In 1891, reflecting the chess world's ambivalence about the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), G.H.D. Gossip's Chess Player's Vade Mecum and Pocket Guide to the Openings Gossip had analysis of the Jerome, while his Theory of Chess Openings did not. The Handbuch was silent as well.
By 1900 a reader could still find references, but they might be delegated to instruction for novices. Chess Openings for Beginners, by Edward Ernest Cunnington, for example, exhausts itself with "Here we may mention, with a caution, as being quite unsound, the Jerome Gambit." The following year, Cunnington's The Modern Chess Primer mentions the first 6 moves of the named gambit.
In 1902, William Cook's (of Synopsis) The Chess Player's Compendium had no mention of the Jerome Gambit. For that matter, neither did his 1906 The Evolution of the Chess Openings.
Perhaps the 1904 The Complete Chess Guide, by G.H.D Gossip F.J. Lee, showed the Jerome Gambit's hanger-on status best. At the start of the book the authors proclaim
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.
HOWEVER, Part III of the book, "Guide to the Openings," contained Jerome Gambit analysis!
It was left up to the March 1906 edition of Lasker's Chess Magazine to pronounce
"Our Question Box"
Ichabodf: - No; the Jerome gambit is not named after St. Jerome. His penances, if he did any, were in atonement of rather minor transgressions compared with the gambit.
Recently, Dr. Tim Harding wrote in his "The Kibitzer" column at ChessCafe.com,
In the half century between 1862 and 1912, chess made huge advances in terms of the technical standard of play. The rise of professionalism and annual master tournaments and the growth of chess literature raised the bar in terms of opening knowledge, and positional ideas unknown to the experts of fifty years previously were available to a new generation of players through the example of Steinitz and Lasker and the teachings of Tarrasch.
The "growth of chess literature... in terms of opening knowledge" was apparent during the life of Alonzo Wheeler Jerome (1834 - 1904), and it is no surprise that it overlapped the development of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+).
[The following review is limited mostly to English-language opening books. - Rick]
In 1874, the year that Jerome's analysis of his gambit was first published in the Dubuque Chess Journal, Synopsis of the Chess Openings by William Cook, Handbuch des Schachspiels (5th edition) by Von der Lasa, and Chess Openings (2nd edition) by Frederick William Longman, all appeared. None contained analysis of the Jerome Gambit.
In 1875, The Chess Openings, by Robert B. Wormald, was equally negligent, as was 1876's Synopsis of the Chess Openings (2nd edition).
Henry Bird's The Chess Openings Considered, Critically and Practically in 1878 also overlooked the American invention.
In 1879, the gambit started to get notice in books, as it was covered in Theory of the Chess Openings by George Hatfeild Dingley Gossip.
The third edition of Cook's Synopsis of the Chess Openings was published in 1882, and it contained analysis as well.
Curiously, at least for those with a modern sense of "intellectual property" and copyright law, in 1884 an American publisher, J.W. Miller, reprinted Cook's Synopsis (originally printed in London) and added an "American Supplement" to create Cook's Synopsis of Chess Openings A Tabular Analysis by William Cook, With American Inventions in the Openings and Fresh Analysis since 1882, by J. W. Miller. Both parts of the book contained Jerome Gambit analysis.
Quoted the New Orleans Times-Democrat in a review
...The "brilliant but unsound" (why, may we ask, is this antithesis so common that one would almost infer it to be necessary?) Jerome Gambit, invented by Mr. Jerome, of Paxton, Ill., about a decade ago, constitutes the next of the Americana, and concerning the analysis given by Mr. S. A. Charles we can only venture to say that it seems to combine much careful original work with variations compiled from such investigations as have been published upon this hazardous attack. The principal basis for most of these has been, we believe, Sorenson's article in the May, 1877, number of the Nordisk Skaktidende, and which as translated in Gossip's Theory, pp.37-39, furnishes the only two variations upon the opening given in the Synopsis proper (ccf. p.49, cols 11 and 12). We note, however, that Mr. Charles differs from this authority in some important particulars.
Miller was the publisher of the Cincinnati Journal Gazette, which had previously employed S.A. Charles to write their chess column, and who had been presenting opening analysis – something he continued to do for the Pittsburgh Telegraph, where his Jerome Gambit analysis appeared. (Skipping ahead, this explains Freeborough and Rankin's comment in their Chess Openings, Ancient and Modern, "Mr. S. A. Charles of Cincinnati, Ohio is named in the American Supplement as the chief analyst of this opening.")
In 1888, the 4th edition of Cook's Synopsis of the Chess Openings contained Jerome Gambit analysis, with a note of thanks to "Mr. Freeborough of Hull, and Rev. C.E. Ranken, of Malven, for material assistance in the compilation of the tables, original variations in the openings, and help in the examination of proof"; so it is not surprising that Freeborough and Rankin's 1889 Chess Openings Ancient and Modern also covered the gambit.
Although the Jerome Gambit would appear in further editions of Chess Openings Ancient and Modern – 2nd, 1893; 3rd, 1896; 4th, 1910 – the closing of the 1880s seems to mark its high water mark in inclusion in general opening books.
With five games left in the ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament, the leaders have been decided, but battles still rage up and down the finish line.
AsceticKingK9 has taken first place with 27 points out of 28 games, mckenna215 has taken second with 23.5 points out of 28 games, and braken has taken third with 19.5 points out of 28 games.
However, with a recent win Rikiki00 has lept to a tie with Knight32 for fourth place with 18.5 points, and with one game still in play he could, with another win, move into a tie for third.
Down the ladder, Luke Warm is holding onto eleventh place with 8 points, but, with a final win, pixifrufru could leap over him to 9 points out of 28 games. Both could be bypassed by Baron wd von Blanc, heart pirate, who has 7.5 points with two games to complete.
Even martind1991, holding down last place with 2 points out of 23 games, can vault over his nearest rival, klonka59, if he finishes strongly.
A bit more history, following yesterday and the day before...
After his March and July 1874 articles in the Dubuque Chess Journal, Alonzo Wheeler Jerome published a third bit of analysis on the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) in the January 1875 issue.
Note that the line introduced in "An Intriguing Letter (Part 1)", including the move 9.Na3, is seen here. In future posts we will follow its progress toward its appearance in Freeborough and Ranken's Chess Openings Ancient and Modern.
Dubuque Chess Journal
January 1875 p.38
"Queen's Gambit in Jerome's Double Opening"
Analysis by A.W. Jerome 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.d4 Bxd4 9.Na3 Ne7 [9...Qf6 10.Nb5+ Kc5 11.Nxd4 Kd6 (11...Qxf5 12.Nxf5 g6 13.Be3+ Kc6 14.Nd4+ Kd6 15.0-0-0 Ke7 16.Nb5 Kd8 17.Bf4) 12.Nb5+ Kc5 13.Qh3 Kxb5 14.Qb3+; 9...Ke7 10.Qh3 d6 11.Qh4+ Ke8 12.Bg5 Nf6 13.0-0-0 Bb6 14.f4 Ng6 15.Qg3 Nh5 16.Qf3 Qd7 17.f5 Nf6 18.fxg6] 10.Qh3 Qf8 11.0-0 Kc6 [11...a6 12.c3 Bb6 13.Qg3 Qf7 14.Bf4] 12.Nb5 Kxb5 13.Qb3+ Kc6 14.Bg5
Continuing with some history, started yesterday...
Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's analysis of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) was first published in the March 1874 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal. He followed this with further analysis in the July 1874 issue.
Dubuque Chess Journal
July 1874 Vol. VII, No. 53
Jerome's Double Opening
Third Variation (see Journal No.50, p358) 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ [The following is a possibility of the game 6.d4 Bb6 7.Qh5+ Ke6 8.Qf5+ Kd6 9.Qxe5+ Kc6 10.Qd5#] 6...Kf8 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qf4+ Nf6 9.c3 Kf7 10.d4 Bb6 11.e5 dxe5 12.dxe5 Re8 13.0-0 Kg8 14.exf6 Qxf6 15.Qxf6 gxf6 16.Bh6 and White has a pawn ahead
Note: It should be understood that Mr. Jerome claims in this New Opening "only a pleasant variation of the Giuoco Piano, which may win or lose according to the skill of the players, but which is capable of affording many new positions and opportunities for heavy blows unexpectedly."
I was a bit surprised how much I had to hunt in the posts of this blog for examples of the line that we have been discussing, at the behest of Филидор1792, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.d4 Bxd4 9.Na3 – see "An Intriguing Letter" Parts 1, 2 and 3 – especially since the line has a long and interesting history in the story of the Jerome Gambit.
The Database has only 3 games with the line – or 5, if you count the pair recently contributed by Филидор1792. One, Jerome - Norton, correspondence, 1887, was presented with light commentary; another, perrypawnpusher - BronxBoyII, blitz, FICS, 2008, appeared without notes as an aside in another game; and the third, alechinez - marcinho, standard, FICS, 2009, has yet to appear.
Even if we back up a move, leaving off White's 9th, The Database has less than a couple dozen game examples, only two (excluding the ones named above) appearing in this blog: Tonetti - Ruggieri, Rome, 1863 (without notes) and Vazquez - Giraudy, Mexico, 1876 (without notes and without White's Queen Rook).
Clearly, I have some work to do!
Here is the second game mentioned in "An Intriguing Letter (Part 1)" from Филидор1792 . It is a Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) where one slip by Black spells disaster.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6
7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.d4 Bxd4 9.Na3
9...Qf6 10.Nb5+
Putting the Knight directly into action.
10...Kc5 11.Nxd4 Kxd4 12.Be3+ Kc4 13.Qh5 Ne7
Giving White the tempo that he needs. It was not readily apparent that Black needed to play 13...Kb5.
14.Qe2+ Kb4 15.a4 Qc6 16.Qd2+ Kc4 17.b3 checkmate
