Jerome Gambit: Running the Maze

Facing (or playing) the Jerome Gambit - or similar sacrificial attacks - at bullet speed, is a lot like running a maze.

Something angelcamina does well, again and again.

angel_camina - Dr-HatimBT

1 1 bullet, Chess.com, 2026

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bb4 

I am not sure what Black is getting at with this move. If 4.c3 Ba4 5.d4 exd4 6.0-0 Bb6 7.cxd4 d6 8.Nc3 Nf6 White is better.

4.Bxf7+ 

Jerome-izing the game. angelcamina has over 1,700 games in The Database.

The Database has only one other game with this position, a bullet game where Black was better the whole game - but lost on time.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

The text move is good, although 6...Ng6 is better. 

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Ne7 

Black kicks the enemy Queen. He could have explored exchanging it with 8...Qh4+ 9.g3 Qf6, a familiar Jerome Gambit motif. 

9.Qxe5+ Kc6 

10.c3 Bd6 11.Qd4 

Where else to go? Maybe 11.Qh5. 

11...b6 12.e5 Bc5 13.Qe4+ 

13...Kb5 

The clock is ticking. Possibly Black missed the best move, 13...d5, because of concern about the possibility 14.exd6+ Nd5 15.c4, attacking the pinned piece. If so, the riposte 15...Re8 is sufficient. 

After the text, White can grab a Rook - and also endanger the enemy King.

14.Qxa8 Ka5 

If you run in a maze, there is a chance that you will run into a wall. 

Black's King looks at risk. Black is down material. White can choose how to proceed.

15.b4+ Bxb4 16.cxb4+ Kxb4 17.Qe4+ Ka5 18.Nc3 Ka6 19.O-O Bb7 

Unfortunate. It happens in bullet chess.

20.Qa4 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: Danil Li

My "Google Alerts" found a 2026 chess video by young Danil Li (one his many videos) that proclaimed The Jerome Gambit is one of the wildest openings in chess  

Agreed.

In the following bullet game, Danil finishes his opponent quickly:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.Qf5+ Kd6 

This position is at least as old as Tonetti - Ruggieri, Rome, 1863 (1-0, 23)

8.f4 

Alonzo Wheeler Jerome started 10 of his games this way.

8...g6 

Kicking the White Queen. 

If I were to say that I won from this position in games lasting 17 and 38 moves, and drew one game in 59 - I would also have to point out that in this game Danil concludes his contest quicker.

9.Qxe5+ Kc6 10.Qd5+ Kb6 11.d4 

11...Bb4+ 12.c3 Ba5 

A slip. The Bishop needed to go to f8.

13.b4 Qf6 14.Qxa5+ Kc6 15.Qc5 checkmate

Well done!

If You Are Going to Cross the Stream...

If you are going to cross the stream, it helps to know where the rocks are.

In the following game, angel_camina walks steadily, while his opponent eventually loses his footing and falls into the drink.

angel_camina - p0hanghang

1 1 bullet, Chess.com, 2026

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ 

Quoting from an earlier post, "Not Regarded to Be A Very Good Move (Part 1)"

The Bishop sacrifice goes by different names.

It has been referred to as the Noa Gambit. Charles Thomsas Blanshard, in his Examples of Chess Master-Play (1894) said of 5.Bxf7+ "The text move, a hobby of Dr. Noa, develops Black's game." See Noa,J - Makovetz,G, DSB-07 Kongress, Dresden, 1892 (0-1, 27).

It has also been called the Monck Gambit. In Pollock Memories: A Collection of Chess Games, Problems, &c., &c., Including His Matches with Eugene Delmar, Jackson Showalter, and G.H.D. Gossip (1899), William Henry Krause Pollock gave a crushing 19-move miniature ending in checkmate as "[A] very fine example, known in Dublin years ago as the 'Monck Gambit' ." 

More recently, Rev. Tim Sawyer, of Blackmar Diemer Gambit fame, applied the very apt name "Open Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit".

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe4 d5 7.Neg5+ 

According to The Database, angelcamina has a win with 7.Nc3 and one with 7.Ng3.

He is 12 - 0 with 7.Neg5+.

Playing bullet chess against angelcamina is slippery business.

7...Kg8 8.d4 h6 9.Nh3 Bxh3 10.gxh3 e4 

So far, Black can be happy with his game - but, with his clock? I wonder.

11.Ne5 Nxe5 12.dxe5 c6 13.Rg1 Kh7 14.Qg4 Rg8 

The threat is not to g7, but to g6, as White quickly shows. The loss of time is critical.

15.Qg6+ Kh8 16.Bxh6 Qe7 17.Bg5 Qxe5 

When short on time, grab material.

Not this time.

18.Qh5 checkmate

Jerome Gambit: The Anti-Bill Wall Gambit, Return to Discussion (Part 2)

                                                        

A few years ago, chessfriend Dan Middlemiss sent me some Anti-Bill Wall Gambit games featuring the unusual line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Bf2+ [Updates are in Blue]

At the time, his collection raised the number of Anti-Bill Wall Gambit games in The Database to 30. [Currently there are 73.]

Dan pointed out that after 8.Kxf2 Nc6 Black seems to do well. In fact, Black won 6 of 9 games. [Currently Black has won 9 out of 18 games]

Quoting further from the earlier post

That got me thinking.

The solution for White is hidden in a couple of those losses: 9.d4.

It is clear that the d-pawn can not be taken, e.g. 9.d4 Nxd4  10.Qd5+ followed by 11.Qxd4; although 9.d4 Nxd4 10.Rd1 is interesting as well. None of this has shown up in practice [currently there are still none]

Black can focus on ejecting White's queen. So 9.d4 Nf6 [still no games], although 10.d5+ Ke7 11.Qf3 can lead to a goofy rook sacrifice, 11...Nb4 12.e5 Nfxd5 13.c4 Nc2 14.cxd5 Nxa1 15.f5 and the menacing pawns + the queen give White a clear advantage.

So maybe 9.d4 g6 is the better idea to deal with White's Queen [still no games]. Still, weirdness abounds: 10.d5+ Kf7 11.Qf3 Nce7 12.Rf1 d6 13.Kg1.

The two games I have with 9.d4 were answered 9...d5  (reasonable) and 9...Ke7 (likewise). [Nothing has changed]

Stockfish 15 recommends meeting 9...d5 with 15: 10.Nc3 Nf6 11.exd5+ Kd6 12.Qg5 Ne7 13.Re1 b6 14.Bd2 Nfxd5 15.Qe5+  Kc6 16.Nxd5 Nxd5 17.Qe4 Ba6 18.c4 Bxc4 19.Rac1 Kb7 20.Rxc4 and White is a bit better.

Likewise, the computer recommends meeting 9...Ke7 with 10.d5 Nb4 11.Qd1 Kf7 12.a3 Na6 13.Rf1 d6 14.Kg1, again with a small plus for White. 

Jerome Gambit: The Anti-Bill Wall Gambit, Return to Discussion (Part 1)

Some lines of play in the Jeorme Gambit get me thinking, and researching, and looking up blog posts.

sub_nishanth - dzikasarna

3  blitz, lichess.org, 2025

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 

7.f4 Bf2+ 

The Anti-Bill Wall Gambit, also seen in "Jerome Gambit: A Cautionary Tale" and "Jerome Gambit: Another Reason".

8.Kxf2 

The Database does not have any games where White declines the Bishop.

8...Nf7 

8...g6 was seen in Wall,B - Buster, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 11); 

8...Ng6 was seen in Wall,B - Equa, Chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 14);  Wall,B - Kumar, SparkChess, 2024 (1-0, 22); and Wall,B - Kumar, SparkChess, 2024 (1-0, 12)  

9.Re1 Nf6 

10.Qh3+ Ke7 11.e5 Nd5 12.f5 d6 13.e6

The "Jerome pawns" are making a problem for the defender.

The question is, what should Black do now?

Stockfish 17.1 (35 ply) suggests 13...Ng5 14.Qg3 h6 15.Nc3 Nxc3 16.Qxc3 Qf8 17.Kg1 c6 when it evaluates White's position as almost 1 1/2 pawns better. If White tries the logical 18.h4, though, Black can sacrifice his Knight, and with 18...Nxe6 19.fxe6 Qf6 20.d4 Rf8 21.Be3 Bxe6 the position is a material-even mess.

13....Nh6 

Avoiding complications - and time may have been a factor, here - but settling for a worse position. 

14.d4 Rf8 15.Bg5+ 

15...Ke8 

Definitely looks like time trouble.

16.Bxd8 Kxd8 17.c4 Nf4 18.e7+ Black resigned

The loss of material will be too large.

Jerome Gambit: Viewership

 

A quick look at statistics from Blogger gives a list of the countries with 

top viewership numbers for this blog:

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Singapore                 609K

Brazil                        262K

Hong Kong               197K

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France                       146K

Russia                       113K

Germany                   100K

United Kingdom        80.3K

Canada                       64.2K

Iraq                            51.9K

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Other                        838K

It is interesting to compare this list with one from the end of 2010 - early in the life of this blog. See "A World-Wide Phenomenon"

LESS

Quick Tournament Update

 

My tournaments (current, recent) where I have tried to play the Jerome Gambit as often as possible:

The Italian Game - waiting for Round 2 to start

Wal2010's 3rd Thematic Tournament: Community Poll Winner Italian Game - waiting for Round 2 to start

Not only the Italians plays the Italian game - waiting for Round 3 to start

BISHOP'S OPENING CUP 2025 - waiting for Round 3 to start

6th Thematic Quick Knockouts: Italian Game (1401-1600) - eliminated

Italian game - eliminated