After my last game with Philidor1792 (see "A Flurry of Punches"), of course we had to have another, and, of course, he had to play the Jerome Gambit...
My experience was something like being flattened by a steam roller.
Philidor1792 - perrypawnpusher
Chess.com, 2015
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.0-0
A "modern" Jerome Gambit, without the "classical" 5.Nxd5+. It still has a lot of bite, as I learned.
Worth reviewing are the two earlier posts: "But – Is this stuff playable??" (Part I and Part II)
5...Nf6 6.c3
We have seen the plucky 6.Ng5+ in Philidor 1792 - guest143, www.peshka.me, 2014 (1-0, 34).
6...Rf8
Planning to castle-by-hand.
It might have been better to push the Rook one square further, with 6...Re8, although my opponent has dealt with this, too, in Philidor1792 - Chicken_Monster, 1100 KINGS vs Team Russia, Chess.com, 2014 (1-0, 38) and Philidor 1792 - NN, 2015 (1-0, 40).
I wasn't about to try 6...Nxe4 as in Philidor 1792 -guest826, www.peshka.me, 2015 (1-0, 29) and Philidor 1792 -guest826,www.peshka.me, 2015 (0-1, 33).
7.d4 exd4 8.cxd4 Bb6
9.d5 Ne7 10.d6
An excellent idea - the pawn is well invested.
10...cxd6 11.Nc3 Ng6
It was probably better to complete "castling" with 11...Kg8 - if not on this move, then the next one.
12.Qb3+ d5 13.Nxd5 Nxd5 14.Qxd5+ Ke8
Not only is Black's King back in the center - look at his locked-in light-squared Bishop, a clear sign of danger in the Jerome.
15.Bg5 Ne7 16.Qd6 Bc7 17.Qa3 h6 18.Bh4 g5 19.Bg3 Bxg3 20.hxg3 Qb6 21.Rad1 Rf6
I was not making much progress. Philidor1792 calmly continued.
22.e5 Rc6 23.Nd4 Qc5 24.Qd3 Qxe5
Silly. Black doesn't need material (or open lines against himself). He should pursue exchanging Queens with 24...Qc4.
25.Rfe1 Qf6 26.Nxc6 bxc6
Black's position is wretched, despite some returned material.
27.Qa3 d5 28.Re3 Kd7 29.Rde1 Nf5 30.Rf3 Qd6 31.Rxf5 Qxa3 32.bxa3 Kc7
The Queens are finally off the board, but Black is down the exchange, and only his King is developed.
33.Rf6 Bd7 34.f4 gxf4 35.gxf4 h5 36.Rf7 Re8
This silly blunder ends the suffering.
Even the more appropriate 36...Kd6 would have led to a complicated endgame where White could be expected to continue to outplay his opponent.
Black resigned
Years ago I read a first person account by a small time boxer who managed to wrangle some sparring time with Muhammad Ali. After some warm up exchanges, The Champ was momentarily distracted by a loud noise - a slamming door, a falling chair - and the author landed a solid punch on him. I hit Ali! I hit Ali! the writer enthused. Of course, that was all he remembered, as Ali almost immediately returned a knockout punch...
Imagine my excitement when the Chess.com app on my phone indicated that Philidor1792 wanted to play a game. Sure! I thought. We took more time on our moves than some of the 3 0 games of his that I have posted here, but the result was still the same: a flurry of punches and a KO.
perrypawnpusher - Philidor1792
Chess.com, 2015
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5
The Busch-Gass Gambit, which can turn out similar to a reversed Jerome Gambit, a move down.
3.Nxe5 Nc6
Chiodini's Gambit.
4.Nc3
I don't know if this move is good or not, but there was no way that I was going to follow along with Black's offer of 4.Nxc6. which would lead to a kind of reversed Boden Kieseritzky Gambit.
Instead, I would prefer to see something calm now like 4...Nxe5 5.d4 Bd6 6.dxe5 Bxe5 7.Bd3 Nf6, a reversed Italian Four Knights.
No such luck. Philidor1792 came to complicate.
4...Nf6 5.Nf3 Nd4 6.e5
This risky pawn move is good, but I did not appreciate why.
6...Ng4 7.Bc4
I had anticipated Black's upcoming sacrifice, but I would have done better to prevent - not provoke - it with 7.Ne4, protecting f2.
7...Nxf2 8.Kxf2 d5
9.Bxd5 Nxf3+ 10.d4 Nxd4 11.Be3 O-O
Here it looked for a moment like the game might settle down, after exchanges on d4 and a pin-and-win on d5, to a positional advantage for Black.
Ha!
12.Bxd4 Qh4+ 13.g3
After the game Stockfish "reassured" me that 13.Ke3 would have led to an even game, or one where Black had only a slight advantage. I don't think it would have helped me much, though.
13...Bxd4+ 14.Kg2 Qh3+
White resigned
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
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
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)".
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...
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
