Oh, Those "Jerome pawns"!

The Jerome Gambit frequently features play where Black has an extra piece, and White has a couple of extra pawns. 

Those "Jerome pawns" often help decide the game.

Tracy824 - Alex-r

5 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2024

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.f4 Bd6 

It is often tempting in the Jerome Gambit for Black to attack White's Queen. Tempting, but not always leading to advantage.

In this case, it leads to White's advantage.

8.Qf5+ Ke7 9.fxe5 Bb4 10.c3 Bc5 

Either on this move or the next, Black should play ...d5, uncovering an attack on the enemy Queen. He would still be at a disadvantage (Oh, those "Jerome pawns"!) but less so than in the game.

11.d4 Bb6 12.Bg5+

Presenting Black with 2 unenviable choices. He can move his King and lose his Queen, or he can play as he does.

12...Nf6 13.exf6+ Ke8 14.f7+

Black resigned 

Black will lose his Queen, and then be checkmated a few moves afterward. 

Jerome Gambit: Complicated and Short of Time

Chess is a play with 3 actors  (4, if you count the kibitzer) - the 2 players and the clock, whose influence is greatest in bullet games.

feritTurkey - musa_mohammadi

2 1 bullet, lichess.org, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 

7.Qxe5 b6 

This is an unusual way to react to the White Queen's threat to Black's Bishop. In fact, there are only 3 games with the move in The Database, currently containing over 108,000 games. I don't recall coming across it before.

It is interesting to note that Stockfish 16.1 evaluates only one move as leading to an advantage for Black - 7...Qe7. The second best move for Black - the one that leads to the smallest advantage for White, is 7...b6.

Now, White has to do some serious thinking. Which Rook?

8.Qxh8 

Stockfish 16.1's choice is 8.Qd5+ choosing to grab the other Rook after 8...Kg7 9.d4 (to take the sting out of a possible ...Qh4) Nf6 10.Qxa8 Bxd4 11.0-0 with and edge for White. 

8...Qf6 

In many lines, Black's Queen rightly goes to f6. However, this is not one of them.

Instead, 8...Qh4 was the only move, after which 9.d4 Qxe4+ 10.Kd1 Qxg2 11.Qxh7+ allows Black to cooperate with White and lead to a draw by repetition. 

A short, messy game was 9.O-O Bb7 (9...Nf6 was the only move) 10.d4 Bd6 11.g3 Black resigned, Littleplayerparis - Ananya2009, lichess.org, 2020. 

Finaly, 8...Qg5 led to trouble, i.e. 9.Qxh7+ Kf8 10.O-O d6 11.d4 Qf6 12.dxc5 bxc5 13.Nc3 d5 14.Nxd5 Qd6 15.Bf4 Qa6 16.Nxc7 Qb7 17.Qxg6 Ne7 18.Bd6 Rb8 19.Qe8+ Kg7 20.Qxe7+ Kg8 21.Nd5 Bg4 22.Nf6+ Kh8 23.Nxg4 Qxe7 24.Bxe7 Rxb2 25.Bf6+ Kg8 26.Bxb2 Kh7 27.f4 Black resigned, rahaf2018 - Chonggum123, lichess.org, 2022.

 9.Qxh7+ Kf8 10.O-O Bb7 11.d3 

Black's development is impressive, but White is 3 pawns and the exchange ahead.

11...Ke8 

An unfortunate time slip. Stockfish 16.1 suggests 11...Re8 12.Qxd7 Bd6 13.Nc3 Re7 14.Qh3 and White will slowly develop, with advantage.  

12.Qxg8+ Ke7 13.Qc4 Rh8 14.Nc3 Bd6 15.Nd5+ 

Black resigned

But Black is winning after 15...Bxd5. Did he not see that the capture "solves" the deadly Knight fork?

It is important to remember that time was short - a 2 minute game - and the position was complicated.

For example, White could not answer the recommended 15...Bxd5 with either 16.exd5 or 16.Qxd5, because then Black would have a nice checkmate 16...Bxh2+ Kh1 17.Bf4+ Kg1 18.Rh1+ Kxh1 19.Qh4+ Kg1 20.Qh2#.

If White replies to 15...Bxd5 with 16.e5 (Stockfish's best) Black has 16...Bxe5, and the position is only slightly altered - Black's attack on the enemy King will win. 

If there is enough time.

Children Don't Want to Have a Sudden Savage War, in Chess and not Only, and It Is Good!

 

                             

 Children Don't Want to Have a Sudden Savage War, 

                                        in Chess and not Only, 

                                        and It Is Good!

                                             by Yury V. Bukayev

Dear readers, let me remind you the old game

Brescak - Hefti
EU-ch U10 Girls, 1998

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ draw agreed.

Very often chess is compared with a savage war, unfortunately. Chess is a sport which has no place for a human savageness. But this popular comparison can make its black work. Thus, after 4.Bxf7+ the girl Hefti could feel that the real sudden savage war came. And she wanted to make a peace, I think. And it is good! The girl Brescak could understand that her made 4th move is too aggressive and could feel that the savage war is beginning. And the draw - the peace - was made here! Thank you, dear children, for this good act!

 Contact:  istinayubukayev@yahoo.com 

How to Get an Advantage or to Win with JG (4.Bxf7+) against Maestri: the Collection of Practice (Part 5)

 

                            How to Get an Advantage or to Win with 

                                     JG (4.Bxf7+) against Maestri: 

                                the Collection of Practice (Part 5)

                                       by Yury V. Bukayev

Dear readers, let me remind you that these my new posts about White's advantage and wins in such chess games are dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's publications with 4.Bxf7+ in Giuoco Piano. Now the world chess history knows a lot of cases, where White got an advantage or won here against grandmasters and other extremely strong defenders!

We should start this new part from the game

Mr. Pak - IM Anwesh Upadhyaya (Radanya_Official - Anwesh9792, 1 min bullet, Lichess.org, 2024)

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qg3 Nf6 9.d3 Be6 10.O-O Qd7 11.Bd2 Re8 12.Nc3 Ke7 13.Qxg7+ Bf7 14.Bg5 Bd4 15.Bxf6+ Bxf6 16.Nd5+ (Black resigned), 

where White used his excellent chance to get a large advantage after Black's 12...Ke7 - how annoying for Black! This game shows that Anwesh Upadhyaya had a strong plan, but forgot to protect his pawn on g7 before the move ...Kf8-e7. He had approximately 45 seconds before his 12th move and spent 1 second for this move, so he had an opportunity to spend more time for it. These facts created Black's heavy psychological blow, most probably, and after 13.Qxg7+ he tried to save his Knight on f6 mistakenly instead of ...Kd8! with ...Kc8, where Black has a not little counter-play, in spite of his large disadvantage, and the very serious fight could go on. Black couldn't overcome this psychological blow during these seconds, couldn't play further. This situation is typical for bullet games. But after 13...Bf7 even Black's calmness can't save the situation if White plays 14.Nd5+!!, because Black loses too large material here.

Further, let's mention the game 

NN - IM Andrew Tang 

(currypanang - penguingim1, 10+5 tempo, 20-board clock simultaneous exhibition, Lichess.org, 2017),

where after 4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qf4+ Qf6 9.d3 Be6 10.Qxf6+ Nxf6 11.h3 Kf7 12.a3 Rhf8 13.b4 Bb6 14.Nc3 Bd4 15.Bd2 Rae8 16.0-0 h6 17.Rae1 g5 18.Ne2 Bb6 19.Bc3 Black lost on time. The final position is enough respectable for White for his not short play with a sacrificed material down. It is unknown, how much time did Black spend for each of his moves, because it was a simultaneous exhibition. White (like Black) could play much stronger in several cases - in opening and further, so Black's task could become much heavier there and could take more his time. One of methods of how to win such time control game with Jerome gambit is your fast play without your punished blunders. 

                                          (to be continued)

Jerome Gambit: Trying to Fit Together Two Different Lines

DutchLiLi - RoiDanton2000

1 0 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 

Blackburne's defense, going back to Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1884 (0-1, 14).

8.Qxh8 Qe7 

Hmmm... ...Qe7 a move earlier would have been Whistler's defense.

This combined line, however, does not work, as this game quickly shows. Such things happen in bullet games.

The Database has 38 games with this position. White scores 76%.

9.Qxh7+ 

The Jerome Gambit reminds me of Ralph Nader's Unsafe At Any Speed, but the opening can be particularly unsafe for either player when travelling like a speeding bullet, e.g. 9.d3 Nf6 10.Bh6 Bg4 11.Nc3 Rxh8 White resigned, DutchLiLi - ba2n, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2021. 

9...Kf8 

Or 9...Ke8 10.Qxg6+ Kd8 11.d3 Be6 12.Bg5 Nf6 13.Bxf6 Black resigned, DutchLiLi - Aguspy, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org. 2021 

10.Qxg6 

Exchanging Queens was also good, e.g. 10.Qxe7+ Nxe7 11.c3 Nc6 12.d4 Bb6 13.O-O Bd7 14.Bh6+ Kg8 15.Nd2 Kh7 16.Bg5 Kg7 17.f4 Re8 18.Rae1 a5 19.Kh1 a4 20.a3 Na5 21.e5 Bb5 22.Rf3 Bc4 23.f5 gxf5 24.Rxf5 Be6 25.Rf6 dxe5 26.Rxe5 Bf7 27.Rxe8 Bxe8 28.Rf5 Nc6 29.Rf2 Bd7 30.Nf3 Bg4 31.Ne5 Nxe5 32.dxe5 Be6 33.Bf6+ Kg6 34.Rf4 Bc5 35.Rh4 b5 36.g4 Bf8 37.g5 Kf5 38.Rd4 c6 39.Rd8 Bc5 40.Rh8 White won on time, DutchLiLi - ege_satranc, 1 0 bullet, lichess.org. 2020 

10...Nf6 

Or 10...Be6 11.O-O Bf7 12.Qg4 Bd4 13.c3 Be5 14.d4 Be6 15.Qe2 Bxh2+ 16.Kxh2 Nf6 17.f4 Qh7+ 18.Kg1 Bg4 19.Qf2 Nxe4 20.Qc2 Re8 21.Na3 Qh4 22.f5 Ng3 23.Bg5 Qh1+ 24.Kf2 Nxf1 25.Rxf1 Qh8 26.Kg3 Re2 Black won on time, DutchLiLi - patriciobenitez, lichess.org, 2022. 

11.d3 Be6 12.Bh6+ Black resigned

Black did not need to wait for 12...Qg7 13.Qxf6+ Ke8 14.Bxg7.

Jerome Gambit: King Safety, Again

In the Jerome Gambit, one of the most reliable defenses is for Black to reply to 6.Qh5+ with 6...Kf8.

The defender must continue with solid moves, however, lest he succumb to the attack on his King, after all.

Observe the following game.

Wall, Bill - Singh

sparkchess, 2025

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 

7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qg3 Qe7 

Bill has also faced 8...Nf6, 8...Qf6, 8...h5, 8...d5, and 8...Bd7

9.d3 h6 

Also 9...Kf7 10.O-O Nf6 11.Nc3 Be6 12.Be3 Bb6 13.f4 Rhf8 14.Bxb6 axb6 15.e5 Nh5 16.Qf3 Qh4 17.Qxb7 Kg8 18.f5 Rab8 19.Qxc7 Qd4+ 20.Kh1 Rbc8 21.Qxd6 Qxd6 22.exd6 Rxf5 23.Rxf5 Bxf5 24.Nd5 Rd8 25.Ne7+ Kf7 26.Nxf5 g6 27.Ne3 Rxd6 28.Rf1+ Ke6 29.Nc4 Black resigned, Wall,B - Ahmad, sparkchess, 2024 

10.O-O Qf6 11.Nd2 Be6 12.Re1 Ne7 

13.e5 

A clearance sacrifice.

13...dxe5 14.Ne4 

Black can now send his own Knight on a mission of harassment: 14...Nf5 15.Qf3 Nd4 16.Qe3 Qf7 17.Nxc5 Nxc2 18.Nxe6+ Kg8 (18...Qxe6 19.Qc5+ Kf7 20.Qxc2) 19.Qxe5 Nxe1 20.Qxe1 Re8 21.Bf4 Qxe6 22.Qxe6+ Rxe6 23.Bxc7 Re2 24.Rb1 Kh7.

Instead, he seems to have miscalculated in his move choice. 

14...Bxf2+ 15.Nxf2 Nc6 16.b3 

The balance of the game has shifted to White.

16...Re8 17.Ne4 Qe7 18.Rf1+ Kg8 

A final slip, as White quickly demonstrates.

19.Nf6+ Kf8 20.Nd5+ Black resigned

Black's Queen is lost.