Why so serious?

I recently received an email and game from Louis Morin, aka MrJoker. Playing through the game, I got very nervous after White's 4th move, but as I played on I imagined that I could hear Heath Ledger's voice as the Joker "Why so serious?"

Indeed, despite the difficulties, MrJoker wrapped up the game like it was an amusing anecdote.

Hi Rick

Perhaps my most recent game on ICC could be of interest for your blog.

MrJoker - HarryP
Internet Chess Club, 2012

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Nxe5?? 

Okay I am joker but not usually that much... 

4...Nxe5 

Only now did I realize that I forgot to play Bxf7+ before Nxe5+.
I am getting old I guess… 

5.Qh5 Qf6 6.0-0 g6 7.Bxf7+?? 

Never too late? 

7...Kxf7 

I must admit that I completely overlooked this. I thought Black had to take with the Queen or Knight. Now I have a typical Jerome gambit position… except for the fact that I am 2 full pieces down instead of “only” one. Anyway, White’s advantage is still decisive, it will only take a bit longer than usual to realize it.

8.Qe2 d6 9.Kh1 Ne7 10.c3 N5c6 11.d4 Bb6 12.Bh6 Qh4 13.Qe3 Ne5 14.Bg5 

14...Qxh2+ 15.Kxh2 Ng4+ 16.Kg3 Nxe3 17.fxe3+ Ke6 18.Rf6+ Kd7 19.Rf7 Re8 20.Nd2 c6 21.Raf1 Bd8 

22.Rxh7 Kc7 23.Rff7 Kb6 24.Bxe7 Be6 25.Bxd8+ Raxd8 26.Rxb7+ Ka6 27.Rxa7+ Kb6 28.Rhb7 checkmate

I hope you enjoyed this. But if you publish this game, tell your readers I advise them NOT to try 4.Nxe5.

Proto-Jerome Gambits? (Part 5)

As a last look at the possible influences on Alonzo Wheeler Jerome, in his creation of 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+, we take a look at the line 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Bc4 Nf6 (instead of 3...Bc5) which transposes, after 4.Nf3, to the Urusov Gambit, which is deeply covered at Michael Goeller's wonderful site.

While the 1857 analysis of the gambit by Prince Sergei Urusov may not have been available to AWJ, games like Kolisch - Paulsen, London, 1861, might have been.

It is hard to get very Jerome-ish here, after 4...Bc5, but Goeller does mention the modern game Hopf - Schintgen, Bratislava 1993, which continued 5.e5 Ng4 6.Bxf7+ (1-0, 34).

(Of course, if, instead, Black plays 4...Nc6, then after 5.0-0 Bc5 6.e5 Ng4 ["playable but rarely seen" according to coverage at Chessville.com] then 7.Bxf7+ would come in a Max Lange Variation of the Two Knights Defense, which is a whole 'nother thing...)

Proto-Jerome Gambits? (Part 4)

Of course, as Alonzo Wheeler Jerome was putting together his ideas on the Jerome Gambit, he might well have been influenced by the games of Joseph Henry Blackburne, whose aggression often showed up in sharp attacks like the one after 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ as we have seen before; or, a move later, here.

(A correspondence game played after Jerome passed on is still worth passing along again.)

Coming out of the move order that we have been looking at, 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.d4 exd4 the Lewis Gambit, reaches the same position after 4.Bxf7+, and, as the earliest example was Staunton - Cochrane, match, 1841, the line was likely available to Jerome as well. 

It is also available to Readers who would like to check out Secrets of Opening Surprises, Volume 10, edited by Jeroen Bosch, where the Lewis Gambit is examined. 

Proto-Jerome Gambits? (Part 3)

Of course, as Alonzo Wheeler Jerome was developing his Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e4 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) there is always the possibility that he was influenced by the games of the Italian chessplayer Gioachino Greco (c. 1600 – c. 1634), who started off his own gambit with 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Qe2, with the possibility of 3...Nf6 4.Bxf7+ followed by 5.Qc4+ picking up the Bishop on c5. 

Actually his idea was to follow up with 4.f4.

The idea of Qe2 for White in the Jerome Gambit has shown up in a number of games, however. See: "Home Cooking" for one set of examples, and "Adolf Albin Plays the Jerome Gambit (Part 1)" and "(Part 2)" for another interesting game. Of course, there are any number of games by Bill Wall, including this one.

Proto-Jerome Gambits? (Part 2)

Although there is no record, it is quite likely that Alonzo Wheeler Jerome played chess during his time as a soldier during the American Civil War, and he may even have developed his gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) then.

It is also quite possible that Jerome encountered (or played) what is now known as the "Scholar's Mate", 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Qh5, with a look toward 4.Qxf7#; although he may have known it at the time as the Kentucky Opening (see "Kentucky Opening" Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 as well as "The Kentucky / Danvers Opening").

Following the Kentucky, if Black defended with 3...Qe7, White would still have the gambit 4.Bxf7+ Qxf7 5.Qxe5+, winning two pawns for the piece, as in the Jerome. The difficulty with this line, however, is that Black can answer with 5...Qe7, and after the exchange of Queens Black's King can still castle to safety. 

In casual  or club play, someone more skilled with pawns than his opponent was skilled with piece play might still be able to hold on with White; but one can already see, as AWJ may well have, that the Jerome Gambit would, at least in one way, be an "improved Kentucky Opening". 

Proto-Jerome Gambits? (Part 1)

Alonzo Wheeler Jerome, as far as I have been able to determine, did not leave an indication as to what openings inspired him to develop 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+.

Certainly one of the first possible lines that could have caught his eye was in the old Bishop's Opening symmetrical variation: 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+.

Some sources refer to this line, too, as the Jerome Gambit, although they must be relying on the Bxf7+ trope, as there is no indication (yet turned up) that AWJ played the Bishop's Opening version of his "Double Gambit". I have elsewhere referred to it as the "Abrahams Jerome Gambit".

Not that the line doesn't have some bite...

Coffeehouse Chess Videos

David Kane (Kuasm) has started a series of "Coffeehouse Chess" videos at YouTube, focusing upon openings that are dodgy and dubious, showing refutations and then basic ideas, for those who want to play the lines for fun or in casual chess.

So far he has covered the Englund Gambit (1.d4 e5) and the Blackburne Shilling Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc3 Nd4). They are certainly worth viewing.

He has said that he will look at the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+). I am especially looking forward to this one.