Jerome Gambit: Reinvesting in Attack

In the following game, White is the happy recipient of the return of his two sacrificed pieces. Some of that material comes in handy when he wants to further invest in his attack.

Anonymous - Anonymous
5 3 blitz, lichess.org, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke7 

This move is not seen often, but White must have been pleased when it happened, as the two sacrificed pieces are quickly recovered.

7.Qxe5+ Kf8 8.Qxc5+ d6 

Instead, the wild brofessor45 - thrivingturtle, 10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020 continued 8...Qe7 9.Qxc7 Nf6 10.d3 Qb4+ 11.c3 Qd6 12.Bf4 Qxf4 13.Qxf4 d5 14.Qd6+ Kg8 15.O-O dxe4 16.Re1 e3 17.Rxe3 Kf7 18.Re7+ Kf8 19.Nd2 Bg4 20.Rae1 Bh5 21.Re8+ Kf7 22.R1e7+ Kg6 23.Qg3+ Kh6 24.Qe3+ g5 25.Re6 Raxe8 26.Rxf6+ Kg7 27.Qxg5+ Bg6 28.Qxg6+ hxg6 29.Ne4 Rxe4 30.dxe4 g5 31.Rb6 Rh5 32.Rxb7+ Kf6 33.Rxa7 g4 34.f3 gxf3 35.gxf3 Ke5 36.Ra5+ Kf4 37.Rxh5 Kxf3 38.Rf5+ Ke2 39.h4 Kd2 40.Rb5 Kc2 41.h5 Kc1 42.h6 Kb1 43.h7 Ka1 44.Rd5 Kb1 45.h8=Q Kxb2 46.e5 Kxc3 47.e6+ Kc4 48.Rd7 Kc5 49.e7 Kc6 50.Ra7 Kb6 51.Ra4 Kb5 52.Ra7 Kb6 53.Ra8 Kb7 54.Ra4 Kc7 55.e8=Q Kd6 56.Ra7 Kd5 57.Qhh5+ Kd4 58.Ra4+ Kd3 59.Qf3+ Kd2 60.Rb4 Kc2 61.Qb8 Kd2 62.Rb2+ Kc1 63.Qf1#

9.Qe3 Nf6 10.O-O Ng4 

This kind of attack sometimes rebounds. Here, not much comes of it.

11.Qf4+ Nf6 12.d4 Kg8 

13.a4 b6 14.Rd1 Bb7 15.Nc3 a6 16.e5 Nd5 17.Nxd5 Bxd5 18.Qg3 h6 

White is safely a couple of pawns ahead, and has no reason to hurry... Wait! It's a 5-minute game. Here he goes!

19.Rd3 Qe8 20.Bf4 Rd8 21.exd6 Qe2 22.dxc7 Rc8 23.Qh4 g5 24.Bxg5 hxg5 25.Qxg5+ 

25...Kf8 26.Qf6+ Bf7 27.Qd8+ Qe8 28.Qd6+ Kg8 29.Rg3+ Bg6 30.Rxg6+ Qxg6 31.Qxg6+ Kf8 32.Qf6+ Ke8 33.Qxh8+ Kd7 34.Qg7+ Kc6 35.h4 Rxc7 36.Qf6+ Kb7 37.h5 Rh7 38.c4 Rxh5 39.Qf3+ Kc7 40.Qxh5 Black left the game

Very nice.

Jerome Gambit: Daily Grind

The following game tests White: Can he switch his plans from a smashing, crashing attack on the King to a sedate, grind-it-out middlegame?

TCNB - Jerry_89
3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Bxf2+ 

I have seen this move a lot, lately. Black wants to get the Queens off of the board, and is willing to return the sacrificed material - plus a pawn interest - to do so. White must change his expectations from an early attack on the King to winning a slow, methodical pawn-up Queenless middlegame.

8.Kxf2 Qh4+ 9.g3 Qf6+ 10.Qxf6+ Nxf6 11.Nc3 d6 

White will get enough play if Black captures the pawn, i.e. 11...Nxe4 12.Kg1+ Kg7 13.d3 Nf6 14.Nc3 d6 15.Bg5 Rf8 16.Bxf6+ Rxf6 17.Rxf6 Kxf6 18.Nd5+

12.Kg2 

Another recent game continued: 12.Rf1 Kg7 13.Kg2 b6 14.d3 Bb7 15.b3 c6 16.Bb2 Rhf8 17.Rf2 Kg8 18.Raf1 Nd7 19.Rxf8+ Rxf8 20.Rxf8+ Kxf8 21.h4 h5 22.Kf3 Kf7 23.Ne2 d5 24.exd5 cxd5 25.Kf4 Nf6 26.c4 dxc4 27.dxc4 Bc8 28.Bxf6 Kxf6 29.Nd4 Bd7 30.b4 Be6 31.Nxe6 Kxe6 32.Kg5 Kf7 33.c5 bxc5 34.bxc5 a5 35.c6 Ke6 36.Kxg6 Kd6 37.c7 Kc6 38.c8=Q+ Black resigned OnceaPawnaGambit64 - Gusejnov, 3 2 blitz, lichess.org, 2020 

12...c6 13.d3 Bg4 14.Rf1 Kg7 15.Bf4 d5 

Often in the Jerome Gambit the move ...d5 helps Black, but in this case it is overridden by tactical issues.

16.Be5 Rhf8 17.Rf2 Rae8 18.Bd4 dxe4 19.Nxe4 Bf5 20.Nxf6 Rxf6 21.Bxf6+ Kxf6 22.g4 Kg5 23.gxf5 gxf5 

24.Raf1 Re5 25.h4+ Kxh4 26.Rxf5 Rxf5 27.Rxf5 Black resigned


graphic by Jeff Bucchino, "The Wizard of Draws"

Jerome Gambit: Don't Spill the Popcorn

The following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game is like a thrilling action movie - played at high speed (5 minute blitz). It would be rude to interrupt the flow of the game with too many comments like "better would be..." or "less troublesome would be..." Better to watch the game unfold. Don't spill the popcorn.

JovieBoi - Guest471555
5 0 blitz, PlayChess.com, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qe7 9.Nc3 a6 

10.Nd5 Qe6 11.Qf8+ Kc6 12.Qxg7  Nc4 13.d3 

The position on the board is a mess, but, perhaps Black has an edge?

13...b5 14.f5 

Take the Rook, instead. 

14...Qe5 15.Qxe5 Nxe5 16.Bf4 d6 17.O-O-O 

One King is safe. 

17...Bb7 18.c3 Kd7 19.d4 Nc4 20.dxc5 Bxd5 21.Rxd5 Nf6 22.Rd4 Rhe8 23.cxd6 cxd6 

With 3 pawns for the sacrifice piece, White has about equalized, especially when considering the safety of each King.

24.e5 Ng4 25.e6+ Ke7 26.b3 Nce3 27.Bxd6+ Kf6 28.h3 Nf2

At about this point, the clock seems to become a factor.

29.Rf1 Rad8 30.g4 Rxd6  31.Rxf2 Nxg4 32.hxg4 h5 33.gxh5 Rexe6 34.Rxd6 Rxd6

The smoke has cleared. White has this one.

35.Kc2 Rd5 36.a4 bxa4 37.bxa4 a5 38.c4 Rxf5 39.Rxf5+ Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: More Fun Quick Finishes

Some evenings I work late into the night, researching and analyzing, trying to find the elusive path to bringing the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) a step or two further away from "just another refuted opening" and a step or two closer to being a "real" opening. (See "Jerome Gambit: Pinocchio" and "Jerome Gambit: Velveteen Rabit Part 1".)

Then, in the next morning's email, I get another handful of games with notes like "This is my first Jerome Gambit, ever, and I totally crushed the guy!" and I realize that the Jerome is not about finally becoming a boring, normal opening.

The Jerome Gambit is about playing chess and having fun.

So - here are some more quick hits that recently arrived.

The checkmate in the following game never gets old. We have seen this kind of thing before, and we will, no doubt, see it again.

GraysonTheHoff - tengodosperras
3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Ng6 7.e5 Nd5 8.Qf3+ Kg8 9.Qxd5#


The Jerome Gambit can inspire the sacrificial tendency in other openings, too. Jerome Sicilian, anyone?

UnitedN51 - Usern4me
3 2 blitz, Chess.com, 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 a6 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Ne5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf6 7.Qf5#



Here, the Petroff Defense, by transposition, meets the Jerome Gambit. Any guess which wins?

Hipernight - newguy587
3 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nxe4 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kg8 6.Qh5 Nf6 7.Qf7#


I don't know a lot about playing the Jerome against the Hungarian Defense, but players are kind enough to teach me.

EN93 - AreaPedonale
10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Be7 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.d4 d6 8.Qf5#


My daughter bought me Murray Chandler's How to Beat Your Dad at Chess. I am sure she meant no harm. The following game could have wound up in that book. I hope the son didn't get grounded.

Son - Dad
friendly blitz, 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Be7 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.d4 Nc6 9.Qd5#


Finally, a Jerome Gambit that ended when the defender realized that his defense hadn't really defended.

Leicand - joskyano
3 2 blitz, lichess.org, 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Qh5+ Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: Danger!

In the following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game, Black's King is drawn into the wilderness, where he has a slim path to safety - but he misses it. White demonstrates the danger. 

NN - NN
10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5. Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.Nc3 Qf6

Black's Queen joins the defense, but the King is going to be drawn into danger, anyhow.

9.d4 Bxd4 10.Nb5+ Kc5 11.Nxd4 Kxd4 12.Be3+ Kc4 13.Qh5 Kb4 

The King is all alone and at risk.

He needed to play 13...Kb5, instead, and focus on returning home. For example, if White then tried 14.f4, there was the helpful 14...d6, giving a way off the battlefield, via c6 and d7. He shouldn't worry about 15.fxe5 Qxe5, as he can afford to return the piece and remain a piece ahead. 

14.Qe2 

Cutting off retreat. White now focuses on checkmate. It is well worth playing through the following moves, to see what choices the attacker had, and what chances the defender did not.

14...Qc6 15.c3+ Ka4 16.b3+ Ka5 17.b4+ Ka4 18.Qd1+ Kb5 19.a4+ Kc4 20.Qd4+ Kb3 21.Rb1+ Kxa4 22.b5+ Qc4 23.Rb4+ Black resigned

Black will lose his Queen, and then his King.

Jerome Gambit: Catching Up

With many new chess players discovering the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7) and this blog, there is an opportunity to learn a great deal more about the opening, the person who created it, and the people who play it.

But, do you have to go back to the beginning - "Welcome!" - and read almost 3,000 blog posts?? No, of course not.

If you have an interest in a particular player, or a particular topic, or even a particular move, you can always use the "Search This Blog" function, on the right. Searching a string of moves, say "4.Bxf7+ Kf8 5.Bxg8 Kxg8" can also be effectively done with general search engines like Google or Bing, which will turn up links to this blog.

You can also visit the "Retro" page, which has easy links to pages of interest, with lots of information.

Or you can take the multi-part Jerome Gambit quiz, starting here.

There is a page, with links, that discusses the timeless, but relevant question, "Is the Jerome Gambit playable?"

Finally, for a deep dive into the Jerome Gambit, you can read the multi-part article that I wrote for Stefan Bücker's chess magazine, Kaissiber. He tried and he tried and he tried to make the article fit, but I think the Jerome was a bit too irregular for him.

Jerome Gambit: More Mysteries

Jerome Gambit games keep pouring in...

Another mystery (see "Jerome Gambit: Ghosts in the Defense") arrived the other day, followed, a few days later, by, yet, another. I want to share the games, and some perspective. I have made the name of the players of the Black pieces anonymous.

Eelco_Niermeijer - NN
10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 7.Qd5+ 

Black resigned

Okay...  How about

Eelco_Niermeijer - NN,
10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020

1. e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 

Black resigned

What was going on??

Three things, about the world of the Jerome Gambit.

I wanted to share something from GM Nigel Davies' fantastic book, Gambiteer I.

“Having examined literally thousands of club players’ games over the years, I have noticed several things: 

1) The player with the more active pieces tends to win. 

2) A pawn or even several pawns is rarely a decisive advantage. 

3) Nobody knows much theory. 

4) When faced with aggressive play, the usual reaction is to cower.”

That might explain the defender's behavior.  Meanwhile, to explain the attacker's attack, some input from Geoff Chandler, chess player, coach, and raconteur. I quote from one of his posts

Here is a one-move blunder table showing how severe the blunder needs to be in a game between two players of the same grade.

All players should be able to spot their opponent leaving a mate in one on. 

A 1200 player should win if an opponent blunders a Queen or a Rook. But not necessarily if they pick up a Bishop or Knight. 

1500 players often convert piece-up games into a win, but this is not the case if a pawn or two up. 

An 1800 player usually wins if they are two pawns up. 

In a game between two 2000+ players a blundered pawn is usually enough to win.

I think that Chandler's blunder table can be applied to time limits, as well. In correspondence play, a little material means a lot. In blitz or bullet play, though - sacrifice away!

Finally, an assessment from the Jerome Gambit player, himself, concerning the first game, although it could apply to the second as well.

The game started off with a normal Jerome Gambit. After ...Nxe5 I decided to go for the Queen check variation rather than the theoretically more solid d4 move forking the bishop and knight, mainly because I consider it to be a more active way to attack the king and eventually gain compensation for the sacrificed pieces. As soon as I checked the king with my queen, black started burning some serious time which suggests that this gambit might have caught him by surprise which is in my opinion the biggest advantage of the Jerome Gambit together with its fierce attack on the king side. As you can see in the game I sent you he eventually burned approximately 1 minute and 25 seconds, only in his sixth and final move. Which shows that the spontaneous nature of the gambit is its main advantage, as if this had been a quick 3 minute blitz game where this gambit is originally intended to be played, he would have already used half of his time in his first six moves. My opponent was probably considering the best way in which he could get out of check. He eventually decided to block the queen's check with his knight going for ...Ng6 probably because he was scared of playing something like ...g6 which would run into Qxe5 delivering a fork on the bishop and rook, or protecting his knight with a move like ...Ke6 which would expose his king in a very dangerous way. After my opponent played ...Ng6 both protecting his knight and blocking the check I decided to play Qd5+! which is as you already know the theoretical novelty that GM Aman Hambleton introduced in his video about the Jerome Gambit which has the idea of inviting black to play either Kf8 or Ke7 which allows white to capture the bishop with another check to continue his attack and to stop black from developing. Surprisingly enough, shortly after I played this move my opponent resigned because despite being objectively better, as he was two pieces up, he thought that he was losing because of the speed in which I played my moves which suggested that the Jerome Gambit was either some kind of tactic which he had blundered into or a very strong attack which I had brought prepared from home. The moral of the story is that he resigned a six move game being two pieces up and with plenty of time on the clock solely because of the speed of my moves and the position of his king...