The Westminster Papers

Using Google Books to search the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) I recently came across Volume XI of The Westminster Papers of London, "A Monthly Journal of Chess, Whist, Games of Skill, and The Drama" which had this note in its February 1, 1879 issue:

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS

CHESS

H.W.P. (Vermont, U.S., A.) -- We shall be most happy to receive some games fairly well played, in which the Jerome Double Gambit was adopted. They will be handed to our annotator in due course, and will analyse them in an unprejudiced and impartial manner.

The March and April issues which complete Volume XI have no further reference to Jerome's Gambit – and this is unfortunate, as they were the last issues of The Westminster Papers to be published.

The refererence to the chess player "H.W.P" of Vermont is also a mystery to me at this point.

Readers able to shed a light on this are encouraged to either post a "comment" or contact me via email.

Graphic by Jeff Bucchino, wizardofdraws

London Calling... Seven Months of Blog

Dear Jerome Gambit Gemeinde,

Another month has passed, this blog has reached 215 consecutive daily posts, and different outrageous lines of play continue to pop up here.

Beside obscure lines in the Giuoco Piano (see "Don't make me go Jerome all over you..."), the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit (see "Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit", "Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit 2", "Blackburne Shilling Gambit: The Trapper Trapped? (Part I)" and "Blackburne Shilling Gambit: The Trapper Trapped? (Part II)") and the Abrahams Jerome Gambit (see "'Tis A Puzzlement...", "The Abrahams Jerome Gambit (Part I)" and "The Abrahams Jerome Gambit (Part II)") there's even been a couple of Evans Jerome Gambits (see "Evans Jerome Gambit" and "Hoist by my own petard...").

Throughout 2009 I will continue to add games, analysis and history on these lines.

I also got wondering the other day: is there another totally obscure and disreputable tactical opening line or gambit that I could go digging for information about, while I'm researching the Jerome Gambit?? Certainly 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5 and 1.d4 e5 would meet criteria – except the Elephant and Englund Gambits have been lifted out of obscurity by modern analysis and games.

Readers and members of the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde are encouraged to make suggestions in the "comments".

Best wishes,

Rick Kennedy ("perrypawnpusher")

p.s. Visitors to this site have come from 73 different countries, and from 49 of the 50 states & Washington DC.

Hip' Kat

From a recent email from Garry Gifford, editor of the Unorthodox Openings Newsletter and one of the authors (along with Davide Rozzoni and Bill Wall) of the new Winning with the Krazy Kat and Old Hippo (see my review of the book at Chessville) -

...On a related note, last Saturday I played in Martin Frere Hillyer's first Thomas Frere Chess Memorial tournament (an unrated unadvertised invitational event) . [See my review of Hillyer's impressive Thomas Frère and the Brotherhood of Chess: A History of 19th Century Chess in New York City - RK]

In round 4 I drew with a guy and had to play a 5 minute tie-break game to see who would get the "gold" and who would get the "silver." These were not real gold and real silver, of course, just colored metal to resemble the actual.

So, having black and facing a very booked up player (who was also great at speed chess), I played the Krazy Kat. This was for the Gold, so you can see I take the Kat seriously (also a crowd was watching). Sure enough, my plan was a good one.

White was taking a great deal of time in the opening and early middle game and I could move at the speed of a crazy cat. But perhaps I moved too fast. In the middle game my opponent calculated a way to exchange pawns, pin a knight, gang up on it, and win it. And he did.

But at the cost of much time. I had 1 minute and 14 seconds showing on the clock. He had 6 seconds. "Avoid getting mated and the Gold is yours," said my inner self. And so I toughned up the defense while making some threats of my own with queen and rooks on open files. And 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 1... Black won on time.

Phew! So, I owe the gold to the Krazy Kat.

(By the way, the English Chess Forum has some interesting posts on the Hippopotamus and its creator. And Chess.com has a nice discussion on the Krazy Kat started by author Bill Wall - RK)

Perhaps not every opening should be Jerome-ized...

One of these day's I'm going to have to swipe a phrase from past military commercials and say something like "The Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) – it's not a chess opening, it's an adventure!"

But, maybe not an adventure for everyone, every time...

greatapple - perrypawnpusher
blitz game 2 12 FICS, 2009
1.e4 e5 2.Qh5

There are a lot of names for this opening, perhaps the earliest being the Danvers Opening, named after a hospital (an asylum?) in New England.

Master Bernard Parham, of Indiana, has woven the move into an entirely new way of looking at chess, something he calls "the Matrix System."

Actor Woody Harrelson once played the line against Gary Kasparov. On the other hand, Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura has played the opening against at least one GM.

2...Nf6

A fun gambit response. The earliest example I have in my database continued: 3.Qxe5+ Be7 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Qf4 0-0 6.Be2 Bd6 7.Qe3 Re8 8.d3 Be5 9.Nf3 Bxc3+ 10.bxc3 d5 11.Nd2 d4 12.cxd4 Nxd4 13.Bd1 Be6 14.f3 Nc6 15.0-0 Qd7 16.Nb3 b6 17.Bb2 Qe7 18.Qg5 h6 19.Bxf6 Qxf6 20.Qxf6 gxf6 21.c3 Rad8 22.d4 Kh8 23.d5 Bxd5 24.exd5 Rxd5 25.Bc2 Rg8 26.Rfe1 Na5 27.Nxa5 Rd2 28.g3 Rxc2 29.Nc6 Rxc3 30.Nxa7 Rxf3 31.Re7 f5 32.Rxc7 f4 33.Rxf7 Ra3 34.Nb5 Ra5 35.Nd6 fxg3 36.h3 g2 37.Ne4 Rg6 38.Nf6 Rxf6 39.Rxf6 Rg5 40.Rf7 Kg8 41.Rc7 Rg3 42.Rd1 Black resigned, McClure - Mathewson, Boston 1905

3.Qxe5+ Be7 4.Bc4 Nc6



Black has adequate compensation for his pawn, in terms of better development and the uneasy White Queen.

5.Bxf7+


Wow!

I mean, seriously: Wow! Was I shocked!

Some people will try to Jerome-ize just about anything! (See "King of Bxf7+" for some radical examples.)

Stil, in the real Jerome Gambit there is usually an enemy piece hanging around on c5 to be captured in many lines – not so in this game. White gets hardly anything at all for his piece.

5...Kxf7 6.Qf5 d5

6...Nd4 is even stronger, and might have ended the game quicker.

7.Qf3 dxe4 8.Qb3+ Qd5


Being content to extinguish even a spark of an attack by White, I offered to go into an endgame where I had a piece-for-a-pawn advantage – plus better development, and a more active (previously: less safe) King.

Tactical maniacs will quickly see that I missed a chance to play 8...Be6, when 9.Qxb7 would have been a bad idea for White after 9...Nd4 10.Kd1 Nxc2 anyway! 11.Kxc2 Qd3+ 12.Kd1 Qf1+ 13.Kc2 Rhb8 with a crushing position.

9.Qxd5+ Nxd5 10.c3

Keeping a Knight off of either d4 or b4, but simple development with 10.Ne2 was better.

10...Nf4 11.Kf1 Nd3 12.Na3 Bc5 13.f3 Nf2 14.fxe4 Nxh1

This should be enough to win, even if the Knight never escapes.

15.b4 Bb6 16.Nf3 Nf2 17.d3 Nxd3 18.Ke2 Nde5 19.Nxe5+ Nxe5 20.Bf4

White even has an advantage in development now – but it's too late to change things. An oversight ends things.

20...Ng6 21.Rf1 Nxf4+ 22.Rxf4+ Ke7 23.Nc4 Be6 24.Ne5 Rhf8 25.Rg4 Bxg4+ 26.Nxg4 White resigns

The Obsolete Jerome Gambit

The year 1903 saw the publication of The Complete Chess Guide by F.J. Lee and G.H.D. Gossip. It was a large book, with "four parts in one volume": Part I - Chess Player's Mentor, Part II - Modern Chess Brilliancies, Part III - Guide to the Openings, and Part IV - Games at odds.

In the Chess Player's Mentor portion the book the authors write

We have therefore eliminated obsolete openings and confined ourselves merely to a brief examination of a dozen of the leading debuts...; omitting those openings in which the defense is declared by the most competent theorists to be weak or inferior, as for example Philidor's and Petroff's Defenses to the Kings Knight's opening; the Sicilian; the Greco Counter Gambit; Center Counter Gambit; Fianchettoes, Blackwar [sic] and Jerome Gambit, etc."

One can argue, despite Lee and Gossip's claim, that all of those openings mentioned – except the Jerome Gambit of course – are hardly obsolete today.

The exacting reader of the time might have noticed that the analysis given in the Guide to the Openings section of The Complete Chess Guide is an exact reprint of Gossip's analysis from his 1891 The Chess Player'sVade Mecum – including coverage of the Jerome Gambit! (The analysis is also the same in the 1903, 1905, 1907 and 1910 versions of The Complete Chess Guide.)

The obsolete Jerome Gambit: even when it's not supposed to be there, it's there!

Jerome Gambit: Drilling Down (16)

Hiarcs 8 and Revved Up are at it again, in a confusing "discussion" of the 6...Ng6 variation of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+). Black starts out with the typical advantage that the Jerome gives him (although not as much as in other variations) and then it seems to melt, move by move, like an icicle in the sun...


Hiarcs 8 - RevvedUp
blitz 2 12, 2006

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6
7.Qd5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+ d6 9.Qe3 Be6

10.f4 N6e7 11.0-0 Nf6
RevvedUp prefers this quieter move to Hiarc 8's choice in the last game of ...d5 (see "Jerome Gambit: Drilling Down (15)").

12.f5 Bf7 13.b3 Nc6 14.Bb2
Hiarcs 8 has adopted an interesting positional approach to the position that looks effective for White, even though Black may still retain a bit of his advantage.

14...Ke7
A provocative move, aiming to free the Rook at h8. An alternative was ...h5 at some point, using the piece on its home file.
15.d4 Re8 16.e5
16...dxe5

In this razor-sharp position, allowing 17.e6 could hardly have seemed like a good idea at the time, but it looks like Black can keep the game even with some decisive play, returning his extra piece: 16...Kf8 17.e6 Qe7 18.d5 Nxd5 19.Qf3 Nf6 20.exf7 Qe3+ 21.Qxe3 Rxd3 22.Nd2 Kxf7.
17.dxe5 Nd5
A tactical oversight
18.Qc5+ Kd7 19.e6+ Bxe6 20.fxe6+ Kxe6 21.Nc3 Nxc3
Black's King is in grave danger.

22.Bxc3 Qh4 23.Qf5+ Ke7 24.Rfe1+ Kd6 25.Rad1+ Nd4 26.Bb4+ Kc6 27.Qc5+ Kd7 28.Rxd4+ Black resigns

Hiarc 8's middle game play, while "quiet", bears further investigation.

Jerome Gambit: Drilling Down (15)

Further explorations of the 6...Ng6 defense of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) by human and computer...

RevvedUp - Hiarcs 8blitz 2 12, 2006
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+ d6 9.Qe3 Be6


10.f4 N6e7 11.0-0

A new move; previously seen was 11.f5 Bf7 12.d4 Nc6 13.0-0 Nge7 14.Nc3 Ke8 15.Bd2 Kd7 16.Rad1 Kc8 17.e5 Nd5 18.Nxd5 Bxd5 19.b3 Re8 20.c4 Bg8 21.Bc3 Qe7 22.e6 b6 23.d5 Nd8 24.f6 gxf6 25.Bxf6 Qf8 26.Bxd8 Qxf1+ 27.Rxf1 Kxd8 28.Qg5+ Kc8 29.Rf6 Kb7 30.Qg7 a5 31.a4 Rac8 32.g4 Ka6 33.g5 b5 34.cxb5+ Kb6 35.Qd7 Ka7 36.h4 Red8 37.Qc6 Re8 38.Qa6+ Kb8 39.Qxa5 Black forfeits on time, guest673 - guest767, ICC 2003

11...d5 12.d3 dxe4 13.dxe4 Nf6 14.Nc6
RevvedUp's King is safe, he has two pawns forward, and he is working on development.

14...Ng4 15.Qd3 Qxd3 16.cxd3 Rd8 17.Rd1 c5 18.h3 Nf6 19.Be3 b6

White still has only two pawns for the sacrificed piece, but if this were a club game, he would have plenty of chances.

20.g4

This allows an opportunity to go by, the chance to play d2-d4: 20.d4 cxd4 21.Rxd4 Rxd4 22.Bxd4 Kf7 looks more like what RevvedUp is aiming for.

20...Nc6 21.Rac1 Ke7 22.a3 Bb3 23.Rd2 Rhf8 24.Kf2 Rd7 25.e5

This turns out poorly. Probably the advance of the g-pawn, and perhaps then the f-pawn, was safer. Returning the piece is always an option for Black in the Jerome Gambit, and here it spells trouble for White.

25...Nxe5 26.fxe5 Ne4+ 27.Ke2 Ng3+ 28.Ke1 Rf1 checkmate