The most interesting game so far in the ongoing "Play the Jerome Gambit Quad" at Chess.com took place between the two top-rated players Bill Wall and ubluk.
ubluk (1884) - billwall (2488)
Play the Jerome Gambit Quad
Chess.com, 2012
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4
6...Bxd4 7.Qxd4 d6 8.Qd5+ Kf8 9.Qb3 Qh4
Black wastes no time in his counter-attack.
10.Nc3 Ng4 11.g3 Qh5 12.Nd5 N8f6 13.f3 Nxh2 14.Bf4 Nxf3+
Rybka 3, running in blunder check mode with 5 minutes per move, had only two suggestions in this game. The first was here: 14...Qxf3 15.Rxh2 Qxe4+ 16.Ne3 Bg4 returning a piece for two pawns, and an advantage for Black in a complicated position.
15.Kf2 Nxe4+ 16.Kg2 Qf5
Here the silicon beast in its post mortem preferred 16...Qf7. White is now able to conjure up all sorts of trouble along the f-file.
17.Raf1 Be6 18.Bxd6+ Ke8 19.Nxc7+ Kd7 20.Nxe6 Ned2
21.Nxg7 Nh4+ 22.Kh2 Nxf1+ 23.Kg1
Black is a Rook ahead, but his uneasy King gives White drawing chances.
23...Nf3+ 24.Kf2 Nd4+ 25.Nxf5 Nxb3 26.axb3 Rac8 27.Rxf1 Rxc2+
Leading to an ending where Black's Rook plus pawn probably balances Whites' Bishop and Knight.
28.Ke3 Rxb2 29.b4 Rg8 30.Kf4 b6 31.Rd1 Ke6 32.Re1+ Kd5 33.g4 Rg6 34.Bf8 draw
A modern Jerome Gambit classic.
I admit that I have been amused by the checkmate position examined in the last two posts -- enough to search for a few more examples. I'll limit myself to the following one, which has most of its excitement in the notes. Still, it is hard not to chuckle...
DiosF - luisfveloz
lightning, FICS, 2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d4 exd4 5.Bxf7+
5...Kxf7 6.Ng5+ Kg6 7.Qf3 Ne5
8.Qf5+ Kh6
Black can prolong the life of his King a few more moves with 8...Kh5, but White still has a variety of mates, e.g. 9.Ne6+ (9.Nh3+ g5 10.Bxg5 Nf3+ 11.gxf3 Bb4+ 12.Bd2+ Qg5 13.Qxg5#) 9...g5 10.h4 Nd3+ (10...Bb4+ 11.Kf1 Nf3 12.hxg5+ Nh4 13.g4#) 11.Kf1 Nxf2 12.Qf7+ Kh6 13.hxg5#.
9.Nf7 checkmate
If yesterday's Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game seemed a bit odd, what to make of the following one, where the same player of the White pieces reprises his unusual opening schema, this time against a player only about 250 points higher than himself.
Again, hostilities cease rapidly.
MAILMANUK - callipygian
blitz, FICS, 2002
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.d4 exd4 6.Ng5+ Kg6 7.h4
Black now defends, and White comes to the same abrupt end.
7...Qe7 8.h5+ Kh6 9.Nf7 checkmate
One of the fun things about an offbeat opening like the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is that a game can move along like nothing is going on, lulling one or both players into a sense of calm – and then something unexpected happens.
MAILMANUK - IFDThor
blitz, FICS, 2002
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.d4 exd4 6.Ng5+ Kg6 7.h4
Black is rated about 350 points above his opponent. He is not particularly alarmed at defending against the Jerome Gambit. He is not distressed by the slightly unusual 5.d4, or the more unusual 6.Ng5+, or the innovative 7.h4. He simply whips out a "Swiss army knife" style defensive move, and ends the game.
7...Qf6 8.h5+ Kh6 9.Nf7 checkmate
Sometimes you do not need to attack maniacally with the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc3 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), you need only press ahead steadily, leaving the window open to allow an opponent's error in...
billwall (2488) - DeDrijver (1438)
Play The Jerome Gambit Quad
Chess.com, 2012
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8
An interesting line, as old as Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's earliest published analysis of his gambit, which showed up not much later in Jerome - Brownson, Iowa, 1875 (1/2-1/2, 29) and Vazquez - Carrington, 2nd match, Mexico, 1876 (1-0, 43).
The move 6.Qh5!?, looking to transpose into more main lines, is known as the Banks Attack (Banks - Rees, Wolverhampton, 2003) although 6...Qe7! (splott - Mika76, GameKnot, 2008) is a dangerous response.
Bill tries something different – again. A couple of year ago he tried the interesting 6.Nd3 in Wall,B - Tim93612, Chess.com 2010, (1-0, 36).
6.0-0 Nxe5 7.d4 Bd6
Stronger and simpler is 7...Bxd4.
8.dxe5 Bxe5 9.f4 Bd4+
This move is difficult to understand, and might be mistaken for a "mouse slip" were not the game's time control 3 days per move.
10.Qxd4 Qf6 11.e5 Qb6 12.Qxb6 axb6
Happy to be a pawn up, with easier development, a safer King, and potential for his "Jerome pawns", White has plenty of patient hope for his game.
13.Nc3 Ne7 14.Nb5 c6 15.Nd6 g6
Waving a red cape in front of a bull.
16.f5
As I watched this game develop at Chess.com, I thought that it might be time now for 16.g4, followed by 17.f5, which, after an exchange of pawns, would have the "Jerome pawns" looking advanced and mighty good. Bill shows that the f-pawn does not have to wait.
16...gxf5
Although the position looks quiet, this move allows mate. Sadly, something like 16...g5 followed by 17...h6 was necessary to keep the White Bishop off of h6.
17.Bh6+ Kg8 18.Nxf5 Nxf5 19.Rxf5 d5 20.Rf8 checkmate
At the end of last month I posted the famous Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4Bxf7+) game Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1885, which had been published in The Newcastle Courant of Saturday, December 3, 1898, with the admonition that Students would do well to commit it to memory, as strong players have a peculiarity of springing the opening upon the unwary.
"Students" who have not chosen to "commit it to memory" but who have, instead, relied on retaining a general idea of Blackburne's plan, have repeatedly learned, however, that often "half a defense is worse than no defense at all."
The newest example is from the ongoing "Play The Jerome Gambit Quad" at Chess.com.
ubluk (1864) - bfcace (1572)
Play The Jerome Gambit Quad
Chess.com, 2012
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 d6
Black's "generous" counter-offer of material.
8.Qxh8 Qh4 9.0-0 Qxe4
A key move in Blackburne's Defense is 9...Nf6, working on trapping White's Queen. If she escapes, as in this game, Black will regret his counter-sacrifice of a Rook.
10.Qxh7+
Or 10.d3 Qe5 11.Qxh7+ as in AlgozBR - khuizen, FICS, 2009 (1-0,17)
10...Kf8 11.d3
A bit better than 11.Nc3 as in perrypawnpusher - LtPoultry, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 12) and DREWBEAR 63 - blackburne, Jerome Gambit Thematic, ChessWorld, 2009 (1-0, 16).
11...Qe6
Previously seen was 11...Qf5 in obviously - dmyze, GameKnot.com, 2004 (1-0, 20).
12.Qxc7 Bb6 13.Qc3 Nf6
Black is down three pawns and the exchange (plus an unsafe King). This should tell as soon as White completes his development.
14.Bh6+ Kf7 15.Nd2 Bd7 16.Rae1 Qf5 17.Ne4 Rh8 18.Nxd6+
A final slip. Black resigned
Continuing my search through The Database's 8-move games, chasing clues to the "essence" of the Jerome Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+, (or at least an insight into how it "works"), I came across a lesson (again) for White, written in a handful of games.
After all, 7...Qf6 could simply be an example of Black placing a strong piece on a strong square. Or – he could be planning something...
ainafets - Papaflesas
blitz, FICS, 2007
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bxd4 7.Qxd4 Qf6 8.f4 Nf3+ White resigned
stemplarv - KIAUA
blitz, FICS, 2007
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bxd4 7.Qxd4 Qf6 8.f4 Nf3+ White resigned
stretto - terma
blitz, FICS, 2007
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bxd4 7.Qxd4 Qf6 8.0-0 Nf3+ White resigned
stretto - haquitraveis
blitz, FICS, 2009
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bxd4 7.Qxd4 Qf6 8.0-0 Nf3+ White resigned
