Jerome Gambit: Taking the Rook Now is Fatal

One of the biggest challenges to the Jerome Gambit is Whistler's defense - less known than Blackburne's defense, but more powerful.

Advice to those playing White is simple: Do not take the Rook.

alivera1234 - Zazzleface

5 0 blitz, lichess.org, 2025

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 

7.Qxe5 Qe7 

The Whistler defense, which Alonzo Wheeler Jerome faced in the games of his correspondence match with Lt. G. N. Whistler, secretary of the Lexington, Kentucky Chess Club, in 1876.

As I said simply in "Jerome Gambit Tournament: Chapter VIII"

Taking the Rook now is fatal.

8.Qxh8 Qxe4+ 9.Kf1 Nf6 

The strongest move was 9...Qh4, which The Database shows has the record of  12 - 2 - 1 for Black.

10.d3 

So far, following Jerome - D.P. Norton, correspondence, 1876 (1/2 - 1/2, 20).

10...Qh4 11.g3 Qh3+ 12.Ke2 

The King feels the heat.

12...d6 13.Ke1 Qg2 14.Rf1 Bh3 

The Queen, too.

15.Nd2 Rxh8  White resigned

Jerome Gambit: Looking At the Cat's King (Part 2)

 

[continued from the previous post]

perrypawnpusher - Bob the Cat

Play The Bots, Chess.com, 2025

Continuing my game against the Chess.com bot, Bob the Cat.

I'm not that much better than it - the cat tripped over the Jerome Gambit.

21.Be3 

After the game, Stockfish 17.1 recommended 21.e6+ right away, but I was still thinking about protecting my Rook at f1.

21...Qb5 

Hoping to exchange Queens and turn down the heat a bit. Bob might have tried 21...Rd8, instead.

22.e6+ Kg6 

Capturing the pawn would lose the Queen to a Knight fork.

The text, however, should lead to checkmate.

23.f5+ Kh5 24.Qd2 Qxd5 25.Qd1+ Be2 26.Qxe2+ Kh4 

27.Rf3

Simplest was 27.g3+ Kh3 28.Qh5 checkmate

27...Kg4 28.Rh3+ 

Greedy. Again, instead: 28.h3+ Kh5 29.g4+ Kh4 30.Qf2# checkmate 

28...Kxf5 29.Rh5+ g5 30.Rxg5+ Kxe6 31.Rxd5 

There goes the Queen.

31...Kxd5 32.Qf3+ Kd6 33.Qxa8 

and the Rook.

33...Ke6 34.Qc6+ Ke7 35.Rf1 Kd8 36.Bg5+ Ne7 37.Rc1 h5 38.Qc8 

and the King. Checkmate

Jerome Gambit: Looking At the Cat's King (Part 1)

I have been spending more time at the Chess.com website lately, after reading Danny Rensch's Dark Squares: How Chess Saved My Life (Public Affairs, 2025), and I have been getting challenges from the bot Bob the Cat.

This morning, I finally picked up the gauntlet.

The game features one of the reasons Jerome Gambit players enjoy their opening: it is easy for the defender to make one careless move - and then regret it for the rest of the game.

Oh, and if a cat can look at a king, than someone can look at the cat's King.

perrypawnpusher - Bob the Cat

Play The Bots, Chess.com, 2025

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf6 

If Bob the Cat were able to think, it might just have come up with: I am out of my book! What do I do? I have to protect my Knight! It doesn't matter if my King goes to f6 or e6, right?

Actually, no. The move allows White to grab back his two sacrificed pieces.

According to The Database, there are 539 games with 6...Kf6, with White scoring 77%. I have scored 86% in 7 games.

The alternative, 6...Ke6 leads to complicated play, and simply giving up the piece with 6...Kf8 is probably best.

7.Qf5+ Ke7 8.Qxe5+ Kf8 9.Qxc5+ d6 10.Qe3 

I have reached this position 3 times before, winning each game.

10...Qf6 

Or 

10...Nf6 as in perrypawnpusher - badhorsey, blitz, FICS, 2011 (1-0, 30) and perrypawnpusher - Steadfast61, Giuoco Piano Game, Chess.com. 2023 (1-0, 38); or 

10...Bd7 as in perrypawnpusher-buddybuckets-dog, Chess.com, 2023 (1-0, 32). 

White is two pawns better.

11.O-O c6 12.d4 b5 

This reminds me of my old Chess Challenger 7. It seemed that whenever the position on the board became very complicated and congested, it would advance one of its Rook pawns two squares, for no apparent reason.

13.f4 b4 

It looks like Bob is operating on the wrong side of the board, but there is some method to the "madness": White's Knight can not now come to c3, and at d2 it will block his Bishop; In the meantime, Black's Bishop will go to a6, attacking the enemy Rook, and making space for the Rook at a8 to come into play. Fair enough, but there is danger in allowing the Kingside development to lag.

14.e5 Qf5 15.c4 

Adding a pawn to the center, and hoping for the cute 15...dxc e.p. 16.Nxc3. 

15...d5 16.cxd5 cxd5 17.Qb3 

17...Qe4 

Odd. Instead, there was 17...Rb8 or 17...Ne7 or 17...Be6. 

18.Qxb4+ Kf7 19.Nc3 Qd3 20.Nxd5 Ba6 

Black threatens checkmate, but he faces a greater threat from the "Jerome pawns".

[to be continued]

Jerome Gambit: Games Update

 

As I mentioned in the post, Jerome Gambit: Familiar

I am playing in Chess.com's second "Italian opning [sic] rapid players". In the first round, Group 1, I have managed to play only one Jerome Gambit game, but it was a successful one.

Nonetheless, I am not likely to finish higher than 4th place in my group, and only the top finisher - most likely Tadeasek2008 - will advance to the second round. 

In the meantime, from Abrahams Jerome Gambit: Exploring

I have joined the new BISHOP'S OPENING CUP 2025 at Chess.com - 250 players, time control 10 days per move (!).

My hope is to play a number of Abrahams Jerome Gambits, 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+, a line that I have not tried before, but is worth exploring.

Starting off with two wins in the first round and two wins in the second round, none of them an Abrahams, I am going to have to wait until the final 9 games of the second round are completed, before I can move on to Round Three.

 

BSJG: Choices, Choices, Choices

The following game shows many choices, some taken, some not - some successful, some not.

It has a real Jerome-ish feel to it.

maestro_rabbittry01 - Florence_Madarang

2 5 bullet, training Arena, lichess.org, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Nd4 

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

According to Wikipedia:

The first known mention of this line was by Steinitz, who noted it in 1895 in the Addenda to his Modern Chess Instructor, Part II. The earliest game with the opening on chessgames.com is Dunlop - Hicks, New Zealand Championship 1911. [1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.O-O Nxf3+ 5.Qxf3 Qf6 6.Qg3 Bc5 7.Nc3 c6 8.Kh1 b5 9.Bb3 d6 10.f4 h5 11.d3 Be6 12.f5 h4 13.Qg4 Bxb3 14.Bg5 h6 15.Qxh4 O-O-O 16.Bxf6 gxf6 17.axb3 Nxf5 18.Qxh8 Ng3+ 19.hxg3 Rxh8#].

4.Bxf7+

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

Stockfish 17.1 (at 34 ply), sees the position as about 1 pawn better for Black. 

The Database has 25 games by maestro_rabbittry01 with this line. He scores 64%.

The earliest game with this line in The Database is Nater, Carl - Rogers, Ian, Begonia op 09th, Ballarat, 1975 (0-1, 46 ).

Years ago, in the post "A GM Faces the BSJG: Not Quite (Part 4)" I had written

Regarding the early Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit game that we have been looking at ("A GM Faces the BSJG: Not Quite, Parts 1, 2 and 3"), Nater, Carl - Rogers, Ian, Begonia op 09th, Ballarat, 1975 (0-1, 46 ), I was able to contact GM Rogers, who, in turn, was able to contact Mr. Nater.

Not surprisingly, GM Rogers said that he was shocked to see his 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3, Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 met by 4.Bxf7+!?. At first, he expected simply be able to refute the move, as he not had it played against him previously - and actually had not even seen it mentioned before. He settled himself down and outplayed his opponent, for the full point.

"I gave up 3...Nd4 soon after that game for multiple reasons, not least that it was a bad move!" was GM Rogers' assessment.

Mr. Nater, rather than claiming to be one of the world's foremost experts on playing the Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit over-the-board, modestly reported that "my openings at my prime [around ’75 probably] may have dived as deep as 4/5 moves before descending into chaos ... nowadays worse still." Not surprisingly, he did not have access to game score sheets from 45 years ago, so he could not say if he had repeated (or was repeating) his moment of chess opening inspiration.

"But there doesn't seem to be too much wrong with 4.Bxf7, more wrong with 3...Nd4" was his assessment.

4...Kxf7 

From Black's perspective, the computer evaluates 4...Kxf7 as about two pawns better than 4...Ke7, just in case you were wondering.

This is reflected in The Database, where 4...Kxf7, with 7,155 games scores  56% for White; while 4...Ke7, with 919 games, scores 71% for White.

5.Nxe5+ Ke8 

6.Qh5+ g6 

Not 6...Ke7 7.Qf7+ Kd6 8.Nc4+ Kc5 9.Qd5+ Kb4 10.a3+ Ka4 11.Qa5 checkmate

7.Nxg6

The Database has 1,820 games with this move, with White scoring 60%.

The computer is more skeptical, evaluating the position about a pawn better for Black.

7...Nxc2+ 

It would be a lot to expect Black to be familiar with the post "BSJG: From Defeat to Full Point" and the much earlier "Warning: a1 & h8", which argue that giving up the Rook first with 7...hxg6 was the better choice, i.e. 8.Qxh8 Nxc2+ 9.Kd1 Nxa1 10.Qxg8 Qg5 when Black would be better, according to Stockfish 17.1. 

maestro_rabbittry01 had actually faced 7...hxg6 ten days before the current game, with play continuing  8.Qxh8 Qg5? 9.O-O (better 9.Qxd4) 9...Nf3+ (better 9...Ne2+ 10.Kh1 Kf7) 10.Kh1 Nh4 11.g3 Nf3 12.d4 (maybe 12.Kg2) 12...Qg4 13.Nd2 Nxd2 14.Bxd2 Ne7 15.Bh6 Qf3+ 16.Kg1 d6 17.Bxf8 Qxf8 18.Qh4 g5 19.Qxg5 Bh3 $6 20.Qh5+ Kd8 21.Qxh3 Nc6 22.c3 Ke7 23.f4 Qf6 24.e5 Qg7 25.Rae1 Rh8 26.exd6+ Kxd6 27.Qg2 Ne7 28.f5 Nd5 29.Re6+ Kd7 30.Qxd5+ Black resigned, maestro_rabbittry01 - mcdhardal, lichess.org, 2023 

Later on, he saw 7...Nf6 8.Qe5+ Qe7? (better 8...Ne6 9.Nxh8 Bg7 [9...Qe7 10.d4 Ng4 11.Qh5+ Kd8 12.Qxg4 Nxd4 13.Na3 d5 14.Qf4 dxe4 15.Nf7+ Ke8 16.Ne5 Nf5 17.O-O Be6 18.Qxe4 Rd8 19.Nb5 Bd5 20.Qe1 Bxg2 21.Nxc7+ Qxc7 22.Nc6+ Be7 23.Nxd8 Qxd8 24.Kxg2 Qd5+ 25.f3 Black resigned, maestro_rabbittry01 - ako_ang_mahina_dito, lichess.org, 2023] 10.O-O Bxh8 11.d4 d6 12.Qg3 Qe7 [12...Nxe4] 13.e5 [Qd3] Ng8 [13...Nxd4] 14.Qxg8+ Kd7 15.Qxh8 b5 16.Nc3 Bb7 17.Qf6 Qe8 18.Nxb5 Qh5 19.exd6 cxd6 20.Be3 [20.Re1] Rf8 21.Qxf8? [21.Qh6] Nxf8 22.c4 Qg4 [22...Bxg2] 23.g3? [23.f3] 23...Qh3 [instead, 23...Bf3 mates] 24.f3 Ng6 25.d5 h5 26.Nxa7?! h4 27.Nc6? [27.Rf2] 27...hxg3 28.hxg3 Qxg3+ 29.Kh1 Nh4 30.Rf2 Qh3+ 31.Rh2? [31.Kg1] 31...Qxf3+ 32.Kg1 Qg3+ 33.Kf1 Qxh2 White resigned, maestro_rabbittry01 - MarcAndreBullirseTCU, lichess.org, 2023) ) 9.Nxe7 Black resigned, maestro_rabbittry01 - Olamygoodfriend, lichess.org, 2024) 

Are you still with me? The game is now even.

8.Kd1 

The Database has 223 games with this position. Black scores 32%.

Time for Black to grab the draw.

8...Nxa1 

Quite likely, the 2-minute time control affected this choice. Instead, there was 8...hxg6 9.Qxg6+ Ke7 10.Qg5+ Ke8 [10...Nf6 is interesting, but after 11.e5 Kf7 12.Kxc2 White will still get his material back, and the game looks even] 11.Qg6+ draw 

9.Nxh8+ Ke7 10.d4 

Or 10.Qf7+ Black resigned, maestro_rabbittry01 - mcdhardal, lichess.org, 2023 

There is also 10.Qe5#. 

White sees another way.

10...Qe8 11.Bg5+ Nf6 12.Bxf6+ Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: A Cat May Look at A King

Chessfriend and contributor to this blog, Yury V. Bukayev, pointed out to me that a recent FIDE World Cup game had a Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) echo to it - in terms of what was played and what was not, and, perhaps, why not.

 The game Nepomniachtchi, Ian - Ghosh, Diptayan, FIDE World Cup 2025 reached the following position after 15 moves.

Now, White played 16.Qd1 and was eventually ground down by his opponent, resigning in 46 moves.

Why did Nepomniachtchi avoid 16.Bc4, instead?

Modestly, (A cat may look at a king) I would like to agree with Yury's suggestion that the super grandmaster was concerned that the Bishop move might be met by the Jerome-ish 16...Bxf2+, i.e. 17.Qxf2 Bxc4 or 17.Kxf2 Qc5+ 18.Be3 Qxc4.

In this case, I will call upon Stockfish 17.1 as arbiter: the computer notes that 16.Bc4 would still have been about 3/4 of a pawn better than 16.Qd1, even if it would still leave the second player about a 1/2 pawn better.

What's a half-pawn between grandmasters? 😃

(Check out Geoff Chandler's "Blunder Table")

Jerome Gambit: BookMoves

I recently discovered the utterly fascinating BookMoves website,

What is the primary objective of BookMoves?

Opening theory represents one of the most instrumental aspects of chess. Familiarizing yourself with different situations can help you quickly develop your strategies and boost your confidence with respect to the game.

With the help of BookMoves, you can learn, study, and regularly practice the most popular openings and keep track of your progress along the way. Our system automatically suggests the most appropriate moves based on your experience and skill level. 

Looking in particular at "Italian Game: Jerome Gambit" I found the following information

The Jerome Gambit is a highly aggressive and somewhat controversial opening that involves an early sacrifice of the light-squared bishop for a quick attack on the opponent's king. This gambit is not commonly seen in high-level play, as it is considered unsound and easily refuted by accurate play from the opponent. However, it can be a fun and surprising weapon for club players and those looking to catch their opponents off guard.

Of particular interest is the honest assessment...

Frequency: 0.6 %

Stockfish score: -5.0, depth 44

Games Statistics:

White/Draws/Black

42%

3.5%

54.5%

Bookmoves score:

Rate	White	Black
0...1800	49.5	71.1
1800...2000	49.4	68.6
2000...2200	47.4	69.4
2200...2500	42.0	69.6
2500...	25.4	74.6

Well, that's one answer to the question "Why don't Grandmasters usually play the Jerome Gambit?"

I recommend that you visit the website, for education and entertainment - but, be careful, you will be drawn in, and time will fly by...