Jerome Gambit: Impatience Wins Out

Whoever first said "All things come to he who waits" probably never played the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+)

In the following game the first player takes the attack to his opponent and when his development is complete, he finishes the job.

Hipernight - luka_mrda

iPhone chess game, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Nf6 

The Two Knights Defense

4.Bxf7+ 

I don't think that this variation has a name, although I have referred to it as one of the "impatient Jerome Gambits" in light of the fact that White sacrifices his Bishop before Black plays ...Bc5.

For an earlier look, see "Jerome Gambit: Facing Up to 4.Bxf7+ in the Two Knights (Part 3)"

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Ng6 7.e5 Nd5

Instead, 7...Ne8 was seen in Hipernight - salissi, Chess.com,  2020 (1-0, 34). 

8.Qf3+ Ke8 

Sometimes, in the heat of battle, there is this - 8...Kg8 9.Qxd5 checkmate, as seen in 3 dozen games in The Database. 

9.Qxd5 d6 10.O-O dxe5 11.Qb5+ Bd7

Black offers the b-pawn to distract the enemy Queen, the only real danger currently.

12.Qxb7 Bd6 13.dxe5 Nxe5 

Black's lead in development is worrisome. Can he make something of it (and his extra piece) before White stabilizes things?

14.Nc3 Ng4 15.Re1+ Kf8 16.h3 Rb8 17.Qf3+ Nf6 18.Bg5 Be7 19.Rad1 Qc8 

The game has changed.

White's development is powerful, even encouraging Black's Queen to step out of the pin on his light-squared Bishop - however, this is a game-ending mistake.

Can you see what happens next?

20.Rxe7 Kxe7 21.Nd5+ Kf7 22.Nxf6 gxf6 23.Qxf6+ Kg8 24.Bh6

Black resigned

Checkmate can not be avoided.

Jerome Gambit: ChatGpt

Earlier this year, Andrea Fioraldi attempted to play a chess game against the computer entity ChatGpt. 

(For a warmup, see "JeromeGambit: AI", 

"Jerome Gambit: AI Once More", and 

"Jerome Gambit: Has ChatGPT 

Learned Anything?".)

Things became strange, fast. He posted the results on Twitter.

Jerome Gambit: NotiChess

 

Yury V. Bukayev brings to my attention that 12 years ago the website NotiChess started to make Spanish language translations of this blog, among materials by several famous chess persons ( https://web.archive.org/web/20110818013744/http://www.notichess.com.ar/ ). The Wayback Machine has saved it. Very nice! Check it out.

 

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit: Lost Knight

In the following game, White - Tr1ck5t3r77, with 186 games in The Database - faces a line designed to be a surprise, and meets it with a surprise of his own.

When the defender's Knight goes wandering, that is where the trouble multiplies.

Tr1ck5t3r77 - jawa_barat

5 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit. A surprise?

4.Bxf7+ 

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit. Most likely a surprise.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.c3 Nb5 

A creative idea, but there was nothing wrong with the main line retreat 6...Nc6, leaving Black with an edge.

White's pawn on c3 is doing more than just expelling the enemy piece. It is not surprising that The Database shows the first player scoring 18 - 3 (86%).

7.d4 d6 

The poor Knight on b5 needed to come home with 7...Nd6. It has lost its way, and soon will simply be lost.

8.Qb3+ d5 9.Qxb5 c6 10.Qe2 Nf6 11.exd5+ cxd5 12.Nc6+ Black resigned

The final surprise, a discovered check, wins the game.

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit: Seen Before

 

A few weeks ago, in a post ("Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit: Tactics") covering mir252 - Pranep, 5 3 blitz, lichess.org, 2023, the game had continued 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.Qg4+ Kxe5 7.f4+ Kd6 when I noted

Not 7...Kxe4 8.Nc3 checkmate. It could happen in blitz. 

It turns out, upon consulting The Database, it apparently has happened at least 10 times (although two were 15-minute games), the first being Cherokee - Gepetto, 15 2 standard, FICS, 2000 and the most recent being jdpz - isaac1331, blitz, 2018.

Jerome Gambit: Surprising the Surpriser

In the following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ ) game, if the defender was surprised by the opening he did his best, in turn, to surprise the attacker. To his misfortune, the line of play he chose was not at all a surprise to his opponent.

angelcamina - Fabio-rj

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8

Black takes his chances in a sideline, instead of capturing the Knight. In a 1-minute game this might cause his opponent to use up precious seconds of thinking time - but, in this case angelcamina has been down this road before.

For the record, The Database has 453 games with this position, with  White scoring 55%.

6.Qh5+ 

Consistently played. 

Stockfish 15.1 recommends 6.Nxc6, instead, followed by the very aggressive 6...Qh4!? and White is better - but I am not surprised that the line does not show up at all in The Database. 

6...g6

A quick finish was 6...Ke7 7.Qf7+ Kd6 8.Nc4, checkmate, angelcamina - SammmDBest, lichess.org, 2021 

7.Nxg6 Bxf2+

This surprising move (best in the position) is as old as the identical games Hultgren,R - Harrow, Campbell, CA, 1960 (1-0, 13) and Blackstone,J - Dommeyer,C, Campbell, CA, 1960 (1-0, 13).  

Also:

7...Qf6 8.Nxh8+ Kd8 9.Qxc5 Qxh8 10.Qf8 checkmate, angelcamina - DenBlood, lichess.org, 2022; 

7...hxg6 8.Qxh8 Kf8 9.O-O d6 10.c3 Be6 11.d4 Bb6 12.d5 Bf7 13.dxc6 bxc6 14.Bh6+ Ke7 15.Bg5+ Nf6 16.Bxf6+ Ke6 17.Bxd8 Rxd8 18.Qxd8 Bxf2+ 19.Rxf2 d5 20.exd5+ cxd5 21.Rf6+ Ke5 22.Nd2 c5 23.Qe7+ Be6 24.Qxe6 checkmate, angelcamina - MegaBane,1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019; and

7...Nf6 8.Qh4 Nxe4 9.Qxe4+ Ne7 10.Nxh8 d6 11.Qxh7 Be6 12.O-O Qd7 13.Ng6 Nxg6 14.Qxg6+ Bf7 15.Re1+ Kf8 16.Qh6+ Kg8 17.c3 Qf5 18.d4 Bb6 19.Bg5 d5 20.Bf6 Qh7 21.Qg5+ Qg6 22.Qh4 Qh7 23.Qg3+ Qg6 24.Qxg6+ Bxg6 25.Nd2 c6 26.Re7 Bc7 27.Rae1 Bd6 28.Rd7 Bf8 29.Nf3 Rb8 30.Be7 b5 31.Bxf8 Kxf8 32.Ree7 Be8 33.Rxa7 White won on time, angelcamina - stockfishdanirealno1, lichess.org, 2021 

8.Kxf2 Qf6+ 

Black's idea, but he has overlooked something. It's bullet.

9.Nf4+ 

The Knight that blocks the check is unprotected, but the discovered check must be attended to first.

9...Kd8 10.d3 Nd4 

Looking to take back some material, but White has it all under control.

Instead, 10...d6 11.Rf1 Qd4+ 12.Be3 Qf6 13.c3 Black resigned was Hultgren,R - Harrow, Campbell, CA, 1960 / Blackstone,J - Dommeyer,C, Campbell, CA, 1960.

11.Rf1 Nh6 12.Kg1 Qd6 13.Nd5 Ne6 

Recalled.

14.Qxh6 c6 15.Qh4+ Ke8 16.Nf6+ Kf7 17.Bf4 Qe7 18.Qh5+ Kg7 19.Bh6 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: 10 craziest gambits

A blog on the Chess.com website presents the "10 craziest gambits" and includes, of course, the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) - which is listed as #2, although there may be no significance to the order.

There is a short informational paragraph and, kindly, a link to this blog, but no analysis.

As long as they spell your name right...