Jerome Pawns Triumphant

I recently learned that niddrieboy, at Chess.com, has been playing the Jerome Gambit, so I hurried to find some examples of his play.

The first game that I looked at finished with the move 32.d4 mate

Now those are some serious "Jerome pawns"!

I will be sharing more from niddrieboy's games from time-to-time.

Readers are encouraged to send in their own Jerome Gambit (or Jerome-ish) games as well, to share with others.

Coffee Break

It was late when this game was played, and I suspect that my opponent was in need of a cup of coffee.

perrypawnpusher  - LydenChess
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

The Italian Four Knights Game.

5.Bxf7+

The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Bb4

This certainly has the right feel to it: Black has three pieces developed to White's one, and that one is pinned... What could go wrong?

8.dxe5 Nxe4

I hope that I do not give too much away with a note about a previous game: 8...Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Nxe4 10.Qd5+ Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - ohforgetit, blitz, FICS, 2010.

9.Qd5+

Thus ended perrypawnpusher-kezientz, blitz, FICS, 2010.

9...Kf8

Or 9...Ke8 10.Qxe4 as in perrypawnpusher - Gibarian, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 33).

10.Qxe4 g6

Extreme puzzlement.

Before I had faced 10...Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 d6 in perrypawnpusher - obmanovichhh, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 39) and 10...Qe7 11.0-0 Bxc3 12.bxc3 d6 in perrypawnpusher - Abatwa, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 17).

11.Qxb4+ Qe7 12.Qxe7+ Kxe7 13.0-0

Old habits die hard: get an advantage, exchange Queens, be sure that the King is safe, figure out the rest later...

13...Re8

Possibly planning to castle-by-hand?

14.Nd5+ Kd8

Reacting to the threatened Knight fork of the two Rooks at c7, but leading to something worse.

15.Bg5+ Black resigned

I do not think that my opponent took our game very seriously, which is something that I am used to with the Jerome Gambit.

Deadly Mischief

We can study and practice our chess all that we want, but unless we pay attention to the emotions that accompany our deliberations, we are always going to risk falling into traps that our feelings (and our opponents) set for us.

kroehna - Heffay
FICS, 2011

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

4...Kf8

Declining the Bishop may be a form of "psychological warfare" (see "The Anti-Bill Wall Gambit" for another bit of psy ops) but it remains objectively dubious: accepting the piece is part of many Jerome Gambit refutations. 'Nuff said.

5.d4

Of course, retreating the Bishop with 5.Bb3 is strongest, but with the text White tosses another log onto the gambit fire.

5...exd4 6.Bxg8 Rxg8

7.Ng5

White does his own bit of mind-bending. Black's proper response is to move his Rook back to its home base, un-develop it as it were. No, no, no, responds Black, I will kick that impudent piece away instead.

7...h6 8.Qf3+ Qf6

How sad. If Black plays 8... Ke7, instead, he discovers that after 9.Qf7+ Kd6 10.Bf4+ Ne5 11.Qd5+ Ke7 12.Qxe5+ Kf8 13.Qf5+ he has lost his Knight and still has to play 13...Qf6.

analysis diagram







9.Nh7+ Black resigned, as he must lose his Queen – and another piece shortly thereafter.

Hats off to kroehna: in three games in The Database the position after Black's 7th move had been reached, but he was the first to play the killer move 8.Qf3+.

It must be a new year...

As I pointed out in "Once A Year" it seems that about that often the following Jerome Gambit gamelet gets played.

It is early in the year, so perhaps there is still time for some late "New Year's resolutions" that might eliminate this kind of thing from happening again.

We can hope. After all, it was a lightning game.

Teterow - Neca
lightning, FICS, 2011

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

4...Kxf7 5. Nxe5+ Nxe5 6. d4 Qf6 7. dxe5 Qxf2 checkmate.

Those who cannot remember the past...

According to George Santayana, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Not everyone who plays the Blackburne Shilling Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4) has read the blog post here, "Clearly Unclear", so I should probably add "Those who do not know the past are likewise condemned to repeat it."

Pity. More points for the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde.

richiehill - XGrandMaster
blitz, FICS, 2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4

4.Bxf7+

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.c3 Nc6

This is a very reasonable alternative to the line that goes 6...Kxe5 7.cxd4+. I used games played by GOH and SotoG to look into this line last year.

7.Qg4+

White can withdraw his Knight, 7.Nf3, with an even game; but the recommended move is 7.d4 with a poisoned pawn in the follow-up: 7...Nxe5 8.dxe5 Kxe5? 9.Qd5+ Kf6 10.Bg5+ Black resigned APe-Sali, blitz, FICS, 2009

7...Kxe5

Taking the piece is the right move (7...Ke7 is only even), but it must have unsettled Black to do so. After all, White is not throwing all of this material around just to bluff, is he?

8.d4+

8...Kf6 9.Bg5+ Black resigned

Ouch.

After 8...Kd6 9.e5+ Ke7 10.Bg5+ Nf6 11.0-0 Kf7 12.exf6 gxf6 Black's King would have still been uncomfortable, but he would have had an extra piece to console himself. I wonder where someone could have learned about that ?

Slowing Things Down A Bit

I have slowly come to the conclusion that there is more to the play of the "Jerome pawns" that White gets for his sacrificed piece than simply racing them up the board, hoping to frighten my opponent into error. The game is not as wild, but it seems more solid, with more realistic winning chances.

perrypawnpusher - parlance
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6

In an recent game against this opponent I faced a different defense, raced my pawns forward, and watched my game fall apart: 6...Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Ng6 9.Qd5+ Ke7 10.Qxc5+ Ke8 11.0-0 d6 12.Qe3 N8e7 13.f5 Ne5 14.d4 Ng4 15.Qg3 h5 16.h3 Nf6 17.Qxg7 Rf8 18.e5 dxe5 19.Bh6 Qxd4+ 20.Kh1 Rf7 21.Qh8+ Neg8 22.Nc3 Rh7 White resigned, perrypawnpusher - parlance, blitz, FICS, 2011.

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6 10.0-0 Qe7

I just saw this move a few days ago, against mikelars. Hmmm, I wonder if I have learned anything...?

11.Nc3 Kd7

Wow.

perrypawnpusher - mikelars, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 50) continued with the active 11...Ne5. 

Black's choice in the current game is even more provocative: apparently he plans to swing his King's Rook over to the e-file. Just the kind of move to stir me to over-reaction.

12.f4 Kd8

More psychological warfare?

This is all very interesting. White can now play 13.d4, and after 13...Re8 he can advance with 14.e5, although this is met with the too-familiar 14...Ng4 and it is not clear what the first player has accomplished.

13.f5 Ne5 14.d4 Neg4

Who was it that said: I can resist anything but temptation ?

15.Qf3

This move is okay, but with Black's King on d8 I might have done better to try 15.Qd3.

15...Re8 16.h3 Nh6 17.Bg5

This has to be better than 17.e5 dxe5 18.dxe5 Qxe5 19.Re1+ Bd7 20.Qxb7 Qc5+ 21.Kh2 Ke7!? when things are unclear, but tilting Black's way.

On the other hand, an improvement probably is 17.Bxh6 gxh6 18.Rae1 Bd7 when it is almost time to advance the e-pawn, i.e. 19.Qf2 Bc6 20.e5.

17...Qf7

Black attends to two issues: the pin along the d8-h4 diagonal, and the pressure on f6. Still, he would have done better with 17...Nf7, which attacks the pinning Bishop and removes White's chance to double pawns on the h-file.

18.Nd5

I assure you, my e-pawn was screaming that it wanted to advance. Instead, I attended to the pin of the Knight at f6. I could have both prepared the advance and threatened the Knight at h6 with 18.Qf4.

18...Nhg8

Quick! He's reinforcing f6. Do something!

19.Rae1

Yawn...

19...h6 20.Bh4 g5

Just when it gets time to play e4-e5, my opponent distracts me. If he had played 20...c6 I would have calmed my "Jerome pawns" with 21.Nxf6 gxf6 22.e5 with compensation for my sacrificed piece, maybe even an edge.

With his move Black tries to break the pin along the diagonal, but by capturing en passant (maybe he overlooked this) I can add a pin along the f-file, too.

21.fxg6 Qxg6 22.Nxf6 Black resigned

It is not just that White has won back his piece. After 22...Nxf6 23.Qxf6+ Qxf6 24.Rxf6 Black will have to deal with the discovered check when White's Rook moves; 24...Kd7 25.d5 does not improve his situation.

Professional driver. Closed course. Do not attempt.

I am thrilled that so many players are trying out the Jerome Gambit and using various Jerome-ish themes in their opening play. That is one way to learn about development, open lines, tempos and an attack on the King. It also can be a lot of fun.

On the other hand, while Bxf7+ can have an unsettling psychological effect upon a defender who is both surprised and unprepared, if the move is not backed up by further, planned action, the sacrifice can prove very dangerous – for the gambiteer.  Thus, the warning in the title of today's  post, which often shows up in small print on television commercials that show cars being driven wildly and with great excitement...

NN - perrypawnpusher
blitz 3 0, FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4 exd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6

This position can be reached via the Center Game: 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Qxd4 Nf6 4.Bc4 Nc6. Cochrane - Staunton, London 1842, continued 5.Qd1 (5.Qe3 is also possible) Bc5 6.Nf3 0-0 7.0-0 Nxe4 8.Qd5 Qe7 9.Bg5 Nxg5 10.Nxg5 Ne5 11.Re1 d6 12.h4 h6 13.Nxf7 Bxf2+ 14.Kxf2 Qxh4+ 15.g3 Qh2+ 16.Ke3 Qxg3+ White resigned.

(For a Cochrane - Staunton - Jerome Gambit intersection, check here.)

My opponent now played a move, then asked to take it back (which I agreed to) and tried something completely different.

5.Bxf7+

Wow!

5...Kxf7 6.Qc4+

This move illustrates White's problem – how to continue the attack?

6...d5 7.exd5 Qxd5 8.Qxd5+ Nxd5

What is the object of playing a gambit opening?...To acquire a reputation of being a dashing player at the cost of losing a game
Siegbert Tarrasch

9.Nf3 Bc5 10.0-0 Bg4 11.Ne1 Rhe8
 

Here I could have taken advantage of the blocked White Rook by playing 11...Be2, winning the exchange; but I was focusing on getting all my pieces active.

12.Be3 Nxe3 13.fxe3+ Kg8

Castled (by hand) and everything...

14.Rf4 Bxe3+ 15.Rf2 Rf8 White resigned