From earlier posts, some more, interesting, looks at White's Ng5+
"Jerome Gambit: History lesson"
"Jerome Gambit: Anything is Playable in 1-minute Chess"
Thursday, August 21, 2025
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
Again: Jerome Gambit Videos by The Board Game Xpert
Another short video on the Jerome Gambit, from The Board Game Xpert - (You can find earlier, equally well-done Jerome Gambit videos by The Board Game Xpert by doing a quick Search This Blog)
What Is The Jerome Gambit? - The Board Game Xpert What Is The Jerome Gambit? In this engaging video, we'll introduce you to the Jerome Gambit, a bold and aggressive opening in chess that can ... |
Tuesday, August 19, 2025
Jerome Gambit: Review of the Jerome-Knight Gambit
I have called the sacrificial line, 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Bxf7+, the Jerome-Knight Gambit, or the Impatient Jerome Gambit, linking it to Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+.
The major proponent of 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Bxf7+, at least according to The Database, not unexpectedly, is viejosquerosos (King of Bxf7+), playing at RedHotPawn, with 170 games.
Stockfish 16.1 (30 ply) rates 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ to be about 1/2 pawn better than 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Bxf7+
Here is earlier coverage on this blog, if you are interested:
Jerome Gambit: Jerome-Knight Gambit
Jerome Gambit; Jerome-Knight Gambit? Impatient Jerome Gambit?
Jerome Gambit: Borrowed Some More
Monday, August 18, 2025
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
Sunday, August 17, 2025
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+,
Saturday, August 16, 2025
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
Friday, August 15, 2025
Jerome Gambit: A Closer Look
Fortunately, I had given the question some thought previously in this blog.
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, noted4 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...Bc5Black 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.
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