Jerome Gambit: Return to the Literary Digest

In mid-1900, Alonzo Wheeler Jerome convinced the chess columnist for the Literary Digest to start a Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) consultation game involving the magazine's readers. The tale of this match was told on this blog in "A Jerome Discovery (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5)".

I found myself returning to the last of Jerome's suggestions, which I had reported without comment.

The game had proceeded this far -

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5 Nxe5 6.d4 Qh4 7.0-0 Ng4 8.h3 Bd6 

This position was seen as far back as Sorensen - NN, Denmark, 1888 (1-0, 27).

9.f4 h5

At this point, the Literary Digest continued (descriptive notation changed to algebraic)

Mr. Jerome suggests White's 9th move instead of e5, and writes: "This looks like a sure move for White." Black has, in reply, two moves: ...Nh6, saving the piece, or ...h5. We prefer the latter, as it is evident that Black [sic: it should read White] can not play hxg4.

I have to admit that Jerome was not at his sharpest in "improving" upon Sorensen's play. (According to The Database, 9.f4 is a novelty.)

For starters, the chess columnist at the Literary Digest was correct, that 10.hxg4 was unplayable, as, after 10...hxg4, Black would be threatening 11...g3 with checkmating threats that would cost White his Queen, unless he played the best (but still inadequate) 11.Re1 - the immediate 11...g3 would be strong, while developing moves such as 11...Nf6 or 11...b6 (preparing ...Ba6, covering the escape square f1) would be even stronger.

White would have to answer 9...h5 with 10.Qd3 (keeping the enemy Queen out of g3) when some caution by Black, such as 10...Bf8 or 10...N4h6 should allow him to eventually take advantage of his two-pieces-for-two-pawns material imbalance.

Of course, Black's alternative line of play, 9...N4h6, also allows him to hang onto material, and as long as he avoids opening lines for White's Rook, his advantage should tell.

Kicking the enemy Bishop with 9.e5, as in the Sorensen game, seems best for White, although Black should retreat his Bishop with 9...Be7 (a novelty, according to The Database) - not return it for pawns, as Sorensen's opponent did, with 9...Bxe5. White can then grab the Knight with 10.hxg4, and side-step the thematic 10...h5 with 11.g5, but his game will still be worse after 11...Qg4 (not 11...Bxg5, because of 12.g3!?, which will cost Black the Bishop.

Jerome Gambit: Eminently Unsound

Recently, a little bit of online research took me to the pages of The Daily Colonist, of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and, in particular, the issue of  December 31, 1906 (page 19).

Chess Column 
To Correspondents: 
F. G. C. (Nanoose) ...We do not recognize the opening outlined by you, although a similar early sacrifice occurs in the Jerome Gambit, as follows: 1. P-K4 P-K4 2. Kt-KB Kt-QB3 3. B-B4 B-B4 4. BxP ch KxB 5.K[sic]xP ch Kt x Kt 6.Q-R5 ch, etc. It is of course eminently unsound, a criticism which we should also be inclined to address to your suggestion.

Of course, if you know anything at all about the Jerome Gambit, you probably have heard all sorts of comments and evaluations. Contrast Raymond Keene’s assessment in The Complete Book of Gambits (1992) -“This is totally unsound and should never be tried!” - with that of the creator of the opening, Alonzo Wheeler Jerome, who considered it

...only a pleasant variation of the Giuoco Piano, which may win or lose according to the skill of the players, but which is capable of affording many new positions and opportunities for heavy blows unexpectedly.

A few years later, Jerome was quoted in the Pittsburgh Telegraph, which noted

Mr. A. W. Jerome calls attention to the fact that he does not claim the Jerome Gambit to be analytically sound, but only that over the board it is sound enough to afford a vast amount of amusement. 

Still, the opinions started early, and flowed easily. William Hallock, of the American Chess Journal, in 1877, referred to “Jerome’s Absurdity” - but, later, he referenced the Gambit as "the daring and brilliant debut".

Lieutenant Soren Anton Sorensen, whose article in the May 1877 issue of the Danish chess magazine Nordisk Skaktidende was the first serious, in-depth look at the Jerome Gambit - one which was translated into several different languages and informed chess players around the world - was still light-hearted in his assessment

...with a Bashi-Bazouk attack, over which the learned Italians would have crossed themselves had they known it came under the idea of piano, but which is in reality of very recent date - 1874, and takes it origin from an American, A.W. Jerome. It consists in the sacrifice of a piece by 4.Bxf7+. Naturally we immediately remark that it is unsound, and that Black must obtain the advantage; but the attack is pretty sharp, and Black must take exact care, if he does not wish to go quickly to the dogs.

In 1879, the chess columnist for the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, in its chess column, struck the right tone in its review of G. H. D. Gossip’s Theory of the Chess Openings, noting gleefully

...the Jerome Gambit, which high-toned players sometimes affect to despise because it is radically unsound, finds a place, and to this it is certainly entitled. 

The February 2, 1881 Pittsburgh Telegraph column noted that the gambit

…although unsound, as shown by Mr. Charles' analysis in this column, yet [it] leads to some interesting and critical positions. 

Likewise the chess column  in the New Orleans Times-Democrat, for October 19, 1884, referred to the Jerome as "brilliant but unsound".

Skepticism rightly persisted. E. Freeborough and C. E. Rankin's Chess Openings Ancient and Modern (1889), proceeded

The Jerome Gambit is an American invention, and a very risky attack. It is described in the American Supplement to Cook's Synopsis as unsound but not to be trifled with. The first player sacrifices two pieces for two Pawns, and the chances arising from the adversary's King being displaced and drawn into the centre of the board. "The defense requires study, and is sometimes difficult." It may be added that it is equally difficult for the first player to maintain the attack. 

I could go on,  but I will leave the final word to a World Champion, who, in the March 1906 issue of  his Lasker’s Chess Magazine, responded to an inquiry

No; the Jerome gambit is not named after St. Jerome. His penances, if he did any, were in atonement of rather minor transgressions compared with the gambit.

Jerome Gambit: Risk Upon risk

If it is risky to play the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), it is even more so to play it at the time control of one minute, no increment. And, to do so - blindfold?

If risky, also exciting, as the latest game from private eye Cliff Hardy shows us. He even shares one of his "secret weapons" in bullet play. Enjoy! [I have added diagrams, but the commentary is by Cliff. - Rick]

Hi Rick!

OK, I'm sorry to inflict this on you again but I like to try playing the Jerome Gambit under different conditions and against different opponents and have included a blindfold bullet Jerome Gambit game I played. Naturally, my opponent would not have played the game blindfolded (well, actually, I guess you never know, but there aren't many of us who are crazy enough to do it, so I rather doubt it 😉). 

Cliff Hardy - NN
1 0 bullet, Lichess, 2020

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

7.Qd5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+ d6 9.Qe3 Qf6 

10.0-0 N8e7?! =+

Stockfish gives best as 10...Nf4! 11.d3 g5, grabbing space, with a clear advantage for Black, but I admit that it doesn't seem quite so clear an advantage to me.

11.Nc3?! -++

And better here would have been 11.d3!, to stop the ...Nf4! move from being playable again.

11...c6? +=

11...Nf4!

12.d4 Kf7 13.f4 Rf8 14.f5 Nh4?! +-

14...Kg8! += would have left the knight on g6 immune from capture, due to mate on f1.

15.Qd3 

I missed that I could have trapped the knight here with 15.g3?, though Stockfish says that after that, Black could then have given back the piece advantageously with 15...Nhxf5! 16.exf5 Nxf5, upon which he then would have had a slight edge.

15...Kg8 16.g3? -+

Surprisingly a mistake, for reasons along the line of those given on the previous move. Better would have been to have grabbed space with 16.g4! +-.

16...Nhxf5! 17.exf5 Nxf5? =

17...Bxf5! -++ would have been a more forcing and better way to capture here, as it would have attacked the queen and forced White to have wasted a tempo to save it.

18.Ne4 Qg6?! =

18...Qxd4+! 19.Qxd4 Nxd4 20.Rxf8+ Kxf8 21.Nxd6 Nxc2 -++ was a bit too hard to see under the conditions of a bullet game.

19.Be3 d5 20.Nf2? 

20.Ng5 =+ would have been less defensive.

20...h5?! =+

20...Nxe3 21.Qxe3 Qxc2 -++ would have won a pawn.

21.Rae1 h4 22.Bf4 hxg3 23.Bxg3 

23...Nxg3?? 24.hxg3??

Oops? OK, taking the free queen with 24.Qxg6 would have been rather better. Hopefully if I'd been playing sighted I might have seen that! But hey, at least missing it made it more of an even game! 😉

24...Qxd3? = 

24...Bf5! 25.Qc3 Bxc2 -++ would have won another pawn.

25. cxd3?! =+ 

25.Nxd3 = would have kept a better pawn structure.

25...Bh3?? ++- 

Another oops!

26.Nxh3 Rxf1+ 27.Rxf1 Rf8 28.Rf2 Rxf2 29.Kxf2 Kf7 

30.Ke2 g6 31.Kd2 Kf6 32.Kc1 

I admit that my blindfold bullet games often deteriorate into this sort of thing. I'd forgotten where the pieces were and was just shuffling my king back and forth, aiming for the win on time! Sorry, but that's the advantage of having no shame!

32...Kf5 33.Kd1 Kg4 34.Kd2?? Kxh3 -++

Black's position was now totally winning as his g-pawn was unstoppable, though he now had less than 0.1 of a second left on his clock.

35.Ke1 Kxg3 36.Kd2 Kg2 37.Ke2 and White won on time, still with a good 22.1 seconds left on the clock 😉.

Bye,

Me 

Sarrat Attack: No Way A World Champion...

In my never-ending search to uncover not only Jerome Gambit and Jerome-ish games, but also possible precursors that might have inspired Alonzo Wheeler Jerome to create his gambit, I have run across a number of interesting, if old, openings. 

For example, in "No Way A GM Plays the Jerome Gambit! (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3)" I looked at a couple modern examples of the Sarratt Attack (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.Ng5 Nh6 6.Nxf7 Nxf7 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qh5+): Grischuk, A. - Karjakin, Sergey, St. Louis Blitz, St. Louis, 2018 (1/2-1/2 69) and Grischuk, A. - Dominguez Perez, L., St. Louis Blitz, St. Louis, 2018 (1-0, 43).

This was all very interesting, as I had noted in my post "The Sarratt Attack"

Of the Sarrat / Vitzthum Attack (see the recent "Another Distant Relative" as well as "A Bridge To... Somewhere" and "Abridged"), The City of London Chess Magazine wrote in 1875

This attack, invented by Count Vitzthum, was very much practised about twenty years ago. [Here, Readers may recall Meek - Morphy, Mobile, Alabama, 1855; Meek - Morphy, New Orleans, 1855; and Kennicott - Morphy, New York, 1857 as examples; although Lowenthal, in Morphy's Games (1860), had already opined "This {5.Ng5}is far from an effective mode of proceeding with the attack, and is decidedly inferior to castling" and "This mode of proceeding with the attack is comparatively obsolete, as with the correct play the defense is perfectly satisfactory." ] It is now abandoned in contests of strong players, as the analysis proved that Black can maintain his Pawn with a good position.

Recently, however, I ran across the following game:

Carlsen, Magnus - Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi
Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d4 exd4 5.Ng5  drawn

GM Vidit was rated 2722, but, when a World Champion offers you a draw...

From ChessBomb.com: "The commentators confirm that Magnus is feeling unwell today"  

Wrote SportsStar.thehindu.com "Troubled by an upset stomach" 

A GM Faces the BSJG: Not Quite (Part 4)

[continued from previous post]

Regarding the early Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit game that we have been looking at ("A GM Faces the BSJG: Not Quite, Parts 1, 2 and 3"), Nater, Carl - Rogers, Ian, Begonia op 09th, Ballarat, 1975 (0-1, 46 ), I was able to contact GM Rogers, who, in turn, was able to contact Mr. Nater.

Not surprisingly, GM Rogers said that he was shocked to see his 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3, Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 met by 4.Bxf7+!?. At first, he expected simply be able to refute the move, as he not had it played against him previously - and actually had not even seen it mentioned before. He settled himself down and outplayed his opponent, for the full point.

"I gave up 3...Nd4 soon after that game for multiple reasons, not least that it was a bad move!" was GM Rogers' assessment.

Mr. Nater, rather than claiming to be one of the world's foremost experts on playing the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit over-the-board, modestly reported that "my openings at my prime [around ’75 probably] may have dived as deep as 4/5 moves before descending into chaos ... nowadays worse still." Not surprisingly, he did not have access to game score sheets from 45 years ago, so he could not say if he had repeated (or was repeating) his moment of chess opening inspiration.

"But there doesn't seem to be too much wrong with 4.Bxf7, more wrong with 3...Nd4" was his assessment.

My thanks to GM Rogers and Mr. Nater, for their comments - and for producing a very interesting game!

A GM Faces the BSJG: Not Quite (Part 3)

[continued from previous post]

We continue to examine how a future GM handles the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

Nater, Carl - Rogers, Ian
Begonia op 09th, Ballarat, 1975

Black has two pieces for a Rook and three pawns.

9.Na3 d5 10.c3 Qe7 11.O-O 

Bringing the King to safety, although 11.d3 was a bit better.

11...Ne2+ 12.Kh1 Nh5 

White's Queen is stalemated. Nater launches a rescue mission.

13.d4 Be6 14.exd5 

Instead, Komodo 10 prefers some tactics: 14.Re1 Nxc1 15.exd5 Nf4 16.Raxc1 Qg5 17.Rxe6+ Nxe6 18.Re1 Qxd5, siding with White's three pawns versus Black's extra piece.

14...Bxd5 15.Qe5 Qxe5 16.dxe5 Bxa3 17.bxa3 Kf7 

18.Be3 Rh8 19.Rfe1 Bc4 20.Rab1 b6 21.Rb4 Bd3

22.c4 c5 23.Rb2 Nhf4 24.Bxf4 

This helps Black untangle his jumbled up pieces. The computer recommends, instead, 24.Rd2 Rd8, when it is tempting to suggest wholesale exchanges: 25.Rxd3 Rxd3 26.g3 Nd4 27.Bxf4 Rxa3 28.Be3 Rxa2 29.Bxd4 cxd4 30.Rd1 Rxf2 31.Rxd4 Rc2 32.Rd7+ Ke6 33.Rxa7 Rxc4 34.Rg7 and the game should be drawn.

24...Nxf4 25.g3 Ne6 26.Rc1 

He might have done better to protect his passed pawn with 26.f4. The game is beginning to slip away.

26...Nd4 27.Rc3 Be4+ 28.Kg1 Nf3+ 29.Rxf3+ 

A decision that will be understandable to many Jerome Gambit players: White goes with the extra pawns against the extra piece.

In club play, the pawns probably have a practical advantage; but a strong player can use the extra piece to show that he has many targets to attack, that the game is his. 

29...Bxf3 30.Rb3 Be2 31.Rc3 Rd8 

The pieces start to dominate, for example, 32.f4 Rd4 and one pawn will quickly fall.

32.e6+

A trick that Rogers does not fall for: 32...Kxe6 33.Re3+, winning the Bishop.

 32...Ke7 33.Rc2 Bf3 

All of a sudden, threatening checkmate.

34.Rc1 Rd1+ 35.Rxd1 Bxd1 

Again, at first glance, I (a middling club player) would be inclined to take White, here - but Komodo 10 tells the real story, rating Black as more than a Rook ahead.

Rogers' hungry Bishop now cleans up the hapless pawns.

36.f4 Be2 37.Kf2 Bxc4 38.Ke3 Bxe6 39.Kf3 b5 40.g4 c4 41.f5 gxf5 42.gxf5 Bxf5 43.Ke3 Bb1 44.Kd4 Bxa2 45.Kc3 a5 46.a4 b4+ White resigned

Hats off to Carl Nater, for his early play of the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit. I hope to hear from him about the game, and his use of 4.Bxf7+.

Hats off, too, to Ian Rogers, future Grandmaster, for the chess lesson: he was surprised in his own trappy opening, but settled himself down and steadily outplayed his opponent.

[to be continued]

A GM Faces the BSJG: Not Quite (Part 2)

[continued from previous post]

In the previous post, I mused

Last year, on this blog, I had a lot of fun looking at the idea of a Grandmaster playing or facing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), online or over-the-board... "A GM Faces the Jerome Gambit (Part 1 and Part 2) and "Jerome Gambit: More GMs? (Part 1 and Part 2)"... 

The other day I started wondering: Did any GMs play or face the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+)? That search would be a different kind of task, as the game would have to feature either a rare example of a GM playing the BSG, or, even less likely, a GM playing the BSJG. But my curiosity was piqued... 

A search of The Database did not turn up any games with a player (of either color) rated 2500...

So, I next turned to my ChessBase "Big Database" (almost 6,5000,000 games), and did a search for the starting position of the Blackburne Shilling Gambit, below.

I was shocked to find 12 games where at least one of the players was rated 2500!

Closer examination, however, showed that all of the examples came from the Bird Variation of Ruy Lopez: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4 4.Bc4.

Still searching, however, I checked the online ChessBase Live Database, looking for 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+ games, and I came upon one with Ian Rogers playing Black.

Ian Rogers! I knew that name: Australian GM! Amazing!

Well, not quite. The game was played in 1975, a few months before Rogers turned 15, five years before he became an International Master, and ten years before he became a Grandmaster.

Let's look at the game, anyhow, as it is quite educational. 

Nater, Carl - Rogers, Ian
Begonia op 09th, Ballarat, 1975

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 

Rogers, the teenager, is feeling frisky. I don't know much about his opponent, Carl Nater (age 35 at the time of the game), but a check on the FIDE website indicates that he had a rating of 1378, so, perhaps Black wished for a quick, trappy win.

Carl Nater, 80, at the 2018 Begonia tournament. He later played at the Victorian Country Championships in 2019. Recent word from GM Rogers is that Nater is still playing chess.

4.Bxf7+ 

This is the earliest game that I have with the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit, predating - by 20 years - Melao Jr, H. - Danilo, Centro Cultural, 1996: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.c3 Kxe5 7.cxd4+ Kxe4 8.Qh5 Kxd4 9.d3 Bb4+ 10.Nc3 Bxc3+ 11.bxc3+ Kxc3 12.Qc5+ Kxd3 13.Qd5+ Kc3 14.Bd2+ Kb2 15.Qb3+ Kxa1 16.O-O#

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8

The Database has 2,585 games with position, with White scoring 58%.

6.Qh5+ g6

If 6...Ke7, White would have a checkmate in 5, starting with 7.Qf7+.

7.Nxg6 hxg6 8.Qxh8 Nf6 

Nater opted to capture the Rook, instead of the g-pawn (with check), relying on the gain of material. 

Rogers skipped the wild 8...Nxc2+ 9.Kd1 Nxa1 10.Qxg8 Qg5 which might have given him an edge, opting, instead, for reasonable development.

Komodo 10 now sees the position as about even, with Black's piece balancing out White's 3 extra pawns. Black has a lead in development, but his King will be unable to castle.

[to be continued]