I don't have time for this stuff...

I admit that these days I stop by FICS mostly to take the White pieces and play the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+).

When I take my turn with the Black pieces, I sometimes play a blitz 3 0 game, to speed things up (win, lose, draw – it's not as important) and get me back to the other side of the board...

As I've bemoaned before (see "Where are all these Jeromes coming from??" and "Be careful what you wish for...") this sometimes causes me to face the Jerome Gambit – and with not much thinking time on my hands, either. Because, when it concerns the Jerome Gambit, things turn suddenly serious for me...

ecimsa - perrypawnpusher

blitz 3 0, FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.c3 Nf6 5.Bxf7+

Transposing from the Giuoco Piano into a "modern" Jerome Gambit variation: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.c3.

5...Kxf7

I have 39 game examples of this position in my database, including the double-time-forfeit Piratepaul - TJay2465 2008 at Chessworld.

6.d3 Rf8 7.0-0 Kg8

There: I've castled-by-hand

8.a4

Ah, the old sneak up on the Bishop trick... Luckily, I've seen that idea in some other modern Jerome Gambits.

8...d5 9.b4 Be7 Black: comfortable, and a piece to the good.

10.Nbd2 dxe4 11.dxe4 Bg4 Active piece play, no blunders, exchanges... Words to live by!

12.Qb3+ Kh8 13.b5 Na5 14.Qc2 Bxf3 15.Nxf3 Bd6 16.Bd2 Nc4

17.Bc1 Qe8 18.Ng5 Qh5 19.Qa2 Nb6 20.a5 Nbd7

White has achieved nothing on the Queenside; the action is going to be across the board.

21.Be3 Ng4 22.Nh3 Nxe3 23.fxe3 Rxf1+ 24.Rxf1 Rf8

Slow but steady progress. But time is fleeting, and things are about to get uglier.

25.Rd1 Qf7

Yes, you saw that right: pitiful, is it not?

26.Qc2 Nf6 27.c4 Ng4 28.c5

Not enough of a threat.

28...Nxe3 29.Qe2 Nxd1 30.Qxd1 Bxc5+ 31.Kh1 Qf1+ 32.Qxf1 Rxf1+

White resigned

The Jerome Gambit shows up in the oddest places...

I was doing my standard weekly online search for mention of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) when I noticed a reference in a blog at bighollywood.brietbart.com.

It was titled My Weekly Date with a Liberal - Date #2 by Jon David.

Politics aside, the blogger explains how (and why) he came to be on a particular hiking date, and it doesn't take long before he falls into chessic metaphor.

Then I saw it. My first move…. and then the second… and then the whole board. I was Big Hollywood’s Bobby Fischer.

Maybe, maybe not. Especially since a short time later he admitted

I was setting up the Jerome Gambit, an opening move in chess described as extremely dubious, where White sacrifices two pieces in hopes of exposing Black’s king and obtaining a mating attack.

Note: I have no idea what that means.

Is it any surprise that this self-admitted non-member of the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde failed to score?

A couple of pawns among friends...

In a game between equally-rated players, it would be odd for one to offer the other odds of two pieces, or even of two pawns. However, in the following game White offers "Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) odds" and when his opponent realizes that his defense is the same as offering two-pawn odds, he turns over his King... 

perrypawnpusher - Leontes blitz 10 0, FICS, 2009 

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5

What's a couple of pieces among friends? It's the Jerome Gambit way. 

6.Qh5+ Kf6 No, no, I insist: what's a couple of pawns among friends? Black had many options, just not this one – giving back both of the pieces (see "Jerome Gambit and The Perfesser (Part I)" ) 

7.Qf5+ Ke7 8.Qxe5+ Kf7 9.Qd5+ Ke8 

Or 9...Kg6 10.Qf5+ Kh6 11.d4+ g5 12.h4 d6 13.Bxg5+ Kg7 14.Qd5 Qe8 15.dxc5 dxc5 16.Nc3 Bg4 17.f3 c6 18.Qxc5 Bd7 19.0-0-0 Qe6 20.Qd4+ Nf6 21.Bxf6+ Qxf6 22.Qxf6+ Kxf6 23.Rxd7 Black resigns, guest1088 - guest567, ICC 2002

10.Qxc5 Qe7 11.Qxe7+ Black resigns

White will simply be up two pawns in a Queenless middle game. Likely my opponent had better things to do than play that out.

Kersplat!

Readers may be skeptical about my enthusiasm for the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), as this blog features many of my wins (with and against) and few losses.

The fact is that my Jerome and Jerome-ized games database includes 49 wins, 4 draws, and 6 losses by perrypawnpusher.

The following battle, my most recent, is one of those losses – my opponent out-played me with ease and grace; and my game, which never really got started, came to a swift and unhappy end.

Hats off to my opponent, Raankh, for the stern lesson.

perrypawnpusher - Raankh
blitz 2 12, FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8


As old as Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's third episode of analysis from the Dubuque Chess Journal, July 1874; and good enough to last that long. Black is better.

7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qc3

Jerome recommended, instead, 8.Qf4+, which I'll try to remember next time.

8...Qf6 9.0-0 Qxc3 10.Nxc3 a6

11.Nd5

Better was 11.Ne2. The Knight eventually gets there...

11...c6 12.Nf4 Nf6 13.d3 g6 14.Bd2 Kf7 15.Ne2 Rf8 16.Bc3 Nh5 17.Kh1 Kg8

Black has castled-by-hand, and White has gotten nothing started to speak of.

18.g3

Thoughtless and easily punished.

18...Bh3 19.d4 Bxf1 20.Rxf1 Bb6



White's two extra pawns do not offset his missing Rook

21.f4 Rae8 22.g4 Nf6 White resigned

I hope he's not holding his breath...

From the Unorthodox Chess Openings news group on the internet, a number of years ago:

20.07.2002
[Internet - Unorthodox Openings - Nakamura]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ -- In UnorthodoxChessOpenings@y..., "richardfkennedy" wrote: Until the time that there is a "Dumb Chess Openings" group, I guess that a discussion of the discredited Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5) will have to show up in UnorthodoxChessOpenings... :-)

Actually, I am researching the Jerome, especially its early years, which go back to the 1870s and Alonzo Wheeler Jerome. (Some of what I have discovered is at www.chesshistory.com.) I would be interested in anyone's experiences or games with the line.

Many thanks!

From: "hawgambit"
Date: Sat Jul 20, 2002 2:39 pm
Subject: Re: Jerome Gambit

Greetings from Hawaii, Richard F. Kennedy.

You are a new member who just joined our Unorthodox Chess Openings Newsgroups recently. I do welcome you as a new member.

I will post 15 Jerome Gambit Games (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+) in the files section.

I have played the Jerome Gambit before in blitz games and have analyzed this gambit. Currently I do not believe that this gambit is sound.

It seems that once white trades queens he is lost in the endgame. White has to avoid trading queens.

I recently did some further analysis of the Jerome Gambit and came to the same conclusion.

If you do find some good lines for white, I wlll be first to congratulate you.

Best Regards
Clyde Nakamura

Best Lines

From the upcoming post on Jerome Gambit [1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+] for Dummies comes the question:

What if I don't know how to play against the best lines in the opening, and my opponent avoids them, anyhow?

perrypawnpusher - ViennaMike

blitz 8 5, FICS, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qf6 One of the many winning defenses against the Jerome Gambit. 

 9.fxe5+ Qxe5 10.Qf3 Nf6 11.d3 So far, following in the footsteps of BronxBoyII, but instead of repeating his error at this point – ViennaMike comes up with one of his own.

11...Bb4+

Unaware of Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's analysis and advice. See "In The Beginning..."

12.c3 Ba5

Sad to say, the proper line was to give up the Bishop with 12...Ke7 13.cxb4. White then would only have a small advantage after 13...d6 14.0-0 Be6 15.Nc3 Kd7.

13.Bf4 Rf8 14.d4

Being cute. Simply 14.Bxe5+ Kxe5 15.Qf5+ Kd6 16.Qxa5 was enough to reach an overwhelming position.

14...Qxf4 15.Qxf4+ Kc6 16.d5+ Kb5 Avoiding the loss of his Bishop, after all, after 16...Kb6 17.b4.

17.Na3+ Ka4 18.b3+ Kxa3 19.Qc1 checkmate

Chess Publisher

I have been using the Chess Publisher software to present games in a play-through-each-move format at the end of my posts at jeromegambit.blogspot.com at Blogger.

Today, "This Account Has Been Suspended" messages have been appearing on my blog (and likely on other sites that use Chess Publisher) in place of the chess boards and moves. This seems to be an issue between Chess Publisher staff and their website host.

The problem has nothing to do with this website and our host, Blogger. It is hoped that things will return to normal for Chess Publisher in a day or two.

If not, I will seek out other software to present games. -- Rick