JG: The New in Its Opening Theory, in Its Psychology (Part 14)
(by Yury V. Bukayev)
As a further development of my recent Part 13 and my Part 11 (the post of August 16, 2022 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!?.
At first let’s consider my new systems where White attacks without making of an early f2-f4. Thus, after 9.d4! Nc6! 10.0-0! Ke8!? White can avoid 11.f4 effectively:
I) 11.e5 AN Bb4!? 12.Qg3!? (12.Qc4? d5 13.exd6 Bxd6!?, and Black has a winning advantage) with the attack. For example: 12…Bf8 13.d5 Nb8 (we’ll name it as ‘Go-home-from-Jerome first variation’ due to a beautiful Black’s position) 14.d6! (with the threat 15.Bg5) etc.
II) 11.d5 AN Be5!? (11…Qf6 12.Qb3!? is also possible, although Black has some problems here. After 12…Ne5 13.f4!? Qe7 14.fxe5 Bxe5! 15.Qf3!? White can attack too.) 12.Qc4 (We’ll consider some other opportunities further.) 12…Nce7!? 13.f4! Ng6! 14.fxe5 Nxe5 15.Qe2 d6!, and here White can attack, but Black’s problems are less than in the variation 11.f4 Bf8.
And what happens when Black defends after 11.f4 actively?
III) 11.f4 Bb4!? AN
A)12.Qc4?! Qe7 13.c3 Qxe4!, and Black has a winning advantage.
B)12.Qd3 d5 13.e5 (13.c3 dxe4 14.Qxe4+ Be7, and Black wins) 13…g6 14.c3, and the fight continues, although Black’s problems are much less than after 11…Bf8.
C)12.Qe3! with the attack.
Finally, let’s return to our familiar variation 11.f4 Bf8. Thus, after 12.e5!? (the best move is 12.d5! – Part 13) 12…Qe7!? 13.Be3!? (it isn’t the strongest move) 13…Qb4 14.Qd3! Qxb2 AN 15.Nd2 Nb4 16.Qe2 Nxc2?! (we’ll consider 16…Qxc2, 16…Nd5 etc. further) 17.Nc4! (17.Ne4 Qa3!, and Black wins), and White attacks.
Of course, ‘the Fantastic Star Jerome Gambit Deferred’ and ‘the Triumphant Jerome Gambit Deferred’ (these are my most strong deferred lines of JG, real parts of JG, they were invented and published in 2022 in my analytical research ‘Lose Never with a Strong Deferred Jerome Gambit (Part 2)’) will be much more attractive for a lot of experts of the modern chess opening theory than the standard line of JG.
