Jerome Gambit: Against

I am not always comfortable playing against the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), but in a Jerome Gambit thematic tournament, where I have the black pieces half of the time, it can't be helped.

Also, if I want to advance to the next round and play more Jeromes, that means I have to defeat a number of them along the way.

The following game is from the tournament's fourth round.

moisesah - perrypawnpusher

Jerome Gambit Classic #1, Chess.com, 2024

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4

Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's early preference, before turning to 6.Qh5+.

6...Qh4 

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

7.dxc5 

It might not have seemed safer to my opponent to go ahead and castle. I have to say that my experience in games with 7.O-O has not been overwhelmingly positive for that move:  Sir Osis of the Liver - perrypawnpusher, Jerome Gambit 3 thematic, ChessWorld.net, 2008 (0-1, 38) and perrypawnpusher - 4xel, Chess.com 2017 (1/2 - 1/2, 29).

Still, things are about to get uncomfortable for White's King.

7...Qxe4+ 8.Be3 

Instead, 8.Kf1 was a different idea for defense, as occured in hamadkargarfard7 - perrypawnpusher, Jerome Gambit Classic #1 2024 (0-1, 17).  

8...Qxg2 9.Rf1 Nf3+ 10.Ke2 Nxh2 11.Rg1 Qf3+ 12.Kd2 Qxd1+ 13.Kxd1 

We have reached a Queenless middlegame where Black has an extra piece and an extra pawn. The pieces begin to dance around, but this imbalance does not change.

13...Nf6 14.Nc3 d5 15.Ne2 Bg4 16.Rg2 Nf3 17.c3 Bf5 18.Ng3 

At first glance it may look like White has improved on his development, at no cost to King safety. This is true - but he has just put his Rook at risk.

18...Bh3 19.Rg1 Nxg1 20.Kc2 Nf3 

I cannot fault my opponent for  playing on, given my propensity to grasp a blunder out of thin air...

21.a4 h5 

There is an old saying from the Manhattan Chess Club, that Black pawns move faster than White ones. (Gravity?)

22.Ne2 Bf5+ 23.Kb3 h4 24.Nf4 g5 25.Ne2 h3 26.Ng3 Be4 27.Bd4 Nxd4+ 28.cxd4 h2 White resigned

The h-pawn will not promote, but it will tie down White's already outnumbered forces. There were other games more worthy of my opponent's attention.

Jerome Gambit: Classic #1 Upset

Chess.com keeps track of the "Biggest Upset" in the Jerome Gambit Classic #1 tournament (and others, as well, on their respective pages).

Currently, the following game holds the Classic #1 honors. It is fun to consider the many evaluations given to the moves along the way - by the Chess.com computer?

White is able to put off being checkmated, by allowing his King and Queen to be forked.

mconto (1858) - CaptainPlop (1005)

Jerome Gambit Classic #1 - Round 2

Chess.com

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7! 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6?! 7.Qxc5 N8e7? 8.d3 d6 9.Qc4+? Be6?! 10.Qd4?! c5? 11.Qc3? d5 12.exd5? Qxd5 13.O-O h5 14.Nd2? h4 15.h3? Nf4 16.Ne4 Ne2+ 17.Kh1 White resigned

Jerome Gambit: Round Four Begins

 As mentioned last post, Round 4 of the Jerome Classic #1 tournament at Chess.com has started.

I am facing accattone44, cool64chess, moisesah, sinipete and vkar33.

My record against cool64chess, so far, is 1 - 1 - 1.

My record against sinipete is 1 - 0 - 2.

The game are already interesting.

Stay tuned.

Jerome Gambit: About To Get Busy

With only 1 game left to finish before the current round of the Jerome Classic #1 tournament at Chess.com is complete, and only 8 games left in the current round in the massive Giuico Fun tournament (also Chess.com) - meanwhile, I have completed my games and am waiting - things are about to get busy again, as the next round starts.

Without knowing exactly who my opponents will be, I still wish them good chess.

Jerome Gambit: You Have Been Warned

I recently took a quick trip to the Simplify Chess website, where it was enlightening to read what it has on the Jerome Gambit:

Jerome gambit is extremely rare and occurs in less than 1 in 10,000 games. From the data, you can expect that White will only have a 39.13% chance of winning, while Black should have a very high 60.87% chance of winning. Since most players have probably never seen this opening and because White has such a low expected chance of winning, it may be well worth it to keep this variation in your back pocket. If you are Black you should have a significant edge and will probably catch your opponent off guard.

Of course, one must remember the argument that there are lies, damn lies, and statistics...

Therefore, I am required to report that The Database - an admittedly somewhat biased collection - has 36,480 Jerome Gambit games, with White winning 51% of the time.

Equally interesting is the lichess.org site, with 717,520 Jerome Gambit games, with White winning 48% of the games.

You pays your money and you takes your chances.

Jerome Gambit: Sacrificing Material to Open Lines

In a gambit, one player sacrifices material to open lines for attack.

The following Jerome Gambit game is a good example

angelcamina - LoFi_Lxgend

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2024

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

The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Bb4 

Black moves his Bishop to pin White's Knight, so that the e4 pawn is vulnerable. angelcamina has been here before, scoring 20 - 7 - 1, 84%. In a bullet game, this experience is helpful.

8.dxe5 Nxe4 

Seemingly logical, at first glance, due to the pin on White's Knight at c3, but an error, as angelacmina promptly shows. 

9.Qd5+ Ke7 

Or 9... Ke8 10.Qxe4 a5 (10...Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 Kf8 12.Ba3+ d6 13.Qf3+ Ke8 14.O-O-O Qg5+ 15.Kb1 Rf8 16.Qe2 Bg4 17.f3 Be6 18.exd6 Kf7 19.dxc7 Rac8 20.Bxf8 Rxf8 21.Rhe1 Rc8 22.Qxe6+ Black resigned, angelcamina - Parsel_1, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org,  2020 ) 11.O-O g5 12.Nd5 Bc5 13.Nf6+ Ke7 14.Bxg5 h6 15.Nd5+ Black resigned, angelcamina -The_KGD, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019; or

9...Kf8 10.Qxe4 Qe8 (10...Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 Qe7 12.O-O d6 13.Ba3 (13.f4 Bd7 14.Ba3 Bc6 15.Qe3 Re8 16.Rad1 g6 17.Qg3 Kg7 18.c4 Rhf8 19.Bb2 Kg8 20.f5 Black resigned, angelcamina - CATCHESS11, 1 - 0, bullet, lichess.org, 2024) 13...Kg8 14.Qf3 Qxe5 15.Rae1 Qf5 16.Qxf5 Bxf5 17.Re7 h6 18.Rxc7 Bxc2 19.Rxb7 Kh7 20.Re1 Rhf8 21.Ree7 Rf6 22.Rxg7+ Kh8 23.f3 Bd3 24.c4 Bxc4 25.Bb2 Rff8 26.Rh7+ Kg8 27.Rbg7 checkmate, angelcamina - likinfride, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019) 11.Qxb4+ Black resigned, angelcamina - ngx11, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2020; or

9...Kg6 10.Qxe4+Kf7 11.Qxb4 Qe7 12.O-O Qxb4 White resigned, angelcamina - abhinavatul, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2020. 

10.Qxe4 Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 

11...Qf8 

Or 11...d6 12.Bg5+ Kd7 13. Bxd8 as in angelcamina - adriannez, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019 (1-0, 44).

12.Bg5+ 

The Bishop has a choice of diagonals. It could also go to a3: 12.Ba3+ d6 13.exd6+ Kf7 14.O-O-O and White is winning. 

12...Ke8 13.O-O

Solid play. There was also the pawn sacrifice 13.e6 dxe6 14.Rd1 Qf5 15.Rd8+ Kf7 16.Qxf5+ exf5 17.Rxh8. 

13...Qf7 

Comparing King safety foretells the future of the game.

14.f4 c6 15.f5 Qd5 16.Qe2 b6 

The "Jerome pawns" outshine their counterparts.

17.Rad1 Qc5+ 18.Be3 Qxc3 

What else? Black grabs material and reinforces that a1-h8 diagonal.

19.f6 Rf8 20.fxg7 Rxf1+ 21.Rxf1 Black resigned

White has too many threats.

Jerome Gambit: Moving on in the Classic

My calculations indicated that a draw in my final game in the third round would be enough to qualify me for the fourth round of play in the Jerome Classic #1 tournament at Chess.com.

True, I would fall from first place to second place (better than my earlier prediction), and my opponent would have an open path to move from third place to first place - but that's the way it goes, sometimes.

The story of that last game can be simply put: after White's piece sacrifices in the Jerome Gambit opening, Black was better; and he remained better throughout the game. 

Why a draw, then? I suspect that my opponent saw that he was winning in his other two games, and that a draw with the (at that time) leader of the group was prudent.

A look at the game itself will have to wait until the next post.