Jerome Gambit: Overwhelmed

In the Jerome Gambit, White hopes to quickly overwhelm his opponent with a winning attack on the King.

If the first player is not careful, he can find himself the victim of an attack, as the following game shows.

NB_Chess44 - Mnakib90

10 0 rapid, lichess.org, 2024

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6 

Here we have a typical Jerome Gambit position, as old as Charlick - Mann, correspondence, 1881 (1-0, 72).

The Database has 1,044 examples, with White scoring 63% - despite Stockfish 16.1 rating the position (32 ply) as almost 1 2/3 pawns better for Black.  

10.f4 Ng4 

It is always tempting to attack the Queen.

11.Qf3 

I suspect that White avoided 11.Qg3 because of 11...Qh4 12.Qxh4 Nxh4 but, after 13.O-O that would have been better than the text. 

11...Qh4+ 12.g3 Qh3 

13.Nc3 

Black's Queen is up to no good, and White needed to address that immediately with 13.Qf1, even though exchanging Queens would reduce his attacking chances.

13...Rf8 

This move is good, but 13...Nxf4!? would cause even more problems after 14.Qxf4 Rf8. 

14.d4 Nh4 White resigned

Black's force on the Kingside is overwhelming, and he will break through, e.g

If 15.Qe2, then 15...Ng2+ 16.Kd2 Nxf4 17.gxf4 Rxf4.

Or 15.Qf1 Ng2+ 16.Ke2 g5.

Jerome Gambit: I'm Not Supposed to Win Stuff Back

The TikTok video "Jerome Gambit in 8 Moves" by OffbeatGambits presents Eric Rosen playing a Jerome Gambit, 

The point is that I win stuff back, kind of... I'm not supposed to win stuff back, but... Wow, I won in 8 moves in the Jerome...

The game was previously shown in the blog post which featured Eric's "Winning as Quickly as Possible with TRICKY Gambits".

For that matter, "Jerome Gambit: Gambit Duel (Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4)" showed Eric defending against the Jerome.

Fun stuff.

Jerome Gambit: Ever Wins

 

The YouTube video, THE INSANE JEROME GAMBIT EVER WINS, by Cortez Chess, is less than a minute in length, but ends with a video clip that humorously illustrates how someone feels after losing to 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+.

Have a look.

Jerome Gambit: A Bit of A Puzzlement

I can figure out some Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) games, but certainly not all of them.

The following game is a bit of a puzzlement, especially the end.

Perhaps a Reader can explain it.

Robov - sajadbahar

15 10 rapid, lichess.org, 2023

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.f4 g6

White should have been happy with this move. There are 174 games with it in The Database. White scores 75%. 

8.Qxe5+ Kf7 9.Qxh8

Capturing the Rook is not much weaker or stronger than capturing the Bishop. 

9...Qh4+ 10.g3 Qh3 11.Qc3 

Pulling the Queen back. Later in the year, Robov tried 11.d4 Qg2 12.Rf1 Bb4+ 13.c3 Qxe4+ 14.Kd1 Qd3+ 15.Bd2 Qxf1+ 16.Kc2 Bf8 17.Qxh7+ Bg7 18.Qh4 d5 19.Qg5 Bf5+ 20.Kb3 Qf2 21.g4 Bxb1 22.Qxd5+ Kf8 23.Qc5+ Ne7 24.Rxb1 Qxd2 25.Rf1 Qg2 26.f5 Qxf1 27.fxg6 c6 28.h4 Qb5+ 29.Qxb5 cxb5 White resigned, Robov - Omgl, lichess.org, 2023. 

White's best move here might have been the novelty 11.f5!?, hoping to open the f-file against the enemy King. That would have convinced Stockfish 16.1 that the first player was better, while the text move supports the second player. 

11...Qg2 

Black's Queen slips behind enemy lines.

12.Qc4+ 

Rolling the dice, as the alternative, 12.Rf1 Qxe4+ 13.Kd1 d5 is clearly worse for him. 

12...Ke8

In turn, Black falters. With the thematic 12...d5 he could have stayed on top. 

However, here White resigned. This was unfortunate, as he had the obvious 13.Qxg8+, or 13.Rf1 d6 14.Qxg8+, or even 13.Qf1 Qxe4+ 14.Qe2, in each case with advantage.

Mephisto Polgar

The Mephisto Polgar chess computer (1980s-90s) had a program written by Ed Schroeder. It was one of the strongest 8-bit chess programs available at the time. It played at about a 2200 USCF rating.

However, as we saw in the previous post, it had trouble with the human’s Krejcik Gambit. Like many early chess computers, it tended to grab material, despite the risk (which it may not have seen), and it would occasionally “develop” its King into danger.

It’s “intuition” in taking the e-pawn was correct, as evidenced by the evaluation of the line in the 1982 Batsford Chess Openings (“winning advantage” for Black) and the 1985 Encyclopedia of Chess Openings (“decisive advantage” for Black).

Still, players interested in trying their luck, or in finding a speed surprise, or in simply enjoying the chaos, might check out the YouTube video “Attacking Chess Gambit - 10 (Krejcik Gambit)” by GJ_Chess.

By the way, I have found 43 blitz and bullet games played online by Boterhoofd (rated 2000+, mostly 2200+) scoring 66%. Impressive.

Josef Krejcik

Chessfriend and blog contributor Yury V. Bukayev recently asked

Could you remember, please, if it is not so difficult, does any chess engine with the following "style" of play exist? Thus, this "style" is to get a maximum possible material without care of its own King. Have you ever met such chess program (without the word "bot" in its name, preferably)? 

While I was searching, Yury added

Thank you! These hours I have found such one (I have checked first two games in this database, the first of them is Jeromeish!):  https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=177398 ! Probably, it is not bad to play JG against such style. The next question for me is: where is it available for free playing? 

The game mentioned at ChessGames.com is 

R Arnold vs Mephisto Polgar (computer), offhand game, 1990

Alekhine Defense: Krejcik Variation. Krejcik Gambit

1.e4 Nf6 2.Bc4 Nxe4 3.Bxf7+ Kxf7 4.Qh5+ Kf6 5.Qf3+ Ke5 6.d4+ Kxd4 7.Ne2+ Ke5 8.Bf4+ Ke6 9.Nd4+ Kd5 10.Nc3+ Kxd4 11.Qxe4+ Kc5 12.Be3+ Kd6 13.O-O-O#

The Krejcik mentioned is Josef Krejcik (1885 - 1957), an Austrian chess master known for his chess writing, including three books.

The sacrificial attack can be drawn from one of Krejcik's games

Krejcik - Gottleib, Germany, 1922 

1.e4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d6 3.Bc4 Nxe4 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe4 e5 6.Qf3+ Kg8 7.Qb3+ Be6 8.Qxe6# 

See also "I Want My Jerome Gambit!", "Another Krejcik" and "Jerome Gambit Inspired Play (Parts 2 and 6)"

Yury suggested that the Mephisto Polgar computer would fit his criteria, and we will look at that tomorrow.

Merry Christmas

 

Merry Christmas!

May all your sacrifices be accepted, and all of your plans fulfilled.

Best wishes,

Rick