Jerome Gambit: Patient Who Suffered Not Too Long

I recently receive a Jerome Gambit game from eronald, who plays online at lichess.org. His comment

For your entertainment, here is my latest Jerome treatment of a patient who suffered not too long.

Indeed! Especially in blitz.

eronald - basel82
5 1 blitz, lichess.org, 2020

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Nf6 

Ah, yes. I am reminded of the comment by FM Stefan Buecker, in the online ChessPub Forum, over a decade ago

Searching for a forced refutation of a rare opening, with the clock ticking, requires more courage than many have.

(For the record, he was not referencing the Jerome Gambit - but he might as well have been. For other "might as well have beens", see "Were They Talking About the Jerome Gambit Again?")

I am also reminded of the old, vaudeville joke, which I pass on to all defenders

patient: Doc, it hurts when I do this [demonstrates] 

doctor: Well, then, don't do that.

8.Qxe5+ Kf7 9.Qxc5 d6 10.Qc4+ Be6 11.Qe2 Re8 12.O-O Ke7

Certainly completing castling-by-hand with 12...Kg8 would have been more prudent.

Please, Doctor eronald, put this patient out of his misery.

13.f5 Bd7 14.d4 Rg8 

Strange symptomatology, Doctor. Will he survive?

15.e5 dxe5 16.dxe5 Nd5 

Oh, dear. Not having the best of days. (Time trouble?)

17.Bg5+ Kf8 

Interposing the Knight with 17...Nf6 is equally horrible, e.g. 18.exf6+ Kf8 19.fxg7+ Rxg7 20.Bxd8 Bc6 21.Rd1 Rxg2+ 22.Qxg2 Kxg2 when White is a Rook, two pieces, and a pawn ahead.

18.Bxd8 Rxd8 19.e6 Re8 

This pin will not hold...

20.exd7 Rd8 

If 20.Rxe2 d8/Qch 21.Re8 Qxd5, etc.

21.f6 

Doc, I keep seeing pawns. They're everywhere!

21...g6 22.Nc3 Rxd7 23.Nxd5 Rf7 24.Rae1 Rxf6 25.Qe7 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: Danger of Open Lines

Here is the latest Jerome Gambit from angelcamina, played, as usual, at bullet speed (one minute, no increment) at lichess.org. The danger of open lines against the enemy King is amply illustrated.

angelcamina - night-moves
1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 g6 

In a 1-minute game, attacking the Queen can seem like a good thing to do; figuring out how to respond would at least take some clock time. Just night-moves luck, however, angelcamino had faced this weak defense (The Database says White scores 76%) a few months earlier, so he was familiar with it.

8.Qxe5+ Kf7 9.Qxc5 

Taking the Rook was a little bit stronger, but the text still leaves White better - and his Queen can respond to a possible 9...Qh4+ with 10.Qf2.

9...Qe7 10.Qd5+ Kf8 11.O-O Nf6 

White is up a couple of pawns, and has the safer King.

12.Qb3 Nxe4 13.Nc3 Nxc3 14.dxc3 d6 

White now opens a file and a diagonal, and the game comes to a brutal conclusion.

15.f5 gxf5 16.Bh6+ Ke8 17.Rae1 Kd7 18.Rxe7+ Kxe7 19.Re1+ Kd7 20.Qb5+ Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: The Improved Face Palm Variation?!

Having taken a look at what I called the "Face Palm Variation" of the Jerome Gambit, I wondered if there was an "improved" variation, where White played an early d2-d4, so that his Knight could safely move to g5 with the support of his dark square Bishop.

I quickly recalled the game Wright - Hunn, Arkansas,1874, played about a half year after Alonzo Wheeler Jerome published his first analysis of his gambit in the Dubuque Chess Journal. The game began 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d4 exd4 5.Bxf7+.

The line was referred to as The Macbeth Attack on the Italian language website Sacchi64. It has a relationship to the Italian Gambit, (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d4) as explored by Jude Acers and George S. Laven in their book The Italian Gambit and A Guiding Repertoire for White - 1.e4, (although they were not interested in Bxf7+)  as well as to the Lewis Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.d4) and the Von der Lasa Gambit, (1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Bc4 Bc5).

The Database has 1,413 game examples, with White scoring 37%.

Here is a recent game. Beware: the tactics get out of hand, quickly. White (who has almost 700 games in The Database) shows a number of  practical choices to keep the clock at bay.

drumme - RikTheKing
4 0 blitz, FICS, 2020.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.d4 exd4 

A bit stronger, according to Komodo 10, is 5...Bxd4, although the result for White of the 645 games in The Database was only 26%. 

6.Ng5+ 

By playing an early Bxf7+, White has avoided the Sarratt or Vitzthum Attack, although that's not necessarily a good thing.

6...Ke8 7.O-O h6 

Facing a gambit can be scary, and it's natural to want to kick at the attacking piece - but this dismantles Black's defense, rather than helping it.

8.Qh5+ Ke7 9.Qf7+ Kd6 

Black is now at risk for losing a lot of material.

10.Qd5+ 

White is not feeling very greedy, or perhaps in a 4-minute blitz game there wasn't the time (or need) to dig deeper: 10.Bf4+ Ne5 11.Bxe5+ Kxe5 12.Qxg7+ Nf6 (12...Qf6 13.f4+ Kd6 14.e5+) 13.f4+ Kd6 14.Nf7+ Kc6 15.Nxd8+ would have been painful for Black.

10...Ke7 11.Qxc5+

Grabbing the enemy Bishop, but it was stronger to play 11.Qf7+ Kd6 to return to the line given in the note above, 12.Bf4+ etc.

11...d6 

Do I have to do this all over again? 

Didn't I do it right the first time? 

Do I have to do this all over again? 

How many times do I have to make this climb? 

from Long Title: Do I Have to Do This All Over Again? 

12.Qc4 Ne5 

Black could have grabbed the Knight, and hung on: 12...hxg5 13.Bxg5+ Nf6 14.f4 Qg8 15.Qxg8 Rxg8 16.e5 dxe5 17.fxe5 Nxe5 18.Re1 Ke6 19.Bf4 Nfg4

13.Qxd4 Nf6 14.f4 Nc6 15.Qc3 hxg5 16.fxg5 Nxe4 

Well...

At first glance, Black seems to have played himself out of difficulty. Alas, it is actually a checkmate in 9, for White.

17.Qxg7+ Ke6 18.Qg6+ 

Now, interposing a piece will cost Black a piece. There wasn't time to suss out 18.Qf7+ Ke5 19.Nc3 Qg8 20.Bf4+ Kd4 21.Rfd1+ Kc5 22.Be3+ Kb4 23.a3+ Ka5 24.b4+ Ka6 25.Qf1+ Qc4 26.Qxc4+ b5 27.Qxc6 checkmate 

18...Kd5 

19.Nc3+

Again, development makes the most sense when time is short. Instead 19.c4+ Kc5 20. Be3+ Nd4 21.Qxe4 Kb6 22.Bxd4+ c5 23.Bxh8 was crushing. 

19...Nxc3 20.Qd3+ Ke6 

This might have seemed the safest choice, but it was not. 

21.Qxc3 

I am sure that after the game drumme found 21.Qf5+ Ke7 22.Qf7 checkmate 

21...Ne5 22.Qb3+ Kd7 

Black's uncomfortable King and extra piece is slightly outweighed by White's better development and 2 extra pawns. Although the players' fortunes now go up and down, White keeps the pressure on.

23.Bf4 Qe8 24.Rae1 Kd8 25.Qd5 Qc6 26.Qb3 Re8 

Note, for the umpteenth time, Black's light-squared Bishop at home, blocking his Rook. Typical defense-to-the-Jerome-Gambit "sin".

27.g6 Nxg6 28.Bg5+ Ne7 29.Rxe7 Rxe7 30.Bxe7+ Kxe7 31.Qf7+ Kd8 32.Qf6+ Ke8 33.Re1+ Kd7 34.Qe7 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: So Normal

I like to play over Bill Wall's Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games. They are exciting, and they often make the opening seem so normal.

Wall, Bill - Anonymous
lichess.org, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bb4+ 

One way to deal with the pawn fork.

7.c3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 

The alternative is 8.Nxc3, and Bill has played that, too.

8...Nc6 

The game has a bit of a hypermodern feel to it, Black's piece vs White's pawns.

9.O-O 

White is happy with his pawn center, and leaves it in place, for now. A wild alternative was 9.d5 Ne5 10.f4 Nc4 11.0-0 Qe7 12.Qd4 Nd6 13.e5 Nf5 14.Qf7, which Komodo 10 sees as still in Black's favor, and which FM Stefan Bücker would probably enjoy.

9...d6 10.Be3 Nf6 11.Qb3+ Kf8 

Black hasn't quite castled-by-hand, as his King blocks in his Rook.

12.e5 dxe5 13.dxe5 Nxe5 

Instead, the Knight on f6 needed to retreat.

14.Bc5+ Ke8 15.Re1 Nfd7 

The "best" Black has is to surrender both Knights with 15...Qd5 16.Qxd5 Nxd5 17.Rxe5+ Kf7 18.Rxd5.

16.Qe6+ Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: The Face Palm Variation

I need to spend a moment or two on a Jerome Gambit variation that has been bothering me for almost 20 years. (See "Another Way to Sacrifice the Knight" and "PSA 2.0" for a couple of rants.) A disreputable line in a disreputable opening, it keeps showing up in games. I would like to call it the Face Palm Variation.

SPOKLECHAT - anzali
5 0 blitz, FICS, 2020

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

 4...Kxf7 5.Ng5+

This line does not have a name that I am aware of. It is based on a tactical shot that may be clever, but not convincing. (I gave a warning about a decade ago in the post "Public Service Announcment".)

The Database has 568 games with the line, with White scoring 23%. The earliest games that I have (6 losses) feature TiFoZi, at FICS, in 1999. I will try to message him there, but, according to the site, the last time he visited was October 22, 2001.

I can understand that a Jerome Gambit player might try the line on a lark, especially at blitz or lightning time controls; I noticed Jerome regulars such as COMTIBoy, DragonTail, drumme, HauntedKnight, JKELSEY, majorminor, MyGameUMove, Petasluk, snthor, sTpny, superpippo, Teterow, thmavz, ZahariSokolov, and yorgos, have given it a try.

5...Qxg5 

Of course.

The Database shows that this capture occurred 415 times, that is, in 73% of the games. (White scored 16%.)

6.d4 

The idea: the pawn attacks Black's Bishop, while uncovering an attack on Black's Queen.

One of the reasons that White fares so poorly in this line is that White played this thematic move in less than half of the games where Black had grabbed the Knight. But, why offer the piece unless you had this surprise in store? Another way of offering "Jerome Gambit odds"? Inattention?

One downside of the whole idea is that Stockfish 11 now rates Black's advantage to be about the equivalent of two Rooks and a piece...

6...Bxd4 

Out of 195 games, 16 times Black fell for this "trap". That is not very often (8% of the time after 6.d4; 3% of the games where White plays 5.Ng5+), although, when it did happen, White scored 69%.

In 147 of the games, Black played 6...Qxg2, and White still scored 11%, which is kind of amazing.

For the record, 6...Qxg2 crushes. After 7.Rf1 (best) Qxe4+ (capturing on d4 is fine, too) 8.Be3 (8.Qe2 does not provide any relief: 8...Qxe2+ 9.Kxe2 Nxd4+ 10.Kd1 d6 11.Be3 Bf5 11.Na3 Nf6 is gruesome) Nxd4 9.Nc3 Bb4 10.Qd3 (Stockfish 10 prefers castling-by-hand with 10.Kd2 and 11.Kc1, but, really) Bxc3+ 11.Qxc3 Nxc2+ and that should be convincing enough.

But, in the game we are looking at, Black fell down the well...

7.Bxg5 h6 

Black has 2 pieces for his Queen, and might as well try his luck with 7...Bxb2, going after the enemy Rook. Things can get a little complicated after 8.Na3 Nd4, but 9.0-0 Bxa3 10.f4 puts the heat back on the Black King.

After 7...Bxb2, there is also 8.Qh5+ g6 (8...Kf8 9.Na3 Bxa3 [9...Bxa1 10.Nb5] 10.Qf3+ Ke8 11.Qxa3) 9.Qf3+ Kg7 10.Nc3 Bxa1 11.Nd5 and Black will not be able to hold onto his Rook and two piece compensation for his Queen, e.g. 11...d6 12.Bf6+ Nxf7 13.Qxf6+Kg8 14.Nxc7 and White is not only threatening to win the Rook, he threatens to move the Knight to e8 to aid in checkmate.

Again, back to the game.

8.Qf3+ Nf6 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Qh5+ Kg7 

11.Nd2 Bxb2 12.Rb1 Bd4 13.Nf3 Bb6 

Black has secured most of his pieces, but he has left one at risk - his King.   

14.Nh4 d6 

Defense is hopeless. For example, 14...Ne7, 15.Rb3 with the idea of moving over to g3.

15.Qg6+ Kf8 16.Qxf6+ Kg8 17.Ng6 Black resigned

The Rook at h8, and possibly the one at a8 as well, will soon be leaving the board.

Hats off to SPOKLECHAT, who took great risks, but also took advantage of his opportunities.

Jerome Gambit: Folie a Deux (Part 3)

[continued from previous post]

perrypawnpusher - Sp1derR1c0
Italian Game Classic, Chess.com, 2020

24...Rg7 25.Kf2 

After the game, Komodo 10 also liked 25.Rf1 and 25.Re3, as well as the two other King moves that unpin White's g-pawn, 25.Kh1 and 25.Kf1. I made my choice based on the hope that, once I had won the d6 pawn, a centralized King would help escort my connected, passed "Jerome pawns".

25...Rf8 26.Nd5 Bg4 

27.Ne3

Afterwards, Komodo 10 suggested that my King further advance, with 27.Ke3. It then saw as most practical that the Bishop retreat and reposition, with 27...Bc8 28.Rd2 b5 29.Red1 Bb7 and things would still be relatively balanced. If I had to do it all over again, that would be my choice.

27...Bxf3 

Unexpected, but logical. Black returns his extra piece for a couple of pawns.

28.gxf3 Nxf3 29.Rh1 

Suddenly, all of Black's pieces are focused on White's King!

29...Nd4+

Best might have been 29...Nd2+ 30.Ke2 Nxe4 31.Rdf1 Re8 although most of the storm would have passed.

30.Ke1 

Probably leading to an equal game would have been 30.Nf5 Nxf5+ 31.exf5 Rxf5+ 32.Ke3, but I wanted to keep the Knight defender around, as it was doing a pretty good job.

30...Nf3+ 31.Ke2 

Here, I though to myself, So, he had a draw in hand, to back up his sacrificial attack...

31...Nd4+ 

Played too quickly, perhaps with the same idea in mind: Chase the King back to e1, check him again from f3: draw by repetition. But, in my musings I had overlooked the fact that this was not a discovered check, as before, so things have changed.

Instead, the Knight needed to go to g5, when White would still have a lot of work to do to convert his extra pawn into a win.

32.Rxd4 Black resigned

Lucky, me, this time.

I have one more Jerome Gambit, this round, against LittlePrince, who plays 3...Nf6, but who allowed a transposition after 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+. I have only played the Jerome a few times against players of LittlePrince's rating - and have not scored well (especially if you do not count the 4-move win on time) - but, here we go!

Jerome Gambit: Folie a Deux (Part 2)

[continued from previous post]

perrypawnpusher - Sp1derR1c0
Italian Game Classic, Chess.com, 2020

12...Nc4 

Of course. (I write that now, but the move came as a surprise.) White's Bishop is unprotected, and it's capture would lead to a brutal fork. At the same time, the b-pawn is available for capture.

13.Bd4 

After the game, Komodo 10 suggested 13.Qc1, to protect the Bishop and the pawn. Assessing 13...Nxe3 14.Qxe3, Black would have exchanged a piece that had moved 4 times for one that had moved once. On the other hand, White's Queen would be pulled onto the same file as Black's Rook, with a possible ...d5 coming.

The text move avoids the Knight-for-Bishop exchange, while threatening Bxf6 - as if the piece had moved to g5 in the first place (but taking an extra move).

13...a6 

After the game, Komodo 10 recommended 13...Nxb2 14.Qb1 Nc4 15.Qxb7, when White's Queen would be drawn dangerously far away from the Kingside, should Black choose to attack.

Was my opponent planning to support his Knight at c4 with ...b5 ? I thought so, but his next move suggested otherwise.

14.Ne2 Ne5 15.Nc3 

A craven attempt to suggest a draw, by repetition of position - another symptom of my bad emotional state. 

I got a chuckle out of the quick assessment that the Chess.com site provided, after the game, labelling both my 14th and 15th moves as "excellent". Black's response was best.

15...Nc6 16.Bxf6 gxf6 

Breaking up the Kingside pawn structure, rather than play 16...Qxf6, losing a pawn to 17.Rxd6.

17.Qd2 Qe7 18.Rad1 Rad8 19.Qf4 Kh8 20.Rfe1 Ne5

Black is not in a hurry. Let White take the risk and make the mistake.

21.Nd5 Qg7

Giving up a pawn to get the Queens off of the board. The alternative was 21...Bxd5 22.Rxd5 (planning pressure on the d-pawn down the file), when one of Black's Rooks, or his Queen, can go to either of the semi-open files; perhaps 22...Rg8 was best.

One line I never considered at the time was 21.Bxd5 22.Rxd5 f5!?, which would have revealed some of the structural problems of my Kingside after 23.Qxf5?! Rg8. More about this, later in the game.

22.Qxf6 Qxf6 23.Nxf6 Re7 24.b3

With 3 pawns for the piece, White has probably equalized. Black's pawn on d6 is still a weakness, and if White can get in c2-c4, he can apply pressure to keep things in balance.

I was catching my breath, but the game was going to take a wild turn.

[to be continued]