Jerome Gambit: Balanced Until Unbalanced

The Jerome Gambit is often presented as some kind of bashi-bazouk attack, referring to, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, "mercenary soldier[s] belonging to the skirmishing or irregular troops of the Ottoman Empire, notorious for their indiscipline, plundering, and brutality."

Yet some Jerome games move along placidly, largely balanced, with White content to develop his pieces and advance his "Jerome pawns" - until. A sudden imbalance brings a sudden end. 

Wall, Bill -Guest5296006
PlayChess.com, 2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bxd4 7.Qxd4 Qf6 

A move that has the threat of either winning or exchanging the enemy Queen. White notices, but doesn't seem to mind.

8.Be3 Ne7 9.O-O Rf8 10.Nc3 c6 11.Rad1 Kg8

Black has castled-by-hand, and has a piece for a pawn. If this distresses his opponent, it is not apparent.

12.f4 Ng4 13.Qxf6 Nxf6 14.Bc5 Re8 15.Bd6

Black's Bishop is at home, currently blocked in - and it, in turn, blocks his Rook (a dilemma we have seen many times before). His solution is to advance the Queenside pawns, which drains away his advantage.

15...b5 16.f5 a5 17.e5 

In the meantime, White moves in the center. The position is about even.

I am reminded of something GM Andy Soltis wrote in Grandmaster Secrets Openings (2000), that at some point a player has to decide if he is going to go for a small advantage, or a large advantage. Black can keep things balanced, here -but he wants more.

17...Nfd5 

He should have relied on 17...Ned5 18.exf6 Nxf6.

18.f6 

At first, a bit of a surprse, as Black is threatening the Knight fork of two Rooks with 18...Ne3, but White can meet this with 19.f7+ Kf8 20.Ne4!? giving up the exchange, as 20...Nxf1 21.Rxf1 requires that Black return the Rook, with 21...h6 22.fxe8/Q+, because 21...Rd8 22.Ng5 would be even worse. 

18...gxf6 19.exf6 

Now Black can try to struggle on after returning the Knight with 19...Nxf6 20.Rxf6, possibly reaching a Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame, but he thinks he can do better. He can't.

19...Nxc3 20.f7+ Kf8 21.bxc3 

You know that White's game is powerful when he doesn't have to capture the Rook at e8, 

21...Rd8 22.Rde1 Black resigned

Not only does White threaten to win the Knight at e7, with check, then pick up the Rook at d8, he also has a forced checkmate, e.g. 22...Kg7 23.Rxe7 Rf8 (What else?) 24.Re3 h6 25.Bxf8+ Kxf8 26.Re8+ Kf7 27.f8/Q+ Kg6 28.Qf5+ Kg7 29.Qf7#

Jerome Gambit: The Whole Line Is A Trap

I have mentioned before National and FIDE Master Dennis Monokroussos' thoughtful website, The Chess Mind, where he once asked "Is there even a single trap for Black to fall into in the Jerome Gambit?"

With due respect to Dennis, at the club level the entire Jerome Gambit can be considered a "trap" - especially if we consider psychological aspects. Black must pay attention, even as he treasures his advantages, or they will evaporate. 

Wall, Bill - Guest5436627
PlayChess.com, 2018

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bxd4 7.Qxd4 d6

8.O-O Be6

Or 8...Nf6. See "Jerome Gambit: Tactic Fatigue" for a discussion.

9.f4 Nc6 10.Qa4 Nf6 

Black is doing well. He has attended to his development, and can protect his King in short order.

White, on the other hand, has to continue to find ways to sow disorder.

11.f5 Bd7 12.Qb3+ Ke7

I am not sure about this. Perhaps the King should go to f8.

13.Nc3 Re8 14.Nd5+ Nxd5

Of course, Black should have moved his King away, instead, with 14...Kf8, but it's no big deal, right?

15.exd5 Ne5

Suddenly Black's King feels a draft along the e-file, and so he blocks it off with his Knight. Sadly, to keep the position about level (White would have an edge) he needed to give up his extra piece with 15...Nd4 16.Qe3+ Kf8 17.Qxd4).

Now, danger comes from another direction. 

16.Bg5+ Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: Ups and Downs - and Up

"Cliff Hardy" has lit up the chessboard again with a 1 0 Jerome Gambit game that highlights the rapid ups and downs - and eventual up - that come with playing a "refuted" opening.

Below is the game, with notes by Cliff, and an occasional diagram (and note, in blue) by me - Rick.

Hardy, Cliff - NN
1 0 lightning, lichess.org, 2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5

Lichess has a new "Opening explorer & tablebase" feature, which reveals that 12,217 games in its database have reached this position. 

4.Bxf7+ 

But, interestingly, zero games in its database have reached this position!

(By the way, since those of us who play the Jerome live in an alternate reality - where, in contrast to the lichess database, our opponents do occasionally play 4...Kf8 - I checked the move out in "our" The Database and found 281 games. A bit puzzlingly, white scores  only 55%. Of course, that reflects a bit on who actually is playing the game [we are mostly club players] - remember, The Database also says White scores only in the mid 40s with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ to begin with. YMMV. - Rick)

4...Kf8!?

Unsurprisingly, Stockfish is not a fan of this innovation and says that White has a winning advantage now.

5.Bxg8?!

Keeping the bishop with 5.Bb3 made a bit more sense but I was a little flustered by his last move! 

5...Kxg8 6.c3 d6 7. d4 exd4 8. cxd4 Bb6

9.Be3 Bg4 10.h3?

10.Qb3+ was better, I had missed that after 10.h3 (as played in the game) 10...Bxf3! I would have to double my pawns with 11.gxf3.

(To redo David Foster Wallace's lament, "Move in haste, annotate at leisure." Remember, this is a 1-minute game - Rick)

10...Bh5? 11.Nc3 h6 12.g4 Bg6 

13.Qb3+?

Stockfish prefers to simplify by getting pieces off with 13.d5. 

13...Kh7?

13...Bf7 was a much more active defence.

14.O-O-O?

Allows Black equality but 14.h4!, intending to push the bishop on g6 back with 15.h5 or to attack Black's king with 15.Ng5!+ hxg5 16.hxg5+, would have led to White retaining his winning advantage.

14...Rf8?

White is now winning again but 14...Qf6! would have equalised as White could then not have saved both his knight on f3 and pawn on d4. 

15.Ne1 Qf6 16.Nd5 Qd8 17.Nxb6??

This allows 17...cxb6!, opening the c-file to attack White's king, and surprisingly yields him a winning advantage; whereas 17.f3 would have been a solidifying strong move for White. 

17...axb6? 18.f3 Bf7 19.Qc2?? 

Losing the pawn on a2 is disastrous for white but, of course, 19.d5 would have been strong for me. 

(Ah, but a private eye often runs into serious danger before solving his case - Rick)

19...Rxa2 20.Nd3 Qa8 21.d5 Ne7 22.Nf4 Ng6 23.Nxg6 Bxg6 24.h4??

White could at least have held on to his f-pawn with 23.Rhf1, though White would still have been completely lost, since the white king would still have been too vulnerable.

24...Rxf3 25.h5 Bf7 26.e5+ Kg8 27.Qe4 Rf2??

Whoops! He couldn't notice in time that g3 was the only square available for the rook e.g. 27...Rg3 28.Bf2 Rxb2! 29.Kxb2 (29.Bxg3 Qa1+ checkmates) 29...Qa3+ 30.Kc2 Qa2+ 31.Kc1 Rc3+ 32.Qc2 R/Qxc2 checkmate.

(Each player has averaged about 2 seconds of thinking time per move - they were in "time trouble" from the first move, and it is impressive how well they have done. Ah, but as the game gets closer to flag fall, things get dicier - Rick)

28.Bxf2 Ra1+ 29.Kc2 Ra2 30.e6 Be8 31.Bd4 Ba4+ 32.Kc3
Bxd1 33.Rxd1 Qa5+ 34.Kd3 

34..Rxb2??

OK lol, it is apparent that we were in (more) time trouble here, since 34.Bxb2 was possible, but Black is lost in any case.

35.Ke3 Qa3+ 36.Kf4 Rb4 37.Qf5?? 

Amazingly, after this move, Black could have forced a perpetual check with 37...Rxd4+! 38. Rxd4 Qc1+ e.g. 39.Ke4 Qe1+ 40.Kf4 Qf1+ 41.Ke3 Qe1+; whereas if 37.e7 had been played, White could have won in just a few moves. 

37...Qh3 38.Qf7+ Kh8 39.Qxg7 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: Again, Half a Defense

Sometimes it's just too easy to play the Jerome Gambit.

Often the quickest games are the ones that show the defender demonstrating a "scientific" idea - but only part-way. As we have seen many times on this blog, half a defense can be worse than no defense at all.

Still, White must find the right continuation.

Wall, Bill - Guest4377728
PlayChess.com, 2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bxd4 7.Qxd4 d6 

8.O-O h6

Black keeps his advantage after this move, but it seems overly cautious, and weakens the light squares around the King.

9.f4 c5 

Who hasn't heard the advice, if someone attacks one of your pieces, don't automatically move it, see if you can attack a more important piece  ? You can usually "trust" this advice, as long as you fulfill the other half of the obligation "trust - but verify".

In this game, Black has missed something very important.

(Surprisingly, there are 7 other games with this position in The Database. More spurprisingly, White was only 4-3 in those games. In only 2 of those games did White find the correct plan - and he was still only 1-1.)

10.fxe5+ 

Yes. The pawn captures with check.

10...Ke6 

Black would have still had a losing game after 10...Kg6, but if he wanted to hang around a bit longer, that was the move to make. Now, the end comes swiftly.

11.Qd5+ Kd7 12.Qxd6+ Ke8 13.Rf8 checkmate

Oh, man, that's gotta hurt...

Jerome Gambit: Just Play It!

A recent game illustrates why people play the Jerome Gambit - it just moves along, with various tactical ideas and traps that are often hidden to the defender, until it's too late...

Wall, Bill - Guest5463336
PlayChess.com, 2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bb6 

This move seems perfectly reasonable, although 6...Bxd4 is considered the strongest response.

7.dxe5 Ne7

This is a position familiar to those who play the Jerome Gambit, in
particular (according to The Database) jfhumphrey, frizerkaHR, ndrwgn, HauntedKnight, chessmanjeff - and, of course, Bill Wall.

8.Qf3+ Ke8 

Bill has also faced 8...Kg8, e.g. 9.Qb3+ Kf8 10.O-O d5 11.Nc3 Be6 12.Bg5 c6 13.Rad1 Qd7 14.Bxe7+ Qxe7 15.exd5 cxd5 16.Nxd5 Qf7 17.Qa3+ Black resigned Wall, B-Guest6791785, PlayChess.com, 2018.

In the game position, Black is still doing fine. However, as White is still making moves, he has to come up with some kind of plan.

9.O-O Ng6 

Very good: go after the pawn at e5. Also tried: 9...Rf8 10.Qh5+ g6 11.Qxh7 g5 12.Qh5+ Rf7 13.Bxg5 c6 14.Nd2 Qc7 15.Nc4 a5 16.Nd6+ Black resigned, Wall,B -WGMS, FICS, 2017. 

10.Nc3 Rf8 11.Qe2 Nxe5 

Mission accomplished. The biggest danger for Black at this point is "relaxing" too early, as the e8-h5 diagonal often brings destruction.

12.Qh5+ Rf7 

Oh, no. Suddenly worried about his Kingside, Black chooses a defense that will at least protect the g-pawn. This leaves his Knight on e5 hanging, but that is not his greatest worry.

13.Bg5 Black resigned

Never mind the Knight; White goes after the Queen.

Jerome Gambit: A Knight's Distraction

The latest Jerome Gambit game from Vlasta Fejfar comes with a reminder to all defenders: have fun, but do not allow your attention to wander, do not become distracted.

As the following game shows, Black's distraction is followed by his loss.

vlastous - JOHN LEGEND
internet, 2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 N8e7 

An interesting position in the 6...Ng6 variation (with the 7.Qd5+ "nudge"). I am sure that the computers are happy with Black's chances, but I have to point out that in the 20 games with this position in The Database, White has scored 80%. 

9.Qc3 

Vlasta has also played 9.O-O. See vlastous - Makaviel ,S, internet, 2017 (1-0, 21).

9...d5 10.d3 d4 11.Qc4 Ne5 

The computers like this move - but I don't. I can't count the number of times that Black has gotten in trouble in the Jerome Gambit by having one of his Knight's harass White's Queen. Even if we are only talking about the defender's attention wandering, I have to question the play.

12.Qb3 b6 13.f4 N5c6 14.f5 Bb7 15.O-O Qd6

Someone who glanced the game now might say "All Black has to do is castle and he has a crushing position." Ah, but Black can not castle, and he still has to focus and figure out a plan.

16.Bf4 Ne5 17.Na3 a6 18.Nc4 

18...N7c6 

Oh, Knights, you will be the death of me!

Black dutifully protects his Knight on e5 (on that square for the third time) from a double attack. But, he overlooks something.

19.Nxd6+ cxd6 

In a bit of irony, Black now has (only) 2 Knights for a Queen - not nearly enough. White finishes the game quickly.

20.Qe6+ Ne7 21.f6 gxf6 22.Bxe5 fxe5 23.Rf7 Kd8 24.Qxe7+ Kc8 25.Qc7 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: A Bit of Strangeness

I just stumbled over a bit of strangeness, which, in the Jerome Gambit world, is saying something.

The "2014 October Giuoco Piano Jerome gambit" tournament at RedHotPawn was actually a two-game match between SeinfeldFan91 (2223) and Swiss Toni (2088).

We have seen SeinfeldFan91's games before.

The games:

SeinfeldFan91 - Swiss Toni
October Giuoco Piano Jerome gambit tournament, 2014

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc3 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Black resigned

Swiss Toni - SeinfeldFan91 - Swiss Toni
October Giuoco Piano Jerome gambit tournament, 2014

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc3 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 White resigned

I guess I understand why I couldn't find these games in The Database.