BSJG: Knife's Edge

The following game shows the defender balancing on a knife's edge - and then falling off.

Uxx - Butterfli6282

30 0 lichess.org, 2024

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 

Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit. 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ g6 

Not 6...Kf7 7.Qf7+ Kd6 8.Nc4+ Kc5 9.Qd5+ Kb4 10.a3+ Ka4 11.Nc3 checkmate

7.Nxg6 Nxc2+ 

Not wanting to give up a Rook first, with 7...hxg6 8.Qxh8 Nxc2+ 9.Kd1 Nxa1 10.Qxg8 Qg5, but that was the way to advantage.

8.Kd1 Nxa1 

The game would devolve into a draw after 8...hxg6 9.Qxg6+ Ke7 10.Qg5+ Ke8 11.Qg6+ Ke7 12.Qg5+ draw, but, again, that was for choice. 

The text makes things worse.

9.Nxh8+ Ke7 10.Qe5 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: Safety-Seeking or Tempo-Taking

Playing 4.O-O after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc4 - sometimes, a pause on the way to the Jerome Gambit - can lead to a "modern" variation of the opening (no 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+), as opposed to the "classical" variation (4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+) played by Alonzo Wheeler Jerome, himself.

Is 4.O-O a bit of King-safety-seeking, before a bold play on the other player's King? Or is it a bit of tempo-taking, awaiting a particular move by the defender before triggering the attack?

Consider the player CassomaD4, with 335 games in The Database. He has played 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc4 4.O-O 35 times. In 28 of those games, his opponent played 4...Nf6, the move rated by Stockfish 16.1 as the strongest response; which was met, in turn, by 5.Bxf7+.

If you check for this position in The Database, however, 123 of CassomaD4's games will show up, reflecting a transposition from the Two Knights Defense, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.O-O Bc5 5.Bxf7+. 

In all, his score of 43% compared well with the overall statistics for the position: 2,022 games in The Database, with White scoring 42%.

Both fall short of the "classical" Jerome Gambit's statistics in The Database, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc4 4.Bxf7+, 

Jerome Gambit: Wrongly Remembered

The following Jerome Gambit game features two 1900+ players with a half hour each to play, and suggests that being guided by an idea, wrongly remembered, can be fatal. 

Uxx - Oleg_1986

30 0, lichess.org, 2025

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bd6 

This is reminiscent of what Hans Kmoch, in his Pawn Power in Chess (1949), called "the Fork Trick" (analyzed by Yury V. Bukayev) - only with colors reversed. 

7.dxe5 Bxe5 

Correct here is either 7...Bb4+ or 7...Bf8, although, according to The Database, almost nobody plays those moves - the current players are automatically following how the play goes, again, with colors reversed.

One of them is bound to be disappointed.

8.Qd5+ Kf6 

Hoping to hold onto the Bishop, in vain.

9.f4 Qe7 

Stockfish 16.1's calculation comes up with the alternative, 9...Ne7, which does not save the second player.

10.fxe5+ Qxe5 11.O-O+ Black resigned

Black will lose his Queen, and then his King: 11...Qf4 12.Rxf4+ Ke7 13.Qd5+ Kd8 14.Rf8 checkmate.

Jerome Gambit: A Closer Look

The other day I was looking at the Jerome Gambit game CassomaD4 - covich, lichess.org, 2025 (1–0, 26), and began to ponder the value of White castling before playing Bxf7+.

Fortunately, I had given the question some thought previously in this blog. 

First, I looked at "Jerome Gambit vs Two Knights Defense (Part 4)"

So we have 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.0-0, which has more going for it than is generally realized.

International Master Tim Harding, writing in his "Kibitzer" column at ChessCafe, noted 

4 0-0 is not a move you will see played by experienced players; it is simply not direct enough.

International Master Jan Pinski, in Italian Game and Evans Gambit, was even more dismissive

4.0-0 is completely toothless, and Black can do as he pleases.

Perhaps the second player will be so lulled by the move that he will play 4...Bc5, when 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 transforms the game into a "modern" Jerome Gambit variation (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.0-0 Nf6)? In this line, the updated New Year's Database has 548 games. White scores 39%.

Bringing those statistics up to date, The Database [the updated New Year's Database] now has 3,181 games with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.0-0 Nf6, with White scoring 42%.

Then there is the post Chess Brawl

Facing the Two Knights Defence [1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.0-0], White offers his opponent the chance to play the Boden Kieseritzky Gambit with 4...Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3, etc. The Database has games with GeniusPawn playing this line, going back to 2000.

4...Bc5

Black declines, but then faces a Jerome-ish response. 

5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 

This unusual position has only occurred 4 times in The Database, a collection of over 24,500 games.

It is as if White were playing Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's original intention, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5 and then decided, before playing 6.d4 and risking 6...Qh4 (see "Danger? He laughs at danger!"), that he would first 0-0, allowing Black to insert ...Nf6... 

Again, current statistics from The Database on 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.0-0 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5, show 840 games, with White scoring 50%.

Then, there is Strike First!

It is worth taking a minute to go back to the post "Jerome Gambit vs Two Knights Defense (Part 4)"

4...Bc5 5.Bxf7+ 

5...Kxf7

White has transposed to a "modern" variation of the Jerome Gambit [i.e. not 5.Nxe5+], 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.0-0 Nf6. Bill has 11 examples in The Database, all wins. He decides to throw Nxe5+ in, anyhow.

6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 

It is the pawns (White has two extra) vs the pieces (Black, temporarily, has two more), a typical Jerome Gambit imbalance. Bean counters look elsewhere.

More related games can be added with the post Okay With the Delay

This reasonable move [4.0-0] was looked at in "Jerome Gambit vs Two Knights Defense (Part 4)".

Bill has also played 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 as in Wall,B - Samvazpr, Chess.com 2010 (0-1, 25); Wall,B - Roberts, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 17); Wall,B - DarkKnight, Cocoa Beach, FL 2012 (1-0, 23); Wall,B - Guest1459913, PlayChess.com, 2013 (1-0, 38);  Wall,B - Hamilton,E, FICS 2011 (1-0, 22); Wall,B - Guest1872464, PlayChess.com, 2014 (1-0, 30).

Of course, Philidor1792 has played 4.Bxf7+ here, any way, in 3-minute games.

4...Bc5

Or 4...Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ as in Wall, B - NTLZ, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 42).

Now there is a chance for a Delayed Jerome Gambit.

5.Bxf7+ 

So, maybe there is something worth looking at in 4.0-0, after all - especially since I have already looked at it, a bit.

Jerome Gambit: Kingside Danger

Often when things go bad for Black's King, it wanders far afield and is checkmated on the Queenside.

However, wandering on the Kingside is also dangerous.

CassomaD4 - bulkah

3 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 

The Two Knights Defense

4.O-O 

Doing something constructive while waiting for 4...Bc5.

4...Bc5 5.Bxf7+ 

The Three Knights Jerome Gambit?

The Database has 2,025 games with this position. White scores 42%. 

Compare that with the regular Jerome Gambit line, 3...Bc5 4.Bxf7+. The Database has 44,792 games with that line. White scores 53%. 

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Ke6 

Black's King feels safe among his pieces, but Stockfish 16.1 already gives White a slight advantage.

More routine is 6...Nxe5 7.d4 Bxd4  8.Qxd4  

7.d4 Nxe5 

Complicating things further. Simpler is 7...Bxd4. 

8.dxc5 

A bit stronger was 8.dxe5.

8...Nxe4 

The e-file looks dangerous for Black - and it is.

9.Nc3 

Development. More straight-forward was 9.Qe2 d5 10.cxd6 Nxd6 11.f4.

9...c6 

The time control is blitz. Deep analysis is not easy. Still, creating a disrupted pawn structure with 9...Nxc3 10.bxc3 seems timely.

10.Nxe4 Rf8 11.Qd6+ Kf5 

There is danger in wandering away from home.

12.Ng3+ Kg4 13.h3+ Kh4 14.Qxe5 g5 15.Nf5+ Kh5 16.g4+ Kg6 17.Qg7 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: Fast and Slow

At the club level, especially in games with quick time controls, accepting the sacrifices in the Jerome Gambit can be dangerous, quickly; but that declining the sacrifices, starting with the first, and be dangerous, too, quickly.

dantunes - joejoechess

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2024

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kf8 

Black declines the Bishop and the complications that go with it - to enter quieter lines, where White has a small, but visible, advantage.  

5.Bb3 d5 

Sometimes the e-pawn should advance one square, sometimes two squares. In this case, one.

6.d3 

A 1-minute bullet game might not be the best place to explore 6.Nxe5 Qg5!? or 6.exd4 Nd4 7.Nxe5 Qg5!? No games with these lines can be found in The Database.

6...Bg4 

Development.

The computer has great fun with the line 6...exe4 7.Ng5 exd3 8.Nf7 Qh4 9.O-O Nd4 10.Nxh8 (better 10.Qxd3) e4 11.Nf7 Bg4, which it evaluates leads to an even position. 

7.Be3 

Prudent. There was also 7.exd5 Na5 8.Nc3 Nxb3 9.axb3 Nf7 10.O-O with advantage.

7...Bxf3 

Overlooking the fact that the recapture will come with check. White can now exchange and simplify.

8.Qxf3+ Qf6 9.Bxc5+ Nge7 10.Qxf6+ gxf6 11.Bxe7+ Nxe7 12.exd5

White is up a piece and two pawns. If his clock is not an issue, he can play on with expectation of a win.

12...a6 13.O-O Rg8 14.c4 Black resigned

The Drawn Game World Vice-Champion Ekaterina V. Kovalevskaya - Yury V. Bukayev

The Drawn Game World Vice-Champion Ekaterina V. Kovalevskaya - Yury V. Bukayev

                         

15-board simultaneous exhibition, Moscow, 2025,

August 03 ('The Chess Square 2025')

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 

4.d3 fxe4 5.dxe4 Nf6 6.O-O Bc5 7.Bc4 d6 8.Nc3 Bg4 9.h3 Bh5 10.Be3 Bb6 11.Bxb6 axb6 12.Be2 O-O 

13.Ng5 Bxe2 14.Qxe2 Qd7

Draw was fixed on the 14th move by agreement of the opponents because Black's advantage is extremely little only