Jerome Gambit: Defending Requires Attention

I have said this many times before, but it bears repeating: even if the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is a refuted opening, it will still take some effort by Black to convert the win - starting with playing attention to what is going on. Otherwise, the exhuberant thought "This game will be over quickly!" will have a different outcome than the defender expects.

Wall,Bill - NN,

lichess.org, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 

6...Bd6 

Sometimes the simplest answer is the best: 6...Bxd4. 

7.dxe5 Bxe5 

Instead of this move, the computers recommend 7...Bb4+, followed by a retreat to e7 or f8, but not this: 8.c3 Ba5  9.Qd5+ Ke8 10.Qxa5 1-0 Wall, Bill - Guest1227654, PlayChess.com, 2017. 

Bill has over 20 wins, and no losses, against the text move.

8.Qd5+ 

Yes, Bill has played 8.Qh5+, too.

8...Kf6 9.f4 c6 

When in doubt, attack the enemy Queen.

Recently: 9...Bd6 10.Qg5+ Kf7 11.Qxd8 1-0, Wall, Bill - NN, lichess.org, 2020

Probably development with 9...Ne7 was best. 

10.fxe5+ 

Better than the capture with the Queen. It opens the f-file for White's Rook (after 0-0) and restrains Black's d-pawn.

10...Kg6 11.Qd6+ Kf7 12.O-O+ Ke8 13.Qf8 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: Don't Confuse Yourself

In the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) there are opportunities for both players to enter into complications - although, admittedly, White starts first with his sacrifices. Experience has shown that the more experienced and cooler head most often exits from the complications successfully. Still, it is best not to stir things up, unless you know what you are doing. Otherwise, you might just confuse yourself, as we see in the following game.

Wall, Bill - Guest1692544

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 Qh4+ 

A exciting move - or maybe not. Some defenders make this check, then quietly return their Queen to f6, happy to have loosened White's Kingside a bit.

9.g3 Nf3+ 

The wild "Nibs" variation. Both players need to know what they are doing to come out okay.

10.Kd1 

The Database has 26 games with this line, with White scoring 65%. On the other hand, there are 19 games with 10.Kf1, with White scoring 74%. For the record, Stockfish 1l prefers 10.Kf1. In either case, though, the computer still sees Black as better.

10...Qe7 

Back home from the adventure.

11.Qd5 checkmate

Ooops.

Jerome Gambit: Another Great Debate

In the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), White often finds himself with one, two, or even three extra pawns for the piece that he exchanges.

I suspect that stronger players and chess computer engines would prefer to have the piece, and would see the pawns as targets, especially in the middle game.

On the other hand, I think many club players would prefer the pawns, especially in the middle game - where the "Jerome pawns" can advance ahead of an attack - or in the endgame - where the clock is ticking, and it can be easier to "push a pawn" than position a piece.

The following game is worth playing over several times, to see how White champions the pawns, and how they lead him on to victory.

 

Wall, Bill - Guest1590349

PlayChess.com, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6 

Bill is 9 - 0 from this standard position, which goes back at least as far as Charlick - Mann, corresponcence, Australia, 1881 (1-0, 72); and is as recent as

Cricket334 - zare13, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020: 10.d4 Rf8 11.O-O

8Kf7 12.Qb3+ Be6 13.d5 Nxd5 14.exd5 Nf415.dxe6+ Ke7 16.Bxf4 Rxf4 17.Qg3 Qf8 18.Nc3 Kxe6 19.Rfe1+ Kd7 20.Qh3+ Kd8 21.Qg3 c6 22.Qg5+ Rf6 23.Rad1 Kc7 24.f3 h6 25.Qg3 Rd8 26.Nb5+ cxb5 27.Qf2 Re8 28.Rxe8 Qxe8 29.Qxa7 Qc6 30.Re1 Rf7 31.Qa5+ Kb8 32.Qd8+ Ka7 33.Re8 Qc5+ 34.Kf1 Qc4+ 35.Kf2 Qd4+ 36.Kg3 Rxf3+ 37.Kxf3 Qf6+ 38.Qxf6 gxf6 39.Re6 d5 40.Rxf6 b6 41.Rxh6 Black resigned; and

Balazs, Ladislav - Cedzo, Adam, SVK-ch rapid, Slovakia, 2020: 10.O-O Ng4 11.Qc3 Qe7 12.d4 Rf8 13.f4 Nxh2 14.Kxh2 Qh4+ 15.Kg1 Nxf4 16.Bxf4 Rxf4 17.Nd2 Rg4 18.Qf3 Qe7 19.Rae1 Be6 20.d5 Bd7 21.e5 Kd8 22.e6 Bb5 23.Qxg4 Bxf1 24.Rxf1 c6 25.Rf7 Qe8 26.Qg3 Black resigned

Bill has previously played 10.d4, 10.0-0 and 10.f3, but decides to experiment in this game. 

10.b3 Kf7 11.O-O Re8 12.d3 d5 13.f3 dxe4 14.fxe4 Qd6 15.Bb2 Kg8 

Black and White both have made progress. Black has castled-by-hand and executed the pawn break ...d5, opening lines for development. White has maintained his solid, if constrained, pawn center and placed his Bishop on the open diagonal, pointing at the Knight at f6, which is also under pressure from his Rook at f1.

Stockfish 11 gives Black an advantage - less than a pawn - consistent with having a piece for two pawns.

16.h3 Nd5 

Taking advantage of the pin on the e-pawn to attack the Queen, but nothing comes of it. It was probably better to just develop with 16...Be6. 

17.Qd4 Nf6 18.Qe3 Nd5 19.Qd4 Nf6 20.Qxd6 cxd6 21.Bxf6 gxf6 22.Rxf6 Re6 

White has created weaknesses in his opponent's position. Stockfish 11 still gives Black a small advantage, but I think many Jerome Gambit players would be comfortable with 3 pawns vs the piece. It is good to watch Bill work with what he has.

23.Rf3 Bd7 24.Nd2 Rf8 25.Raf1 Rxf3 26.Rxf3 Kg7 27.Kf2 Rf6 

Black is happy to pin the enemy Rook to the King, allowing another exchange (When ahead in material, exchange pieces). He underestimates the activity of the enemy Knight.

28.Nc4 d5 

Getting to play ...d5 twice in a double e-pawn game had to feel great. Fearing the loss of his pawn, Black gives it up, hoping to disrupt White's pawn structure.

29.exd5 b5 30.Nd2 

30...Ne5

Misjudging the position. His Rook is worth preserving, to provide counterplay on the Queen's wing, e.g. 30...Ra6 31.a4 bxa4 32.bxa4 Rxa4 33.c4 Ra2 34. Ke3 a5. With a passed a-pawn, if his King can blockade White's central pawn mass, he might be able to control things to keep the game even.

31.Rxf6 Kxf6 32. d4 Ng6 33. c4 bxc4 34. bxc4 Ne7 

An ideal Jerome Gambit endgame - for White.

35.Ne4+ Kf5 36.Ke3 Nc8 37.g4+ Kg6 38.c5 Kf7 

Can we take a moment to remember the "Killer Shrews"?

39.d6 Ke6 40.Ng5+ Kd5 41.Nxh7 a5 42.Nf6+ Ke6 43.Nxd7 Kxd7 44.g5 Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: Skyrocketing

GM Aman Hambleton's video on the Jerome Gambit (approaching a half million views) has had a gigantic effect on the popularity of the opening. Many players have written to me to share a link to the video, and to say that it had inspired them to play the Jerome. It is humorous and educational and well worth the watch.

A recent post on Reddit by u/hold_my_fish gave data to show how the popularity of playing 3 0 Jerome Gambit games at lichess.org had skyrocketed, since the video.

Many thanks to GM Hambleton and u/hold_my_fish.

Jerome Gambit: How He Did It

So, how do you beat the Beth Harman bot at Chess.com?

Well, I have already pointed you to an enjoyable video of the game where Jonathan Schrantz used the Jerome Gambit to defeat "her".

I thought it would be useful to go over the game, and point out a few of the relevant ideas.

Schrantz, Jonathan - Harman (22) bot, Beth

blitz, Chess.com, 2020

Jonathan Schrantz has challenged a number of bots, using unorthodox openings successfully against them. For this game, he noted

...I am going to try to beat Beth Harmon with the worst opening in all of chess. I am going to try to take her down with the Jerome Gambit... Beth is actually going to be the weakest engine that I have played. 

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

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

Interesting. Apparently Beth is some form of the Stockfish engine. I have Stockfish 11, and it prefers 6...Ke6 here, a move that was likely attractive to the earliest of chess computers, as those beasts tended to grab material and then try to hang on, come what may; in this case Stockfish 11 may just see through the tactics and prefer the move.

Quite possibly, 6...Kf8 is "book", which would be a very reasonable choice.  

7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qg3 Kf7 9.c3 

Central to Schrantz's strategy.

9...Nf6 10.d4 Bb6 11.f3 Be6 

Schrantz noted: "I'm going to create the shrine pawn structure. Maybe it looks like a mountain to you. I'm just saying I'm down a piece but I've got this solid wall in front of me and I'm going to pray at the shrine in my little temple that I can somehow hold this position together 'cause really it shouldn't work but maybe if we get lucky, maybe if we're prepared for this battle, she will hopefully overextend. I'm just going to play some sensible moves, get castled, develop my pieces,and hope that she overextends on the kingside."

There's a lot to look at here.

Over the years, on this blog, I have presented a number of human vs human games where White constructs the triangle of pawns d3-e4-f3 and then waits for Black to do something with his Knight-for-2-pawns advantage. While Black is transitioning from defender to attacker, White takes small steps to creep up on him...

But, Schrantz's "shrine" pawn structure, is that new? I thought so, but when I checked with The Database, I did a search and found 856 games with the pawns set at c3-d4-e4-f3. Hmmmm....

So I added the Black Bishop at b6, the Black pawn at d6, and the White Queen at g3, to better refine my search through The Database. I found 30 games. Not a lot, but still a number of predecessors.

So I added the Black King at f7 to the position for my search, and found 6 games. Equally important, White scored 2 - 4 in those games. Schrantz was making an interesting contribution to Jerome Gambit - and he was just getting started.

By the way, a quick search of The Database showed that 8...Kf7 was a novelty. The idea of moving the King up to facilitate castling-by-hand is part of much of defensive strategy against the Jerome Gambit, but I found it interesting that with over 15,700 games with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+, Black could still come up with a novelty on move 8.

What next? Well, Schrantz obviously knew something about Beth's quirks

She actually has this tendency against the Jerome Gambit to go kind of wild on the kingside. That's what we are looking forward to.

12.a4 c6 13.O-O h6 

14.Be3 g5 

As foretold.

15.f4 

To open the f-file, where the enemy King is standing.

15...Bc4 

Save the Bishop - in case White gets in f4-f5 - and threaten to win the exchange. But the human is ready.

16.Nd2 Bxf1 17.Rxf1 

White is down a Rook for a couple of pawns, but he is probably better. At any rate, his position is full ideas.

17...g4 

To close off the f-file.

18.e5 Re8 

White's attack looks dangerous.

Stockfish 11 suggests that Black complicate things, so that White will eventually sue for peace by repeating the position, i.e. 18...Qd7 19.exf6 Qf5 20.Bf2 Rhg8 21.Nc4 Bc7 22.d5 c5 23.b4 b6 24.Qh4 Qxf6 25.Qh5+ Qg6 26.Qh4 Qf6 etc.

I can't see a human taking Stockfish 11's advice. 

19.Nc4 Bc7 20.exf6 Rg8

I suspect that the Rook was just trying to be helpful, but the better way to protect the advanced g-pawn was 20...h5.

21.Ne5+ 

Many of us will play a lot of games without finding a move as enjoyable as this one.

21...dxe5 22.fxe5 

Those connected, passed "Jerome pawns" look formidible. Black's next move looks like the kind of thing that engines play when they are "handicapped" to make a less challenging opponent; sometimes the program just cuts down on its "thinking" time, sometimes it randomly distributes mistaken play. But this was the Beth bot playing at her top ability, a rating on the site of 2700.

22...a5

23.Bxh6 Rg6 24.Qh4 Qh8 

Black defends, but she is without hope.

25.e6+ Kxe6 26.Qe1+ Kd5 27.c4+ Kxc4 28.Qe6+ Kxd4 29.Rd1+ Kc5 30.Be3+ Kb4 31.Rd4+ Kc5 32.Re4 checkmate

And that is why we play the Jerome Gambit.

Thank you, Jonathan Schrantz.

Jerome Gambit: A Recent Miniature from The Database

I have been updating The Database with games from FICS, through the end of November, 2020. This gave me the opportunity to play over the following miniature.

panjisegoro - Roetman

20 5, FICS, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+ 

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit. I call it that because of the similarity of play with the Jerome Gambit. Actually, I have not found any games by Alonzo Wheeler Jerome playing the line - nor have I found any games by Joseph Henry Blackburne playing his Shilling Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.c3 Ne6 

7.Qh5+ g6 8.Nxg6

At this point, The Database has 111 games, with White scoring 53%.

8...Qg5

In a successful (for Black) Blackburne Shilling Gambit, where play might go 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Nxe5, this Queen move would have a starring role: 4...Qg5!? 

In the current position, however, The Database has 12 games, with White scoring 64%. 

Black would have done better with the thematic 8...Nf6, e.g. 9.Qh4 hxg6 10.Qxh8 Nxe4 when Black would have two pieces for a Rook and 2 pawns. The computer gives Black an edge, but I think the player who has more experience with this line, and who is more comfortable, would have the advantage.

9.Qxg5 Nxg5 10.Nxh8 Black resigned

The end seems a bit abrupt. If 10...Bg7 11.d3 Ne6 12.f4 Bxh8 13.d4, Black would have 2 pieces for a Rook and 3 pawns. Perhaps he was intimidated by the "Jerome pawns". Perhaps he was disappointed that his trap opening did not succeed.

Jerome Gambit: Don't Take Everything Blindly

For about a minute of video that provides Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) instruction in the form of an entertaining game, check out:

"Chess Opening Trap: Giuoco Piano, Jerome Gambit | Don't Take Everything Blindly | Sac...Sac...Win"

The author has produced a number of interesting videos which can be found at:

NIC_CHESSWORLD INTRODUCING NEW TACTICS

Like the previous blog post notes, the Jerome can be fun..,