Jerome Gambit: And Then There Were Four

 

Dan Middlemiss suggested that the Noa Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+) be considered in the grouping of the Jerome Gambit, the Stafford Gambit and Chiodini's Gambit.

We have taken several looks at the Noa Gambit on this blog - the opening is also known as the Monck Gambit or the Open Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit - you might want to start with "5% New (Part 1)" to get a sense of things.

I was surprised to find that over the last few years the Noa Gambit has appeared in a number of top level games - at fast time limits, mind you, and likely as a surprise. So, I have more investigation to do!

In the meantime, at the club level, the Noa Gambit - "objectively" assessed as losing for White - can cause difficulties for Black if he is not prepared. Consider the following game.

Birzer, Lothar - Riepe, Bernhard

DESC K0004 email, 1999

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ 

5..Kxf7 6. Nxe4 d5 

The opening is dismissed as harmless because Black gains the two Bishops, and his King is not really at risk. However, it is important to play carefully, lest things change.

7.Nfg5+ Kg6

Black decides to trouble the two White Knights. It would be wiser to retreat the King to g8 or e8.

It does not appear that the defender is familiar with Pollock - Amateur, Dublin,date unknown, which ended badly for Black.

8.Qf3 dxe4 

Stockfish 14.1 prefers 8...Qe8 but that is not a move that comes easily to mind. The second player has winning on his mind. 

9.Qf7+ Kxg5 

The White Knights are no more!

Black, however, is now in a mating net.

10.d4+ Kh4 11.h3 g6 12.g3+ Kh5 13.g4+ Kh4 14.Qb3 Nxd4  15.Qg3 checkmate

Wow.

Jerome Gambit: What Do You Do Now?

 

The Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is a good opening for creating messy positions. For example, what to make of the following position, with Black to move?

MSMDOIPE - SHadiRf55, 10 5 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

Black is ahead in material, two pieces for two pawns. His King is awkwardly placed, and he has to guard against Qg5+ which would win his Queen.

The Database has 25 previous games with this position, with White scoring 74%.

However, Komodo 12 suggests that 7...Nc6, saving the piece and protecting the Queen, would leave Black about a pawn better.

How many of those games saw the computer recommendation?

None.

In fact, the game we are looking at finished 7...Be7 8.Qf5 checkmate.

Still, it is useful to also point out that Petasluk - givemeabreak, 5 0 blitz, FICS, 2017 and CoachTortise - kiwikiwi4, Chess.com, 2019 finished 7...Qe7 8.Qf5 checkmate; although BahatiTheGrandmaster - Mammaen-din, 10 5 blitz, lichess.org, 2021 continued 7...Qe7 8.Rf1 Ng6 9.e5+ (9.Qf5#) Kf7 10.f5 Nf6 11.fxg6+ Kg8 12.Kd1 Nxh5 White resigned.

It's a Jerome Gambit thing.

More inspiration

 

Earlier this year, when I suggested that "Inspiration Is All Around", I wanted to encourage Readers to reflect creativity in their games that they had discovered in other games.

For example, over a year ago I shared the game

ChessBrah - kevvvvvvv 

5 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nc6 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Nc6 7.e5 Nd5 8.Qf3+ Kg8 9.Qxd5 checkmate

I do not know if PedrosF1, who plays at lichess.org, found his inspiration at the ChessBrah site, or if he follows this blog, but I noticed that he reached this position 8 times this year in rated 10-minute games, against Miha_Ardua, Guineano, Buddha2020shib, THREEINITIATES, PermulaTCC, angrygingergirl, GeorgeGStokes, and risem.

Jerome Gambit: Three Amigos

 

     Now  

If you are not familiar with the Stafford Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nc6 4.Nxc6 dxc6, I recommend that you stop right now and go read an earlier blog post on this site, "Jerome and Stafford Gambits: Spiritual Cousins".

I regularly hear from Dan Middlemiss, who sends Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games my way. Rarely, I have some Stafford Gambit games for him that he hasn't already collected.

In any event a recent email added a third opening to the Jerome and Stafford Gambits as "spiritual cousins" - Chiodini's Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Nxe5 Nc6, similar to the Stafford but with 2...Bc5 instead of 2...Nf6. The Three Amigos?

Writes Dan

Speaking of accidents, yesterday I was having playing the Lichess computer from my standard SG set position. I could not figure out why the computer was not making a move, so I goodgled my problem and one Lichess respondent said to set the position to “standard” game instead of “from a set position”. I did so, and encountered a weird semi-Stafford opening. After the game I went to the Analysis Board and discovered that I had played a variant of the King’s Pawn Game called the Chiodini Gambit. Not knowing what the heck that was, I am again resorted to Google. Lo and behold! I got a couple of responses directing me to your Jerome Gambit Blog and a few very interesting entries from way back in 2009 I think dealing with this fairly obscure line and its particular move order culminating in the classic Jerome-like bishop sacrifice on f7.

I was intrigued by all this and had a feeling that, if one took the knight with the d-pawn instead of the b-pawn, a familiar position resulted. So, I did some more fiddling of moves on the Lichess Analysis Board late last night and again early this morning.

Lo and another behold! I think I now have another answer to the age-old question: when is a Jerome Gambit not a Jerome Gambit? Answer: When it is a Stafford Gambit!!!!

I am attaching a few games to demonstrate this finding. In the larger attachment, I have some games in which White plays a fairly early Bc4 followed on move 7 or move 9 by the Jeromish Bxf7+. The second attachment is an analysis that Stockfish 14.1 did of a recent Rapid game between ak727272 (1960) and  monojeetdebnath (1954). White won the game which can be found in the larger attachment. But in the analysis of that game, I had SF 14.1 do a detailed breakdown of 1.Nf3 e5 2.e4 Bc5 3.Nxe5 Nc6 4.Nxc6 dxc6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6 Bc4 Ng4 7.Bxf7+. The results indicate clear winning lines for Black as you will see.

Anyway, I hope you find this interesting and in line with your recent columns discussing different near-Jerome move orders. Furthermore, it is the closest I can find to a clear intersection between the Jerome Gambit and the Stafford Gambit. Finally, it perhaps starts a conversation about the importance of move order for White in the Jerome Gambit.

An eventful little sidebar to my Stafford Gambit game collecting!

ak727272 - monojeetdebnath,10 0 rapid, lichess.org, 2021: 1.Nf3 e5 2.e4 Bc5 3.Nxe5 Nc6 4.Nxc6 dxc6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Bc4 Ng4 7.O-O Qh4 8.h3 Nxf2 9.Bxf7+ Kd8 10.Qh5 Nxh3+?! = (10...Nxe4+! -+) 11.Kh2 Bd6+ 12.e5 Bxe5+? +- 13.Qxe5 Ng5+ 14.Kg1 Rf8 15.d3 Nxf7 16.Rxf7 Rxf7 17.Bg5+ Black resigned

This is definitely a topic that I will pursue further.

 

Jerome Gambit: Secret No More? No. More...

The other day I was looking at "Jerome Gambit Secrets #9", which focused on  perrypawnpusher - whitepandora, 3 10 blitz, FICS, 2008 (1-0, 41). Instead of my 8th move, 8.d4, the computer suggested the interesting 8.f4!?, creating the following position

Had anyone played 8.f4 in the last dozen or so years? I turned to The Database (well over 74,000 games), using the ChessBase position search. I actually found 4 games, but in each one, it turned out that while the position was the same, each one had White to move, not Black to move. How did that happen? 

Well, look at this move order: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Ng6 8.Qd5+ Kf6 

That is how 4 games reached the above position:

Intercrosse - afchs, blitz, lichess.org, 2020 (1-0, 14);

protohumanist - KSM012_B15L_AFEEF, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021 (0-1, 73);

Capi_Capitan - rmurat, 3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021 (1-0, 28); and

Intercrosse - Newtrix, blitz, lichess.org, 2021 (0-1, 42).

Only, like I said, it is White to move.

And that creates another "Secret" (#16) - in none of the above games did White find 9.Qg5+, which wins Black's Queen.

Jerome Gambit Video By Top GM Nakamura & New Analysis

When I mentioned in an earlier post a video by Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura on the Jerome Gambit, I neglected to give the title, "How to win with the Jerome gambit". Yury V. Bukayev let me know about this error, and I have made the correction. GM Nakamura shows here not only his won games. Thus, in the middle of his video (please, see it since 38:27 till 40:40) he shows his game as Black with the very strong opponent (Mrkooshaj - GMHikaruOnTwitch, 3 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2021), where his opponent has surprised him, probably:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qf6 9.fxe5+ Qxe5 10.Qxe5+ Kxe5 11.b4 Bd4 12.c3 Bb6 13.d4+ Kxe4 14.O-O Nf6 15.Bg5 d6 16.Nd2+ Kd3 17.Rf3+ .

Yury also pointed out that at the end of this game there was an interesting alternative (not mentioned on the video):

Here Black played 17...Kc2 and resigned after 18.Nc4, as he is helpless against the threat of Rc1 checkmate, e.g. 18...Bxd4+ 19.cxd4 Be6 20.Rc1#

Had Black played 17...Ke2, Yury noted that 18.Nf1 would have been the best response, leading to the most rapid checkmate, with either Ng3 or Re3, and that can only be briefly put off, e.g. 18...Bxd4+ 19.cxd4 Be6 20.Ng3# (or 20.Re3#).

Jerome Gambit: Secret No More

 Jerome Gambit Secrets continue to be revealed. Most recently, I had to cross #13 off the list, as it was not longer secret. This one was on behalf of the defender, and to White I can only say with a smile "Don't say I didn't warn you"

Mstrvampire - S__one

10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 

I used to routinely say that this move leads to either the Blackburne or the Whistler defense. However, these days I need to add the possibility of the Counter-Jerome Gambit.

7.Qxe5 Bxf2+ 

The idea is to meet 8.Kxf2 with 8...Qf6+ and exchange of Queens, neutralizing the large part of White's planned attack - at the cost of a pawn. The psychological impact is twofold, as White might become frustrated with the work ahead of him in a Queenless middlegame; and Black gets to return the "favor" of displacing the enemy King, who can no longer castle. 

8.Kd1

This has almost a playground feel to it. Black offers If you are going to sacrifice a piece to kick my King, then I will sacrifice a piece to kick your King. White responds But I don't have to take your piece.

It is worth pointing out that the Counter-Jerome Gambit is slightly better for White, with little risk. White should capture the Bishop.

In an earlier game, TacticalRain - sriramv, Internet, 2020 (1-0, 21), Black responded to 8.Kd1 with 8...Qf6, anyhow. I pointed out

[T]he real danger came from 8...Qh4, threatening 9...Qg4 mate! This is not an idle threat - for example, if White guards the g4 square with 9.h3, then 9...d6 both attacks White's Queen and threatens 10...Bg4+ 11.hxg4 Qxg4 mate.

White can answer 8...Qh4 with 9.c3, creating an escape outlet for his King, but the situation remains dire: 9...Nf6 10.d3 Qg4+ 11.Kc2 Qxg2 12.Nd2 Qxh1, although White can recover a piece with 13.Qf4 followed by e4-e5. He can improve the line by checking the enemy King a bit, first: 9.Qd5+ Kg7 10.Qe5+ Nf6+ 11.Qe7+ Kg8 12.c3, because now 12...Qg4+ 13.Kc2 Qxg2 would lead to 14.Qxf6 Qxh1 15.Qd8+ Kf7 16.Qxh8 Qxh2 when Black would have only a small edge. However, instead of hunting material, Black improves with 12...b6 and 13...Ba6, or 12...d5 and is still better.

8...Qh4 9.Rf1 Qg4 checkmate

Ow.