerome - Norton, D., correspondence, 1876 (1/2 - 1/2, 20) and Jerome - Whistler, correspondence, 1876 (0-1, 15). Jerome was fortunate to gain a half point from the two games. The December, 1876 issue of  American Chess Journal, commenting on the Whistler game, recommended 8.Qd5+ without analysis.

Then 8.Qd5+ practically disappeared from the face of the earth.

Years after this "Secret", things have become less secret. (For example, see Yury V. Bukayev's " Anatoly Karpov & Jerome Gambit (Part 7)" and "JG: The New in Its Opening Theory, in Its Psychology (Part 15)") The Database has 36 games with 8.Qd5+; White scores 50 %. Moreover, lichess.org has 421 games, with White scoring 48%.

Jerome Gambit: Updating Early Secrets (Part 3)

 

As we have been doing, starting  a few posts ago, here are a few more updates from earlier blog posts featuring "Jerome Gambit Secrets".

"Jerome Gambit Secret #7" addressed the somewhat unusual defense response to a center pawn fork of two of his pieces: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Nc4 

The Database has 12 games with this position. White scores 67%.

As I noted

So - if Black plays the almost "secret" 6...Nc4, smile, but do not celebrate yet. Go for the Queen check at h5, consider the "nudge" at d5, and prepare for complex play where you can hope for an advantage (with a draw in hand, per Stockfish).

I have noticed in its analysis that Stockfish seems to "mistrust" the Jerome Gambit, that it sometimes has White run to a draw whenever possible. In this line it looks at 7.Qh5+ and if 7...Kf8 recommends 8.Qf5+ Ke8 9.Qh5+ Kf8 10.Qh5+, etc. draw; after all, White is two pieces down.

"Jerome Gambit Secret #8" explored a line that was probably more confusing that it should have been. After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8 there are almost 600 games with the position in The Database, with White scoring 55%, yet if you add 6.Nxc6 dxc6 7.O-O Bd6  

then White scores 39% in 14 games - even though Stockfish considers the position about equal. Certainly the plan should be to play 8.d4 or 8.f4, and then f2-f4 or d2-d4 as soon as possible, to take advantage of the "Jerome pawns".

"Jerome Gambit Secret #9" Investigated a sideline. After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 White could either capture the Bishop on c5 directly or go in for a Queen-check "nudge" first, which he does here 7.Qd5+ Kf6 however, after this King's mis-step, there is the attack-the-king-minded 8.f4

According to The Database, White has scored 53% in 16 games. Lichess.org's database is more encouraging, with 19 games where White scores almost 80%.

Jerome Gambit: Updating Early Secrets (Part 2)

Continuing from the previous post, here are a few updates from earlier "Jerome Gambit Secrets".

"Jerome Gambit Secret #4" is as much a good story as it is a secret. It focuses on a reply to the Banks Variation, named after UK player Pete Banks ("blackburne" online), an early Jerome Gambit adopter who caught the eye of

International Master Gary Lane, who commented at length on the opening, and on a couple of Banks' games, in his March ("The Good Old Days") and April ("Chess Made Easy") 2008 "Opening Lanes" columns at ChessCafe.com. IM Lane also mentioned one of Banks' games in his The Greatest Ever chess tricks and traps (2008)...

 The line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8 6.Qh5, hoping to transpose into normal Jerome lines, can be met by 6...Qe7 

The Database has 10 games with this position, with White scoring a thin 30%. Lichess.org's numbers are a little more encouraging: In 132 games White scores 36%.

Of course, as with every line of the Jerome Gambit, familiarity, knowledge and peparation help the attacker.

"Jerome Gambit Secret #5" develops after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Ne7 9.Qxe5+ Kc6 with 10.Qc3

The Queen move appears in 12 games in The Database, all wins by White.

"Jerome Gambit Secret #6" also involves International Master Gary Lane, and his suggestion on move 9 in a line that has been called 

the"annoying defense" (because it is) or the "silicon defense" (because of the affinity computer chess programs have for it). It was first seen in D'Aumiller - A.P., 1878 and figured in six of Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's games against S.A. Charles in their unfinished 1881 correspondence match.

The line is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 d6 (annoying) 8.fxe5 dxe5 9.Nc3

The Database has 29 games, with White scoring 40%. Lichess.org is slightly more encouraging, with 340 games with White scoring 44%. Nowadays, Stockfish 15.1 shows a slight preference for 9.Qh3+.

Jerome Gambit: Updating Early Secrets (Part 1)

A few years ago, in the post "Jerome Gambit: Shhhh! It's A Secret", I wrote

About 3 years ago [2018] I started a series of occasional posts presenting "Jerome Gambit Secrets" - moves or lines of play that were good [for Black or for White], but were overlooked or rarely played.

To date, I have presented 15 of them. [Currently 17]

Dan Middlemiss - who continues to gift me with Jerome Gambit games - recently was amused that one of the secrets remains secret, even to this day.

I did a quick check of some of the earlier secrets.

"Jerome Gambit Secrets #1" remains unplayed.

"Jerome Gambit Secrets #2" remains unplayed

"Jerome Gambit Secrets #3" remains unplayed. (This is the one that has eluded both me and Dan.)

It is time to update those "Secrets", each of which has now been played.

Secret #1 was a caution to the player of the White pieces in a variation of the Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Qxe5 Bf8

White should not take the Rook at h8.

You might remember that the iconic game Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1884 (0-1, 14) resulted in a sacrificial attack leading to a crushing win for Black. You might also remember that further analysis indicated that White could have escaped with at least a draw.

This position is different.

Capture at your own risk: 9.Qxh8 Bg7 10.Qh7 Nf6 and the Queen is lost.

The one game in The Database with 9.Qxh8 was better for Black, up until he fell victim of tactics late in the game.

Secret #2 was a similar caution to the player of the White pieces,also in a variation of the Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.0–0 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Qxe5 Bf8 

White should not take the Rook at h8, for similar reasons to Secret #1: the Queen can be trapped and won, i.e. 9.Qxh8 Bg7 10.Qh7 Nf6.

It is true that there are 8 games in The Database, with White scoring 4 - 4, but that is misleading.

Secret #3 focused on more creativity by the player with the Black pieces: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Nxc6 Qh4

This is a wild position that favors White, although the complications are reflected in the 8 games in The Database (White scores 4 - 4), and the 12 games in lichess.org, (White scores 5 - 5).