Jerome Gambit: Alien

The Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) often presents Black with challenges that are alien to his expectations and experience. That affects the defender, in that he has to construct a defense, instead of just remembering one.

Sometimes those constructions fail, as in the following game.  

Sekci - Jobert19

3 2 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 Qf6 8.Rf1 Nf7 

Black decides to save his Knight. There are some risks with this move, however, and he would have done better with the 8...g6.

Why? Well, if White then wants to continue with his plan to regain a piece, he does so only in a less persuasive way.

There is 8...g6 9.Qxe5+ Qxe5 10.fxe5 Bd4!? (if 10...Kxd4 11.b4!?) followed by 11...Bxe5.

White might be happier with 8...g6 9.Qh3+ Ng4 (the simplest, as he has to give back material) 10.Qxg4+ Kf7, although ...d6 will further inconvenience the Queen.

9.Qxc5 Ne7 

Apparently not paying close attention, but it was a blitz game. The problem is that he has boxed in his King.

10.f5+ Nxf5 11.exf5+ Qxf5 Black resigned

The Queen and then the Knight will fall.

Jerome Gambit: Be Careful, Look Both Ways

Be careful. Look both ways before crossing the street. Look left, look right, look left. Or, depending upon the direction of traffic, look right, look left, look right.

Innes1203, playing at lichess.org, kindly sends the following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game as a reminder to keep your eyes open - even if you are playing a familiar, non-dangerous line.

yahaia - Innes1203

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 Bxf2+ 

This line (172 examples in The Database) is becoming known as the Counter-Jerome Gambit. Black returns material, displaces White's King, and exchanges Queens, settling for a calm, pawn-down game.

Usually...

8.Kxf2 Qh4+ 

This move is rare - including this game, there are a couple dozen examples in The Database. Usually Black plays 8...Qf6+, expecting the Queen exchange. He can even retreat the Queen to f6 on the next move.

9.Kg1 Qe1 checkmate

Oh.

This is the first time that I have seen this checkmate.

Previously, primarily 9.g3 - and once, 9.Kf1 and once 9.Ke3 - had a combined record of 21 - 1 - 1 in this line.

Be careful.

Jerome Gambit: Chess Adventures of GM Hambleton (Part 2)

 

[continued from the previous post]

Grandmaster Aman Hambleton's recent Jerome Gambit game, with notes.

KNVB (2713) - CzechmVIII (2265)

3 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2021

6...Kf8 

Also frequently seen is 6...Ng6, e.g. ChessBrah - samuelwillwin, 3 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020.

7.Qxe5 d6 

7...Qe7 was seen in KNVB - Maxterlopez, 3 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020 (0-1, 48) and KNVB - PsychoPato, 3 0 blitz, Chess.com,  2020 (1-0, 69) 

8.Qg3 Nf6 9.Nc3 Qe7 10.d3 Bb4 

A new idea for this position. White's response shows he is not troubled. The game is about even.

11.Bd2 Be6 12.a3 Bxc3 13.Bxc3 d5 14.O-O-O c5 

This sets the stage for what follows: Black attacks the enemy King on the Queenside, while White attacks his enemy in the center.

15.f4 d4 16.Bd2 Bf7 17.f5 a5 18.Rde1 b5

Black persists, but White's attack will do more damage.

19.e5 Nh5 20.Qf3 Rc8 21.e6 Be8 22.g4 c4 

23.Bxa5 Kg8 24.gxh5 c3 25.Rhg1 cxb2+ 26.Kxb2 Qc5 

It looks scary for White's King, but actually the grandmaster has a forced checkmate!

27.Re2 

Safety first. He could have played 27.f6 g6 28.h6 Bf7 29.Bb4, but as the game goes, he gets those moves in, anyhow!

27...b4 28.Bxb4 Qb5 29.h6 g6 30.f6 Bc6 31.f7 checkmate

Oh, those "Jerome pawns"!

A very fine game.

Jerome Gambit: Chess Adventures of GM Hambleton (Part 1)

Reader Jordan Taylor recently let me know that Grandmaster Aman Hambleton has played another Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+)!

Visitors to this blog site are probably familiar with the Canadian GM, in large part because of his hilarious video (see "Jerome Gambit: All In Good Fun") concerning the Jerome - and this blog, and me. In it, he tries to make sense out of the opening, and of someone who would actually spend so much time on it - and then blog about it.

The video was responsible for a massive spike in visitors to this site, and continues to introduce players to the Jerome Gambit. I much appreciate it.

(I hope it would not surprise the GM too much to learn that chess, in general, and writing, in particular, are my main hobbies, not just the Jerome Gambit. In 1988, along with Riley Sheffield, I wrote the book The Marshall Gambit in the French and Sicilian Defenses. My stories have appeared in Chess Life, Chess Life Kids and School Mates. Anyone looking really hard would find my profile of Russ Chauvenet in Deaf Life magzine; I also edited and published "The Silent Knight", the newsletter of the United States Chess Association of the Deaf, for 14 years. It would probably take The Wayback Machine, but it should also be possible to find my book reviews and stories - over 100, each - at the now defunct Chessville.com website.)

I thought it would be fun to share GM Hambleton's most recent Jerome Gambit game, as well as earlier ones that he he has played.

KNVB (2713) - CzechmVIII (2265)

3 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 

It is necessary to take a detour, already, to include a couple of games that started out with the Two Knights Defense: 3...Nf6 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 

6...Bd6?! (6...Nc6 was stronger, but Black caved quickly in another game 7.e5 Nd5?! 8.Qf3+ Kg8? 9.Qxd5 checkmate, ChessBrah - kevvvvvvv, 5 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020) 7.dxe5 Bxe5 8.f4 Re8?! 

Giving back the second sacrificed piece and setting up pressure along the dangerous e-file, but it turns the advantage over to White.

9.fxe5 Rxe5 10.O-O Rxe4 11.Nc3 Re6 12.Bg5 

White has compensation for his pawn.

12...Qe8? (breaking one of two pins) 13.Nd5 Qd8 (back again) 14.Qh5+ Kg8 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.Nxf6+ Rxf6 17.Qg5+ Kf7 18.Rxf6+

Up the exchange, it looks like White is trading down to a better endgame - but there is more in the position.

 18...Qxf6 19.Rf1 Qxf1+ 20.Kxf1 d6 Black resigned, KNVB - boringhard, 3 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020 

4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 

We have to side-step again, for a Jerome Gambit declined,  4...Kf8: dontcallmelab - ChessBrah, 3 0 blitz, Chess.com 2021 (0-1, 30) 

5.Nxe5 Nxe5 6.Qh5+

[to be continued]

Jerome Gambit: An Objectively Terrible Gambit

Just encountered a funny 6-minute video "THE JEROME GAMBIT (over the board with Omar)" showing a riotous (lightly NSFW language) over-the-board Jerome Gambit game between friends (one of them hosts willtaylorchess). "Jerome's in the house!"

There is a mention of this blog, in passing, as well as an accurate assessment that the opening in question is "an objectively terrible gambit" - but the suggestion that I spent 20 years of my life researching the Jerome Gambit (true) and that I am a "geezer" (true) who "was so convinced that it [is] good" (false) is slightly misleading.

The fact is, the Jerome Gambit is a refuted opening that I have scored 80% with. (That pales in comparison to Bill Wall's 94%.) I don't pretend that makes sense, but it often makes for entertaining chess play. ☺

Jerome Gambit: Not Worth The Effort

One reason for the popularity of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) in club play is that it is so bad, opponents do not always take it seriously.

Of course, that is exactly the kind of mental set that leads to disasters such as in the following game.

DientesDDS - erol14

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.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Ng6 9.Qd5+ Ke7  10.Qxc5+ d6 11.Qg5+ Kf7 12.Qxd8 Black resigned

Go ahead and laugh. In this 1800+ player vs 1800+ player game, Black threw away his Queen and his game along with her. True, it was a 3-minute blitz game, but the clock wasn't the issue - the Jerome Gambit just wasn't worth the effort of playing seriously. Ooops...

A few months earlier, DientesDDS faced an opponent who played the more accurate 11...Ke8, and he had to play a dozen more moves before scoring the full point. That's right, another miniature.

Jerome Gambit: Lessons from the Grandmaster's Games (Part 4)

The following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game is a pretty ordinary one - if you are a grandmaster, that is. It is another 3-minute blitz game from an online speedrun, "GM Hikaru on 1900s: They Don't Make Em Like They Used To".

It is educational to watch how Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura makes solid move after solid move, risking little, patiently keeping his position intact, limiting his opponent - until he has the opportunity to strike.  

GM Nakamura - NN

3 0 blitz, internet, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

7.Qxc5 d6 

It is important to mention an alternative here, as the game is relevant to the note below: 7...Qe7 8.Qe3 Nf6 9.d3 d5 10.f3 Re8 11.O-O Kg8 12.Qf2 c6 13.Nc3 Be6 14.Be3 Bf7 15.Bxa7 dxe4 16.dxe4 Qb4 17.Bd4 Ne5 18.a3 Qe7 19.h3 Bc4 20.Rfe1 Rad8 21.Rad1 Ned7 22.e5 Nd5 23.Nxd5 Bxd5 24.f4 g6 25.Rd3 Rf8 26.e6 Nc5 27.Bxc5 Black resigned,  GMHikaruOnTwitch - simonsah2004, 3 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2021.

8.Qe3 Nf6 9.O-O Re8 10.d3 d5 11.f3 Kg8

White will not rush things. Black's 10...d5 is a good, thematic move, and it fits well with the piece (Knight, Rook) pressure on the pawn at e4. The attacker has become the attacked, a reversal sometimes seen in the Jerome Gambit.

In turn, Black shows patience as well: he castles-by-hand. There was an exchange of pawns in an earlier GM Nakamura game: 11...dxe4 12.dxe4 Kg8 13.b3 c6 14.Bb2 Nd5 15.Qf2 Nb6 16.a4 Be6 17.Nc3 Rc8 18.f4 Bf7 19.Rad1 Qc7 20.h4 Ne7 21.a5 Na8 22.Qg3 g6 23.Qg5 Rcd8 24.Qf6 Rd6 25.Rxd6 Black resigned, GMHikaruOnTwitch - Math694, 3 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2021.

12.h3 c6 13.Qf2 Qb6 14.Nc3 Qxf2+ 15.Rxf2 dxe4 16.dxe4 Bd7 

Black has the standard piece-for-2-pawns material advantage, and has exchanged Queens. His King is safe, and he leads in development. Stockfish 14 rates him as about a couple of pawns better.

All he has to do is defeat a grandmaster from this position, or avoid losing on time to one of the top blitz players in the world...

17.Be3 a6 18.Rd1 Be6 19.Rfd2 Ne5 20.Bf4 

White's position is solid. What can Black do?

20...Nc4 21.Rf2 Rad8 22.Re1 Nb6 

A mistake, but his opponent does not catch it.

23.b3 

White makes the c4 square inhospitable for his opponent's pieces. Slowly he forces the pieces back.

It was possible to win the exchange with 23.Bc7.

23...Rd7 24.Be3 Nc8 25.Na4 Red8 26.Nc5 Re7 27.e5 Nd7 

28.Nxb7 h6 

A slip. It is quite possible the clock was a factor.

29.Nxd8 Black resigned