Jerome Gambit: Quick Disappointment

In the following 1-minute game, it is clear that things did not go as planned, for Black.

angelcamina - Master1615
1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019

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

The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit. Black was looking for a balanced, quiet game, but this changed things.

4...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Bb4 

Black has two extra pieces that he can return. He leads in development. Surely he is better? No, actually the game is about even. Nobody ever said that the Jerome Gambit made sense.

8.dxe5 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Nxe4

Sad. Best for Black was 9...Re8 10.exf6 Rxe4+ 11.Be3 Qxf6 12.0-0 d6, with an even game.

10.Qd5+ 

An improvement over 10.Qf3+, which still won, in angelcamina - puffy04, lichess.org, 2019 (1-0, 20) 

10...Kf8 11.Qxe4 d6 12.Ba3 Qg5 

Lashing out. Black tried 12...Be6 in angelcamina - apropes, lichess.org, 2019 (1-0, 21).

Black's King is at risk, and his defense fails. 

13.exd6 cxd6 14.Bxd6+ Kg8 15.O-O Bf5 16.Qd5+ Be6 17.Qxe6 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: More GMs? (Part 2)

[continued from previous post]

Next, I decided to check out the 19 Jerome Gambit games (all from online play) in The Database where the player of the black pieces was rated 2500+, looking, again, for another GM "in real life".

I quickly tossed Hera, MaxBot, GriffySr, Sly, Dampfwalze, wkw, birdcostello, Singularity, BlackDemon, and AnderssenA at FICS, as they were all computers. They were strong - Singularity and BlackDemon were rated over 2700 on the site - but they were not human.

That left me with Topper76, at at redhotpawn.com, who I had already tried to track down (see "Jerome Gambit: More GMs? Part 1"). There were also psv2398 (account closed), amaidel (St. Petersburg, Russia, FIDE 2347), RL12 (San Juan de los Morros, Cuba, FIDE 2333), Sveti14 (FIDE 2428 with the note "This player uses chess computer assistance"), Enialios (an open account but no FIDE rating listed) and PArnaudov, at lichess.org (the last one had already been looked at by Cliff).

Whew!

So, my search to find another human grandmaster who had faced the Jerome Gambit, even in online play, did not progress beyond the original investigation by "Cliff Hardy". No surprise there; after all, he is the private investigator, not me.

But I will still keep my (private) eyes open!

Jerome Gambit: More GMs? (Part 1)

I received an interesting email from "Cliff Hardy" the other day. In it, he notes

In the post about my game vs the Cuban GM, "A GM Faces the Jerome Gambit (Part 2)", you mentioned the virtually mistake-free game:  ChessCoachUA - PArnaudov, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2017: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qg3 Nf6 9.d3 Qd7 10.Nc3 Qg4 11.Qxg4 Bxg4 12.h3 Be6 13.Be3 Bxe3 14.fxe3 Ke7 15.O-O Rhf8 16.Nb5 c6 17.Nd4 Nd7 18.a4 Rxf1+ 19.Rxf1 Rf8 20.Rxf8 Nxf8 21.Kf2 g6 22.Nf3 Nd7 23.b3 a5 24.Ke2 Nc5 25.e5 dxe5 26.Nxe5 Kd6 27.d4 Nd7 28.Nd3 Bf5 29.g4 Bxd3+ 30.Kxd3 b5 31.axb5 cxb5 32.e4 a4 33.bxa4 bxa4 34.h4 a3 35.Kc3 Nb6 36.Kb3 Nc4 37.c3 Nd2+ 38.Kxa3 Nxe4 39.c4 Black lost on time; in which black maintains a winning advantage the whole game (from move 4), according to the Stockfish feature on Lichess (but loses on time in a winning position). I mentioned in a comment to the game that, in a slight anticlimax to my game being a rare example of a GM facing the Jerome Gambit, the black player PArnaudov is also a GM! https://lichess.org/@/PArnaudov

This certainly got me thinking! I responded quickly

The game ChessCoachUA - PArnaudov, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2017, is a good example of why some skeptical people see the Jerome Gambit as only playable in very quick games. Black can figure it all out, but it might take too much time. Certainly angelcamina has found this out with his 1 0 games.

I was interested in learning that PArnaudov is a GM... 

For fun, I went to The Database and did a search for games with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ and "ratings > 2500". I found 25 games, with 6 games where White was >2500. 

Wow! I was going to check out the games where the 2500+ player played the Jerome Gambit, first. The relevant games in The Database were all played online, not over-the-board.

One game was by BlackDemon, at FICS; it's a computer account; still, it might be fun to see if the Jerome is/was part of its book, the way "Brause" was set up to play the Halloween Gambit... 

Two of the games were by Topper76, at redhotpawn.com, in a Kentucky Opening tournament; I will have to track him down. Oddly enough, he won one Jerome Gambit game, on time, in 7 moves, and lost the other to a player rated 2421. 

Three of the games were by ChessCoachUA, at lichess.org - in fact, he was rated 2394, 2453, 2519, 2530, 2514 and 2459 on the site, for 6 Jeromes. Alas, ChessCoachUA's lichess.org account was listed as "closed", when I tried to check up on him.

Concerning the FICS computer account BlackDemon, I went to the online FICS games database, and found only 2 Jerome Gambits that it played with White, both in TheDatabase, one where the computer was "only" rated 2347 on the site. As a silicon beast, it couldn't be a grandmaster "in real life", anyhow.

I could not find a Topper76, at redhotpawn.com or elsewhere. Of course, those Jerome Gambit games were from 8 years ago, so the player may have moved on.

The ChessCoachUA story is a bit more complicated, and I had slipped up in my response to Cliff, above. The Database has 2 games by ChessCoachUA, as well as 2 games by ChessCoach_UA, and 4 games by ChessCoach1985. All of the players have lichess.org accounts listed as "closed", so it was not possible to do the kind of research that Cliff Hardy did with PArnaudov (above), to see if we were dealing with a GM in real life.

I tried, though.

I could find nothing on ChessCoach1985.

On the other hand, ChessCoach_UA, could well be Vasily Burishin, of Kiev, Ukraine. I could not find an FIDE rating.

I did find a ChessCoachUA at Chess.com - Alexey Pugach, of Dnepr, Ukraine, whose FIDE Chess Profile lists his rating as 1985. Of course I messaged him.

So - the search to find a human GM (FIDE rating, not online site rating) has not (yet) been successful.

[to be continued]

Jerome Gambit: Off-Setting Errors

Bullet chess is a major arena for the maxim The winner is the player who makes the next-to-last mistake. The Jerome Gambit can be very effective in helping your club opponent to find mistakes, even if you manage a few, yourself. The following example by angelcamina illustrates.

angelcamina - MysteryMate
1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8

The Jerome Defense to the Jerome Gambit.

7.Qxe5 Qe7 8.Qf4+ Nf6 9.Nc3 

A small improvement over 9.d3, seen in angelcamina - plutonia, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019 (1-0, 14).

9...Bd6 10.Qe3 Kf7 11.O-O Rf8 12.f4 Kg8 

Black has castled-by-hand; because of the unfortunate placement of his Bishop and Knight, his opponent has tactical chances. Also note: the Bishop blocks the pawn which blocks the other Bishop which locks in the Rook. This often spells trouble for Black.

13.e5 Bc5 14.d4 Ng4 15.Qg3 

A slip (remember: this is a 1-minute game). White attacks the unprotected Knight, but leaves his pawn on d4 at risk.

15...Bxd4+ 16.Kh1 Nh6 17.Nd5 Qd8 18.Nf6+ 

White attacks. It is scary, Black can defend - but that will take thinking time.

18...Rxf6 19.exf6 Bxf6 20.f5 d6 

Returning the favor, slip-wise.

21.Bxh6 c5 22.Rae1 Bd7 23.Re2 Qa5 24.Bxg7 Bxg7 25.Re7 
White won on time (he was also threatening mate in 2).

Jerome Gambit: It Ain't Over 'til It's Over

Baseball player Yogi Berra once said "It ain't over 'til it's over." He could have been talking about the following game, or any bullet game with a time control of one minute, no increment. White makes an uncharacteristic tactical oversight, but he keeps playing, and Black returns the favor, and his position crashes just before his time runs out. 

angelcamina - PUIG-98
1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

7.Qd5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+ Qe7 9.Qe3 Nf6 10.Nc3 d6 

10...d5 was seen in angelcamina - mustapha1996, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019 (1-0, 32).

11.O-O Bg4

Black's Bishop kind of floats here; if it is provoking White's next move, then it is successful.

Stockfish 10's suggestion now is a bit odd: 12.f4 (thematic) Re8 13.d3 c5 14.Bd2 Bd7 15.Rae1 Kg8 (castling-by-hand) and now 16.Qg3 Nh5 17.Qf3 Nf6, with a repetition of position and a draw to follow. I guess the irrational Jerome Gambit can sometimes be a challenge for the rational computer.

12.f3 Bd7 13.d4 Kf7 14.f4 Rhe8 15.e5 dxe5 16.fxe5 Kg8

17.exf6 

A slip. White is not winning a piece, just exchanging.

17...Qxe3+ 18.Bxe3 Rxe3 19.fxg7 Kxg7 

20.Nd5 Re2 21.Nf6 Bc6 22.d5 Bb5 23.Rac1 Ne5 24.b3 c6 25.c4 Ba6 26.dxc6 Nxc6 

27.Nh5+ Kg6

Probably a clock error: he had 7 seconds left. The clock continued to punish.

28.Nf4+ Kg7 29.Nxe2 Nd4 30.Nxd4 Rd8 31.Ne6+ Black resigned

At the end, White had a whole 21 seconds left.

Jerome Gambit: Rooked

There are many parts to the Jerome Gambit attack. An important one is the power of a White Rook along the f-file, where Black's King often resides. In the following bullet game - one minute, no increment - Black forgets this, to his demise. White has his choice of checkmates, soon after that.

angelcamina - Hamidi1986
1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019

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

The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Neg4 

Saving the Knight. In the regular Jerome Gambit line, a Black response (to d2-d4) of ...Bd6 would be suspect, but with the addition of his Knight on f6, as in this game, he is protected from a White Queen check on d5, so 7...Bd6, saving the Bishop, was probably best.  

8.dxc5 d5

Opening things up.

9.exd5

Stockfish 10 prefers 9.cxd6 e.p. Qxd6 10.Qxd6 cxd6, with the position better for Black. Even worse, it would lead to a tedious game, not idea for 1-minute chess.

9...c6 10.d6 Qd7 11.O-O Qf5 

12.f3 

A slip, but Black, in turn, misses 12...Qxc5+. He should have at least asked himself, why did White choose the text over 12.h3.

12...Ne5 13.Ne4 Nxe4 14.fxe4 

Oops.

14...Qxf1+ 15.Qxf1+ Ke6 16.Be3 

White already sees his checkmate; and, in doing so, bypasses 16.Qf5#.

16...Bd7 17.Qe2 

As above.

17...Raf8 18.Bd4 Nf7 19.Rf1 

Or 19.Qc4# or 19.Qg4#, but the game was already over in White's plans.

19...Ng5 20.h4 

Almost there.

20...Rxf1+ 21.Kxf1 Nf7 22.Qc4 checkmate

Gotcha.