Jerome Gambit: Ad Hoc Defense

When Black faces the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) he has to come up with some kind of plan. If he is familiar with the attack, he might remember something handy. Often, though, the Jerome comes as a surprise, and his defense is whatever comes to mind at the time. 

Guest8407642325 - Guest7600400036

10 0 blitz, Chess.com, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7  5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Nf7

The Knight retreat is an interesting idea. It has not often been seen - there are only 17 examples in The Database - but several Jerome Gambit regulars have faced it: angelcamina, blackburne, MrJoker, Petasluk, shugart, Superpippo and Wall.

8.Qxc5 Qh4+ 9.g3 Qe7 

As I wrote on this blog a decade ago,

The Queen check did not prove very helpful, but the retreat will prove disastrous.

 10.Qd5+ Black resigned

It is checkmate next move. Nicely done.

Jerome Gambit: Just Like That

In the following game, Black has an unusual way to return the sacrificed material that he had collected. Unfortunately, White responds well, and, with the help of a wild "Jerome pawn", wins the game quickly.

Ftmean - Saleem

10 0 blitz, 2021

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Nf3+ 

Black has to return one of the sacrificed pieces. He chooses to do so in a creative way. It is possible that he expected White to reply 7.gxf3, breaking up his Kingside, since to capture with the Queen would leave White's d-pawn unprotected.

White captures on f3 with check, however.

7.Qxf3+ Nf6 8.dxc5 Re8 9.O-O Kg8 

Black has castled-by-hand, but is down a couple of pawns.

10.Re1 d5 11.e5 

Also possible was 11.cxd6 e.p.

Now White's e-pawn causes havoc among the enemy pieces.

11...Nd7 12.e6 Nxc5 13.Qf7+ Kh8 14.e7 Qd7 15.Qf8+ Rxf8 16.exf8=Q checkmate

Jerome Gambit: Test

The following Jerome Gambit game starts off with an odd opening line, but quickly shows that the defender has the advantage, due to accepting the sacrificed material. It looks like the attacker is failing the test.

Suddenly, White sacrifices once more, and it becomes obvious that Black will not be able to escape a draw by repetition. 

Very interesting. 

Stockfish 12 NNUE 1 sec - Lc0 1 sec

Testing Jerome Gambit, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 7.f4

This is a rather strange move - there are only 2 other games in The Database with it (both losses by White). Expected was 7.Qxe5.

7...Nf6 8.Qxe5 d6 9.Qg5 h6 10.Qh4 Qe8 

Black tries to restrain White's e-pawn, but it advances anyhow.

11.e5 dxe5 12.f5 Bxf5 13.Rf1 Bxc2 14.Qc4 Qg6 

Attacking both sides of the board.

White now recovers the sacrificed piece while Black castles-by-hand.

15.Qxc5+ Kg8 16.Qc4+ 

Occasionally annotators will describe a move as "computer-like", especially when it is, in fact, played by a computer. However, this is a very "human-like" move, as is Black's response - and that changes the whole nature of the game.

16...Kh7  

Based upon material, development and King safety, Black should be better.

However, White can play actively and draw, as Stockfish immediately shows

17.Rxf6 gxf6 18.Qxc7+ Kg8 

Possible was 18...Qg7, but after 19.Qxc2+ White would have 2 pieces for a Rook, a material advantage that a computer would not choose.

Black's King now goes on a journey.

19.Qc4+ Kg7 20.Qc7+ Kf8 21.Qc5+ Ke8 22.Qb5+ Kd8 23.Qd5+ Kc8 24.Qe6+ Kb8 

25.Qd6+ Kc8 26.Qe6+ Kd8 27.Qd5+ Ke8 28.Qb5+ Kf8 29.Qc5+ Kf7

Back again - but no refuge. Neither will there be one in the center.

30.Qc4+ Ke7 31.Qc5+ Ke6 32.Qc4+ Kd6 33.Qb4+ Kd5 34.Qxb7+ Ke6 Draw

The human running the test realized that there was no escaping the draw.

Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit: Strange Positions

Jerome Gambit and Jerome-related openings have a tendancy to produce strange positions. For someone who regularly plays those attacks, however, the strangeness is somehow familiar, so, once again, the defender is trying to figure things out move-by-move.

drumme - teterilla

4 0 blitz, FICS, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit. 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 

This is a surprisingly complicated position. White has the option of playing the slow 6.c3 Ne6 7.d4 with a full pawn center, or sending his Queen on attack immediately with 6.Qh5+, risking Black's possible counter-attack ...Nxc2, etc.

drumme, who has almost 650 games in The Database, wants direct action.

6.Qh5+ g6 7.Nxg6 hxg6 

Here we have another decision point. Stockfish 13 prefers that White now capture the Rook with 8.Qxh8, but that exposes him to losing his Rook as well, after 8...Nxc2+ with a messy position.

8.Qxg6+ 

The capture with check gives White more say in what will happen next. Remember, this is a 4-minute game, and such decisions are important.

8...Ke7 9.O-O 

Playing a dangerous game. White could pick up the wayward Knight with 9.Qg5+ Nf6 10.Qc5+ d6 11.Qxd4 although the computer is skeptical that White's 4 extra pawns would match up well with Black's extra piece. In club blitz play, maybe they would. 

9...Ne2+ 

This is better than an earlier drumme game which saw 9...Nxc2. The Knight was scooped up similar to the above note 10.Qg5+ Nf6 11.Qc5+ d6 12.Qxc2, although the game ended with a win for Black in drumme - talyprossoneri, FICS, 2013 (0-1, 50).

Stockfish has a suggestion for White: 9...Nxc2 10.d4 opening the diagonal for White's Bishop 10...Bh6 contesting the Bishop immediately 11.Bg5+ anyway 11...Bxg5 12.Qxg5+ Ke8 13.Qe5+ Kf8 14.Qxh8 Nxa1 when White has the Rook lift Rc1-Rc3-Rg3 which is enough to equalize the game.

10.Kh1 Nxc1 

Black's Knight appears to have wandered off. Still, Black has 3 extra pieces, and they outweigh White's 4 extra pawns. The question is: will that matter?

11.Nc3 Nf6 

What could be more natural than developing a piece to protect the King from 12.Nd5 checkmate ?  

12.Nd5+ 

Strangely, "objectively" better was 12.e5 Rh6 13.exf6+ Kd6 when White would have a variety of ways of checking with his Queen to force a draw by repetition.

Clearly drumme was not looking for a draw. 

12...Nxd5 

Consistent, but not correct. The computer prefers 12...Ke6 13.Nf4+ Kd6 14.e5+ Kc6 15.Raxc1 (finally) d5 16.c4 b6 17.exf6 Kb7 18.Nxd5 Rh6 19.Qe4 c6 20.Ne7 Qd6 21.f4 Qxf6 22.Nxc8 Rxc8 when it favors the extra piece over the extra pawns. Again, club level blitz play might produce a different outcome.

13.exd5 

A strange position. Black remains 3 pieces up - and that Knight, what about it?

The point is, however, that there is only one move that will save Black. A truly Jerome-ish situation.

13...Rh6 

This is not the move. Black had to find 13...Bh6, when White's best is probably to pursue a draw by repetition: 14.d6+ Kf8 15.Re1 cxd6 16.Raxc1 Bg7 17.Qxd6+ Kf7 18.Qd5+ Kg6 19.Qd3+ Kf7 etc.

14.Re1+ Ne2 15.Rxe2 checkmate

This is why we play gambits.

Jerome Gambit: Slasher Slashed

Playing over Jerome Gambit games - and rooting for the attacker - can be a bit like watching a slasher film again and again, hoping that this time your favorite character will escape...

We know from experience that club players can win with their favorite "refuted" opening, but sometimes getting to that "1-0" can be a bit scary.

Until the end, when the danger gets turned back upon the slasher. 

Anselmus - givemeabreak

2 12 blitz, FICS, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Qh4 

In many of the lines that follow 6.Qh5+, White attacks directly, and the biggest risk he runs is that Black might know - or discover - an effective defense.

In this game's particular response to 6.d4, however, Black counter-attacks immediately, and with dire threats.

7.dxc5 

According to The Database, White scores 65% after 6...Qh4 which is encouraging, given that Stockfish 13 rates Black as more than 4 1/4 pawns better. 

Both resources give 7.0-0 as White's best option here, but as a measure of the practical complications that pile up, The Database has White scoring increasing to 82% with the move.

The Database shows that with 7.dxc5 White scores 33%  - but there is nothing to get worried about, yet. 

7...Qxe4+ 8.Be3 Nf6 

Black is suspicious: If White is okay with me taking the g-pawn, maybe I should not do that.

9.O-O Nc4 

This move is not bad, but it is important to point out that in the position the d7 blocks the Bishop, which hems in the Rook - a typical Jerome Gambit defender's error.

10.Nc3 Nxe3 11.fxe3 Qxe3+ 

Black grabs a pawn, and has another one (at c5) in his sights.

White is not about to give up, however.

12.Kh1 Re8 

Here is one reason why.

13.Nd5 Qxc5 

Grabbing a pawn and protecting the c7 square against White's threatened Knight fork there. The problem - of all things - is that it puts Black's Queen on the wrong side of White's Knight. Best was 13...Qe5, which would give White time to continue pressure with 14.Qd2 and 15.Rae1.

Yes, sometimes it is this hard to beat the Jerome Gambit.

14.Qh5+ Kg8  

The wrong square to retreat to, as White immediately shows. (14...Kf8 would still leave Black worse.)

15.Nxf6+ Black resigned

White threatens checkmate, and to stop that, Black will have to play 15...gxf6 and give up his Queen to 16.Qxc5.

Dzeromov Gambit

There is an old, but, sadly, true joke that goes this way

Question: If someone who speaks 3 languages is called trilingual, and someone who speaks 2 languages is called bilingual, what is someone who speaks 1 language called?

Answer: Someone from the United States

Truth is my junior high school / high school / college French language skills have atrophied, to the point where I do speak French like a Spanish cow.

Also, my American Sign Language skills have rusted to the point of manual mumbling.

So it is a bit unnerving - but hardly surprising - to wander back a half-dozen years in this blog and find a post where I was perplexed at a foreign (to me) language video analyzing the Jerome Gambit game Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1884 that referred to the "Zeromov Gambit". Who was Zeromov and what was that all about?

Unfortunately, the link from my post to that video no longer works, so I can not re-view it - but I think it might be this one.

The other day, however, I discovered an interesting video by Laufer on YouTube that explored the Jerome Gambit. It was titled "Dzeromov gambit - Super agresivno otvaranj". 

No excitement this time, I simply asked Google to translate for me, and of course it provided "Jerome's Gambit - Super Aggressive Opening".

Like they say, Oh well, whatever, nevermind.

Jerome Gambit: Again?

Here we go again?

Of course you are familiar with the following position

It is the Jerome Gambit. Perhap White is generously giving his opponent "Jerome Gambit odds".

And what about this position?

You might remember that this is from the game Vazquez - Giraudy, Mexico, 1876  (1-0, 18), where White is about to give his opponent Jerome Gambit and Rook odds.

Then there is this memorable position, where White appears to be doomed, but was actually quite lucky

While there is a mate-in-2 on the board (GeorgeCool - xadrezedificil, blitz, FICS, 2011), Black ran out of time and White had no mating material (!) so the game was declared a draw.

All of which leads us to the following position, where it appears that White has given both Jerome Gambit and Queen odds. Oh, my.

Here is how the game got there.

RonnitSonnit - NN

3 5 blitz, Chess.com, 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qf3+ Nxf3+ 7.gxf3 

It came with the following introduction

I am unsure if you are still accepting reader games being submitted but this game is a beauty. I was playing a series of blitz games with a friend and by game 11 I was looking to throw him off after several boring Berlin and Dragon games, so I employed the Jerome Gambit. What's special about this game is 6.Qf3+, a queen sacrifice with no immediate material or positional compensation, but awards White with a physiological advantage, a benefit of the Jerome. With him off his game due to the sheer randomness of the Jerome Gambit, I made it to the endgame with even material and finished him off with a nice passed pawn to queen/king checkmate

You might want to refer to White's 6th move as a "blunder". I am inclined to remember to the distinction: When your opponent gains material, it is a "sacrifice" if you win, and a "blunder" when you lose.

Also, keep in mind GeorgeCool - xadrezedificil, 2011, above.

7...Qh4 8.Rf1 Qh5 9.d3 Ne7 10.Be3 Bxe3 11.fxe3 Rg8 12.Rh1 g5

13.Nd2 d5 14.O-O-O Qh6 15.exd5 Qf6 16.e4 Kg7 17.Rhg1 h5 18.h4 g4 19.fxg4 hxg4 20.Kb1 Qf2 

21.Rh1 a5 22.Nc4 Qf6 23.Rdf1 Qd4 24.Rd1 b5 25.Na3 Rb8 26.c3 Qe3 27.Nc2 Qc5 28.a3 Qb6 29.h5 g3 30.Rd2 Rb7 31.Rg2 Qd6

Give White credit, he plays along and refuses to panic.

32.Nd4 Bg4 33.Rhg1 Kf7 34.Rxg3 Qf4 35.h6 Nxd5?

One use for extra material is to give some of it back to break down the enemy fortress.

36.h7 Re8 37.Rxg4 Nxc3+? 38.bxc3 Qf6 

Black has a Queen for a Knight and a couple of pawns, but White's threats make the game even. Quite Jerome-ish.

39.Rg5 c5 40.Nf5 Rd7? 41.Rg7+ Ke6 42.R1g6 Rxg7 43.Nxg7+ Kf7 44.Rxf6+ Kxg7 

Things are looking up for White. You might even say that he is winning.

45.Rc6 c4 46.dxc4 Re7 47.cxb5 Kxh7 48.Ra6 Rxe4 49.Rxa5 Rf4 50.Ra7+ Kh8

51.b6 Rf1+ 52.Kc2 Rf2+ 53.Kb3 Rf3 54.b7 Rf8 55.Ra8 Kg7 56.Rxf8 Kxf8 57.b8=Q+ Kg7 58.Kc4 Kf7 59.Kd5 Kg7 60.Ke6 Kh6 61.Qg3 Kh7 62.Kf7 Kh8 63.Qh3 checkmate