Jerome Gambit Declined: It Is Useful to Have A Prepared Response

 

deathgoddess - Ymrchess

10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2022

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

4...Ke7

The Jerome Gambit Declined. It is a rare line, but it is useful to have a prepared response. Three resources: "Jerome Gambit: An Exchange of Emails", "Jerome Gambit for Dummies 2.0 (Part 3)" and "Jerome Gambit: Ignore Me, Stay Aware".

5.Nxe5 

Stepping up the possible complications. Simply retreating the Bishop with 5.Bd5, 5.Bc4 or 5.Bb3 leaves White with the advantage of a pawn and a safer King.

5...Nxe5 6.Bxg8 Rxg8

It was not clear, but capturing by the Queen was a better choice.

An interesting alternative: 6...Bxf2+ 7.Kxf2 Rxg8 8.g3?! c6?! (8...d5) 9.Qh5 (9.d4) 9...Rf8+ (9...Qb6+ 10.Kg2 d6 11.Qg5+ Ke8 12.Rf1 h6 13.Qh5+ Ke7 14.Qh4+ Ke8 15.Qh5+ draw) 10.Kg2 Ng6 (10... d6) 11.d3 Qb6 12.Bg5+ Ke8 13.Qxh7? (13. Rc1 Rf2+ 14. Kh1) 13...Qf2+ 14.Kh3 Rh8 (14...d5+ 15.g4 Rf3#) 15.Qxh8+ Nxh8 16.Nc3 d5+ 17.g4 Qf3+ 18.Kh4 Qxg4 checkmate, Atti0130 - TheCasualCow, blitz, lichess.org, 2022.

7.d4 

Over-reaching is 7.Qh5, although it proved successful after 7...Ng6? (7...Bd4) 8.Qxc5+ d6 9.Qb4 Nf4 10.O-O Ke8 11.d4 Ne2+ 12.Kh1 Nxc1 13.Rxc1 Rb8 14.Qc4 Rf8 15.Nc3 Qf6 16.f3 h5 17.Qxc7 Ra8 18.Nd5 Qf7 19.Qxd6 Qd7 20.Nc7+ Kd8 21.Qxd7+ Kxd7 22.Nxa8 b6 23.c4 Bb7 24.Nxb6+ axb6 25.c5 bxc5 26.Rxc5 h4 27.Rac1 Rc8 28.Rxc8 Bxc8 29.Kg1 Ba6 30.Kf2 g5 31.Ke3 Kd6 32.g3 hxg3 33.hxg3 Bb7 34.f4 gxf4+ 35.gxf4 Ke6 36.a3 Kd6 37.b4 Ba6 38.Rc5 Bb7 39.e5+ Ke6 40.Rc7 Bd5 41.b5 Bb3 42.b6 Ba4 43.b7 Kf5 44.b8=Q Kg4 45.Rg7+ Kf5 46.Qf8+ Ke6 47.Re7+ Kd5 48.Qd8+ Kc4 49.Rc7+ Kb3 50.Qd5+ Kb2 51.f5 Bc2 52.f6 Bf5 53.f7 Be6 54.Qb5+ Ka2 55.f8=Q Bb3 56.a4 Bxa4 57.Qxa4+ Kb2 58.Qfa3+ Kb1 59.Rc1 checkmate, Capi_Capitan - hassan-khoda, lichess.org, 2021.

7...Bxd4 

This is a slip, something that happens in blitz games.

Other ideas:

7...Bb4+ 8.c3 Nd3+ 9.Qxd3 Ba5 10.Bg5+ Kd6 11.Bxd8 Rxd8 12.Qg3+ Kc6 13.b4 Bb6 14.a4 a5 15.b5 checkmate, Littleplayerparis - Tillu7, lichess.org, 2020; 

7...Qf8 8.dxc5 b6 9.O-O bxc5 10.Qd5 d6 11.Qxa8 Qf4? 12.Bxf4 Black resigned, ilhanGuler - popsulin, lichess.org, 2022; and

7...Bb6 8.dxe5 (8.Bg5+) 8...Rf8 9.Qh5 Bxf2+ 10.Ke2 d6 11.Bg5+ Kd7 12.Bxd8 Kxd8 13.Rf1 g6 14.Qxh7 Bg4+ 15.Kd2 Be6 16.Qxg6 Kd7 17.Rxf2 Rxf2+ 18.Kd3 Rff8 19.Nc3 Rae8 20.exd6 cxd6 21.Nd5 Bxd5 22.exd5 Kc7 23.Kc4 Rf4+ 24.Kb5 a6+ 25.Ka5 Re5 26.Qg7+ Kd8 27.Qh6 Rxd5+ 28.Kb6 White won on time, giorgossddddd - Boki77, lichess.org, 2022 

8.Bg5+

Ouch.

8...Ke6 9.Bxd8 Rxd8 10.Qxd4 

White has a Queen and a pawn for a Bishop. Black's only chance is the clock. 

10...d6 11.Qd5+ Kf6 12.O-O c6 13.Qd2 Rd7 14.c4 Rf7 15.Qxd6+ Be6 16.Nd2 Raf8 

Black marshalls his forces as best he can.

17.f4 Ng4 18.f5 Kg5 19.Nf3+ Kh5 20.fxe6 Black resigned

He has had enough. His King will not escape.

JG: The New in Its Opening Theory, in Its Psychology (Part 11)

JG: The New in Its Opening Theory, in Its Psychology (Part 11) 

  

(by Yury V. Bukayev) 

 

 

As a further development of my Part 9 (the post of October, 12, 2021 on Rick Kennedy’s blog), this continuation of my theoretical research on the standard line of the Jerome gambit (JG) is about position after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qh3+! Ke7 8.Qc3 Bd6!?. 

 

After 9.f4 Ke8 it isn’t clear, what of possible White’s ways is the strongest here, but the following White’s attack is very serious: 10.d4! N (This my new move-invention has the same general idea as my Part 9 shows, White’s sequence of moves plays a role.) 10…Nc6 11.0-0! Bf8 12.e5!. It’s enough rare case in theory of JG, where on this opening stage White regains no pieces and lets opponent’s King retreat back from the centre, but creates very large difficulties for the opponent! White’s practical chances are very large here, although all Black’s moves are very strong or enough strong! It maybe, 12…Qe7!? is the most active answer here, but it can require a lot of time and large efforts to find it. 13.Be3 (13.a3 Nxd4! is normal for Black) 13…Qb4 14.Qd3!, and White’s serious attack continues.  

 

These theoretical difficulties for Black can be mortal for him in your game, even without very large difficulties of other kinds, which are present always at games. So I recommend you to play this line, if you are lover of the Jerome gambit with 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+. You can get it also by my other sequences of moves: 9.d4 Nc6 10.0-0 Ke8 11.f4 (11.e5!?) 11…Bf8; 9.0-0 Ke8 etc.; 9.f4 Ke8 10.0-0! Nc6 11.d4 (please, look at my Part 9) 11…Bf8.   

 

 Of course, the Natural star Jerome gambit deferred (the strong deferred line of JG - the post of September, 17, 2021 on Rick Kennedy’s blog) will be much more attractive for a lot of experts of the modern chess opening theory than the standard line of JG, but the defence 6…Ke6 after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ requires their new attention and large revision already now, we can understand finally.