Jerome Gambit: Some Seriousness

Defending against a "refuted" opening like the Jerome Gambit is easy - until it isn't. It is not good enough to just play the "right" moves. The followup moves also have to be correct. And the ones after those. Until you get to the playing level where people look at your game and mumble "and the rest is a matter of technique", you would be well advised to treat the Jerome with some seriousness.

Wall, Bill - Anonymous
lichess.org, 2019

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 Nf6 9.Nc3 Re8 10.Bg5 Kg8 

We have an ordinary Jerome Gambit position: Black has a piece for a pawn, and has prudently castled-by-hand, while White has pressure on f6, and hopes to get his "Jerome pawns" rolling with f2-f4.

11.Nd5 

An alternate was 11.f4, e.g. 11..c5 (or 11...Nc6 12.Qd3, as in Wall,Bill - Foman, Chess.com, 2010 [1-0, 22]  or 12.Qa4 as in Wall,Bill - U80, PlayChess.com, 2016 [1-0, 29]) 12.Qd2 Nf7 13.Rae1 Bd7 14.e5 dxe5 15.fxe5 Rxe5 16.Rxe5 Nxe5 17.Qe1 Ng6 18.Nd5 Be8 19.c4 Bf7 20.Nxf6+ gxf6 21.Bxf6 Qd3 22.b3 Re8 23.Qf2 b6 24.Bb2 Qe3 25.Qxe3 Rxe3 26.Kf2 Re8 27.Rd1 Ne5 28.Bxe5 Rxe5 29.Rd7 a6 30.g4 b5 31.cxb5 axb5 32.a4 bxa4 33.bxa4 c4 34.Rd1 c3 35.Rc1 Rc5 36.Ke3 Bb3 37.Kd4 Rc4+ 38.Kd3 c2 39.a5 Rc5 40.a6 Ra5 41.Kc3 Ba4 42.Kc4 Rxa6 White resigned, Komodo 5 - Wall/Rybka, Florida, 2018.

11...Ned7

Overly cautious, perhaps anticipating f2-f4. Better was 11...Be6, as in Wall,Bill - Guest4809124, PlayChess.com, 2013 (0-1, 41).

Now, White gets to pull off a small tactic. 

12.Qc4 Kh8 13.Nxc7 Rb8 14.Nxe8 Qxe8 15.Qc7 Ra8 

White has a Rook and 2 pawns for 2 pieces. Stockfish 10 says that is plenty enough for a clear advantage, but there is still work to be done.

16.Rad1 Qxe4 

Black cannot afford this pawn grab.

17.Rfe1 Qc6 18.Qd8+ Ng8 19.Re8 Ndf6 

A slip, but defense was difficult.

20.Bxf6 gxf6 21.Qxf6 checkmate

Nice.

Jerome Gambit: Looking Deeper

Jerome Gambit games played at bullet speed - one minute, no increment - are fun to watch or play over. They are a testament to those players who have a deep understanding of the needs of difficult positions, and who can see tactics in an eyeblink.

At the same time, I enjoy games played at a slower speed. They often produce solutions to different opening problems - or create new issues. The following game is a challenging example.

Wall, Bill - NN
Florida, 2019

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Qh4

This is what I have called a "pie in the face" variation, one of the toughest challenges to the 6.d4 lines in the Jerome Gambit. It first appeared in Sorensen - X, Denmark, 1888 (1-0, 27).

While "objectively" strong for Black, 6...Qh4 leads to complicated play for both sides. This is illustrated by The Database - there are 2,018 games with the position after White's 6th move, with White scoring 55%. However, there are only 285 games (14%) with 6...Qh4, and in them White scores an improved 67%. These results, in part, may reflect White's familiarity with the opening and a taste for tactics that led him to play the Jerome Gambit in the first place.

Of note, Bill has faced 6...Qh4 38 times, and scored 88%. That may seem daunting for the defender, but Bill has scored 93% in all of his 6.d4 games, so 6...Qh4 has been one of the more relatively effective defenses against him.

7.O-O Ng4

Black is happy to play for checkmate.

8.h3 Bd6

Cold-blooded: White can not now take the Knight with his pawn, as that would lead to checkmate; while taking with the Queen would lead to an exchange of Queens, and the typical piece-for-two-pawns advantage (not to mention the end of White's attack).

9.e5 Nxe5

Giving the piece back, after all, for two pawns; this may have been part of Black's plan. Stockfish 10 suggests, instead, 9...Be7 10.hxg4 d6, which seems to clash with Black's "scientific" approach. However, the Kings now reverse roles, as White's becomes safer, while Black's is more at risk. 

10.dxe5 Bxe5 11.Qd5+ Kf6

Black has to try to hold on to his Bishop. Unsuccessful was 11...Kf8 seen in Wall,Bill - Mecnieri, PlayChess.com, 2018 (1-0, 23).

12.Re1

Bill was 5 - 0 with this move previously, and wins again, this game. Next time, though, he might try a suggestion of Stockfish 10, 12.Nd2 (intending Nf3). Why? Follow along in the notes.

12...d6 13.Rxe5

Nice.

A year ago, Bill's choice of moves was not as strong, although he still won: 13.Re4 Qh5 14.f4 Ne7 15.fxe5+ dxe5 16.Qd3 Bf5 17.Nc3 Rad8 18.Qf1 Rhf8 19.g4 Qg6 20.Kh2 Ke6 21.gxf5+ Rxf5 22.Qc4+ Nd5 23.Rg4 Qf7 24.Ne4 h6 25.Bd2 Ke7 26.Rag1 g5 27.Qc5+ Ke8 28.Qxa7 Nf4 29.Qxb7 Ne2 30.Qb5+ Black resigned, Wall,Bill -Guest3836682, PlayChess.com, 2018.

13...dxe5 14.Qd8+ Ne7 15.Qxh8

Three years ago, an opponent now tried 15...Qe4, and ran into trouble and lost, in Wall,Bill - Anonymous, lichess.org, 2016 (1-0, 25).

The same year, another defender tried 15...Kf7, but quickly lost his way, and, then, the game, in Wall, Bill - NN, lichess.org, 2016, (1-0, 37). He had a resource, but he was not the only one to overlook it.

Sami, at lichess.org, had the right idea against Bill, earlier this year, and uncorked 15...Bxh3!?, a Rook sacrifice which brings to mind Blackburne's famous play back in 1884. Fortunately for Bill, the game continued 16.Qxa8 Bc8? and Black staggered on a Rook down, for a while, eventually being checkmated.

The proper followup was 16...Bxg2!?, when 17.Kxg2 would allow Black to draw by repetition, starting with 17...Qg4+. Okay, a draw is not as good as Blackburne's scintillating win with Black, but it still would have been a game to brag about at the club.

Likewise, after 15...Kf7, by NN, as mentioned above, if White were to play 16.Nd2 or 16.Qd8, his only two moves to avoid a losing position, the proper (drawing) response for Black would be 16...Bxh3.

Of course, all of this is based on the idea that Black - having been gifted with two pieces - would suddenly pursue a drawing line. Psychologically, that might be very difficult.

15...Qh5 

Black treats the position casually, threatening a check at d1 and a possible fork of King and Bishop.

16.Qf8+

This is a novelty, according to The Database.

Previously, Bill had met Black's threat with 16.Nc3 in Wall,Bill - Itboss, lichess.org, 2016 (1-0, 20).

16...Ke6 17.Nc3 c6

Black passes up the safer 17...Qf7, with the hope of exchanging Queens.

18.Ne4

At first, this move doesn't look like much, but it is crushing. It is horribly ironic that the only line, now, that doesn't lead to checkmate, is the surrender of that Rook: 18...Bd7 19.Qxa8; but, of course, Black would still be lost.

18...b6 19.Bg5 Kd5 20.Qd8+ Kxe4 21.Qd3 checkmate

Brutal.

Jerome Gambit: Too Clever

Here is the latest Jerome Gambit game from the intrepid Cliff Hardy. He plays them online and over-the-board, sighted and blindfold, slow and fast. I have added some diagrams, and one note, but the rest are his.

Hi Rick,

You seem to be getting quite a lot of bullet Jerome Games, but here is another short Jerome Gambit game I played:

Cliff Hardy (2260) - NN (2187)

1 0, Lichess, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Nd3+??

I guess it's a bit hard to find the right move in bullet chess! 😉 Not that I have that much idea what the best move was here for Black - I'll leave that up to Rick and the Jerome database to decide! 😉

[I checked The Database, and was surprised to find a dozen games with ...Nd3+ in similar, but not exactly the same, positions. Black returns one of the sacrificed pieces, buries White's dark square Bishop, and plans an attack on the dark squares. Still, the Knight move is a bit too clever - although it appears that no one has yet played the best alternative, the walk-away 8...Kc6!? - Rick]

9. cxd3

White now has a clear advantage, according to the Lichess Stockfish analysis feature.

9...Qh4+??

This doesn't help, as now Black will have his queen under attack as well - the computer suggests giving the piece back with 9...Nf6 10. e5+ Kc6.

10.g3 Qh6 11.Qd5+ Ke7 12.Qxc5+ Kd8?? 

The superior 12...Qd6 is assessed as, surprisingly, +3.4 points for White, according to the Lichess Stockfish analysis feature - it seems to regard White's Jerome pawns here quite highly!

13.Qf8 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: Just. Don't.

Black has many defenses to the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), some focused on returning one of the two gambitted pieces. In the following game, Bill Wall faces one that he has encountered - and defeated - 20 times previously. I suspect his advice to his opponent would be: Just. Don't.

Wall, Bill - NN
Florida, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bd6 

Not the best defense: the game is already even, according to Stockfish 10, even though Black is two pieces ahead.

7.dxe5 Bxe5

This move is a troublesome companion to the previous one, shifting the evaluation of the game to White's favor. According to The Database, out of 160 games, Black played this move 139 times.

8.Qd5+

The proper response.

8...Kf6

He is not going to be able to save the Bishop, but retreating the King is not much better.

9.f4 c6 

10.fxe5+

An improvement over 10.Qxe5+, which still won for White in Wall,B - Neilson,C, Melbourne, FL 2016, (1-0, 24). 

10... Ke7 11.Qd3 Qa5+ 12.Nc3 Qxe5 

Material is even, but development and King safety are not. 

13.O-O h6 

Keeping White's Bishop off of g5, but hastening the end.

14.Bf4 Qc5+ 15.Be3 Qh5 16.e5 Ke8 17.Ne4 Ne7 18.Nd6+
Kd8 19.Nf7+ Black resigned

Nice.

Jerome Gambit: Disease 1, Cure 0

If you are playing Black, and you are surprised by your opponent, it is tempting to try and fix the problem by, in turn, unleashing your own surprise. This is often risky, however, as it is not at all clear that you will not get deeper into trouble.

Wall, Bill - Guest753529
PlayChess.com, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 

The major problem with this move is that it leads to a position that Black is not prepared to deal with. He may have planned to "take White out of his book" by refusing to play the "normal" 5...Nxe5, but this is one of the cases where the "cure" is worse than the "disease".

6.Nxc6 dxc6

Instead, 6...bxc6 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Qxc5 Ne7 9.Qc3 Black resigned, Wall, Bill -Qwerty, PlayChess.com, 2010.

Best is still the unplayed 6...Qh4!? 

7.Qh5+ Kd7 

Bill has also faced 7...Kf8 in Wall, Bill - Gebba, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 11) and Wall, Bill - Guest8678247, PlayChess.com, 2019 (1-0, 24); as well as 7...g6 in Wall, Bill - Tedah, lichess.com, 2016 (1-0, 13) and Wall, Bill - Guest2781227, PlayChess.com, 2018 (1-0, 18). 

8.Qxc5 Nf6 9.d3 b6 10.Qg5 Qe7 11.O-O Ba6 12.Nc3 h6 

Black pushes back, but he is a couple of pawns down, and White has too much play.

13.Qf5+ Kd8 14.Be3 Rf8 15.f4 Nd5 

At first glance, this looks scarier than it actually is. White has an effective response.

16.Nxd5 Rxf5 17.Nxe7 Kxe7 18.exf5 Black resigned

White is now two pawns and a Rook better.

Jerome Gambit: Lost In The Weeds

The following Jerome Gambit game is another example of a defender doing well, objectively, until he gets lost in the weeds, off the beaten path...

Wall, Bill - Guest4241
ChessTempo, 2019

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

4...Kxf7 5. Nxe5+ Nxe5 6. d4 Bxd4 

Simple and straight forward.

7.Qxd4 Qf6 

Funny: the threat is 8...Nf3+, winning White's Queen. It is as old as Jerome - Norton, correspondence, 1876 (unfinished). The move is no surprise, though, to Bill: he has faced it 20 times.

8.Nd2 d6 9.O-O Ne7 10.f4 N5c6 

Black is doing well. He needs a plan. The plan should be based on the needs of the position. White should mess with all that assessment and calculation.

11.Qc4+ 

This is something new, according to The Database. Sometimes, Bill likes to take the game even further off the beaten path.

11...Be6 12.Qb5 Qd4+ 13.Rf2 b6 

Just the kind of thing that White has been looking for.

Of course, Black could have played 13...Qb6, protecting his b-pawn and offering to exchange Queens, but he probably skipped that line because he saw himself as being on the attack, so having his Queen would be valuable. (Besides, White would have responded with 14.Qe2.)

The thing is, Black's b-pawn is not really in danger, as 13...a6 14.Qxb7? Ra7 would show. A more measured response by White would still show that Black is better: 14.Qe2 Kg8 15.Nf3 Qf6.

14.Nf3 Qxe4 

Throwing the game away. It is humorous to see that Stockfish 10 recommends as best, instead, the Queen swap 14...Qc4 15.Qxc4 Bxc4 - something Black has been avoiding.

15.Ng5+ Kg6 16.Nxe4 Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: Learn From Your Games

It is a good idea to play over your games, win or lose. You can pick up tactical tricks that you missed during the contest. You can learn more about your openings and prepare for the next time they show up on the board.

The following game is a good example. Bill's experience with the Jerome Gambit is significant, and his experience with the particular defense that his opponent constructed means that the number of moves that were "new" was quite small. 

Wall, Bill - MYGZ
FICS, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bb4+ 

This is a reasonable way to deal with White's pawn fork: Black will move one piece and return the other for a pawn. The Database has 314 game examples; White scores 57%. (Since there are 2,018 games with the position after 6.d4, where White scores 55%, Black's choice in this game - from a practical point of view - is, if anything, better than average.)

7.c3 Bxc3+

Bill has already seen 7...Be7 8.dxe5 Nh6 9.Qf3+ Ke6 10.Bxh6 gxh6 11.Qf5 checkmate, Wall, Bill - ChrSav, FICS, 2010.

8.Nxc3 Ng6 

Instead, 8...Nc6 was seen in Wall, Bill - Caynaboos, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 26) and Wall, Bill - ChessFlower, PlayChess.com, 2012 (1-0, 27).

9.O-O Nf6 

Black tried 9...N8e7 in Wall, Bill - NN, lichess.org, 2016 (1-0, 18) and Wall, Bill - Jamato, lichess.org, 2017 (1-0, 55).

10.e5

An improvement over 10.Bg5, as in Wall, Bill - Shatskov, lichess.org, 2016 (1-0, 16).

10...Ne8

No more effective was 10...Ng8, seen in Wall, Bill - Guest2372880, lichess.org, 2018: 11.f4 d6 12.e6+ Bxe6 13.f5 Bxf5 14.Rxf5+ Nf6 15.Qb3+ Ke8 16.Bg5 Rf8 17.Re1+ Ne7 18.Bxf6 Rxf6 19.Rxf6 gxf6 20.Nd5 f5 21.Nxe7 Qxe7 22.Qg8+ Kd7 23.Rxe7+ Kxe7 24.Qxa8 Black resigned

11.f4

Stronger than 11.Qf3+, seen in Wall, Bill - Boris, SparkChess.com, 2012 (1-0, 31).

11...Rf8

12.f5 Ne7 

This loses quickly, but the "best" move, 12...Kg8, just tosses a piece.

13.Qb3+ d5 14.exd6+ 

Here, Black resigned in Wall, Bill - FJBS, FICS, 2015.

14...Kf6 15.Ne4 checkmate