The Path to Advantage Is Narrow

In the following game, Black has a path to advantage, but he mis-steps, and his chances evaporate.

rajasthan - Viroo

3 0 blitz, FICS, 2025

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Bxf7+

The Abrahams Jerome Gambit.

3...Kxf7 4.Qh5+ 

The path to advantage for Black is now narrow.

4...Ke6 

Black now has an edge, according to Stockfish 17.1 (35 ply), of about 2/3 pawn.

The best response was 4...Kf8, with play similar to that of the regular Jerome Gambit.

5.Qf5+ Kd6 6.Nf3 Qf6 

A Queen exchange would spike the attack.

7.d4 

Well done!

7...Bxd4 

This is okay, but the finesse 7...Bb4+ helps a bit more, i.e. 8.c3 Qxf5 9.exf5 Ba5 10.dxe5+ Ke7 with an equal game.

8.Nxd4 Qxf5 

Better than 8...exd4, played the same day: 9.e5+ Qxe5+ 10.Qxe5+ Kxe5 11.O-O c5 12.c3 d3 13.Bd2 Nc6 14.Na3 d5 15.Rae1+ Kd6 16.f4 Bf5 17.h3 Nf6 18.g4 Be4 19.f5 Ne5 20.Bf4 Rae8 21.Nb5+ Kc6 22.Bxe5 Rxe5 23.Na3 Rhe8 24.c4 a6 25.b3 b5 26.g5 Nh5 27.h4 Ng3 28.Rf2 Nxf5 29.cxb5+ axb5 30.Nb1 Nxh4 31.Nd2 Rxg5+ 32.Kh2 Rge5 33.Nxe4 Rxe4 34.Rxe4 dxe4 35.Rf4 Nf3+ 36.Kg3 g5 37.Rf6+ Kd5 38.Rb6 b4 39.Rh6 d2 40.Rh1 Ne5 41.Kf2 c4 42.Rd1 c3 43.Ke2 Ng4 White forfeited on time in a lost position, rajasthan-Viroo, 3 0 blitz, FICS, 2025.

Now, White's Knight chases the enemy King. 

9.Nxf5+ Ke6 10.Nxg7+ Kf6 11.Ne8+ Ke7 12.Nxc7 b6 13.Nxa8 Kd6 

White's Knight will not escape, but, even so, the first player will be ahead the exchange and a pawn or two.

14.b3 Bb7 15.Bb2 Bxa8 16.O-O Bxe4 

White is better in this Queenless middlegame - the computer puts him over two pieces better.

17.Nd2 Bxc2 18.Nc4+ Kc7 

The final slip. Time pressure? It is a 3-minute game.

19.Bxe5+ Black resigned

Jerome Gambit: "There Is No Time"

 

I recently ran across the Thursday, March 8, 2012 post on the "Play Chess Openings" blog, subtitled "Chess stories by author Tim Sawyer" - Lakdawala on 2.Ne2!? vs Caro-Kann Defence where there is the following reflection

There is no time to refer to a book during a 3 0 game. You play moves every 1-2 seconds based on memory, intuition, pattern recognition, experience, and the clock!

Tim Sawyer knows his chess. You might get a clue from the title of one of the books he has written - Chess Sampler: Excerpts from 100 of my Chess Books

Actually, I have a list of over 150 chess books Tim has written - and he has written on topics other than chess, as well.

"There is no time..." reminds me of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), and the reason that some of us play that dodgy opening.

Jerome Gambit: Opening of the Day at Chessgames.com

 Today, the "opening of the day" at Chesssgames.com is the Jerome Gambit.

You can play over a dozen games, including ones by Alonzo Wheeler Jerome, Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, and contributor to this blog, Yury V. Bukayev.

Check it out.

Jerome Gambit: Return of the Counter-Jerome Defense

  

One strategy that the defender in a Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game can use is to give some material back in order to exchange Queens, and slow down the attack.

There is a risk, however, in moving to a slower, pawn-down game, as is shown in the following example.

Ekrem34 - ithepulak

2 1 bullet, lichess.org, 2025

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 

7...Bxf2+ 

As mentioned in "Jerome Gambit: Still Waters Run Deep"

The "Counter-Jerome Defense" or the "Counter-Jerome Gambit". See "Jerome Gambit: How Bad Has It Gotten?", "Jerome Gambit: Tactical Awareness" and "Jerome Gambit: Be Careful, Look Both Ways".

It is interesting that Stockfish 17.1 evaluates the top 4 moves for Black here as 7...Qe7, 7...Qe8, 7...b6, and 7...Bxf2+.

8.Kxf2 Qf6+ 9.Qxf6+ Nxf6 

Black has returned material, to take the energy and danger out of the position.

If White is going to win, he has to make something out of his 1-pawn advantage, in a Queenless middlegame.

In a 2-minute game.

10.d3 d6 11.Rf1 Kg7 

Both players are castling-by-hand. Black's King goes to g7, to allow his Rook to come into play. White immediately aims at the King.

12.b3 Bg4 13.Bb2 Rhf8 14.Kg1 

14...Rf7 15.h3 Be6 16.Nd2 Raf8 17.Nf3 Kg8 18.Ng5 Black resigned

White's Knight presents too many problems: attacking the unprotected Bishop, uncovering further attack on the Knight, and attacking the Rook at f7.

After 18...Re7, then 19.Bxf6. After 18...Bd7, then 19.Nxf7.

 

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]