Update: RedHotPawn Jerome Gambit Tournament

The field for the Jerome Gambit Tournament at RedHotPawn (see "New Jerome Gambit Tournament") is complete, and the games have started - in fact, almost 2/3 of them have been completed already!

Group 1
SeinfeldFan91
ZorroTheFox
RODbr
eagleswing

Group 2
procyk
deriver69
rigidwithfear
golddog2

Group 3
kristjan
LittleDonkey
JeanTylerGabriel
BigD00

Group 4
junnujannu
HikaruShindo
Dalradian
rkmmax

There is an interesting mix of Jerome Gambit veterans and novices, so the play is quite interesting.

A win is worth 3 points. A draw is worth 1 point. The leader(s) of each group will advance to a final group, the winner of which will win the tournament.

Results and games will appear here.

Their Majesties' Greed

In the following game Black shows prudence in not having his King hunt for material. He defends well, until he sends his Queen off hunting, falling into a gambit trap that the first player has set. That is all White needs to take the advantage and wrap up the game.

topsoul - moisesserraramos
10 0, lichess.org, 2016

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+ 

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.c3 Kxe5 7.cxd4+ Ke6 

Black heeds the general advice to bring his King home from the battelefield. There is too much danger in His Majesty chasing pawns.

White has a variety of options here. His pawns are important players.

8.O-O d6 9.f4 Kf7 10.Qb3+ Ke8 11.e5 dxe5 12.fxe5 Qxd4+ 13.Kh1 Qxe5

Alas, it is also dangerous for Her Majesty to chase pawns, as the rest of the game shows.

14.Qf7+ Kd8 15.Qxf8+ Qe8 16.Qxg7 Ne7 17.d3 Bf5 18.Bg5 Kd7 19.Rxf5

Even more brutal was 19.Re1

19...Qh5 20.Qxe7+ Kc6 Black resigned

Inaccuracies and Blunders

I found it interesting to see how the computer at lichess.org annotated the moves of the following Jerome Gambit played there. Of course the silicon player does not like the Jerome - but, in its assessment, it takes a number of "inaccuracies" by Black for White to be able to level the game, and a "blunder" for White to gain the advantage.

The notes and variations given below are from the "machine", except for a few of my own comments, given in red.

Bigcaptain - perseus15

blitz 5 2, lichess.org, 2015

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Bc5 4.Bxf7+?

C51 Italian Game: Jerome Gambit (0.17 â()/^ -1.87) Mistake. Best move was Nc3.

4.Nc3 d6 5.Na4 Bb6 6.O-O Nf6 7.d3 O-O 8.a3 Be6 9.Bxe6 fxe6 10.Bd2 Qe8.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bb6?!

(-1.96 â()/^ -1.03) Inaccuracy. Best move was ...Bxd4.

6...Bxd4 7.Qxd4 

It is interesting that the computer missed 6...Qh5!?

7.dxe5 Ke8

A novelty according to The Database.

8.O-O Ne7 9.Nc3 d6?!

(-0.65 â()/^ 0.01) Inaccuracy. Best move was ...Ng6.

9...Ng6 10.Nd5 Nxe5 11.a4 c6 12.Nxb6 axb6 13.f4 Nf7 14.b4 Qe7 15.Qd4 b5 16.a5. 

10.Bf4?!

(0.01 â()/^ -0.77) Inaccuracy. Best move was Qh5+.

10.Qh5+ g6 11.Qh4 dxe5 12.Rd1 Bd4 13.Bg5 Qd7 14.Ne2 Qe6 15.Nxd4 exd4 16.Rxd4 Nc6.

10...Rf8 11.Qh5+ g6 12.Qh4 Nc6?!

(-0.63 â()/^ -0.01) Inaccuracy. Best move was ...dxe5.

12...dxe5 13.Rad1 Qxd1 14.Nxd1 exf4 15.Nc3 Be6 16.Qxh7 Bd4 17.Qh6 Rd8 18.Rd1 Rd7 19.Nb5 

13.Bg5 Ne7??

(0.00 â()/^ 5.52) Blunder. Best move was ...Qd7.

13...Qd7 14.exd6 cxd6 15.h3 Bd4 16.Nd5 Bxb2 17.Rad1 Be5 18.f4 Bd4+ 19.Kh1 Qf7 20.Rxd4 

14.Nd5 Rf7??

(5.56 â()/^ 8.58) Blunder. Best move was ...Be6,

14...Be6 15.Bxe7 Qd7 16.Nf6+ Rxf6 17.exf6 h5 18.e5 Kf7 19.exd6 cxd6 20.Rad1 d5 21.Qf4 

15.Nf6+ Rxf6 16.exf6 

Black resigned

Black has two pieces for a Rook and two pawns, but he faces disaster along the d8-h4 diagonal. True, his Queen can slip to safety with 16...Qd7, but after 17.Qxh7 White's checkmate threats are deadly. All that is left is 17...Qe6, when 18.fxe7 leaves the defender facing the thread of Qh7-h8+ and an impending pawn promotion. The logical 18...Bd4 falls to 19.Rad1, as 19...Qf7 20.Qxf7+ Kxf7 21.Rxd4 loses material while 19...Bxb2 saves the Bishop but allows the Rook to enter the fray with Rd1-d3-f3.

That is a lot to deal with in a blitz game!

Give the Jerome Gambit A Little Respect

I feel kind of bad about the following game. In our earlier matchup in the Chess.com Giuoco Piano tournament, I had ground out a 2-pawn endgame victory. I had cheerfully said to my opponent of our next game, "I expect you to destroy me utterly and enjoy it thoroughly. :-)"

Alas, it was not to be.

perrypawnpusher - iceland2010
Giuoco Piano Tournament Chess.com, 2016

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf6 

Ahead by two pieces, Black is too casual in his reply. (He can protect his Knight with 6...Ke6; or dodge the check with 6...Kf8; or block the check with 6...g6 or 6...Ng6; in each case with good prospects.)

The Jerome Gambit has a number of refutations, and while it does not command a lot of respect, it should receive at least a little.

7.Qf5+ Ke7 8.Qxe5+

I have been in this position 6 times before this game, and won 5. The Black Bishop will fall in the next move or two, and White will be up a couple of pawns.

Black resigned

A GM Weighs In on the Jerome Gambit

I recently received an email from David Black (see "Exploring the Evans Jerome Gambit", "Alternate Universe" and "Influence") with some hilarious news.

Hiya Richard, 

Thought you would be interested in this. 

Jon Speelman former world championship candidate has started a new column and was asking for readers games. So I sent him one of my Jerome gambit games for a bit of fun and here is his response. 

Hi Dave,
Many thanks,
What a splendidly purulent gambit which nevertheless must be horrible to face in a five minute game and quite tough at slower time limits.
Cheers,
Jon 

cheers

Dave 

I think Dave is referring to GM Speelman's new "Agony Column" at ChessBase.com. It should be very, very interesting.

End It

Short games, often wins by checkmate, provide good tactical lessons on how to finish a contest quickly. Although White, in the following match, does a stellar job grabbing the full point in less than a dozen moves, he likely saw even faster ways to do so, once he reviewed his play. Follow along for the ride!

berria - SlowDave
standard, FICS, 2016

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Na5

This nameless attempt to avoid the Jerome Gambit - and grab the "two Bishops" after 4.Bb3 Nxb3 - has been covered many times in this blog (see "Opening Discussion, Not Quite Closed"), but the following game shows a new idea for the defense.

As with many miniature games, White should play over the game and its notes, so that the attacker is ready for an unusual variation of this unusual defense.

4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.Qh5

Best for White is 6.d4 d6 7.Qg4+. 

6...Qe7

A rare move. Its always a good idea for Black to put his Queen on e7 or f6, right?

7.d4

A couple of the few examples of this particular line in The Database continued:

7.Nf3 Nf6 8.Qxa5 Nxe4 9.Qxc7 Qd6 10.Qc4+ Qd5 11.Qxd5+ (11.Nd4+!) 11...Kxd5 12.O-O Nd6 13.Nc3+ Kc6 14.Ne5+ Kb6 15.Nd5+ Ka5 16.d3 g6 17.Bd2+ Ka6 18.Nc7+ Kb6 19.Nxa8+ Kc5 20.Nc7 Kd4 21.Bc3+ Kc5 22.Nxd7+ Kc6 23.Bxh8 Kxd7 24.Nd5 Ke6 25.c4 Nf5 26.Rfe1+ Kd6 27.Re8 Ng7 28.Bxg7 Black resigned, diegolli - Mattlaff, FICS, 2010;

7.Qf5+ (best) Kd6 8.Nc3 (8.Nc4+ Nxc4 9.Qd5#) 8...c6 9.d4 g6 10.Qf4 Ke6 11.d5+ cxd5 12.exd5+ Kd6 13.O-O Qxe5 14.Qb4+ Kc7 15.Qxa5+ Kb8 16.g3 d6 17.Bf4 Qf5 18.Qd8 Be7 19.Bxd6+ Black resigned, EAPL - Falx, FICS, 2008; also

7.Qh3+ Kd6 8.Qd3+ Kc5 9.Qe3+ Kb4 10.a4 Qxe5 11.Qa3+ Kc4 12.d3+ Kd4 13.Qc3# 

7...d6 8.d5+ 

Or 8.Qf5#; or 8.Qg4+ Kf6 9.Bg5#; or 8.Qh3+ Kf6 9.Qf3+ Bf5 10.Qxf5#. 

8...Kf6 9.Bg5+ 

Or 9.Qg5#; or 9.Qf3+ Kxe5 10.Bd2 Nc6 11.Na3 Qf6 12.Bc3+ Nd4 13.Nc4# 

9...Kxe5 10.Bxe7+ Black resigned

Bots on Our Side (Part 3)

Most chess-playing computer programs have a "book" in the software that lays out opening lines for the program to play. This saves on computing time - i.e. why analyze the "best" 6 or 8 opening moves, game after game - and makes sure that the program gets off to a reasonable start. It can include the latest preferences of super-Grandmasters, or the favorite moves of the programmer.

Given that the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is not likely to be deemed "best" play for White by the analysis of any competent computer, any time the opening is played by a program, it is likely that the Jerome has been included in the opening "book".

A computer program dedicated to playing the Jerome Gambit - like Brause, focused on the Halloween Gambit, mentioned in an earlier post - would be a gift to the Jerome Gambit Gemeinde; but, alas, such a thing apparently does not (yet) exist. 

I cross-checked the list of 130 or so computer "players" at the Free Internet Chess Server with the roughly 55,000 games in The Database. I found 9 additional (see Part 1 and Part 2 for the games of  GriffySr and GriffyJr) games showing a variety of Jeromes - the Jerome Gambit proper, the Abraham Jerome Gambit, the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit, and the Semi-Italian Jerome Gambit.


Gamin - mscp
blitz, FICS, 2001
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d3 Nge7 6.Bg5 Kg8 7.Nc3 h6 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.Nd5 Qd8 10.c3 a5 11.Qb3 a4 12.Qc4 a3 13.Nxc7+ d5 14.exd5 axb2 15.dxc6+ Kh7 16.Rb1 Qxc7 17.Qxc5 e4 18.dxe4 Rxa2 19.Qc4 Ra6 20.Qd3 Qxc6 21.Qc2 Kg8 22.Nd2 Ra2 23.Rxb2 Ra1+ 24.Rb1 Rxb1+ 25.Nxb1 Qa6 26.e5 g6 27Nd2 Rh7 28.Ne4 Qa1+ 29.Qd1 Qxd1+ 30.Kxd1 Rh8 31.Nd6 Bd7 32.Ke2 Rh7 33.Kd3 Bc6 34.f3 Rd7 35.Ra1 b6 36.Kd4 b5 37.Kc5 Bb7 38.Ra7 Bc6 39.Ra6 Rxd6 40.Kxd6 Bb7 41.Ra7 Bxf3 42.gxf3 g5 43.e6 b4 44.cxb4 g4 45.e7 Kf7 46.fxg4 h5 47.gxh5 Kf6 48.e8=Q Kg5 49.Qg6+ Kf4 50.Re7 Kf3 51.Qg3 checkmate

Gamin - JumpNMustangII
lightning, FICS, 2001

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bb4+ 7.c3 Qh4 8.O-O Nc6 9.Qf3+ Qf6 10.Qh5+ g6 11.Qd5+ Qe6 12.Qxe6+ dxe6 13.cxb4 Nxd4 14.Na3 Ne2+ 15.Kh1 Nf6 16.Re1 Nxc1 17.Raxc1 c6 18.Nc4 Rd8 19.e5 Nd5 20.Nd6+ Ke7 21.Re4 a5 22.b5 cxb5 23.Rh4 h5 24.Nxb5 Nb4 25.Nd6 Bd7 26.Nxb7 Rdc8 27.Rxc8 Rxc8 28.h3 Rc2 29.Nxa5 Rxb2 30.a3 Nd3 31.f4 Ne1 32.Nc4 Rxg2 33.Nb6 Rc2 34.Nd5+ exd5 35.f5 Nf3 White resigned

SiliconC - cesrmathurine
standard, FICS, 2005

1.Nf3 Nc6 2.e4 e5 3.Bc4 h6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bc5 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Qxc5 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 Qf6 10.Qd3 d6 11.Qc4+ Be6 12.Qxc7+ Ne7 13.O-O Rac8 14.Qxb7 Rxc2 15.Qxa7 Rhc8 16.Qe3 Bc4 17.Re1 Bd3 18.Na3 Bxe4 19.Qxe4 Qxf2+ 20.Kh1 Re2 21.Qxe2 Qxe2 22.Rxe2 Nf5 23.g4 Nd4 24.Re4 Nf3 25.Rf4+ Kg7 26.Rxf3 Black resigned

fjjvh - nicoben
blitz, FICS, 2006
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+ Kxf7 4.Qf3+ Nf6 5.Qb3+ Kf8 6.Qf7+ Kxf7 7.Nf3 Ng4 8.Nxe5+ Nxe5 9.f4 Ng4 10.h3 Nf6 11.e5 Ne4 12.e6+ Kxe6 13.f5+ Kxf5 14.Rf1+ Kg5 15.d3+ Kg6 16.Rf6+ Kxf6 17.Bg5+ Kxg5 18.h4+ Kxh4 19.g3+ Kxg3 20.dxe4 Qe8 21.a4 Qxe4+ 22.Kf1 Qxc2 23.Ra3+ Bxa3 24.Nxa3 Qxb2 25.Nc4 Qg2+ 26.Ke1 Qf2+ 27.Kd1 Qf1+ 28.Kd2 Qxc4 29.a5 b6 30.Ke3 bxa5 31.Kd2 Re8 32.Kd1 Kf2 33.Kd2 Re2+ 34.Kd1 Qc2 checkmate


Gamin - cccolts
blitz, FICS, 2007
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d3 h6 6.O-O Nf6 7.Be3 Bxe3 8fxe3 Rf8 9.c3 Kg8 10.Nbd2 d6 11.d4 Bg4 12.Qb3+ Kh8 13.Qxb7 Qd7 14.Qa6 Bxf3 15.Rxf3 Rab8 16.Rb1 Rb6 17.Qa3 Re8 18.d5 Ne7 19.Qxa7 Reb8 20.b3 Ng6 21.Rbf1 Kh7 22.Rg3 R8b7 23.Qa5 Rb5 24.Qa4 R5b6 25.Qxd7 Nxd7 26.a3 Ra6 27.Rf7 Nc5 28.b4 Nd3 29.Nc4 Ne1 30.a4 Rba7 31.a5 Kg8 32.Rf1 Nc2 33.Rxg6 Black resigned

BlackDemon - wkw
lightning, FICS, 2009
1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 e5 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.O-O Nf6 6.d3 Rf8 7.Be3 Bxe3 8.fxe3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5+ Kg8 11.Rxf8+ Qxf8 12.Nxc6 Qc5 13.Qe2 bxc6 14.d4 Bg4 15.dxc5 Bxe2 16.Nd2 Bh5 17.e4 Nb4 18.c3 Nd3 19.b4 a5 20.a4 axb4 21.cxb4 Nxb4 22.a5 Nd3 23.a6 Ra7 24.Nb3 Bf7 25.Rd1 Bxb3 26.Rxd3 Be6 27.Rd8+ Kf7 28.Rb8 Rxa6 29.Rb7 Ke7 30.Rxc7+ Bd7 31.Kf2 Ra5 32.g3 Rxc5 33.Ke3 Ra5 34.Rb7 Ra2 35.h3 Ra3+ 36.Kf4 c5 37.h4 c4 38.Ke5 Rd3 39.Ra7 c3 40.Rc7 Kd8 41.Rc4 Bb5 42.Rc5 Ba4 43.Ke6 c2 44.Kf7 Rd7+ 45.Ke6 Rc7 46.Rxc2 Bxc2 47.Kd5 Rd7+ 48.Ke5 Re7+ 49.Kf4 Rxe4+ 50.Kf3 Ke7 51.Kf2 Kf6 52.Kg2 Kf5 53.Kf2 Kg4 54.Kg2 Re2+ 55.Kf1 Bd3 56.h5 Kxg3 57.h6 Re3+ 58.Kg1 Re1 checkmate


BlackDemon - abhaysonu
blitz, FICS, 2009
1. e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.O-O Re8 7.d3 Kg8 8Bg5 Be7 9.Bxf6 Bxf6 10.Nd5 d6 11.h3 Ne7 12.Nxf6+ gxf6 13.d4 Ng6 14.c3 Kh8 15.Ne1 Rg8 16.Qf3 Qe7 17.Kh1 Qg7 18.Rg1 Nh4 19.Qd3 Bxh3 20.Qxh3 Ng6 21.Nd3 Nf4 22.Nxf4 exf4 23.Rae1 Rae8 24.Kh2 Qg6 25.Qh4 f3 26.gxf3 Qf7 27.Rxg8+ Rxg8 28.Rg1 Rxg1 29.Kxg1 Qxa2 30.Qxf6+ Kg8 31.Qd8+ Kf7 32.Qxc7+ Kg6 33.Qxd6+ Kh5 34.Qd5+ Kh6 35.Qxa2 Black resigned


callipygian - vuhb
blitz, FICS, 2009
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+ Kxf7 4.Qh5+ g6 5.Qxe5 Bxf2+ 6.Kxf2 Qf6+ 7.Nf3 d6 8.Qg5 Nc6 9.Rf1 Qxg5 10.Nxg5+ Kg7 11.d3 Nd4 12.Na3 Nf6 13.c3 Ne6 14.Nb5 Ne8 15.Kg3 Rf8 16.Nxe6+ Bxe6 17.Bh6+ Kxh6 18.Rxf8 Kg7 19.Rf3 c6 20.Nd4 Bg8 21.a4 Nf6 22.a5 c5 23.Nb5 c4 24.Nxd6 cxd3 25.Rxd3 Be6 26.Kf4 Rf8 27.Re1 Nd7+ 28.Kg3 Ne5 29.Rdd1 b6 30.axb6 axb6 31.Nb5 h5 32.Nc7 Bg4 33.Rd5 Rf7 34.Ne8+ Black resigned



LittleBugger - Nicolayevich
blitz, FICS, 2012
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke7 6.Nc3 d6 7.Nd5+ Ke8 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Nxg6 Nxc2+ 10.Kd1 Nxa1 11.Ne5 checkmate