Never Say "Never"

After introducing the mangled-Jerome-Gambit line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Nxe5 from a game by MrJoker in "Why So Serious?", with a caution not to try out White's move (premature in the Jerome), I almost immediately had to post Bill Wall's interest in investigating where angels fear to tread, so to speak (see "Relatively Speaking").

Who could be surprised by the following email I just received?

(I love working on this blog!)

Rick,
 
After Joker recommended not to play 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Nxe5, I decided 

to take the challenge and play it. I am glad to see that there are 130 games of this variation 

in the ChessBase Big Database 2012. Here are two more to add to the collection.
 
Wall - Guest2075193, www.playchess.com, Nov 10, 2012
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Nxe5 (instead of Jerome's move with 4.Bxf7!?) 4...Nh6 

(most common and better is 5.Nxe5) 5.Qh5 (may be a new move. Previously played has 

been 5.Ng4) 5...O-O? (doesn't look good. Best seems 5...Qf6, threatening 6...Qxf2+) 

6.Nxc6 Bxf2+ (6...bxc6 7.Qxc5) 7.Kxf2 dxc6 (now Black threatens 8...Qd4+ and 9...Qxc4)8.d3 Bg4 

(perhaps 8...Ng4+) 9.Qc5 Qh4+ 10.Kf1 (or 10.g3) 10...Kh8? 11.Bg5 Qh5 

12.Be7 Rfe8 13.Qxh5 Bxh5 14.Bg5 Ng8 15.Nd2 b5 16.Bb3 h6 17.Bf4 Re7 18.h3 g5 

19.Be3 a5 20.g4 Bg6 21.a4 Kh7 22.h4 and Black resigned 1-0

 
Wall - Guest2095477, www.playchess.com, Nov 10, 2012
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Nxe5 Bxf2+ 5.Kxf2 Nxe5 6.Be2 Qf6+ (perhaps a 

new move. 6...Qh4+ has been played in the past) 7.Kg1 Ne7 (perhaps 7...c5 or 7...Nc6) 

8.d4 N5g6 9.Nc3 c6? (9...O-O) 10.e5 Qh4?? (White now traps the queen. Perhaps 

10...Nxe5 11.dxe5 Qxe5. Not 10...Qf5? 11.Bg4. 10...Qe6 11.Ne4 looks good for White) 

11.g3 Qh3 12.Bg4 and Black resigned 1-0
 
Bill
 

Relatively Speaking

No sooner had I posted a game by MrJoker (a player with years of experience with the Jerome Gambit) giving a warning not to follow up 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 with 4.Nxe5, than I received an email from Bill Wall (another very successful Jerome Gambiteer), wondering if the move should be avoided, after all...

It took me a while to understand his point, at which time I cracked up laughing.

There are 33 possible moves that White can play in this Italian Game position. On a blog that has examined and championed the arguably 28th worst* of those choices, I had been skeptical about someone talking a look at the 27th worst move!

A lot of 4th moves for White are "playable" in this position if they are compared against Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's favorite, rather than against the "best" move.

Readers might want to uncover the 5 moves "objectively" worse than 4.Bxf7+.

(*-ratings of moves is by Rybka 3, to the depth of 15 ply)

Act Hastily, Repent at Leisure

perrypawnpusher - joseluizlopez, blitz, FICS, 2012

In a recent Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) I was generally out-played by my opponent, and, for some reason, decided that I should take refuge in a pawn-down endgame – which you can see, from the above position from the game, turned out to be not a very successful strategy.

I played on because my opponent was short of time, and I foolishly hoped that his flag would fall before my King did.

To speed things up, I had been using the "pre-move" function at FICS, where you can chose your next move while your opponent is thinking, and the computer will immediately execute it as soon as it is your turn. Save seconds, put on the pressure...

In certain circumstances, that can be an effective tactic, but look what happened in this game: 

49...Qb5??

This has to be a mouse slip for 49...Qb4. 

Black throws his Queen away and – lucky for him – his King's good position allows him to sheepishly draw.

But, I looked on in horror, as I had never imagined that my opponent would have come up with this blunder, and I had already pre-moved something different...

50.Ka3????

And I was checkmated a few moves later.

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.