I was wandering through the internet the othe day, and realized that I had missed sharing this humorous comment from Tom's BDG Pages
I try not to be, but maybe I am a little jealous. I'm talking about all those Jerome Gambiteers over at Rick Kennedy's blog. All those quick little knockouts. Sure some of them are Black wins, but still...Worse yet, the BDG [Blackmar Diemer Gambit] looks to be on its way to losing its title as the most disrespected opening in chess. But all we can do is fight on.
I am working my way through Tim Harding's Four Gambits to Defeat the French, a book that I've been interested in for a long time, but only recently acquired.
Dr. Harding is one of my favorite authors, and his first book, Bishop's Opening, is still a classic. In fact, his current "Kibitzer" column at Chesscafe.com, "A New Look at an Old Opening" – catch it while you can, as only current columns are free of charge, although older ones can be purchased as low-cost e-books – takes a look at that book, and updates the opening with some interesting games.
In the notes to the game Tim Harding – R. J. Stockwell, Oxfordshire - Surrey county match, 1971, Harding touches upon the line 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nxe4 4 Bxf7+?! which should catch the eye of every Jerome Gambiteer, and be reminiscent of 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+, referred by Tim Sawyer as the Open Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.
Harding continues the line: 4...Kxf7 5 Nxe4 d5 6 Qf3+ Kg8 and then discusses the possibilites of 7.d4!?. Great fun. Check it out.
By the way, Harding is well into writing his biography of Joseph Henry Blackburne, which will include 1,000 of the "Black Death's" games. The moment he even hints that it is available, I will be ordering my copy!
What does it mean when a columnist at The New York Times' website starts off his analysis of Syria, the US, and Russia, with a quote from the foremost modern practitioner of the Jerome Gambit, the self-proclaimed "worst chess opening in the world"?
In all fairness, Bill Wall is also the author of thirty books on chess (as well as many more articles) and has a massive, interesting and entertaining web page.
Nowadays, our politicians can use all the help they can get.
In blitz chess, the moves come fast, but the thoughts come faster.
Much better that way, than the other way around.
perrypawnpusher - vastatorjf
blitz, FICS, 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7
5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qh4+
This put me on my guard: Danger Ahead!
9.g3 Qg4
There's something wrong with this followup, however, even if it is a TN.
10.fxe5+ Black resigned
I am pretty sure that a grandmaster, if ever confronted by the Jerome Gambit, would not bother with any of the fancier "refutations" such as Blackburne's Defense, but would simply return a piece with the so-called "annoying defense" (see, for example 1, 2, 3) and then grind down the attacker from there.
It is not easy to beat Bill Wall in the Jerome Gambit, in the following game he is annoyed to death.
Wall,B - Guest3551214
playchess.com, 01.09.2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 d6
8.fxe5 dxe5 9.Qh3+ Ke7 10.Qg3 Kf7 11.Qxe5
White has two pawns for his piece, but he has a hard time whipping up an attack.
11...Qh4+ 12.g3 Qe7 13.Qh5+
Another indication of the difficult time that Bill is having is that this move is the first one out of "book". Black arrived at the board well-prepared.
13...g6 14.Qe2 Kg7 15.c3 15...Bb6 16.d4 c5
17.d5 Bh3 18.e5 Re8 19.Bf4 Bc7 20.e6 Bxf4 21.gxf4 Qh4+ 22.Qf2 Qh5 23.c4
23...Bxe6 24.dxe6 Rxe6+ 25.Kd2 Nf6 26.Kc1 Re2 27.Qf1 Rxh2 28.Rxh2 Qxh2
29.Nc3 h5 30.a4 h4 31.Ra3 h3 32.Rb3 Qg2 33.Qxg2 hxg2 34.Ne2 Re8 35.Ng1 Re1+ White resigned
The watchwords of Aaron Nimzowitsch (1886-1935) "restrain, blockade, destroy" come to mind in playing over the following game, as Black seems to utilize "hypermodern" concepts in has battle against a clearly "neo-romantic" chess opening.
It is one of the stranger Jerome Gambits I have ever seen.
Wall, Bill - Guest4149739
PlayChess.com, 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6
7.Qd5+ Kf8
More common is 7...Ke8.
8.Qxc5+ d6
There is also 8...Qe7, as in Wall,B - Quack, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 22)
9.Qc3
The more-often played 9.Qe3 is as old as Vazquez,A -Carrington,W, Mexico, 2nd match, 1876 (1-0, 34) and as new as Wall,B - Vijay,V, Chess.com 2010 (1-0, 22) and Wall,B - LC, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 20)
9...Nf6 10.d3 Qe7
A slight improvement over 10...c6 as in Wall,B - Boris, Sparkchess.com, 2012 (1-0, 32). So far, we have a normal Jerome Gambit-style position.
11.O-O c6 12.f4 Bd7 13.f5 Ne5 14.h3
Bill later suggested 14.Bf4.
14...c5 15.g4 Bc6
White has activated his "Jerome pawns" and in response Black has started to restrain them and - with his Knights - blockade them.
An indication of how further "odd" the position can get is in Houdini's recommendation, instead of Black's last move: 15...g5 16.Bxg5 h5 17.h4 hxg4 18.a4 Be8 19.Nd2 Bf7.
16.g5 Nfd7 17.b4 h6 18.g6 Qh4
Black has about had it with all of White's pawn moves (Bill has also created this impatience in his opponents with repeated Queen moves) and decides to become aggressive, here threatening 19...Qg3+.
19.Kh2 b6 20.a4
Instead, 20.Bf4 was a possibility.
20...Nf6 21.Bf4
Bill shows how things could go horribly wrong for White: 21.bxc5? Nd5 22.exd5 Ng4+ 23.Kg2 Bxd5+ 24. Kg1 Qg3 checkmate
21...Re8
22.Nd2 Nh5 23.Bxe5 Rxe5
Threatening 24.. .Qg3+.
24.Rf3
White's King is still at risk: 24.bxc5? Qg3+ 25.Kh1 Rxe4 26.dxe4 (26.Nxe4 Bxe4+ 27.dxe4 Qxc3) 26...Qxc3.
24...Ke7 25.Rg1
White completes his development (!) and sets an interesting trap for his opponent.
25...Bxa4
This can lead to a slight advantage for White (better was 25...Kd7), or a whole lot more.
26.Ra1 b5
Black protects his Bishop and blocks the a-file against the White Rook. Instead, he should have retreated his piece with 26...Bd7 and let the White Rook in, facing a small disadvantage. However, this was far from obvious.
27.d4
With this move White takes over the game.
27...cxd4 28.Qc7+ Kf6
This leads to checkmate, whereas 28...Ke8 only leads to disaster after 29.Qc6+
29.Qxd6+
A bit faster was 29.Rg1
29...Kg5 30.Rg1+ Black resigned
It is ironic that Black, ahead in development for most of the game, should have his King expire with a Bishop offside and a Rook lollygagging at home.
The rhetorical question, "If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?" came to mind the other day, as I was looking at the May 1874 issue of the Maryland Chess Review (Vol 1, No. 5).
Jerome Gambit aficionados know that the April 1874 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal contained the article "A New Chess Opening" wherein Alonzo Wheeler Jerome presented his first analysis of his gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+.
How did the chess world react to this momentous event?
As the Maryland Chess Review noted
The Dubuque Chess Journal for April is a considerable improvement on the March number. The cover contains a cut of friend Brownson and his wife, engaged in a game of chess. Its contents are, a photograph and biography of F. H. Curtiss, a number of his games and problems; victory and defeat, an article by Chas. Jacobus; regular games, regular problems, etc. Vol. VII commences with the May number, which would be a good time to subscribe.
I suppose that the Jerome Gambit material was included in the Review's "etc." reference. Sigh.
