Play over the following game and try not to scream at me.
Even "The Worst Chess Opening Ever" should receive more respect than it gets here.
perrypawnpusher - mtibuk
blitz, FICS, San Jose, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6
The Semi-Italian Opening.
4.0-0 a6
It is hard to tell if mtibuk is being extra cautious here, simply going his own way in the opening, or intentionally avoiding the Jerome Gambit. Since The Database doesn't contain any of his games (before this one) my guess is the last suggestion is not the proper explanation.
5.Nc3
I'm hanging in there and trying to transpose to the Jerome. Otherwise, 5.d4 would have been enough for a slight advantage.
5...Bc5 6.Bxf7+
Okay!
6...Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.Qh5+ Ng6
Here we have a typical Jerome Gambit position, to which Black has added ...a6 and ...h6 and White has added Nc3 and 0-0. Certainly, this should be an improvement for the first player. Indeed, the computer suggests that the additions are worth about a half a pawn, but Black is still better.
That means there is still work to do.
Previously, angelosgoulianos played the stronger 8...Ke6 against me, in perrypawnpusher - angelosgoulianos, blitz, FICS, 2007, (1-0, 40), where I prevailed after a struggle.
9.Qd5+ Kf6
It is hard to see what Black gains with this move, instead of the standard 9...Kf8 10.Qxc5+ d6 11.Qe3 Nf6 (slight edge to the second player).
It is also hard to see that what he loses is another pawn: 10.Qf5+ Ke7 11.Nd5+ Ke8 12.Qxg6+ Kf8 13.Qf5+ Nf6 14.Nxf6 d6 15.Nd7+!? Ke7 16.Qg6 Kxd7 17.Qxg7+ Kc6. I didn't see that, Rybka 3 did, after the game.
10.Qxc5 d6 11.Qe3 Ne5
With the safer King, the better development, and the possibility of launching the "Jerome pawns", White has to have compensation for his sacrifice.
12.d4 Nc4
Black continues to play (and get away with) in a fancy free manner. More sedate was 12...Nc6.
13.Qf4+
In playing over this game afterward, the question came up: should I have been able to see that 13.e5+ was the proper move to play? I had looked as far as 13...dxe5 14.dxe5 Nxe5, saw that it lost a pawn, and checked out something else.
The trick was to see that 15.Rd1! would have given White's Knight a platform (d5) from which to check the Black King – moving it either away from the Black Knight, which can subsequently be captured by the White Queen; or to where it is pinned to the Black Knight by the White Queen and can be won with f2-f4.
Of course, Black should not exchange center pawns, but answer 13.e5+ with 13...Kf7. White then would have 14.Qf3+ with the makings of an attack on the Black King, although no immediate forced win of a piece.
If I am going to continue to attack with the Jerome Gambit, I have to be able to better recognize "a good attacking position" and move myself down that path.
13...Kg6 14.Qg3+ Kh7 15.f4 Nf6
White is still doing fine here, and his "Jerome pawns" still counter-balance Black's extra Knight; it is just that an opportunity has been missed.
16.e5 dxe5 17.fxe5
This is a careless, double error because I was looking in the wrong direction: it misses the much better 17.Qd3+ with the subsequent win of the Black Knight at c4; and it captures with the wrong pawn; at least after 17.dxe5 Black does not win material with 17...Qd4+.
17...Qxd4+ 18.Kh1 Qxe5
Much to my relief, my opponent returns the favor. After 18...Nxe5 Black is simply a piece up.
19.Qd3+ Kg8 20.Qxc4+ Be6 21.Qd3 Ng4
Material is even, and perhaps White can make something of Black's Rook blocked in at h8. Of course, he will have to take care of that mate threat at h2.
22.Bf4 Qh5 23.Rae1 Re8 24.Bxc7 b5 25.a3
This is an interesting slip. I read Black's move as a threat to my Knight on c3, and protected against it. Perhaps that is what Black intended.
If that is the case, we both missed the fact that Black can now play 25...Bc4, winning the exchange.
25...g5 26.Qf3
Attacking, which is the right idea.
26...Rh7
Mobilizing the locked-in Rook, but this should not be enough to hold the game.
27.Rxe6
Winning a piece after 27...Rxc7 28.Rxe8+ Qxe8 29.Qxg4. Black's response is inadequate, and again it was time for me to find the killer line of play.
27...Rc8 28.Be5
This move is "okay" but 28.Qd5 was devastating. It should not have been hard to find.
28...Rf7 29.Rf6
White had a simple win with the simplifying 29.Qxf7+ Qxf7 30.Rxf7 Kxf7 31.Rxa6 Nxe5 32.Rxh6. Given my propensity to run for simple endings, this is a sad oversight.
29...Rxf6 30.Bxf6
Believing that I was winning a piece ("Have I overlooked anything??"), I had no thoughts about forcing a draw with, for example, 30.Qd5+ Rf7 31.Ne4 Nxe5 32.Nf6+ Kh8 33.Qxe5 Qg6 34.Nh5+ Kg8 35.Nf6+ Kh8 36.Nh5+ etc.
30...Qxh2 checkmate
That's embarassing!
In my writing at Chessville (alas, the site is still without new content) I have reviewed a number of books in the Secrets of Opening Surprises series (#4, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12), edited by Jeroen Bosch. They are surprisingly addictive, sometimes startling, and always creative. As the series describes itself,
No time to study main lines? Shock your opponent with an SOS!... Secrets of Opening Surprises brings you a wide variety of unusual opening ideas. They may seem outrageous at first sight, but have proven to be perfectly playable.
After the introductory "S.O.S. Files", chronicling how earlier suggestions have worked out in over-the-board combat, Volume #13 contains:
- Sicilian Najdorf: the Czebe Attack (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Qe2!?) GM Arthur Kogan
- The North Sea Defence (1.e4 g6 2.d4 Nf6) IM Jeroen Bosch
- The Williams Anti-Grünfeld Variation (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.h4) GM Simon Williams
- The Scotch Game: Carlsen Leads the Way (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nb3 Bb6 6.Nc3 Nf6 7.Qe2) GM Konstantin Landa
- The Budapest Gambit Delayed (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 e5) IM Jeroen Bosch
- French Defence: Obtaining Two Bishops (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nge2 dxe4 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Nxc3) GM Alexander Finkel
- Grabbing a Pawn in the Réti/Catalan (1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.d4 e6 5.0-0 Bd7 6.c4) GM Glenn Flear
- Sicilian: Karma Chameleon (1.e4 c5 2.Ne2 d6 3.c3) GM Dimitri Reinderman
- The Centre Game in Viking Spirit (1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Qxd4 Nc6 4.Qa4) IM Jeroen Bosch
- Slav: The Easy Way (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nbd2) GM Efstratios Grivas
- Spanish: Kortchnoi's Idea in the Central Attack (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d4 Nxd4) GM Adrian Mikhalchishin
- Panic in the London (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bf4 Nh5) GM Dimitri Reinderman
- Pirc Defence - Taking off the Gloves (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.e5 Nfd7 7.h4) GM Alexander Finkel
- New Recipe in Old Indian (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.e4 Be7 6.Be2 0-0 7.g4) IM Jeroen Bosch
- Sicilian Mission: To Boldly Go... (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bf4 d6 7.Bg3) GM John van der Wiel
- Surprising Sacrifice in the Giuoco Piano (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Bd2 Bxd2+ 8.Qxd2!) GM Ian Rogers
Another fine collection of off-the-beaten path openings!
Admittedly, there is a lot of "psychology" behind playing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), starting with the notion that it is worth playing in the first place.
Often Black tries to counter with his own "psychology", but that is almost always a double-edged sword.
MrJoker - Macuta
blit, 2 12, Internet Chess Club, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kf8
The Jerome Gambit Declined.
There are times when the philosophy "If you want me to take the sacrifice, I won't take the sacrifice" might work, but here White is offering his opponent a won game, and Black is refusing.
5.Bxg8 Rxg8
6.Nxe5 Bxf2+
Here we go, again. White is expecting 6...Nxe5 7.d4 Bxd4 8.Qxd4 d6, so Black "disappoints" him again.
7.Kxf2 Nxe5
Black has certainly taken the steam out of the Jerome Gambit, although it has left him in a relatively straight-forward position, a pawn down.
As he soon learns to his dismay, it is not yet time to relax.
8.Rf1
mrjoker has also played 8.d4, as in MrJoker - ThePawnSnatcher, blitz, 2 12 Internet Chess Club, 2011: 8...Qf6+ 9.Ke1 Qh4+ 10.Kd2 Ng4 11.Qf3+ Ke8 12.Rf1 Nf6 13.Nc3 c6 14.Kd3 d6 15.e5 dxe5 16.dxe5 Bg4 17.Qf4 Rd8+ 18.Ke3 Nd5+ 19.Nxd5 Rxd5 20.Qf7+ Kd8 21.Qxg8+ Kc7 22.Qxg7+ Kb6 23.Bd2 Be6 24.Rad1 Qd4+ 25.Kf3 Qh4 26.Be3+ Ka6 27.g3 Qxh2 28.c4 Qh5+ 29.g4 Qh3+ 30.Kf2 Qh2+ 31.Ke1 Qh4+ 32.Bf2 Rxd1+ 33.Kxd1 Qh3 Black resigned
8...Ke7 9.d4 Ng6 10.Bg5+ Black resigned
Today marks the third "birthday" of this blog, where I have posted daily since the beginning.
Readers have stopped in from around the world, from over 100 different countries according to Google Analytics. So far, no one from North Korea has checked in, but they have from Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Libya, Lituania, Luxembourg, Macedonia [FYROM], Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Philippines, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela and Vietnam.
Many players have shared their games and analyses, and I want to express a special "thank you" to them.
The Database, containing Jerome Gambit games and those with related openings, has grown to over 27,500 games.
Looking forward: When I first started posting on this blog, I did not have any of my own examples of the Jerome Gambit to share, as it seemed too risky an opening for me to play. I finally started offering the Gambit, tentatively, and then played it more and more, as I found out that, whatever its "objective" worth, I scored over 80% in my games.
My most recent 10 games (three losses, two draws, five lucky wins) have convinced me that in our current relationship, curiously enough, the Jerome Gambit and I have traded places.
In each game, the opening (in cooperation with my opponent, of course) has offered me many opportunities for exciting, dynamic, winning play – even as I have been slowly increasing the level of strength of my opponents – and the failures have been my own, usually tactical ineptitude.
Far from the Jerome Gambit letting me down in our games, I have let it down. My goal for this coming year is to play up to its expectations, by sharpening my play to match the adventures of 4.Bxf7+.
Thanks to the efforts of chessfriend Julio Alberto González, who has been following this blog, selected posts from jeromegambit.blogspot.com are now available in Spanish at his website, http://www.notichess.com.ar/.
Fantástico!
Y gracias, mi amigo
The title of this post was pronounced in the November, 1874 Dubuque Chess Journal about a move that transposed a game into a Jerome Gambit. It applies to Black's 7th move in the following game – which we have seen before, but should examine again.
MrJoker - Melbourne
blitz, 2 12, Internet Chess Club, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Nd3+
Ahhh... The joys of being two pieces ahead! There are so many ways for Black to return material.
Jerome Gambiteers should pay attention, as this admittedly unpopular move, nonetheless, leaves Black better.
8.cxd3
Take the Knight. Luke Warm - eddie43, Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, ChessWorld, 2010 continued instead 8.Kd1 Nf2+ 9.Ke2 Nxh1 10.Qe5+ Kf7 11.Qd5+ Ke8 12.Qxc5 d6 13.Qd4 Nf6 14.d3 Qd7 15.f5 Qf7 16.Nc3 Qh5+ 17.Kf1 Qxh2 18.Qg1 Ng3+ 19.Kf2 Ng4+ 20.Kf3 Qxg1 21.Kxg3 h5 22.Ne2 Qf2+ 23.Kh3 Qxe2 24.Bg5 Ne3 White resigned
8...Bd4 9.Qd5+ Black disconnected and forfeited
As you might guess, that is not the complete story.
Three days later the two opponents met again, and this time Black wisely retreated the Bishop. In the end, though, White prevailed in MrJoker - Melbourne, blitz, 2 12, Internet Chess Club, 2011: 8...Bb6 9.b3 Qf6 10.Qe8+ Qe7 11.f5+ Kf6 12.Bb2+ Kg5 13.Qxe7+ Nxe7 14.Bxg7 Rg8 15.f6 Ng6 16.h4+ Kh5 17.g4+ Kxg4 18.h5 Bd4 19.hxg6 hxg6 20.f7 Bxa1 21.fxg8Q Bxg7 22.Qxg7 d6 23.Qxg6+ Black disconnected and forfeited.
A couple of months later, White again benefitted from the hanging Bishop, in MrJoker - wikidguru, blitz, 2 12, Internet Chess Club, 2011: 8...Bd4 9.Qd5+ Ke7 10.Qxd4 Nf6 11.b3 d6 12.Ba3 Bg4 13.e5 Ne8 14.Nc3 Kf7 15.0-0 h5 16.Ne4 dxe5 17.fxe5+ Kg8 18.Qc4+ Kh7 19.Qf7 Qd7 20.h3 Qd4+ 21.Kh1 Qxe5 22.hxg4 hxg4 23.g3 Rd8 24.Kg2 Qf6 25.Nxf6+ Nxf6 26.Rh1+ Black resigned
Another Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member, Petasluk, had already handled the situation when Black supported the Bishop, rather than retreat or abandon it, in Petasluk - lowmiles, blitz, FICS, 2010: 8...d6 9.Nc3 c6 10.Ne2 g6 11.Qf3 Qh4+ 12.g3 Qh3 13.d4 Bb4 14.a3 Ba5 15.b4 Bb6 16.Bb2 Nf6 17.0-0-0 a5 18.d5+ cxd5 19.exd5+ Kf7 20.Bxf6 Kxf6 21.Qc3+ Kf7 22.Qxh8 axb4 23.axb4 Qg2 24.Nc3 Qf3 25.Qxh7+ Ke8 26.Rde1+ Kd8 27.Qe7 checkmate
As I've mentioned in "Housekeeping..." and "Barely Legal", there is still a chance for satisfaction when you try for a Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) and your opponent opts for a defense with ...d7-d6
perrypawnpusher - Olito
blitz, FICS, 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6
The Semi-Italian opening.
4.O-O d6
The Hungarian Defense, or a variation of the Philidor.
5.d4 Bg4 6.Nc3 Nxd4 7.Nxe5 Bxd1
Oooops.
8.Bxf7+ Ke7 9. Nd5 checkmate
