Jerome Gambit: Morphy-Bot?

A recent YouTube video, "Stockfish plays the Jerome Gambit", is the latest in a series of Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) computer vs computer games.

Earlier coverage of bot battles can be found in "Jerome Gambit: Entertaining Chess Content (Part 1)", "Jerome Gambit: Entertaining Chess Content (Part 2)", "More Entertaining Jerome Gambit Chess Content", and, most recently, "Jerome Gambit: Challenging the Bot".

It makes me wonder: how would the real Paul Morphy fare against Stockfish and the Jerome Gambit?

Stockfish - Morphy-Bot

Chess.com, 2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.Qxe5 

7...d6 8.Qg3 Kf7 

It looks like Morphy-Bot is planning to castle-by-hand, but this never happens.

In this slow Jerome Gambit, Stockfish slowly outplays its opponent.

9.d3 Nf6 10.Nc3 c6 11.O-O Bb4 12.Bg5 h6 13.Be3 Be6 14.f4 Bg4

This is a tactical oversight that Jerome Gambit players will recognize by putting the pieces together: White Rook on f-file, Black King on f-file, Black Knight protecting Black Bishop (which is attacked by White Queen), the opportunity of a White pawn causing mischief at e5.

Better for Black would have been 14...Kg8.

 15.e5 Bf5  

The poor Bishop is having a bad day. Stockfish 15 (on my computer, not the one in the game) suggests 15...Bxc3!?, because 16.bxc3 would allow 16...Nd5, while  16.exf6 Bxb2 17.Qxg4 Bxf6 18.Rab1 b5 would give White an edge. 

16.exf6 Rg8 17.fxg7 Rxg7 18.Qf3 Qh4 

Morphy-Bot has some Kingside pressure, but not 2 pawns worth.

19.Bd4 Rag8

Odd. There is little compensation for this exchange sacrifice.

20.Bxg7 Kxg7 21.Ne2 Kh8 

Finally.

22.c3 Ba5 23.Ng3 Bg4 24.Qe4 Qf6 25.f5 Bb6+ 26.d4 d5 27.Qf4 c5 

Looking to open the attacking diagonal a7-g1.

White is ahead the exchange and two pawns, but the computer assesses the advantage as being more than a Queen's worth. 

28.Rae1 Rf8 29.Qxg4 cxd4 30.Re6 dxc3+ 31.Kh1 Qg5 32.Qh3 Be3 33.bxc3 Bd2 

This allows White to drive the enemy Queen away, and setting up mate.

34.Rg6 Qe3 35.f6 Qe8 36.Rxh6+ Kg8 37.Rh8+ Kf7 38.Rh7+ Kg8 39.Rg7 checkmate

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit Doubter

The theme of the following game can be described as an exchange between Defender and Attacker:

"Surprise!"

"Surprise and another Surprise!"

Those who adopt Jerome-like play against the Blackburne Shilling Gambit should take heed. Those who defend should be aware of 6th move alternatives.

slametsugiarto - chesscleff842

10 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

Black has a surprise for his opponent: no Giuoco Piano today!

4.Bxf7+ 

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

White has prepared his own surprise. (And another)

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.c3 Qg5 

Black plays the aggressive Queen move that is the key to the Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

Here, it does not work. He should have tried the wild 6...Kxe5 7.cxd4+ Ke6 (taking a pawn is too risky).

7.cxd4 Qxg2 

Black wishes to sow chaos, to end the game quickly.

He accomplishes part of this.

Some time ago, in perrypawnpusher - TheProducer, 10 0 blitz, FICS, 2009 (1-0, 66), I answered with 8.Qg4, but subsequent games - for example,  jfhumphrey - jordibc, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 11) and Wall, Bill - Guest3846778, PlayChess.com, 2016 (1-0, 12) - show a quicker finish, as does the current one.

There is coverage of the line in "BSJG: Remembering".

8.Qb3+ Ke7 9.Qf7+ Kd6 10.Nc4+Kc6 11.Qd5 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: Ended Quickly

 

A short video (and short game) at YouTube.com, titled "How to checkmate in 10 moves with the Jerome Gambit!", is presented by Kp gaming 19.

dhsnna - Opponent

Chess.com, 2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.f4 Nc6 

On the surface, a reasonable looking move, especially in quick games: Black saves his Knight. Appearances can be deceiving. According to The Database, White scores 18 - 5 against it, 78%.

This kind of mistake shows up a lot in Jerome Gambit games against unprepared defenders.

Of note, Grandmaster Simon Williams, in his "My Favorite Opening Traps" gives the move a "?".

8.Qxc5 Qe7 

First thought that comes to mind: protect the Bishop.

9.Qd5+ Kf6 Black resigned

It is checkmate on the move.

"The Jerome Gambit isn't an opening. It's a philosophy."

 

Instructional.

Great fun. 

I just watched FM William Graif's YouTube video, "JEROME GAMBIT. Every Time. Can I Win The Lichess Arena?"

In 10 games, as White and as Black - he won 9 - he demonstrates his belief that "The Jerome Gambit isn't an opening. It's a philosophy."

To be able to play the Jerome "every time" FM Graif focuses the definition of the opening to include White's sacrifice of his Bishop on f7, or Black's sacrifice of his Bishop on f2, so there are games like 1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Bxf7+ and 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Bxf7+. With Black he plays 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Bc4 Bxf2+.

As the games go on, opponents apparently take notice, as they try to avoid the Jerome Gambit, making the Bishop sacrifice difficult, occasionally provoking a Knight sacrifice at f7:

1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 e6 3.Nf3 a6;

1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Bc5 3.Bxe5 Bxf2+;

1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 a6 4.Bd3; 

1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 c5 3.Ne5 Qc7 4.Nxf7; and 

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 Ng4 3.e4 Nxf2

Clearly FM Graif was having a lot of fun. That's what the Jerome Gambit is all about.

Although there were plenty of sacrifices on f7/f2, my only, small, disappointment is that none of the games featured 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+...

That having been said, the video will still boost your attacking prowess in Jerome and Jerome-ish openings.

Jerome Gambit: Sometimes You See It, Sometimes You Don't

Bullet games played at 1-minute time controls have their own sense of excitement, and also can lead to some beautiful final positions. The following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game is just one recent example.

Critical in the outcome is a defensive maneuver that Black simply does not see. Such is the nature of quick games.

Alex_Ignatev - NARC90

1 0 bullet, 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.Qxe5+ 

The lichess.org computer labels this move an "inaccuracy", preferring 8.Nc3 Qxf4 9.d4 Nf6 10.Qh3+ Qg4 11.Qxg4+ Nexg4 12.dxc5 d6.

There is something to be said (when it comes to aggression) for simply developing a piece, rather than exchanging Queens. According to The Database, out of 20 games with 8.Nc3, White scored 45%.

It is quite possible that Alex_Ignatev had a particular position in mind.

8...Qxe5 9.fxe5 Kxe5 10.b4 

The Database is encouraging here: in 27 games, White has scored 69% - despite the computer continuing to evaluate Black as better.

The position brings to mind the comment of Savielly Tartakower, "The mistakes are all there, waiting to be made". In bullet games, even moreso.

10...Bb6

It is not easy to see that the tweak, 10...Bd4 11.c3 Bb6 is better. 

This situation will repeat.

11.Bb2+ Kxe4 

Here we go.

The Queens are off the board, black is a solid piece ahead. Why not heed Steinitz's dictum, that the King is a strong piece, and let him lead the attack?

Such bravado is a mistake in this particular position.

Instead, the should-look-familiar moves, 11...Bd4 12.c3 Bb6 would block the diagonal of White's Bishop, and even after 13.d4+ Ke6 Black would be for choice.

Again, though, bullet chess rewards experience and imagination, and tends to punish deep analysis; things get overlooked.

12.Bxg7 d5 

Instead, Black had the amusing 12...Bd4, contesting the a1-h8 diagonal and forcing White to find the one move that keeps him seriously ahead, 13.Nc3+. After 13...Bxc3 14.dxc3, the Black Rook will still fall.

13.Bxh8 Bg4 14.d3+ 

You can almost hear White whispering, Come on, come on... 

14...Ke3

Trespassing the line that divides courage and recklessness - although it must be said that 1-minute games do require courageousness.

15.Nc3 d4 16.Nd5 checkmate

It is as if Black's King wanted to surrender in person.

Jerome Gambit, Triangle, Infinity, Hypercube

It is always nice to see the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7) keeping good company.

Regarding Tommaso Castellani, author of Il professor Z e il segreto del triangolo (Professor Z and the Secret of the Triangle), mentioned in the previous post, there is a short YouTube video worth checking out.

Likewise, you can see more about Castellani's  Il professor Z e l'infinito (Professor Z and Infinity) .

There is an interesting visual presentation of a hypercube, (alternately here)  and discussion of the author's Imisteri del 'Ipercubo (The mysteries of the hypercube. A multi-dimensional mathematical adventure).

The Jerome Gambit and the Secret of the Triangle

It is always exciting to open my email.

Yesterday I received word from regular contributor Yury V. Bukayev of a recently published (2022) Italian language novel by Tommaso Castellani, Il professor Z e il segreto del triangolo (Professor Z and the Secret of the Triangle).

The book is the author's third mystery, after Il professor Z e l'infinito (Professor Z and Infinity) [2017] and Imisteri del 'Ipercubo (The mysteries of the hypercube. A multi-dimensional mathematical adventure) [2020].

This time the main character, Giulio, encounters a friend and classmate, Ivano, who is, among other things, fascinated by the Jerome Gambit!

With the help of Google Translate, I can provide a selection from pages 91 and 93

"Look, I'm tired of talking about this stuff." 

"Then I'll show you the Jerome Gambit."  

"What is that?" 

But Ivano had already whipped out his pocket chess set 

"It's formidable, a bishop sacrifice in the opening. Sure, it's good only in quick games. But if Black isn't careful, it's checkmate in a few moves." 

"Ivano, I don't want to know" 

"Look. White opens with e4, Black replies normally with e5" 

"I told you I don't want to know" 

"Knight f3, knight c6, as in a normal Italian or Spanish opening" 

"Ivano, stop!" I yelled and swept the pieces off the chessboard with one hand...

Some time later

Ivano did not rest, but I thought I noticed a dumbfounded face; or maybe I was wrong. We finished the sentences we had to move on to history, and we decided to take a break

"Now can I show you the Jerome gambit?"

He was really stubborn. But I felt conciliatory, for that day I had already treated him badly once

"All right. But, Ivano, I think you have to accept that I don't like chess. I mean, it's not even true that I don't like it. I'm just not interested in all these details, you know?"

But Ivano, without answering, took up the chessboard and put all the pieces back in the position in which I had dropped them at school.

"So, now bishop c4 and bishop c5, like in a classic opening. And now the real coup: the white bishop eats the f7-pawn and sacs!"

"And isn't it immediately taken back by the king?"

"Of course, but here comes the beauty. White sacrifices another piece and takes the e5-pawn by giving sac again!"

Ivano went on for a while to explain all the details, I patiently listened but at one point I decided that I had enough.

"Good, now let's really take a break"

"Wait, I still have to show you the other possibilities! If Black instead of eating the knight, moves the king..."

"No, Ivano. I don't want to listen to you. Don't get angry"

But it was as if I spoke another language. He continued undeterred in his long explanation.

I took a breath and decided to be patient until the end.

"Now let's have some ice cream, I have some in the freezer." 

From my own experience I know that many defenders react to the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7) as if it were some kind of fiction, not something that exists in the real world.

Sometimes we need to turn to fiction to reveal the truth.