Jerome Gambit: Return Is Not Enough

One "scientific" response to the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) is to return the sacrificed material with the hope of blunting the attack.

In the following game, however, two factors continue to favor the attacker: an extra pawn, and Black's early assessment that he can relax.

Littleplayerparis - Lokotromis

10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8 

Mentioned in Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's analysis of his opening in the March 1874 Dubuque Chess Journal - see "In The Beginning..." - and appearing in Jerome - Brownson, Iowa, 1875 (1/2-1/2, 29).

6.Nxc6 Qf6 

A clever idea, threatening both checkmate and the capture of White's Knight - which cannot retreat nor be traded off. The Database has a dozen games with the move, with White scoring 75%.

Still, the simple 6...dxc6 was a better idea, because it turns out that the White Knight can continue to cause difficulty for Black.

7.d4 Qxc6 

8.Qf3+ Nf6 9.dxc5 Qxe4+ 10.Qxe4 Nxe4 

White has recovered his sacrificed material and will remain a pawn up. It is Queenless middle game, different from the violent attack that often comes in the Jerome Gambit, but White can press on with his advantage.

11.Bf4 Nxc5 12.Bxc7 d5 

Black relaxes too soon. Moving a center pawn to open up a line for development is usually a good idea, but...

13.Bd6+ Black resigned

Anatoly Karpov & Jerome Gambit (Part 2)

 

Anatoly Karpov & Jerome Gambit (Part 2)

(by Yury V. Bukayev)

Dear reader, you know that usually I write about new theoretical inventions and psychology in chess openings on this blog, but sometimes I write here about notable chess games.

The Part 2 of this my work is about the World Champion, Top GM Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov, one of the strongest players in chess history, and about one of his worst simultaneous exhibition games ever.

Of course, readers of jeromegambit.blogspot.com remember Rick Kennedy’s words of his publication (February, 17, 2021) about this game:

“The other day Yury Bukayev sent me a game played by World Champion Anatoly Karpov in a simultaneous display <…>:

Karpov - Delgado, Simul, Terrassa, Spain, 1976: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 b5 5.Bb3 Na5 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Ke7 8.d4 Nf6 9.O-O Qe8 10.Nc3 Bb7 11.Re1 Kd8 12.d5 Qh5

<…> Karpov lost in 58 moves <…>

I am still searching for answers, starting with the question "Didn't Karpov's 12th move simply drop a piece?" and following with "Why didn't Delgado play 12...Qxe5 ?" My suspicion is that Delgado didn't believe that his opponent would make such a mistake, and so declined the sacrifice, only to take advantage of another error, about 30 moves later...”

These two questions by Rick Kennedy aren’t easy to answer really. Here are my main versions about true answers. Firstly, most probably, Anatoly Karpov played 12.d5??, because he confused Black's King on e7 with the Queen on e8. Probably, these two pieces were of an equal height, with broken crowns. I think, after his 10.Nc3 A.Karpov passed to a next board and forgot the history of this game. It maybe, he forgot it only after his 11.Re1. Secondly, probably, Mr. Delgado played 12...Qh5??, because he planned to play 12…Qxe5! (-+) 13.f4 Qh5!? (-+), but he lost his attention when his eyes were refocused from the board to A.Karpov’s face, so he forgot that moment that the moves 12…Qxe5 and 13.f4 weren’t done yet.

I suggest to name this tragic (for White) ‘variation’ 12.d5?? as the ‘First Tragic Jerome-ish variation’. It has the following main properties which are common to the main line of the Jerome gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+): White lost his King’s Bishop after the capture of the pawn on f7 with a check, White can lose his King’s Knight after the capture of the pawn “e”, Black can’t castle.

Fortunately for the World Champion, the winning move 12…Qxe5 didn’t appear in this game. After 12...Qh5?? 13.Qxh5! Nxh5 14.Nf7+ White got a large advantage, and further moves of this game aren’t so interesting here.

Finally, readers remember that the Nightingale gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 b5 5.Bb3 Na5 6.Bxf7+!?) is much stronger than we thought earlier: this fact was proved in my analytical article ‘The Nightingale Gambit etc. (C70, C20, C60): Bombs’ (June, 16, 2021). So it isn’t serious to discuss a comparison of theoretical forces of A.Karpov’s 6th move and of the psychological move 4.Bxf7+ in the Giuoco Piano. But A.Karpov’s 8.d4 (instead of 8.Nf7!) brings the position closer to some of Italian risky Jerome-ish gambits.

BSJG: Danger Comes

A major risk for Black in the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit is an unsafe King - if he wanders too far from home, he risks being checkmated.

On the other hand, sometimes even when the King is careful, danger comes for him. As in the following blitz game.

alrivz01 - DBOMB

10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit .

4.Bxf7+ 

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.c3 

We looked at 6.Qh5 in "BSJG: Generosity Rules".

6...Kxe5 7.cxd4+ Ke6 

Black avoids the temptation of 7...Kxd4. Can the King remain safe?

8.d5+ Ke7 9.O-O d6 10. d4 Nf6 

White's 2 extra pawns, their central control (with attacking possibilities), and the unsafe Black King are compensation for Black's extra piece.

11.Nc3 Bg4 

Hoping to forestall f2-f4. 

12.Qb3 b6 

The b-pawn is not the issue. Stockfish 14.1 looks at 12...Kf7 13.h3 Bc8 14.e5 Ne8 15.f4 Bf5 16.g4 Qh4 17.Ne2 Bxg4 18.hxg4 Qxg4+ 19.Kf2 Be7 20.Qf3 h5 21.f5 Bh4+ 22.Ke3 Rd8 23.Nf4 Bg5 24.Qxg4 hxg4 25.Ke4 Bxf4 26.Bxf4 Nf6+ 27.exf6 Rde8+ 28.Kd3 and White comes out on top.

13.e5 dxe5 14.dxe5 Nd7 15.Qb4+ Ke8 16.Qxg4 Black resigned

The Black King is relatively safe at home, at least for the moment, but White is ahead in material.

Jerome Gambit: One King Survives

There are lines in the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) where both Kings are at risk, and the winner of the game will be the one who gets to the enemy monarch first.

The following blitz game is a good example.

ryuugu-rena - WeeCampbell

10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2022

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

 4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.f4 Qf6  8.Rf1 Ng6 

There are alternatives, including 8...Nf7 seen in Sekci - Jobert19, 3 2 blitz, lichess.org, 2021 (1-0, 11) and 8...Nd3+ in Vlastous - Kombe, internet, 2017 (1-0, 22). It is also useful to look at the post "Jerome Gambit: GMHikaruOnTwitch" which includes the grandmaster's games with 8...Ne7 and 8...Nh6.

Stockfish 14.1 prefers 8...d6, which was recently successful in tilo1402 - Ryooo_yos3, 10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2021 (0-1, 16) and oaitseziom - MORCHID, 10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2022 (0-1, 10)

9.Qxc5 Qh4+ 

Black strikes at the enemy King. It is interesting that Stockfish 14.1 believes that he should, instead, work to sue for peace with by repeating the position after 9...Kf7 10.Qxc7 Qh4+ 11.g3 Qxh2 12.f5 N6e7 13.d3 Nd5 14.Qc4 Qxg3+ 15.Rf2 Qg1+ 16.Rf1.

10.g3 Qxh2 

Which King is more at risk?

White now has a checkmate in 6 moves.

11.f5+ Kf7 12.fxg6+ Kxg6 13.Qf5+ Kh6 14.d4+ Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: Six Of One...

The challenge of playing a 1-minute bullet game is two fold: playing decent moves while also moving quickly.

Wolfpak1051 has played some interesting - and fast - Jerome Gambits (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) at lichess.org.

The following game looks, at first glance, like his opponent has kept up positionally, and in fact may actually be better.

However, Black's resignation was most likely a reflection that he has not kept up on the clock, and that his flag was soon to fall.

Resignation or loss on time, it still counts as 1 - 0. 

Wolfpack1051 - efms

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2022

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

7.Qd5+ 

This "nudge" is often useful.

7...Ke8 8.Qxc5 Nf6 9.Qe3 d6 

This standard Jerome Gambit position shows up in about 460 games in The Database. Activity on the e-file and the action of White's d- and f-pawns are significant parts of upcoming play.

10.Nc3 Qe7 11.O-O b6 12.d4 Bb7 13.f3 Kf7 

Black is pressuring White's reinforced center. Now he plans to castle-by-hand.

14.Qg5 Rhe8 15.Qg3 Kg8 16.Bg5 Black resigned

There is plenty of play left in the position, so most likely it was a time issue for Black. 

Jerome Gambit: A Secret No More

A recent Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game clarified the assessment of a particular variation, and it will be interesting to see if future games following that line.

This probably should arrive as Jerome Gambit Secret #16

 

MasterKoi - Ravshan001

10 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.Nc3 

White decides to add to his development, instead of hitting the enemy Knight with 8.f4. This move shows up in 179 games in the Database. As a cautionary point, White scores 27%.

8...Nh6 9.Nb5+ Kc6 10.Qxe5 

Earlier games have now seen here 10...Kxb5:

vpff - treize, blitz, FICS, 2002 (0-1, 32)

irvpat - pavlo, blitz, FICS, 2009 (0-1, 30)

bhargavs - TKUPADHYAYA, standard, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 15)

ZahariSokolov - snazzzzzz, 5 0 blitz, FICS, 2019 (1-0, 29)

Ponce, J - NN, 2020 (1-0, 19)

as well as 10...d6

Astral1119 - Keyser_S, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2020 (1-0, 15)

10...Bxf2+ 

In a blitz game, this kind of a move can come as a shock. Its impact was immediate.

11.Kxf2 Ng4+ White resigned

White will lose his Queen.

Of course, he should not have captured the Bishop, but played, instead, 11.Ke1. After his Queen is able to move - say, 11...d6 12.Qd5+ Kd7 then he can play 13.Kxf2, when play can continue 13...Qf6+ 14.Ke2 c6 15.Qxd6+ Qxd6 17.Nxd6 Kxd6 and Black will have an extra piece for White's two extra pawns.

There was an earlier example of 10...Bxf2+, in theHARDWAY - emlai, 5 5 blitz, lichess.org, 2016, but it did not lead to a win by Black; White played 11.Kf1 and won in 29 moves.

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit Chaos

Applying the Jerome Gambit strategy to an opening gives White wild attacking chances, at the risk of blowback if play stalls. An attacker who is comfortable in such complex situations is more likely to be successful.

The following game turns chaotic, and it is only after the first player overlooks a forced checkmate that the second one is able find mate himself. 

Surikov, Ilsur  - Papizzhe, Mikola

internet, 2015

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+ 

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit. 

Over the years, I have enjoyed the BSJG and have actually scored 90% in 46 games.

That said, White now has several playable alternatives, including 4.Nxd4, 4.c3, 4.d3, and 4.0-0. Black is hoping for chances after 4.Nxe5 Qg5.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 

6.f4 

Protecting the Knight and introducing a pawn into the mix. This move appears in 498 games in The Database, with White scoring 49%. 

More main line is 6.c3.

6...Qh4+ 

This is the problem with 6.f4 - it allows Black's Queen to invade White's Kingside. For the record, 6...Qh4+ only appears in 28% of those 6.f4 games in The Database.

7.g3 Qh3

8.c3

Instead, White can get rid of the pesky Knight and cover the g2 square with 8.Nf3 Nxf3+ 9.Qxf3. That would leave Black with an extra piece against White's extra two pawns.

8...Nc6

This is a calm, but incorrect, withdrawal.

Stockfish 14.1 prefers 8...Qg2 9.Rf1 d6 10.f5+ Ke7 11.cxd4 Qxe4+ 12.Qe2 Qxe2+ 13.Kxe2 dxe5 14.dxe5.

9.Nf3 

The thing is, instead White has a checkmate: 9.Qb3+ d5 10.Qxd5+ Ke7 11.Qf7+ Kd6 12.Nc4+ Kc5 13.Qd5#.

9...h6 10.d4 Kf7 

The broad pawn center puts the game in balance.

11.d5 Nd8 12.Ne5+ Ke8 13.Qb3

White would have done well to try 13.Qf3, keeping the enemy Queen out of g2, or 13.Nd2 followed by 14.Ndf3 to  work on his development.

13...d6 14.Ng6 

Abandoning his King for some treasure.

14...Ne7 

Momentarily setting aside his plans on infiltrating the enemy Kingside.

15.Nxh8 Qg2 

16.Rf1 Qxe4+ 17.Kd1 

This brings an end to the game. Instead, 17.Kf2 Qh7 18.f5 Qxh8 19.Kg1 Kf7 20.g4 Kg8 reaches a somehow reasonable position that Stockfish 14.1 says is still better for Black.

17...Bg4+ 18.Kd2 Qe2 checkmate