Readers are certainly familiar with Yury V. Bukayev, who has made many contributions to this blog.
He recently sent me one of his games, significant because is follows original Jerome Gambit analysis that he presented earlier - "JG: The New (Part 2)" and "JG: The New in Its Opening Theory, in Its Psychology (Part 8)"
It is worth going back to read these posts before venturing on to the game.
By the way, WaleraG is the Russian chess author Valery P. Golshev.
Yury_V_Bukayev - WaleraG
30 0 rapid, Chess.com, 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
The Chess.com computer, in its annotations, referred to this move as a "MISTAKE". It certainly is a bigger error than an "INACCURACY", but I do not know why it is not considered by the silicon beast to be a "BLUNDER".
Players new to the Jerome Gambit sometimes are surprised - especially when analyzing a fast and furious win they achieved - that computer chess engines disrespect the Jerome.
The truth is, in the land of computers - and in the land of masters and experts - the Jerome Gambit is not very strong.
However, in blitz or bullet games, the Jerome appears more playable. In club games, it can approach respectability. When a stronger player gives a weaker player "Jerome Gambit" odds, it can be crushing.
So, it can be useful to look at a computer evaluation, but it is helpful to remember Jakob Aabling-Thomsen and Michael Agermose Jensen's comment, that evaluations are one thing, variations are another.
4... Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6
7. Qh3+
This is the strong move Yury analyzed in the posts given above and in the majority of other posts of this his series having Parts 1-9 now.
I do not know if he realized that he was improving on play by Alonzo Wheeler Jerome, himself, from an earlier correspondence game. The "Games" column of the October 1881 issue of Brentano's Chess Monthly had a submission by S.A. Charles,
..Some time since, I published in the Pittsburg Telegraph a compilation of such analyses of the Jerome Gambit as I could find, with some additions from published games. Mr. Jerome justly criticized some of the moves as not being the best for either party, and we commenced as series of correspondence games more as a test of the opening than of individual skill. Unfortunately Mr. Jerome's business engagements have prevented him from playing out the full number of games originally started; yet the situation even in the unfinished games seems to me at least to prove the gambit unsound, and that while White may win against weak, he cannot do against strong play.
Jerome, Alonzo W - Charles, S.A., correspondence, 1881, was an early example of what was to be called the "annoying" defense: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 d6, which Jerome decided to meet with 8.Qh3+. After 8...Ke7 the game continued for only 5 more moves, but it is clear that White had less than nothing.
By playing his Queen check a move earlier, Yury gets to play, among other things, against the unprotected enemy Bishop at c5.
7...Kf7 8.Qh5+ Ke6 9.Qh3+ Ke7
Please note that Black decided not to play 9...Kf7, which would indicate that he would be willing to draw by a repetition of position (if White continued in the same vein). After all, why would he want to draw, when he is two pieces up (for two pawns)?
Of course, in a dozen or so more moves, he might have regretted this decision.
Perhaps WaleraG wanted to further test Yury's line.
10.Qc3
According to The Database, a novelty, and a very practical one, attacking both of Black's developed pieces.
Black can now retreat the Bishop to protect the Knight, repeating a positional difficulty that many defenders of the Jerome Gambit have experienced: the Bishop would block the pawn, which would block the Bishop, which would block in the Rook. Yury started to analyze this important line in his Part 2 and continued in his Part 9
Black could also defend both pieces with a pawn, but that would mean giving one back immediately when White plays d2-d4.
Instead, WaleraG continues along with his opponent's line.
10...Bxf2+
Black returns a piece his own way, gets a pawn, prevents White from castling, and finds a way to get his Queen into the game.
11.Kxf2 Qf8+ 12.Ke1
Suggested in "JG: The New in Its Opening Theory, in Its Psychology (Part 8)"12...Qf4 13.Qc5+ Kd8 14.Nc3 d6
The Chess.com computer labels this move an INACCURACY, preferring 14...Qh4+ when it sees 15.Qf2 Qxf2+ 16.Kxf2 Ne7 as best. I doubt that Yury would have exchanged Queens, as it would be quite un-Jeromish. He would have at least looked at 15.g3 Qe7 16.Qe3, with d2-d4 to follow.
[to be continued]
