Jerome Gambit: Time Flies (Part 1)

The Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) seems designed for blitz and bullet games, posing tactical problems for the defender that eat up his clock.

Unfortunately, as the years go by, I seem less designed for faster games. I look back fondly on my two-minute games from 20 years ago. Things change; I am more comfortable with a time control of two days per move.

So I am not sure how I wound up challenging my opponent in the following game, played at what felt like breakneck speed. I kept up - for a while.

perrypawnpusher - klask

2 12 blitz, FICS, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 

This move appeared in Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's analysis of "Jerome's Double Opening" in the July 1874 issue of the Dubuque Chess Journal.

There are 2,554 games in The Database with the above position, with White scoring 48%. I have been more fortunate in my 44 games, scoring 72%

7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qg3 Nf6 9.d3 Kf7 10.Bg5 

10...Rf8 11. Nc3 c6 12. O-O Kg8 

Black has castled-by-hand and holds a material advantage of a piece for two pawns. 

White would like to make something of his pin on the Knight at f6, but in order to do that he will need to advance his f-pawn, which in turn would require dealing with Black's dark square Bishop.

13.Na4 Bd4 14.c3 Be5 

This is as good a time as any to mention that this is a 2 minute, 12 second increment, blitz game. Oversights are bound to happen.

15.f4 

This does not have to lead to a win of a piece for White. After 15...Nh5!? 16.Bxd8 Nxg3 17.hxg3 Rxd8 18.fxe5 b5 19.exd6 bxa4 the game would still be messy, but in balance.

Both players missed that line.

15...Qa5 16.fxe5 Qxe5 17.Qxe5 

Nerves. 17.Bf4 was clearly better.

17...dxe5 

White is a pawn up. He has to deal with his offside Knight, but it is not currently in danger, e.g. ...b5 can be met by Nc5 - something I overlooked at the time.

For now White should double his Rooks on the f-file.

18.b3 b6 19.Nb2 Be6 20.Nd1 Rad8 21.Nf2 

White's Knight seems to stumble around the board. It would be better placed back at b2 to protect the d-pawn, instead of getting in the way of developments on the f-file.

Stockfish 15.1 evaluates White as not quite a pawn better, likely acknowledging Black's development.

[to be continued]

Jerome Gambit: Return of the Jerome-Botez Gambit

We have addressed the Jerome-Botez Gambit before.

First, the Botez Gambit

According to a "Chess Terms" post on Chess.com, 

The Botez Gambit is a chess meme evoked when someone playing chess accidentally blunders their queen. Despite being called a "gambit," the loss of the queen comes with no compensation and is not intentional...

The term "Botez Gambit" was created by viewers of the BotezLive channel. They came up with the meme after WFM Alexandra Botez, the channel's founder, repeatedly blundered her queen across multiple streams...

With the sisters' colossal success and viewership, the meme spilled over to other Twitch channels. Prominently featured in all major amateur online tournaments like PogChamps, the meme has taken off and become part of chess streamers' vernacular...

Even grandmasters are not immune to an occasional Botez Gambit.

Now, the Jerome-Botez Gambit 

It should come as no surprise that someone (in the AnarchyChess subReddit, of course) has identified the "Jerome-Botez Gambit": 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qf3+.

At the time of the post, I reported that The Database had one example of the Jerome-Botez Gambit.

Currently, The Database has 26 games with the JBG, with White scoring 17% - which is oddly quite impressive, if you think about it, winning after blundering your Queen on move 6.

Supporting this is the online lichess.org, which has 434 JBG games, with White scoring 15%.

Of course, before the Queen offer The Database shows that White scores 57% in games; while lichess.org shows White scoring 51%.

So, you see, it is possible to make the Jerome Gambit even more hazardout for White, but let's not, okay?

Jerome Gambit: Experience Helps

Tactical skill is important for success in the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), especially at faster time limits. Experience helps, too, in guiding move choices and the making of plans.

The following game shows an experienced Jerome Gambiteer making his way to a win, quickly

angelcamina - Binnche

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

A familiar position. It appears about 7,450 times in The Database. More importantly, it appears in over 400 of angelcamina's games.

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 Nf6 9.Nc3 d6 10.Qb5+ Bd7 11.Qxb7 Rb8 12.Qxa7 Rf8 

White has 4 pawns for his sacrificed piece. His Queen has been very active, to the detriment of the development of his other pieces.

In the meantime, Black addresses his major concern by castling-by-hand.

13.O-O Kf7 14.f4 Kg8 

The game is in balance.

White's "Jerome pawns" have targets to advance against. If he can get his Queen back into play, he can press on against the enemy King.

15.f5 Ne5 16.d4 Nc6 17.Qa3 

Awakward. White plans 18.Bg5 and so protects his b-pawn with the Queen. With only seconds per move to think, White makes it work.

More cirsumspect would have been 17.Qa6. 

17...Qe7 

Missing 17...Nxd4 with advantage.

18.Bg5 

In turn, White had 18.e5 Nh5 19.f6 to pursue his goals more actively.

18...h6 19.Nd5 Qe8 20.Bxf6 Rxf6 

It is not clear why Black bypassed 20...gxf6. Likely the clock.

21.Rae1

White turns down or misses the offer to win the exchange.

21...Rf8 22.c3 Qh5 

Maybe the threat will amount to something? The clock is running.

Black is running out of options. The defensive 22...Qd8 would be met by 23.f6.  

23.Nxc7 Rb7 24.Qxd6 Rd8 25.Ne6 Bxe6 26.Qxe6+ Kh8 27.Qxc6 Rbd7 28.e5 Black resigned

Plus ça change

 

Before we return to the strangeness that is the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), as in the previous post I would like to share an opening line in which the players - temporarily - lose their way...

Sukandar, Irine Kharisma - Yanjindulan, Dolgorsuren

26th Women's Olympiad, Shenzhen, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nb8 

This looks like a pre-arranged pleasantrie - now after 4.Nxe5 Stockfish 15.1 ranks White as a piece better.

4.Bf1 

Fair enough.

4...Nc6 5.Bc4 

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

5...Bc5 

Back to business. 

And White proceeded to out-play her opponent for the win:

6.c3 Nf6 7.d3 O-O 8.Bg5 Be7 9.Nbd2 d6 10.Bb3 h6 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.Nf1 Ne7 13.Ne3 Ng6 14.O-O c6 15.d4 Qc7 16.Re1 Re8 17.d5 c5 18.g3 Ne7 19.h4 Qd7 20.Bc2 g6 21.Nh2 Bg7 22.a4 Rf8 23.h5 Qh3 24.Nc4 Qd7 25.a5 f5 26.hxg6 f4 27.Qh5 Rf6 28.gxf4 Rxf4 29.Re3 Rf6 30.Rg3 Qe8 31.Nf3 Bd7 32.Nh4 Qf8 33.Ne3 Rxf2 34.Nhf5 Nxf5 35.exf5 Rf4 36.Ng2 Bxf5 37.Nxf4 exf4 38.Bxf5 fxg3 39.Be6+ Kh8 40.Rf1 Qe7 41.Rf7 Qg5 42.Qxg5 hxg5 43.Rxb7 Rf8 44.Rxa7 Rf6 45.a6 Rxg6 46.Ra8+ Black resigned

I am surprised that I have not (yet) found a Jerome Gambit game that started in the same way.

Out-Weird the Jerome Gambit

 

I was going over a recent chess game with an opening that tried to out-weird the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+): drumme - rajasthan, blitz, FICS, 2023 (1-0, 28) started off 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nb4?!

Say, what?

There is weird, and then there is weird.

I was somewhat comforted by the outcome of the game, especially since the player of the White pieces, drumme, is a longtime Jerome Gambiteer - his games in The Database start in 2008 and continue through 2023.

A closer look at The Database showed 25 games (that many??) with 3...Nb4?! White scored 84%.

I was even more reassured upon encountering an unattributed entry in The Database referring to "A nice trap in a Jerome-type position". Quite possibily, the author was the Australian privite eye, Cliff Hardy, another Jerome Gambit afficiando.

Here it is. I have added diagrams.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nb4 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke7 

Black is trying to be tricky - he wants to invite a Jerome player to play the standard Qh5, but after Ke7 this doesn't come with check and then he wants to play Nxc2, winning the rook. 

6.Qf3

This move is significantly better then Qh5 (evaluation: around -1.40 for Qf3, around -3 for Qh5, as Qh5 will be met with Qe8 and black moved his queen to a better place while attacking white queen, who has to retreat, since the exchange of queens strongly favoures black), but Qf3 still allows black to follow his fishy plan (which we should gladly allow him to execute, since this is a "short road to hell" for him).

6...Nxc2+ 7.Kd1 Nxa1 

Black is happy to have a huge material advantage, but there will be a suprise. From now, there is no reverse: this is a forced mate in 6!!!

8.Qf7+ Kd6 9.Nc4+ Kc5 10.Qd5+ Kb4 11.a3+ Ka4 12.Nc3+ Kb3 13.Na5 checkmate 

A nice curiosity: any move with this knight results in mate. A comment at the end: After 6.Qf3, playing 6...Nxc2 is not the best choice: according to Stockfish, there are 3 stronger moves for black: 6...Qe8, 6...Nf6, 6...Nh6, taking on c2 is a fourth line, also reasonably good (evaluation: +1.01 at depth 33), especially in double-edged positions with both kings exposed and especially in shorter time formats. The losing move is, whereas, taking the poisoned rook (losing without reverse, since it's an easy mate with all moves forced). 

After 7.Kd1, black should play 7...Nf6 (the best move, eval. +1.05, developping new piece, white plays KxN and retrieves the sacrificed knight, but for a price of exposing the king) or 7...Qe8 (eval. +1.33, with the same idea) or the inhuman 7...Ne3 (best reply is the obvious QxN, without exposing the king, but the engine likes this for some deeep reason, eval. +1.37). All moves beside these 3 are evaluated at least +2.

Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: Battle to the End

Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7) games can be a battle - in fact, that is why many players (including occasional masters and grandmasters when they are in a fun mood) - enjoy playing it.

The following game is a recent such battle. White does not have an easy win, he had to fight for it.

And he does.

Minecraftado - ORIONfull

10 5 blitz, lichess.org, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7

4...Kxf7 5.d4 

There are 2,734 games in The Database with this move. White scores 38%. (By comparison, with 5.Nxe5+ White scores 57%).

It is interesting to note that the average rating for White in those games is 80 points less than that of Black: he is spoiling for a fight.

5...Bb6 

Maybe Black was taken by surprise by 5.d4. Any of the three ways of capturing the d-pawn would be stronger.

...Bb6 is a relatively rare move, with only 22 games in The Database. White scores 45%. This is not a doom-and-gloom situation for the defender, yet, but it boosts White's practical chances.  

(For a short discussion of how the games in The Database are representative of club chess play in the wider world, see "Jerome Gambit: More Crunchy Numbers".)

6.dxe5 

This move wins a pawn and temporarily keeps an enemy piece off of f6, but White might have tried 6.d5 Nce7 (or 6...Nb8) followed by capturing the pawn a different way, with 7.Nxe5+.

6...d6 7.O-O Bg4 

8.e6+

Perhaps hoping for 8...Kxe6 9.Ng5+ Ke7 10.Qxg4, winning a piece, but 9...Qxg5! would have spoiled things. 

8...Kf8 

This is a blitz game, and Black takes his opponent at his word.

9.h3 Bh5 10.g4 Bg6 

11.Bg5 Nge7 12.Nc3 Qe8 13.Nd5 Nxd5 14.exd5 Ne5 

Black is better, with a piece for two pawns, and his two Bishops look scary.

However, White's "Jerome pawns" have some ideas of their own.

15.Nxe5 dxe5 16.d6

Open lines against the enemy King. 

16...Qxe6 

Possibly wary of 16...cxd6 17.Qxd6+, and hoping after the text for something like 17.dxc7 Bxc7.

17.d7 

White's passed pawn equalizes the game.

17...Kf7  

Black's King temporarily un-block's the Rook on h8. His response needed to be more local, 17...c6 18.d8=Q+ Bxd8 19.Bxd8 and things would still be in balance. 

18.Qf3+ Kg8 19.Qxb7 

Not afraid of the "gutter", because the Rook at a8 is unprotected.

19...Rf8 20.Qc8 

Readers know what White was thinking.

I know what White was thinking.

Black knows what White was thinking.

With a continued appreciation of the gorgeous diagonals that Black's two Bishops control, it is easy (tick, tick, tick) to overlook the runty diagonal that Black's Queen controls.

20...Kf7 

This will do, as would 20...Rxc8 21.dxc8/Q+ Qxc8.

21.Qb7 Qxd7 

Black: Deep sigh of relief.

Still, it is always a good idea to remember the words of baseball legend Yogi Berra, that  It ain't over 'til it's over.

White is not finished fighting.

22.Rad1 Qb5 23.a4 

An excellent try.

23...Qxa4

A fateful distraction.

24.Qd5+ Ke8 25.Qe6 checkmate

White battles to the end - and wins!

Que Sarratt, Sarrat

From time to time on this blog, I have looked for possible fore-runners to the Jerome Gambit (inspirations to Alonzo Wheeler Jerome from similar lines of play), including the Sarratt or Vitzthum Attack. (For examples, see "A Bridge To... Somewhere?", "Another Distant Relative?", "The Sarratt Attack", "Another look at the Sarratt Attack" and "Another Example of the Vitzthum Attack"). 

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.Ng5 

5...Nh6 6.Nxf7 Nxf7 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qh5+

KaspaChess has a recent educational and entertaining YouTube video "WHY's This Sarrat Opening Variation So Underrated?" that is worth checking out.