Jerome Gambit: Against the Barbarian

In the following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game, SkillerEP fights a barbarian, successfully wielding the opening as a weapon. 

SkillerEP - Barbarian123VA

30 0 classical, 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...d6 

Blackburne's Defense, made famous by the game Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1885. See "Flaws (Part I) and Flaws (Part II)".

Another path was 7...d5 8.Qxh8 Qh4 (8...c6 9.Qxh7+ Kf8 10.Qxg6 dxe4 11.O-O Black resigned, Pauze - BountoulisPaschalis, lichess.org, 2021) 9.O-O Bd7 (9...Bh3 10.d4 Nf6 11.Qxa8 Qg4 12.g3 Qf3 White resigned, MSMDOIPE - Rishigayle, lichess.org, 2021) 10.d4 Nf6 11.Qxa8 Black resigned, neelnikhar - GDC_baonam2009, lichess.org, 2022 

Likely strongest was Whistler's move, 7...Qe7, against which capturing Black's Rook would be too dangerous. 

8.Qxh8 

In this line, if White knows what he is doing, he can take the material and survive.

8...d5 

In many situations. ...d7-d5 is the best idea.

Here, however, 8...Qh4 was the move, with the possible followup 9.d4 Nf6 10.Nd2 Bxd4 11.O-O Qxf2+ 12.Kxh2 Ng4+ 13.Kg1 Bxh8 although Black has only the two Bishops as compensation for the exchange.

9.d4 

Or 9.Qxh7+ Kf6 (9...Kf8 10.Qxg6 dxe4 11.Qxe4 Nf6 12.Qe2 Bg4 13.f3 Bf5 14.d3 Nd5 15.Nc3 Nxc3 16.bxc3 Qh4+ 17.g3 Qf6 18.Kd2 Re8 19.Qg2 Be3+ 20.Kd1 Qxc3 21.Rb1 Bxd3 22.Bxe3 Bxc2+ 23.Qxc2 Rd8+ 24.Kc1 Qxe3+ 25.Kb2 Qd4+ 26.Qc3 Qf2+ 27.Ka1 Qxf3 28.Rhf1 Black resigned, perrypawnpusher - sarenn, 5 12 blitz, FICS, 2010) 10.e5+ Kf5 11.O-O Kxe5 12.Qxg6 Bf5 13.Re1+ Kd4 14.c3+ Kd3 15.Qxf5+ Black resigned, HadesNoir - Ingerboi, lichess.org, 2020.

9...Bf8 

Or 9...Bb6 10.Qxh7+ Ke6 11.Qxg6+ Ke7 12.Bg5+ Black resigned, Robov - abayode10, lichess.org, 2023 

10.Qxh7+ Bg7 11.e5 Be6 12.Nd2 Black resigned

White is up the exchange and three pawns. He should be able to grind out a win - as Black acknowledges.

Jerome Gambit: Rare Move, Indeed

According to The Database, White has played 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ in over 55,500 games.

Black has declined the Bishop in about 1,200 games - about 2% of the time.

In the following, older, game, Black's method is unusual enough - the move makes up 12% of the declined games, or about .3% of the Jerome Gambit games, in general. 

A comparatively rare move, indeed.

Wall, Bill - Guest28776850

internet, 2015

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Ke7 

The King would do better at f8.

5.Bxg8 Rxg8 6.d4 Black resigned

I suspect that has to be tied for Bill's shortest Jerome Gambit game.

If the game were to continue, Black would have to meet the threat of 7.Bg5+, to win the Queen. Either 6...h6, 6...g5 or 6...Kf8 would do that, leaving White to capture the Bishop at c5.

Back to Preschool

 

Today, I was back, again, at the very informal chess club that gathers at a local library.

A decade and a half earlier, in the post "A Return to Pre-School" I made the point

I think if the bodacious Blackmar Diemer Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxd4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3) can be referred to as a "high school for tactics" then the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) can at least be dubbed a "pre-school for tactics".

So, this afternoon, with a BDG* sharpened by my study of the "pre-school" that is the Jerome Gambit, I played sharp, sacrificial attacking chess, culminating in checkmating my opponent.

Then, I defended against the Grob opening (1.g4) and weasled my way through the game, grabbing pawns, until my opponent, totally unimpressed with my opening play (sound like some reactions to the Jerome Gambit?) hung a Rook... Not that he was intimidated or anything by my play - he made me play out my King + Queen vs his King endgame, just to see if I would slip into a stalemate.  

I didn't slip.

But I didn't get a Jerome Gambit today, either.

*- Checking my files, I note two Blackmar Diemer Gambits that I played 34  years ago, well before my interest in the Jerome Gambit. I lost both games.

 

Jerome Gambit: It'z PDV

If you were going to choose one game to illustrate the Jerome Gambit, which one would it be?

Of course, the Number 1 game filling that role appears to be
Amateur - Blackburne, London, 1885.

However It'z PDV's "#Guiccio piano: Jerome gambit" video shows something different.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5. Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6 

This position is as old as Jerome - Brownson, Iowa, 1875 (1-0, 28).

7.Qd5+ 

A gentle "nudge".

7...Kf6 

Instead, life is safer on the 8th rank.

8.d4 

Not the best move, but the double threat is irresistable. (I have reached this position in 5 games - Rick)

Black sees one of them.

8...Bb6 9.Bg5 checkmate

By the way, 9.Qg5+, which will win the Queen, is superficially attractive; but after 9...Kf7 10.Qxd8 White's Queen will be trapped and soon won. You will have to take my word for it, as there are no such games in The Database.

A Reversed Reversed Jerome Gambit?!

                                   

I really was going to give the Busch-Gass Gambit a rest, but I ran into a video by Chess Pro @ChessPro912 (see "Jerome Gambit: Chess Pro" for an earlier mention on this blog, concerning the video "Jerome's Gambit Magic: Make Your Opponents Disappear") tantalizingly titled "Discover the POWER of Busch-Gass Gambit!".

It featured a game that got me scratching my head, so I took a deeper look.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 

So far, as advertised: the Busch-Gass Gambit.

3.Bc4 Nf6 

As National Master Graif recommended, as I reported, in "Reversed Jerome Gambit (Part 3)"

4.d4 

Transposing to a Petroff Defense or Center Game. The position was seen as early as Puller, Arthur Giles - Horne, Benjamin Worthy, British Chess Association Congress, Cambridge, 1860 (1-0, 44)

4...exd4 5.c3 

Sharper was 5.e5.

5...Nxe4 6.Bxf7+ 

Stockfish 16.1 sees this move as about 1/2 pawn riskier for White than the Jerome Gambit.

Does White's Bishop sacrifice turn the game into a kind of reversed, reversed Jerome gambit?

6...Kxf7 7.Ne5+ Kg8 8.cxd4 

White does not have much for his sacrificed piece.

8...Qh4 

I suppose that Black hopes that this aggressive move ends the game quickly - and it does, but not in the expected manner.

9.O-O 

White is temporarily cowed, but this does not last long.

9...Bxd4

For the moment, both  players overlook the possibility of checkmate.

Necessary was the defensive withdrawal, 9...Qf6, for an even game.

10.Qb3+ 

Back on track.

10...d5 11.Qxd5+ Be6 12.Qxe6+ Kf8 13.Qf7 checkmate

Reversed Jerome Gambit (Part 3)

                                                             

[continued from the previous post]

Another look at the Busch-Gass Gambit (a sort of reversed Jerome Gambit): FIDE Master William Graif (The Gambit Man) has a lot of great educational videos: 

"Busch-Gass Gambit: The GREATEST Gambit Ever?!"

"The Busch-Gass Gambit Is UNDECLINABLE!" 

"Busch-Gass Gambit Repertoire"

"Destroying Busch-Gass Gambit Deniers: FULL REPERTOIRE"

"Stockfish LOSES ITS MIND versus my Busch-Gass Gambit"

"I BEAT MITTENS WITH THE BUSCH-GASS GAMBIT (unassisted, no cheating)"

"SPICY and NEW: Busch-Gass Gambit Lines with f5!?"

(I wondered, maybe, someday, FIDE Master Graif will make a Jerome Gambit video? Indeed, he already did!)

Reversed Jerome Gambit (Part 2)

 

[continued from the previous post]

The previous post looked at the Busch-Gass Gambit as a reversed Jerome Gambit.  The focus was on 3.Nxe5, which raised, for me, the questions

This is all well and good, but what about 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Bc4 Bxf2!?+ or 3.Nc3 Bxf2+?

Very well. 

The earliest game in The Database with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Bc4 Bxf2!? features a player at redhotpawn.com who I have referred to, earlier, as "the King of Bxf7+" because of his use of that Bishop sacrifice in many openings, including, but certainly not limited to, double e-pawn lines. 

Dick Tracy - viejoasquerosos

RedHotPawn.com, 2006

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Bc4 Bxf2+ 4.Kxf2 d6 5.c3 c6 6.d4 Nf6 7.Bg5 Nxe4+ 8.Ke3 Nxg5 9.Nxg5 Qxg5+ 10.Kf2 exd4 11.Re1+ Kd8 12.Kg1 d5 13.Qxd4 Bh3 14.g3 Nd7 15.Bd3 Kc7 16.a4 h5 17.Na3 h4 18.Qf4+ Qxf4 19.gxf4 f5 20.Re7 g5 21.Rf7 Rhf8 22.Rxf8 Rxf8 23.Re1 gxf4 24.b4 Rg8+ 25.Kh1 Bg2+ 0-1

The earliest 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Nc3 Bxf2+ game in The Database is

Vega3 - Kronos 

HCL-B1474, PlayChess.de, 2002

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Nc3 Bxf2+ 4.Kxf2 c6 5.Nxe5 Qf6+ 6.Qf3 Qxe5 7.d3 Qc5+ 8.Be3 Qe7 9.Ke2 Nf6 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bh4 d6 12.h3 Qe5 13.g4 g5 14.Bg3 Qe6 15.Kd2 Nbd7 16.Bg2 b5 17.a3 Bb7 18.Rhe1 O-O-O 19.Re2 h5 20.e5 dxe5 21.Qf5 Rde8 22.Rae1 hxg4 23.Qxe6 Rxe6 24.hxg4 Nxg4 25.Be4 Rf6 26.Bg2 Re6 27.Ne4 f6 28.Bf3 Nh6 29.b4 Nf5 30.Bg4 Nxg3 31.Nxg3 Rd6 32.Ne4 Rd4 33.Bxd7+ Kxd7 34.Nxf6+ Ke6 35.Ne4 Rg8 36.Nc5+ Kd5 37.Rxe5+ Kd6 38.Nxb7+ Kc7 39.Nc5 Rg4 40.Re7+ Kb6 1-0

There certainly must be earlier examples of reversed Jerome Gambits - and I will continue to search - but I have not yet found them.

(Of course, I then checked lichess.org. The site had 1.5 million games with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Bc4 Bxf2+. It had "only" 604,000 games with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Nc3 Bxf2+. Where to begin, where to begin...?)