Jerome Gambit: Counter-Attack Countered by Attack

In the following game, Bill Wall, as White, takes his time with the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), absorbing the blows that Black delivers - until it is time to counter-attack.

His opponent then falters, and the game ends quickly.

Wall, Bill - Noob

SparkChess, 2025

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 

6...Qh4

Black rightly attacks. This move goes back (at least) to Sorensen - X, Denmark, 1888 (1-0, 27).

7.O-O Ng4 8.h3 Bd6 9.e5 

9...Nxe5 

Another interesting sacrificial try, instead, was 9...N8f6 10.exd6 cxd6 11.hxg4 Nxg4 12.Qf3+ Ke8 13.Re1+ Kd8 14.Bf4 Rf8 15.Bg5+ Qxg5 16.Qxf8+ Kc7 17.Nc3 Qh4 18.Nb5+ Kb6 19.Qxd6+ Kxb5 20.a4+ Ka5 21.b4 checkmate, Wall,B - Rmmh, lichess.org, 2017.

Alternately, 9...Bxe5 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Qd5+ Kf6 12.f4 Ng6 13.Nc3 d6 14.Be3 Ke7 15.Rae1 Kd8 16.Nb5 Nf6 17.Qc4 Ne8 18.Bf2 Qf6 19.Bd4 Qh4 20.Rxe8+ Kxe8 21.Nxc7+ Kf8 22.f5 Ne5 23.f6 gxf6 24.Qd5 Kg7 25.Qxd6 Rg8 26.Rxf6 Qxf6 27.Bxe5 was Sorensen,S - X, Denmark 1888. 

Safest/strongest for Black was 9...Be7.

10.dxe5 Bxe5 11.Qd5+ Kf6 

Not 11...Kf8 as in Wall,B - Mecnieri, PlayChess.com, 2018 (1-0, 23)

12.Qf3+ 

Bill has also played 12.Re1, e.g. 12...d6 13.Re4 (13.Rxe5 dxe5 14.Qd8+ Ne7 15.Qxh8 Qe4 (15...Qh5 16.Nc3 (16.Qf8+ Ke6 17.Nc3 c6 18.Ne4 b6 19.Bg5 Kd5 20.Qd8+ Kxe4 21.Qd3 checkmate,Wall,B - NN, Miami, Florida 2019) 16...b6 17.Ne4+ Kf7 18.Ng5+ Qxg5 19.Bxg5 Bb7 20.Qxh7 Black resigned, Wall,B - Itboss, lichess.org, 2016; 15...Bxh3 16.Qxa8 Bc8 17.Qxa7 Nc6 18.Qe3 Nd4 19.Bd2 Nxc2 20.Qc5 Nxa1 21.Qf8+ Kg6 22.Qe8+ Kf5 23.Qxc8+ Ke4 24.f3+ Kd3 25.Qf5+ Ke2 26.Qxe5+ Kd1 27.Qe3 Kc2 28.Na3+ Kxb2 29.Bc1+ Kxa2 30.Qd2+ Kb3 31.Qb2+ Ka4 32.Qb5 checkmate, Wall,B - Sami, PlayChess.com, 2019) 16.Qf8+ Ke6 17.Bg5 Qb4 18.Qxg7 Bd7 19.Qf6+ Kd5 20.Nc3+ Kc4 21.b3+ Kxc3 22.Qxe5+ Qd4 23.Bd2+ Kxd2 24.Qxd4+ Kxc2 25.Rd1 Black resigned,  Wall,Bill - Anonymous, lichess.org, 2016) 13...Qh5 14.f4 Ne7 15.fxe5+ dxe5 16.Qd3 Bf5 17.Nc3 Rad8 18.Qf1 Rhf8 19.g4 Qg6 20.Kh2 Ke6 21.gxf5+ Rxf5 22.Qc4+ Nd5 23.Rg4 Qf7 24.Ne4 h6 25.Bd2 Ke7 26.Rag1 g5 27.Qc5+ Ke8 28.Qxa7 Nf4 29.Qxb7 Ne2 30.Qb5+ Black resigned, Wall,B - Guest3836682, PlayChess.com 2018 

12...Ke7 

The game is even, but hardly comfortable for Black.

13.Re1 d6 14.Nc3 c6 

Protecting the d5 square, but the right move was 14...Be6.

15.Ne4 Nf6 16.Bg5

Trapping the Black Queen.

Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: You Can Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later

In the 1970s and 1980s, the FRAM company ran television commercials for their automobile oil filter, warning "You can pay me now or pay me later," suggesting that purchasing their product would be a better choice than risking a serious engine failure later.

In the following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game, Bill Wall offers his opponent the choice of an early loss, or an alternative, later loss. This time, the choice is "early".

Wall, Bill - Docteur

SparkChess, 2025

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 

Or 5...Nxe5 6. Qh5+ Ke6 as in Wall,B - Docteur, internet, 2024 (1-0, 15)

6.Qg4+ Kxe5 

Or 6...Ke7 7.Qxg7+ Ke8 8.Qf7 checkmate, Wall,B-Guest13762608, PlayChess.com, 2019 

7.d4+ Bxd4 

Not 7...Kxd4 8.Be3+ Kc4 9.Qe2+ Kb4 10.Bd2+ Ka4 11.b3 checkmate, Wall,B - NN, lichess.org, 2016.

8.Bf4+ Kxe4 

The text leads to checkmate, while the alternative gives up the queen (although Black has 3 pieces for it), i.e. 8...Kf6 9.Bg5+ Kf7 10.Bxd8 as in Wall,B - Guest4105968, PlayChess.com, 2018 (1/2 - 1/2, 50). 

9.c4 Ne5 10.Nd2+ Kd3 11.Qf5 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: Jiwooko piano

 A Dogpile.com search on "4.Bxf7+" turned up a Korean language page on the Jiwooko piano, which had a very knowledgeable description of the Jerome Gambit (translation by Google Translate)

This is a romantic line that attacks by dragging out the king while throwing two minor pieces . After sacrificing the bishop to drag out the king, Nxe5+ throws the knight, and then Qh5+ attacks both the knight on e5 and the king dragged out to f7. It is a tricky position using the queen, and if the opponent does not respond well, the game can be led in your favor . However, since it starts by throwing two minor pieces that are not even pawns, and it is not a gambit with a complicated line or difficult to respond to like the King's Gambit , it can be seen as closer to an entertainment opening.[1] White can recover one minor piece by forking with 6.d4 , but this tends to result in losing only one minor piece (since he lost two pieces before winning one), so 6. Qh5+ is often played. However, there is an easy and powerful line that intuitively makes it difficult to attack the king in exchange for giving up a knight with 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.Qxe5 d6, so it is not difficult to deal with. Hikaru [Nakamura] has shown this a few times during his Tricks Only speed runs.

[1] Similarly, the Double Muzio Gambit, which gives two minor pieces, can be a bit tricky to attack as the Rook and the queenside bishop also participate in the attack, but this line is incomparably easy to deal with as it attacks with only the queen. 

Jerome Gambit: A Conflict of Ideas

The following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game features a conflict of ideas that plays out over the board, with the gambiteer coming out a move too late.

xElucidatoRx - polgg98

2 1 bullet, lichess.org, 2024

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 

7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qxh8 Qh4 9.O-O Bh3 

This interesting offer of a piece was looked at 16 1/2 years ago, in the post Jerome Gambit: Drilling Down (4)

A very interesting miscalculation: if the "material grubbing" computer now takes the Bishop with 10.gxh3, Black draws with 10...Nf6 11.Qxa8 Qxh3 12.Qxb7 Qg4+ 13.Kh1 Qf3+ 14.Kg1 Qg4+ etc.

White does better to rescue his Queen with 10.Qc3 – which explains why Blackburne's move [Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1884] was 9...Nf6 (instead of the text 9...Bh3) trapping Her Majesty.

Further, in Jerome Gambit: Drilling Down (5), it was clear that Black should have played 9...Nf6 instead of 9...Bh3.

By the way, the whole "Drilling Down" series of posts, starting with Jerome Gambit: Drilling Down (1), is worth revisiting

This post starts an extended series (which may be interrupted from time-to-time for news, games or analysis) wherein the intrepid "RevvedUp" (a good chess player) and his trusted companions Hiarcs 8, Shredder 8, Yace Paderborn, Crafty 19.19 and Fritz 8 explore the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) by taking turns playing the White and Black pieces. 

The human moves first, and takes notice of the defense the computer plays. In the next game, where he moves second, the human plays that defense against a new computer – and sees how it attacks. In the third game, the human plays the recent attack against his new computer foe. Collectively, the players drill deeper and deeper into the Jerome Gambit.

10.d4 

The Database contains 7 other games with this move, with White scoring 3 - 4.

10...Qxe4 

I have seen only one game where Black, instead, grabbed the opportunity to play 10...Nf6 11.Qxa8 Qg4 12.g3 Qf3 White resigned, quimera999 - olakunran, 2 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2020. 

11.f3 

Blitz games can be exciting, but they can also be dangerous. White's last chance was 11.Qxh7+ followed by 12.Qxh3.

11...Bxd4+ 12.Kh1 Qe2 13.Qxh7+ 

The right idea, but too late.

13...Bg7 14.Qxh3 Qxf1 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: ChessFam

I recently visited the ChessFam Facebook page to check out the video, 

"Discover this brilliant chess tricks and punish the Jerome Gambit!!"

It was fun to watch two regular players play over the infamous game 

Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1884.

A higlight of ChessFam's posts is his collection of "Photos" which can 

be a chessboard diagram featuring a "Move of the Day", a photograph

of a chess player, a poster-like picture with educational or inspirational

content, and even a few humorous chess comic panels - like the one

at the top of this post.

Check it out.

 

Jerome Gambit: Hardly A Drawing Weapon

The following Jerome Gambit game of mine reminded me of a post from earlier this year, "Jerome Gambit: Is A Draw Good Enough?", where I pondered

One timeless question when it comes to the Jerome Gambit has been whether a draw is a good enough result for White, after his wild sacrifices.

According to The Database, I have played 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ almost 800 times, and only 7% of the games were drawn.

In addition, I scored 82% in those games, so the Jerome has hardly been a drawing weapon for me.

I have also been helped by a rating advantage: on average, I was rated about 170 points above the average rating of my opponents - giving "Jerome Gambit odds" in many of those games. Based on ratings expectancy, I should have scored 72%; perhaps it was the Jerome that boosted my scoring another 10%.

Against kelasui, below, I was the lower rated player, however: my ratings expectancy was 40%.

Was the draw a favorable outcome for me? 

Did my opponent quickly grow tired of the whole affair and simply turn over 1/2 a point?

More questions to ponder.

perrypawnpusher - kelasui

3d/move, Chess.com, 2025

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.f4 d6 

Ah, yes, the "silicon" or "annoying" defense. For a discussion, check out "Jerome Gambit: Dealing With the Annoying" (among others).

8.fxe5 dxe5 9.Qh3+ Kf7 

Or 9...Ke7 10.Qg3 Kf7 11.Qxe5 Bd4 12.Qh5+ g6 13.Qe2 as in perrypawnpusher - TheNatureBoy, Chess.com 2021 (0-1, 24). 

10.Qh5+ Ke6 11.Qh3+ Kf7 12.Qh5+ Ke6 Draw

I was comfortable with the draw.

Apparently, my opponent was comfortable with the draw.

Only Stockfish 16.1 was not comfortable, rating my opponent's position as 3  pawns better than mine.

Oh, well...

Was H.Nakamura Right? Is JG ‘Unbreakable’, Is EG ‘Legendary’ For Beginners’ Games? (Part 7)

                        

         Was H.Nakamura Right? Is JG ‘Unbreakable’, Is EG ‘Legendary’

For Beginners’ Games? (Part 7)

(by Yury V. Bukayev)

Dear readers, again and again I repeat the following. If an expert’s appraisal is based on something without real proofs, he can be right or “almost right” here sometimes. That is so, even in the case where he realizes that his appraisal is hasty, or non-serious, or bold, or emotional. Sometimes he is right here for a large per cent (for example, 55, 75 or 95) of cases which he appraises.

We remember Rick Kennedy’s post ‘Jerome Gambit: Which Tier? Unbreakable?’ (September 23, 2020) where the notable dialogue about the standard system of the Jerome gambit (JG) between Top GM Hikaru Nakamura and IM Levy Rozman was shown as the part of their popular video and as its approximate text. Thus, they have discussed there what chess opening tier for beginners’ practice is right for it. The end of this text contains several phrases by Mr. Nakamura where he places the standard system of JG near the top of ‘Unbreakable’. Mr. Nakamura’s words contain no proofs of this very high appraisal. In my opinion, the tier’s name ‘Unbreakable’ is very arguable, because we discuss an opening practice, not an opening theory: each opening can be broken in a game as a result of practical mistakes of a player. But this name plays no role for us, just this very high appraisal of 4.Bxf7+ for beginners’ practice is important for our consideration.

Before writing of my Part 1 of this analytical research (please, look at it: it’s a blog post of October 16, 2022) it was enough difficult for me to prove this Hikaru Nakamura’s appraisal, for a large per cent of cases. It was necessary to choose a certain control of time for beginners’ games, and I have chosen an unlimited one. And in the Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 of this research I have made some clear proofs of this Mr. Nakamura’s appraisal and some “not absolutely clear proofs” of it. We shouldn’t forget that the word ‘unbreakable’ includes a draw, not only a win.

And here are my new invented traps - no.11 and no.12 - which are based on a similar ‘natural’ reaction of a beginner.

Traps 11 and 12. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 (Black defends his pieces, it is a typical response for an unlimited game.) 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qf6 9.fxe5 Qxe5 10.Qf3 Nf6 11.b4! AN Bxb4!? (I started to consider other possible Black's captures here in Part 5 and Part 6 of this investigation.) 12.0-0 (The other good way is 12.c3, although in both cases White's main chance is to use Black's typical psychology...) 12...Qxa1!? (It’s a typical reaction for beginners and not only for them. Moreover, 12…Qxa1 isn’t a bad move here, so, again, it is a new true opening variation, in fact.) 13.c3 Qxb1?! (It’s also a typical reaction for beginners and not only for them, so 13.c3 is my trap no.11.) 14.e5+! Kxe5 (If 14...Ke6?, then 15.exf6!) 15.Re1+ Kd6 (Black tries to retreat and to avoid immediate checks - it's a typical psychology.) 16.d4 (White's threat 17.Bf4# is enough here to beat the majority of opponents-beginners) 16...Qxc1! 17.Rxc1. Here Black has two "natural ways":

A) 17...Ba5?! 18.Qg3+!, and White stands better,

B) 17...Ba3 18.Re1 Rg8?! (Black defends his pawn g7, but it isn't a good defence here.) 19.c4!, and White stands better. (So 18.Re1 is my trap no.12.)

That is why White will get here also a very large per cent of identical successful results against beginners. And against much more strong players!

It maybe, the invention of my traps 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and my approaches (Part 1, Part 2) will cause Mr. Nakamura’s and Mr. Rozman’s wish to replace the standard system of JG into their top tier ‘Legendary’ (on ‘GMHikaru’ YouTube channel).

Contact the author: istinayubukayev@yandex.ru

© 2025 Yury V. Bukayev (Copyright © Bukayev Yury Vyacheslavovich 2025). All rights reserved.

[A legal using of this investigation with a reference to it is permitted and doesn't require author's consent.]