Jerome Gambit: Round Three

The third round of the Giuoco Piano Game tournament at Chess.com has started. I will be facing joro_videv, torrefish, and marvinni. 

joro_videv and torrefish finished first in their group in the second round. marvinni finished second in his group.

I will be offering three Jerome Gambits (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), of course.

Good chess to my opponents!

Jerome Gambit:Beware the f-File

In past posts I have warned defenders of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) to beware of the dangers along the e-file (see "Jerome Gambit: Beware the e-File") but the following game encourages me to issue another warning - beware of the f-file when your King is on it and White has castled Kingside... 

AlfieRyan - nicolaitop

3 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

7. Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 N8e7 

The Knight would do a bit better at f6. 

10.f4 Kf7 

The King moves to allow his Rook to come into play.

11.f5 Ne5 12.d4 Ng4 

In a blitz game, aggressive moves like attacking the enemy Queen make sense. In the Jerome gambit, not so much. Retreating to c6 would have been a bit more thematic.

13.Qb3+ 

A sophisitcated and correct move, even more impressive if this is AlfieRyan's first Jerome Gambit.

13...d5 14.O-O Re8 15.h3 Nf6 16.e5 Ne4 

White's "Jerome pawns" look threatening on the 5th rank.

Black's Knight at e4 looks useful, but is actually hampered by the fact that the other Knight keeps his Queen from gliding along the dark squares to h4.

17.Nd2 Kf8 

Breaking the pin on his d-pawn, which supports the Knight. Komodo 13.02 suggests, instead, the unexciting 17...Ng5 18.h4 Nxf5 19.hxg5 Kg8 20.Nf3 b6 21.Bf4 c5 22.c3 Be6 when White's extra, passed pawn is blockaded.

18.Nxe4 dxe4 19.Be3 

White's pawns look even more ominous.

19...Bxf5 

Giving back material, but perhaps not in the way (or amount) he planned. It is hard to suggest an alternative - perhaps the mild 19...c6.

20.g4 Qd7 21.gxf5 Nxf5 22.Rxf5+ Qxf5 23.Rf1 Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: First Time

 

Why do club players employ the Jerome Gambit?

I recently received a game, with the accompanying comment "I tried out the Jerome, and the first time I used it, my opponent was getting destroyed."

CenturionianPlatinum - zirzir

5 5 blitz, Chess.com, 2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf6 

In his first Jerome Gambit, White hits the jackpot. Out of 11,649 games in The Database with the position after 6.Qh5+, only 212 see 6...Kf6. That is less than 2% of the time. 

7.Qf5+ Ke7 8.Qxe5+ Kf7 9.Qd5+ Ke8 10.Qh5+ Kf8 11.Qxc5+ d6 12.Qe3 Bd7 

White has the positional benefits that come with the Jerome - and he has also regained his sacrificed pieces, remaining two pawns ahead. Nice.

13.O-O Nf6 14.d3 h6 

This Rook move, often played for defensive purposes, frequently weakens the squares around the King. 

15.Nc3 Kf7 16.f4 Rf8 17.f5 Kg8

Black has castled-by-hand, but an attack is coming.

18.Qg3 Qe7 19.Bxh6 Kh8 20.Bg5 Qf7 

21.Qh4+ Kg8 22.Rf3 Nh7 23.Be7 Rfe8 

24.Rh3 Rxe7 25.Qxh7+ Kf8 26.Qh8+ Qg8 27.Qh4 c6 28.Rf1 Rae8 29.Qg3 Rf7 30.Qxd6+ Ree7 31.Qb8+ Re8 32.Qxa7 

Death by a thousand cuts...

32...Bxf5 33.Qa3+ Ree7 34.exf5 Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: Disintegration

The following game is yet another example of why angelcamina plays the Jerome Gambit at bullet speed. His opponent's game holds together - until it doesn't. 

It is not readily apparent, by the way, that the defender is slightly higher rated than the attacker. Ouch.

angelcamina - sumushi

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+ Ke7 8.Qxc5+ d6 9.Qg5+ Nf6 10.O-O 

Up to this  point, Black is objectively better, with a piece for two pawns, better development, and a reasonable plan to castle-by-hand.

Unfortunately, due to the clock, the shock of the Jerome Gambit, or a sense of dismissal that accompanies playing against a "refuted" opening, Black's game now disintegrates.

10...h6 11.Qxg6 Qd7 12.Qxg7+ Ke6 13.Qxh8 b6 14.Qxh6 Bb7 15.Nc3 Qc6 16.d3 Rg8 17.Bg5 Rf8 18.Qxf8 Nd7 19.Qf5 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: Touching the Hot Stove

The Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) can lead to wild, tactical positions - some of which turn against White.

There are brave attacking chess players who enter challenging, complicated variations and rely on their skills and the clock, even when "objectively" they are worse.

stayhooked - rdiazflo

3 2 blitz, lichess.org, 2022

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. 

Memo to White: Do. not. take. the. Rook.

Response: In blitz, anything is possible.

8.Qxh8 Qxe4+ 9.Kf1 Nf6 

Black has two plans: attacking the enemy King and trapping the enemy Queen.

10.d3 Qf5 

Black keeps the threat of checkmate at f2, but he needed to do that from the h4 square. This is the opinion of Komodo 13.02, which evaluates the position after Black's move as equal.

11.f3 d5 12.Qd8  

White's Queen will escape, which means that his grab of material will stand.

There was also the alternative, 12.Bh6, since Black's best response would be 12...Qxf3+ 13.gxf3 Bh3+ 14.Ke2 Rxh8.

12...c6 

Sometimes on this blog I present tortured lines of play to show that the Jerome Gambit in particular games is playable. In the current game, Komodo 13.02 gives an interesting way for Black to find a draw: 12...Qe5 13.Nc3 Bh3 14.Qxa8 Qf5 15.Ke1 Bxg2 16.Rf1 Bxf1 17.Qd8 Bb6 18.Bh6 Qxf3 19.Bg5 Qf2+ 20.Kd1 Qf3+ 21.Ke1 draw

13.Qa5 Ng4 

This has the feel of a time slip.

14.Qxc5 Black resigned

White will develop his pieces while keeping his King safe, and the extra Rook and pawn will be decisive.

Jerome Gambit: And That's That

Sometimes your chess game takes an unexpected, unfortunate turn, and you decide it's not worth continuing - especially when you are playing online and it's possible to start over with a new game, almost immediately.

At the end of the following game you can almost imagine someone saying "And that's that."

Dada0584 - viniciussgrande

10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2022

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5  6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Bd6

I can only guess the reasons that Black played this move.

First off, it is fun to attack the enemy Queen, and in a blitz game it is often attractive to find moves that "smite" (in the words of C.J.S. Purdy) the opponent. This "punishment" seems doubly appropriate in light of White's Queen's early, extravagant play.

Secondly, there are two defenses - Whistler's and Blackburne's - that give complicated chances after Black offers his Rook and White accepts. Why not this one?

8.Qxh8 

Black resigns 

Unfortunately, Black does not get the counterplay that arises in Whistler's or Blackburne's defense. 

The Database has 125 games with this position, where White scores 86%.

Stockfish 15 rates White as almost a Rook better.

Well, then, that's that. Find another opponent and set the pieces up again.

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit: Lightning Fast

Longtime readers of this blog are familiar with angelcamina, who plays online at lichess.org. His specialty is lightning chess, and he has a taste for the Jerome Gambit and its relatives - in the case of the following game, the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

angelcamina - Vpkl

1 0 bullet, lichess,org, 2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

Black would love to see 4.Nxe5, when 4...Qg5!? would be tricky.

4. Bxf7+

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit. 

Black was not ready for this change of plans.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ Ke7 

Black was not happy about the idea 6...g6 7.Nxg6 hxg6 8.Qxh8, but that was his better choice.

Now checkmate comes.

7.Qf7+ Kd6 8.Nc4+ Kc5 9.Qd5+  Kb4 10.c3+ Ka4 11.Qa5 checkmate

Wow! That was over so fast, I barely had time to insert diagrams.