Jerome Gambit: Distant Psychological Effects

The following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game illustrates one of the benefits of the opening: psychological impact, beyond the direct cognitive challenge of having to solve tactical and defensive challenges when prepared for only the "quiet game" (Giuoco Piano).

gabrielebattaglia - Rumle

5 2 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6

7.Qxe5 d6 

Blackburne's defense. It leads to a complicated game, where White should at least draw, but where Black has occasionally won brilliantly.

8.Qxh8 Qh4 

A quick peek at The Database shows 293 games with this position, with White scoring 56%. If White now plays the recommended 9.d4, there are 80 games with that position, and White's scoring has increased to 80%. It is worth checking out "Updating the Blackburne Defense" (Part 1 and Part 2).

9.O-O

We have seen this move recently, in "Jerome Gambit: Not So Easy". It is still quite playable. The Database shows 84 games with White scoring 68%.

9...Qxe4 

The pawn was there for the taking, but in doing so Black gives up a major plan in the Blackburne: lock in and threaten to win White's Queen.

Instead, 9...Nf6 was best, although then White has 10.Qd8 Bb6 (protecting the escape pawn at c7) 11.e5 dxe5 12.Qd3 and the Queen has escaped. 

10.Qxh7+ Kf8 11.Nc3  Nf6 

This doesn't work, because... 

It reminds me of a reflection by Vladimir Tukmakov in his Risk & Bluff in Chess, after looking at the game Shakhriyar Mamedyarov - Alexander Khuzman, Warsaw 2005

In this case, White's attempt to sharply change the position with a piece sacrifice was met poorly. But the decisive factor was the distant psychological effects of the action. The psychological stress undoubtedly has an influence on Black's condition. In addition, maintaining the status quo on the board required a great deal of time and strength.

Therefore it is not surprising that, having solved some serious problems, Alexander was eventually unable to cope with some relatively simple ones. The bluff used by Mamedyarov, as a lever with which to unbalance the position, proved an effective weapon. It did not lead to immediate success, but it nevertheless determined the final result.

12.Qh8+ Ng8 13.Nxe4 Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: A Game of Desperation and Opportunities

 

The following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) blitz game had quite an impact upon me. Devin Brown introduced it with this preamble

 today I have a game of desperation and opportunities.

Sounded like a typical Jerome Gambit to me. Not so. Upon playing over the moves, I could only write back to Mr. Brown

If I incur any medical bills after rolling on the floor laughing my derrière off after playing over your game, I will send them your way. 

Truly, you have created the Rasputin of Jerome Gambits. I can just imagine your opponent screaming “Die! Die, blast you! Why won’t you just die?!”

Seriously. It would have been perfect after the game ended if you had messaged “Just playing rope-a-dope with you, pal, I hope you don’t mind?”

I will happily share the game, but I will also limit comments from Stockfish 13 because - well, you will see soon enough.

TheRealTrueD - yourcelium

3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Qe7 8.Qxh8

 Yikes! Everybody knows that you don't take the Rook when facing Whistler's defense.

In fact, here I was reminded of "Everybody Knows" by Concrete Blonde, including the lyrics

Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows that the good guys lost

But I was wrong, oh, so wrong...

8...Qxe4+ 9.Kd1 Qxg2 10.Qxh7+ Kf8 11.Re1 Bxf2 

Status Report: White's Queen has escaped the corner (h8); Black goes for immediate attack, overlooking the stronger 11...d5.

12.c3 

Amazingly enough, 12.d3 Bxe1 held out chances for survival. But, as IM Gary Lane said about the Jerome Gambit, in a different context (see "Jerome Gambit: Chess Is An Easy Game, After All")

I think anyone with good manners playing Black would now go to another room to carry on laughing.

12...Qf3+ 13.Re2 d5 14.d4 Bg4

As you can see, White has equalized.

Really.

The easy part is 15.Bh6+ Nxh6 16.Qxh6+ Kg8 17.Qxg6+ Kh8 18.Qh6+ Kg8 heading for a draw by repetition.

If Black's King, instead, now tries to run away and escape the checks, there is 19.Qg6+ Kf8 20.Qh6+ Kf7 21.Qh7+ Kf6 22.Qh6+ Kf5 23.Qe6+ Kg5 24.Nd2 Qf5 25.Qe7+ Kh6 26.Kc1 Bxe2 27.Qxe2 and the storm is mostly over with a clearly balanced position.

15.Kc2 

This move is part of a deep strategy that will unfold over the next 18 moves. (p.s. It allows checkmate in 5, but that's not the strategy.)

15...Qxe2+ 16.Kb3 Qc4+ 17.Ka3 Rd8 

Everybody knows that the boat is sinking 

Everybody knows that the captain lied 

Everybody's got this broken feeling 

Like their Momma or their dog just died 

18.Bh6+ Nxh6 19.Qxh6+ Kf7 20.Qh7+ Kf6 

21.b3  

White fights on! I am reminded of the Monty Python scene from "The Holy Grail" which I parodied in my post, years ago, "The Black Knight".

21...Qa6+ 22.Kb2 c5 23.dxc5 d4 24.c4 Qe6 25.Ka3 d3 26.Nd2 Qe2

27.h3 Qxd2 28.hxg4 Qa5+ 29.Kb2 d2 30.Rf1 d1=Q

Here, we have contrasting refrains. Black, no doubt, is focused upon

Die! Die, blast you! Why won’t you just die?!

Much to his enjoyment, White has two reasons to sing out 

Everybody knows that its now or never
Everybody knows that its me or you

Because, you see, White now has a checkmate in 9.

31.Rxf2+ Kg5 32.Qe7+ Kxg4 33.Qe4+ 

Luckily for Black, his flag now fell, and White won on time.

It would be a real bother to be checkmated when you have the extra Queen.

Bravo!

Jerome Gambit: Beating the Clock / Beaten by the Clock

 

Here we have the position after 76 moves in the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game payton321 - rangerover2020, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org.

The first thing to notice is that the players must have been using an average of about 2 seconds per move. It is a good thing that each player only had to move his mouse and not worry about hitting the time clock, which is automatic in online play.

The game continued about as you would have expected.

77.Kxd3 g4 78.Ke2 g3 79.Kf1 Ke5 80.Kg2 Ke4 

This position is completely even, and 81.Kxg3 now would guarantee a draw, except for an egregious blunder on Black's part that would allow the remaining pawn to promote. Perhaps the latter is just what White was hoping for.

81.c4 Kd3 

A mouse slip? Suddenly, the pawn can run faster than the enemy King.

82.c5 Kc4 83.c6 Kd5 84.c7 Kd6 85.c8=Q Ke5 

And now, Black won on time

I can applaud White's last chance for a win, and chuckle at Black's slow-footed King, but there is something missing in this analysis.

I am not sure about play online at lichess.org, but in games where I have played elsewhere, capturing Black's pawn would have protected White from loss, automatically generating a message from the site at flag fall something like "White has run out of time, Black has no checkmating material, the game is drawn."

Of course, had White taken a move to eliminate the g-pawn, Black's King would have caught the c-pawn, and the game would have been drawn, anyway. 

 White wanted to avoid a draw, and, in the end, he did.

Jerome Gambit: Escape

 

In the following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game, White slips out of a dangerous position and escapes punishment for capturing a Rook. In turn, later on his opponent's Knight cannot escape after capturing a Rook - and that is a major reason that this blitz game ends up "1-0". 

payton321 - hindigrandmaster

3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Qe7 

Whistler's Defense, named after Lt. G.N. Whistler, Secretary of the Lexington Kentucky Chess Club, who played the defense against Alonzo Wheeler Jerome in a series of correspondence games.

8.Qxh8 

Dangerous. When I play Black, I am always happy to see my opponents take the Rook. When I play White, I always stay away from this dangerous grab.

However, some players are content to enter complications with a firm belief that they can out-combine their opponents and escape.

For a couple of looks at this move, see the posts "Jerome Gambit: In Bullet, Almost Everything Is Playable" and "Jerome Gambit: Beware Free Hugs"

8...Nf6 

Faced with two attractive choices - attacking the enemy King and trapping the enemy Queen - Black chooses the more difficult one. He should have pursued 8...Qxe4+.

9.d3 

Beginning to set things right.

9...d6 10.Bh6 Bxf2+  

A tricky idea with the goal of eliminating White's annoying Bishop, so that White will be unable to check the King from g7. However, that would allow White to check from h7.

Remember, this is a 3-minute game, and it is not always possible or practical to analyze deeply. 

11.Kf1 

White wants to avoid the fork 11...Ng4+ 12.Ke2 Nxh6, but he would then have 13.Qxh7+ and be able to pick up the Knight on the next move.

11...Bd4 12.Qg7+ Ke6 13.Qxe7+ Kxe7 14.c3 Bb6 

The White Queen has gotten free and exchanged itself off. The first player is the exchange and a pawn ahead. 

15.Ke2 Bg4+ 16.Kd2 Be6 17.Bg5 h6 18.Bxh6 Ng4 19.Bg5+ Kd7 20.d4 Rf8 

Black is keeping his pieces active, his only chance.

21.Na3 Rf2+ 22.Kd3 Rxb2 23.Nc4 

Looking at half of the board, this appears to be a very effective move, attacking the enemy Rook at the same time planning to exchange off one of Black's troublesome Bishops. Adding in the other half, however, shows that the move is a slip; Black's active Rook has been rewarded - almost.

23...Nf2+ 24.Ke3 Nxh1

So close, and yet so far... Black is happy to grab the exchange, overlooking the fact that he could grab a whole piece, instead, with 24...Bxc4 - and that piece needs to go because it attacks a Rook itself. 

25.Nxb2 Black resigned

Black's Knight will not escape.

Jerome Gambit: Battle Between Pawns and Pieces

Chessfriend Dan Middlemiss continues to send me Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games that he discovers in his own search for Stafford Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nc6) games to add to his collection.

The following game is an interesting example of the Jerome battle between pawns and pieces.

payton321 - Jcht

3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Bd6 

Whenever I see this kind of move, I wonder if Black - in this 3-minute game - is drawing inspiration from the "fork trick" in the Italian Game. Choosing moves by analogy sometimes works, but not here.

8.d4 

As I pondered, earlier (see "Is he serious, or is he bluffing?")

Here come the pawns! Is White serious?

By the way, stronger at this point is 8.Qf5+. See "Jerome Gambit: Some Things Fall Apart" and  "Jerome Gambit: Ready".

8...Ng6 

The Knight seems more "helpful" here, instead of at c6. I think its best retreat, however, is 8...Nf7. 

9.f5+ Kf7 10. fxg6+ hxg6 11.Qxh8 Qe7 

Things have gotten out of hand quickly for Black. He is down the exchange and a pawn. Still, he has better development, and White's Queen looks like she might get stuck in the corner. White's King looks vulnerable, too.

12.O-O+ 

This takes care of part of the problem.

12...Ke6 

And this takes care of the rest.

Black's "best" was 12...Nf6 but White's pressure on that piece will be unrelenting: 13.Bg5 Qf8 14.Qh7 Ke8 15.Qh4 Bb4 16.a3 Ba5 17.e5.

13.d5+ 

There was also 13.Qh3 mate, but White chooses his own way to win - often the watchwords in blitz are When in doubt, grab material.

13...Ke5 14.Qxg8 

Instead, 14.Qh3 led to a checkmate in 11 moves, but this one was effective enough, as here 

Black resigned 

(Once again, notice the difficulty that Black has with his development: his Bishop blocks the pawn which blocks the Bishop which locks in the Rook. Typical Jerome Gambit.)  

Jerome Gambit: The Promise of Sharp Play and Quick Wins

Players are drawn to the Jerome Gambit (1.e4  e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) because of the promise of sharp play and quick wins. One of the best ways of achieving that outcome is to know which early moves by Black can lead to immediate punishment - and how to deliver that punishment.

I have been warning Readers about the following variation for over a dozen years (see "Jerome Gambit and The Perfesser (Part I)") that there are concrete steps that can be taken to bring the game to a successful conclusion.

Yet, the following game, a win, brings to an end a 7-game losing streak for White, according to The Database. Hence, this post. 

 

TePart0 - dmjjmd

3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

1.e4  e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+

4... Kxf7 5. Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf6

This move has been faced by many Jerome Gambit players, including angelcamina, chessmanjeff, drumme, DutchLiLi, fehim, MrJoker, Perfesser, perrypawnpusher, Petasluk, shugart, UNPREDICTABLE, vlastous, Wall, and ZahariSokolov.

It appears in 89 games in The Database, with White scoring 76%.

As I mentioned in "Ghost of Compensation"

This is an example of the defender relaxing a bit too soon. Certainly he should feel confident, as he is two pieces ahead. He has every reason to believe that White, having played foolishly, will continue in his bizarre ways. Yet, a bit of care in analyzing the position would have shown that the attacker can now regain significant material.

and again, in "Give the Jerome Gambit A Little Respect"

Ahead by two pieces, Black is too casual in his reply. (He can protect his Knight with 6...Ke6; or dodge the check with 6...Kf8; or block the check with 6...g6 or 6...Ng6; in each case with good prospects.)

The Jerome Gambit has a number of refutations, and while it does not command a lot of respect, it should receive at least a little

 7.f4 

This is a very Jerome-ish move, attacking the Knight and threatening the Bishop, should the Knight move. In addition, White sets up the threat of Qg5+, an x-ray attack through the enemy King to the enemy Queen.

Yet, it is not the best.

Who can forget the surrender, almost 2 decades ago, of Chickenbrain in his blitz game at  FICS, in 2002: 7.Qf5+ Black resigned.

Once again a familiar position can be reached after 7.Qf5+ Ke7 8.Qxe5+ Kf8 9.Qxc5+ d6 10.Qe3 and White has recovered his two sacrificed pieces.

7...Bd6 

One of the reasons the Jerome Gambit is gaining in popularity is that even though it is considered "refuted", it inspires equally unbalanced responses that can then be taken advantage of.

A couple of responses faced by a club player we have been covering (see "Jerome Gambit: Quo Vadis?" "Jerome Gambit: Chess Is An Easy Game, After All" and "The Jerome Gambit Is For Club Players") are

7...d6  8.fxe5+ (8.Qg5+!) 8...Ke7 (8...dxe5? 9.c3? [9.Rf1+ Ke6 10.Qf7+ Kd6 11.Qd5+ Ke7 12.Qxc5+ Qd6 13.Qc3] 9...g6 10.Rf1+ Ke6? 11.d4 gxh5 12.d5+ White resigned, Intercrosse - jdebettenco1, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021) 9.c3 g6 10.Qe2 dxe5 11.b4 (11.d4) 11...Bb6 12.Ba3 Nf6 13.c4 c6 14.c5 Bc7 15.O-O Rf8 16.Bb2 Nd7 17.d4 Rxf1+ 18.Kxf1 Qf8+ 19.Kg1 Qf4 (19...exd4) 20.dxe5 (20.d5) 20...Nxe5 21.Nd2 Bg4 22.Bxe5 Bxe5 23.Nf3 Bxa1 White resigned, Intercrosse - shyqrish, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020; and  

7... g6 8.Qxe5+ Kf7 9.Qxc5 d6 10.Qc3 Ne7 11.O-O Rf8 12.b3 Nc6 13.Bb2 Ke8 14.d3 Qh4 15.Nd2 Rxf4 16.Rxf4 Qxf4 17.Rf1 Qe3+ 18.Kh1 Bd7 19.Qh8+ Ke7 20.Qg7+ Kd8 21.Rf8+ Be8 22.Qf6+ Kd7 23.Nf3 Rd8 24.Qh8 Qh6 25.Bf6 Ne7 26.Nd4 Qc1 checkmate, Intercrosse - mpumsi_msubath, lichess.org, 2021

8.fxe5+ 

One measure of how troubled Black's last move was is that this move by White is rated by Stockfish 13 as stronger than simply winning the Queen with either 8.Qg5+ or 8.Qh4+.

8...Bxe5 9.d4

Re-establishing the threat to win Black's Queen (and unfortunately missing the fun 9.O-O+ Bf4 10.Rxf4+ Ke6 11.Qd5+ Ke7 12.Qe5 checkmate). 

Black resigned

The Jerome Gambit Is For Club Players

The Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bxf7+) is for club players.

Sometimes a master or a grandmaster will try it - especially in a blitz game - mostly for entertainment purposes (see "Jerome Gambit: All In Good Fun" and "Jerome Gambit: GM vs GM!?" for examples), but they are most likely to do so with a bit of whimsey and tongue-in-cheek.

On the other hand, while the "official" birth of the Jerome dates back to published analysis in the Dubuque Chess Journal of April 1874, the opening has been "discovered" a number of times since by club players who had a taste for wild attack, without any awareness of what work had gone before them. See "A Small Clue to Follow" and "A New Opening?" for examples.

The following game is another in a series of posts looking at a Jerome Gambit variation through the eyes - and games - of a club player who clearly enjoys the opening: the good, the bad, and of course, the ugly.

Intercrosse - afchs

3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bxf7+  

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Ng6 

This is different than what we saw in Intercrosse - Udit00, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020 (1-0, 12), where Black tried 7...Nf6.

The text is a reasonable way to return one of the sacrificed pieces, so I was surprised to find only 32 games with this position in The Database. After all, The Database contains almost 16,550 games with 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bxf7+.

8.Qd5+  

White has several interesting alternatives, each showing that despite what Stockfish 13 may say, the first player has good practical chances.

With 8.f5+, White has scored 4 - 1, although with best play on both sides he doesn't quite get somewhere, if Black can untangle himself, e.g. 8...Ke7 9.fxg6 d6 10.e5 Qe8 11.d4 Bb6 12.Nc3 Qxg6 13.Qxg6 hxg6 14.0-0-0

White has scored 7 - 3 with 8.Qf5+ arriving at a familiar position where he has 2 healthy "Jerome pawns" against Black's extra piece, e.g. 8...Kd6 (8...Ke7 9.Qxc5+ d6 10.Qe3 transposes) 9.Qd5+ Ke7 10.Qxc5+ d6 11.Qe3. 

8.Qxc5, directly, has scored 7 - 2, and despite appearances (and Stockfish 13's sense that it leads to a balanced game) can lead to some very complicated play, for example 8...d6 9.f5!?. Intercrosse met success after 8....d6 9.Qb4 Qh4+ 10.g3 Qf6 (10...Qh3!?) 11.0-0 (11.f5+!?) Ke2 12.d4 c6? (12...Kd8) 13.e5 Nxe5 14.fxe5 Black resigned, Intercrosse - jordan508, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020.

8.c3 saw the game end quickly, and not in a good way: 8...Qh4+, White resigned, Intercrosse - MeliksahHarden, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020. After the exchange of Queens, White's two extra pawns do not compensate for Black's two extra pieces.

The move in the game has scored 5 - 2. While it is Stockfish 13's third choice (by about 1/2 a pawn) it was the choice of Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura in his 3 0 blitz game, GMHikaruOnTwitch - Damwon, Chess.com, 2021 (1-0, 29)

8...Kf6

Wouldn't you know, I go through all that serious work (above) and afchs tosses it all in the trash bin right away. Instead, with 8...Ke7 9. Qxc5+ d6 10.Qe3 he would have the pull that many defenders of the Jerome Gambit have.

Reminder: this is a 3-minute blitz game.

9.Qxc5 

Ouch. Another example of the "equalizing injustice of chess". Instead, 9.Qg5+ would have led to the win of the Queen. Nobody expects such gifts, but it is always good to keep an eye out for one.

Reminder: this is a 3-minute blitz game. 

9...Nxf4 

White was given a second chance with 9...d6 in Intercrosse - Newtrix, lichess.org, 2021, (0-1, 42).

The text returns the second of the sacrificed pieces. Black could have held on, instead, with 9...Kf7 10.Nc3 Nf6 11.f5 Ne7 12.d3 Re8

10.O-O 

You know you are doing well when you can play this kind of move: defends, attacks and intimidates.

10..g5 11.g3  

Happy with winning the Knight. There was also 11.Qc3+ Kg6 12.Qxh8 but that wasn't necessary. (Yes, the Queen can escape from the corner.) 

11...d6 12.Qc3+ Kg6 13.gxf4 

See the above note. 

13...gxf4 

See the above note.

14.Qxh8 Black resigned