"Nudge 3.0"?

A significant part of the Jerome Gambit box of tactics is the often vulnerable enemy Bishop on c5 - a proper Queen check by White, and the next move (or the one after) it can fall.

In the following game, Bill Wall waits - and waits - and waits for a Jerome, finally sacrificing his Bishop, anyway. Black never develops his dark-squared Bishop, but he drops a piece to a Queen check, any way.

Wall, Bill - DrivingJoint
Internet, 2001

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 

The Semi-Italian Opening.

4.O-O a6 5.Nc3 b5 

It is not a Jerome Gambit proper, but this is enough provocation.

6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.Qh5+ Ng6 9.Qd5+ 

A different kind of "nudge".

9...Ke8 10.Qxa8 c6 11.d4 N8e7 12.f4 Kf7

Preparing to castle-by-hand? If so, it is untimely.

13.f5 Nh4 14.g3

Black resigned

Eyes on the Prize

White commands his not-quite-a-Jerome-gambit with skill, until his attention wavers - and his game disintegrates. Eyes on the prize, folks!

BOGuk -CrisChess
standard, FICS, 2015

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6

The Semi-Italian opening.

4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Bxf7+

White gives up waiting - if he was, indeed, waiting at all - for Black to play ...Bc5, and fires off his Bishop. An ounce more of patience was to be found in 5.0-0.

5...Kxf7 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4 Bb4 8.O-O Bxc3 9.bxc3 Nxd4 10.cxd4 d6 

Here we have a Jerome-like position, with Black (with the less safe King) holding an extra piece, and White (with the better pawn center) holding an extra pawn. The gambiteer must attack fearlessly.

11.Qf3 Bg4 12.Qf4 g5 13.Qg3 Be6 14.e5 dxe5 15.dxe5 Nh5 16.Qf3+ Kg7

Black has systematically exchanged pieces, and then harassed White's Queen. This last move, however, looks like a mouse slip, as the alternative, 16...Kg6 would have protected the offside Knight.

17.Qxh5 Rf8 

The second player's loose castling-by-hand gives his opponent the correct idea: attack the pawn at g5 with a pawn; exchange to open lines.

18.f4

This is the right idea, however, with the wrong pawn. What White should have been looking for is 18.h4, and even after 18...Qe8 19.Qxe8 Raxe8 20.hxg5 he would be clearly better.

18...Qd4+ 

Didn't see that coming.

19.Kh1 Qxa1 20.fxg5 

So there!

20...Rxf1 checkmate

A Little Bit Of Discouragement, A Lot More Hope

Speaking of "Discouragement", I have to report that the second round of the Chess.com "Italian Game" tournament has started (two sections, one with 6 players, one with 7) and I have 4 games with the black pieces, 2 games with the white pieces - and no Jerome Gambits.

At least, not yet.

Not every one of my opponents in this round will defend with the Two Knights, will they??

I hope not.

In the meantime, some things to think about: "Jerome Gambit vs Two Knights Defense (Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3) and (Part 4)".

Rapid Discouragement

Sometimes, when a chess game is suddenly not going the way it "should", a player will lose interest and resign. Much better to start over in another game with a full set of pieces! This seems to be the case for Black in the following game - at move 6 he received a shock (and a piece) but he kept his cool and had a fairly pleasant position after move 8. Ten moves later, he resigned.

Wall,B - Mkvibes
PlayChess.com, 2012

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 h6 5.d3 Bc5 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 

Here we have a Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit, where White has temporized with d2-d3 instead of 0-0 -- which he takes care of on the next move.

7.0-0 Rf8 8.Qe2 Kg8 

Black has castled-by-hand. What will he do next? Bill is willing to wait and see.

9.a3 Nd4 10.Nxd4 exd4 11.Na4 b6 12.e5 Nd5 

Time to complicate further.

13.Bxh6 gxh6 14.Qe4 Qg5

Not the best reply. Bill's response leads to his opponent's rapid discouragement.

15.Qxd5+ Kh7 16.Qxa8 Rg8 17.Nxc5 bxc5 18.f4 Black resigned

Black's position is not horrible, but he has nothing going for him; plus he is down an exchange and two pawns. And that light-squared Bishop...

Thinking Too Much?!

Sometimes when we play the Jerome Gambit, our opponents get to thinking - and thinking - and thinking. Still, at some point they have to get back to playing - or time will catch them out. (As Samantha Smith says "Tick... tick... tick... BOOM!")

Philidor 1792 - NN
bereg.ru , 2015

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+

The Abrahams Jerome Gambit.

3...Kxf7 4.Qh5+ Kf8 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Qh4 d6 7.c3 Black forfeited on time 

Two ideas from games from The Database that continued: 7...h6 (7...Bg4 8.Ng5 h6 9.d3 Ke7 10.Nh3 Bxh3 11.Qxh3 Qd7 12.Qg3 Qg4 13.Be3 Qxg3 14.hxg3 Bxe3 15.fxe3 Nc6 16.Na3 a6 17.0-0-0 Rhf8 18.Rh4 Nd8 19.d4 Ne6 20.dxe5 dxe5 21.Nc4 Nd7 22.Rg4 Rf2 23.Rd2 Rxd2 24.Nxd2 Nf6 25.Rh4 Rf8 26.Kc2 Nh7 27.Nc4 Rf2+ 28.Kb3 Rxg2 29.Nxe5 Rxg3 30.a4 Rxe3 31.Nc4 Rf3 32.e5 Rf4 33.Rxf4 Nxf4 34.Ne3 h5 35.Nf5+ Kf7 36.Kc4 g6 37.Ng3 g5 38.Kd4 h4 39.Nh1 Ke6 40.Ke4 Ne2 41.Kf3 Nc1 42.b4 Na2 43.b5 axb5 44.axb5 Nxc3 45.b6 cxb6 46.Nf2 b5 47.Nd3 Nd5 48.Nc5+ Kxe5 49.Nxb7 b4 50.Na5 Nhf6 51.Nc4+ Kd4 52.Nd2 Kd3 53.Nb3 Kc3 54.Na5 b3 55.Nxb3 Kxb3 56.Kg2 Kc3 White resigned, stemplarv - theophraste, FICS, 2009) 8.d4 exd4 9.cxd4 Bb4+ 10.Nc3 Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 g5 12.Qg3 Nxe4 13.Bxg5 hxg5 White resigned, alxaraya - hyperspace, FICS, 2014 

A Whole Lot of Chess in Three Minutes

The following game is a roller coaster ride of chess. Hang on, there's whole lot of chess in this 3-minute game!

Philidor 1792 - Bojokrupanj1
blitz 3 0, 2015

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7 Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Ng6

This line must be considered inexact, as it transposes with an extra move (f2-f4)  to the 6...Ng6 defense, as in Philidor1792 - jenskun, Russia Central Federal District vs Phil, Chess.com, 2015 (1-0, 27).

9.Qd5+ Ke7 10.Qxc5+ d6 11.Qg5+ 

Stockfish 6 likes this move better than 11.Qe3, which appeared in a lot of my games; although it prefers 11.Qa3 the most.

11...Kd7 12.Qg4+ Ke8 13.Qg3 

There is only one other game in The Database with this position, Leonas - amec_pt2005, ChessHere.com, 2009 (0-1, 30) which now continued 13...Qh4 14.Qxh4 Nxh4.

13...Nf6 14.Nc3

14.d3 was correct; now things become more difficult for White.

14...Nh5 15.Qf3 Nhxf4 16.0-0 Rf8 17.d4 Nh3+ 18.gxh3 Rxf3 19.Rxf3 Qh4

White may have lost his Queen for a Rook, but he has not lost his fighting spirit.

20.Be3 Be6 21.Raf1 c6 22.Bf2 Qh5 23.Bg3 Kd7 24.d5 cxd5 25.exd5 Bxd5 26.Rd3 Bc6 27.Rxd6+ Ke8 28.Re6+ Kd7 29.Rd6+ Kc8

Black declines allowing a draw by repetition. This gives his opponent more chances to concoct devious notions.

30.Rf7 Qxh3 

Time is growing shorter. Black grabs a pawn and eyes the White King.

31.Kf2

Both players overlooked 31.Nd5!? Bd7 32.Rxg6 hxg6 33.Rf8+ Be8 34.Rxe8+ Kd7 35.Rxa8 and White would have ample material for his Queen. 

31...Qg2+ 32.Ke3 Qg1+ 33.Ke2 Qg2+ 34.Rf2 Qh3 35.Rf7 Qg4+ 36.Ke1 Be8 

White's King has proven elusive, much to Black's dismay. Time is almost up, and White continues combining.

37.Rc7+ Kxc7 38.Rxg6+ 

Here Black's flag must have fallen, as after 38...Qxg3+ 39.Rxg3  Bg6 the position would have been about even.

Winning Fast or Losing Fast?

Knowing your chess opening and what you and others have played previously is a powerful weapon in a contest.

Bill Wall's games show up over 365 times in The Database; he has a lot of experience with the Jerome Gambit - usually a whole lot more than his opponents. (As a reference, The Database's  over 51,500 games is useful, too.)

It is no wonder that the following game ends quickly. 

Wall,B - Guest4240618
PlayChess.com, 2015

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+ Kf6 

8.Qxc5

MrJoker and I have explored 8.d4: perrypawnpusher - whitepandora, blitz, FICS, 2008 (1-0, 41); mrjoker - Taj, Internet Chess Club 2009 (1-0, 9); perrypawnpusher - tjaksi, blitz, FICS, 2013 (1-0, 16); and perrypawnpusher - alvarzr, blitz, FICS, 2014 (1-0, 21).

8...d6

Not 8...Qe7 9.Qf5#  perrypawnpusher - zsilber, blitz, FICS, 2010. 

9.Qc3+

As opposed to the retreat 9.Qe3 seen in  perrypawnpusher - useche, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 22); perrypawnpusher - wbrandl, blitz, FICS, 2011 (0-1, 28); MrJoker - ipon, Internet Chess Club, 2011 (1-0, 33); and MrJoker - vicwill, Internet Chess Club 2011 (1-0, 12).

Now Bill is on his own, as there are no other examples of this move in The Database; but his opponent immediately helps him out.

9...Ne5 10.f4 Black resigned