Jerome Gambit: My Opponent Knows What He Is Doing (Part 1)

While it looks like I am headed for a 3rd place finish (out of 6) in the 3rd round of the "Italian Battleground" tournament at Chess.com, I will at least have some Jerome Gambit tales to tell from the experience.

I have already shared my 3rd round game perrypawnpusher - Abhishek29, "Italian Battleground", Chess.com, 2019 (1-0, 35) - my second win in this tournament against that opponent, having defeated him in in Round 1 - see perrypawnpusher - Abhishek29, "Italian Battleground", Chess.com, 2019 (1-0, 19).

The current game is a rematch with an opponent that I faced in Round 2 - see perrypawnpusher - warwar, "Italian Battleground", Chess.com, 2019 (1-0, 39). I was a bit concerned, the way "real" chessplayers are concerned about "real" chess openings: how much had he learned about the Jerome Gambit in the meantime?

It turned out to be an interesting battle between the "Jerome pawns" and the defender's extra piece, but, most of all, between someone who had prepared the opening and someone who had to improvise in the middlegame and endgame.

perrypawnpusher - warwar
"Italian Battleground", Chess.com, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

When the game was over, the Chess.com site offered to do a quick computer analysis. Not surprisingly, this move was labelled a blunder.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Kf8 

warwar adopts the Jerome Defense, first suggested by Alonzo Wheeler Jerome in his analysis in an article in the Dubuque Chess Journal of July, 1874. It was first played in Jaeger - Jerome, correspondence, 1880 (1-0, 40).

Interestingly enough, Abhishek29 was playing the same defense against me in the same round, too. My record, at that point, against the line was 25 - 6 - 3, a decent 78% score.

7.Qxe5 d6

As I wrote in the article that I had prepared for Kaissiber (unfortunately, never published)

The defenses 6…Kf8 and 6…Ng6 have had their supporters and detractors, depending on how each evaluated the alternatives – was it better to hold onto a little material and avoid complications, or to enter them confidently, knowing that they would turn the game even more in your favor? 

Jerome (DCJ 7/1874) first suggested 6…Kf8. He followed it with 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qf4+ Nf6 9.c3 Kf7 10.d4 Bb6 11.e5 dxe5 12.dxe5 Re8 13.0-0 Kg8 14.exf6 Qxf6 15.Qxf6 gxf6 16.Bh6 “and White has a pawn ahead.” (Actually, the game is even; but Jerome missed that earlier his 11.e5 was premature, as after the pawn exchange 12…Qd3 would be crushing – Paul Keiser, personal communication. The alternative 8…Ke8 was seen in 5 games in the Yetman – Farmer 2008 match.) 

As Sorensen (NS 5/1877) did not mention 6…Kf8, it was not touched upon by other writers until Freeborough and Rankin (COAM, 1889) suggested that it led to a safe game for Black, giving the line 7.Qxe5 Qe7 8.Qf5+ Ke8 9.Nc3 d6 10.Qf3 Qf7 (or 10...Nf6!) 11.Qe2 Nh6 (or 11...Ne7 or 11...Nf6) with “a superior position or game” to Black. 

A hundred years after Jerome, Harding, in his Counter Gambits (1974), varied, after 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qf4+ Nf6 with 9.d3 Kg8 10.Nc3 Qe8 11.Be3 Bb4 12.0-0 Be6 13.Ne2 Qh5 14.Nd4 Bd7 15.c3 Bc5, advantage to Black. His comment in The Italian Game (1977) was that after 7…d6, White was left “without genuine compensation for his piece.” He sagely recommended the 6…Kf8 line as “other lines would allow White to attack the exposed black king or to win back the sacrificed material.”

8.Qg3 

I experimented with Jerome's 8.Qf4+ in perrypawnpusher - Capt. Mandrake, Jerome Gambit 3 thematic tournament, ChessWorld.com, 2008 (1-0, 9) and perrypawnpusher - LeeBradbury, "Italian Game" Thematic, Chess.com, 2012 (1-0, 36).

I also tried 8.Qc3 in perrypawnpusher - Raankh, blitz, FICS, 2009 (0-1, 22).

There is not much difference in the strength between these two moves and the text, or even 8.Qh5, if Stockfish 9 is to be believed.

8...Nf6 9.Nc3 Kf7 

Abhishek29 chose 9...Be6 in our Round 3 game.

Years ago, perrypawnpusher - klixar, blitz, FICS, 2007 (1-0, 33) continued 9...Ng4.

perrypawnpusher - truuf, blitz, FICS, 2011 (0-1, 32) continued with the text move.

[to be continued]

BSJG: Warped Reality

Bullet chess - games played at a 1 minute, no increment, time control - warps reality. It is a challenge to the minds and nerves of those who play it. It doesn't always make sense. 

What to make of the following game? Black is "winning", right up to the point when he is checkmated by his lower-rated opponent.

angelcamina - Skhokho1507
1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+ 

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke6 6.Qh5 

White's strongest move here is 6.c3, but any Queen move has to be scary for Black, and takes up thinking time to figure out how to deal with it.

6...Qf6 7.Qe8+ Be7 8.Qh5 

I don't know if White has achieved anything on the board with his Queen moves, but I am sure that he has made progress on his opponent's clock.

Now Black goes after more material - which is fine, as long as he is careful.

8...Nxc2+ 9.Kd1 Nxa1 10.f4 Qxf4 11.Nd3 

11...Qf6 12.Qd5 checkmate

*Ouch*

Jerome Gambit: Outrunning the Predator

There is that old joke about two men walking in a forest, when they are suddenly spotted by a large predator. One of the guys starts to change into his running shoes. "You'll never outrun that beast," says his friend. "I don't have to," says the first guy, "I just have to outrun you."

And so it is with the chess clock, especially at short time controls, such as 1 minute, with no increment, as is the case in the following game. Black not only has to defend against the Jerome Gambit, he has to outrun White when it comes to the predator clock. 


angelcamina - pippol7
1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019

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 Qe7 

Black is doing well, so far.

10.Nc3 Nf6 11.O-O Kf7 12.d4 Re8 13.f3 Kg8

14.Qf2 Qf7 15.Bg5 Ne7 16.Rae1 Qg6 

17.Bc1 Nh5 18.f4 Nc6 19.f5 Qf7 20.Qf3 Nf6 21.Bf4 Qc4 

Black is still doing well - but at what cost? The game now becomes a scramble to beat the clock.

22.e5 dxe5 23.dxe5 Nd7 24.f6 g6 25.Bd2 Ncxe5 26.Qd5+ Qxd5 27.Nxd5 Nf7 

The advantage has gone back and forth, but here Black hands his opponent a checkmate in 3 moves. White, however, doesn't need it.

28.Ne7+ Rxe7 29.fxe7 Black lost on time

Jerome Gambit: In the Meantime

When the third round games in the "Italian Battleground" tournament at Chess.com began to wind down (two left to complete, one a Jerome Gambit) I went looking for action in the "Italian Game Classic" tournament on the same site.

Round 1, Group 2 matched me with 4 other players - and I was able to construct a Jerome. I admit that I benefitted from giving "Jerome Gambit odds", as well as from my opponent's quick moves, despite the 3 days/move time control. Still, the game had its moments, especially the "throw in the kitchen sink" ending.  

perrypawnpusher - Al-der
Italian Game Classic, Chess.com, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Kf8 

As I posted about this move, some time ago

As early as his first article with analysis (Dubuque Chess Journal 4/1874), Alonzo Wheeler Jerome considered the possibility that Black might refuse to capture the second piece, and play for King safety instead with 5...Kf8.  

This was, in fact, the defense that Jerome, himself, credited to G. J. Dougherty, ("a strong amateur, against whom I first played the opening") of Mineola, New York, in a yet unfound game; that O.A. Brownson, editor of the Dubuque Chess Journal, played against Jerome in an 1875 game (Dubuque Chess Journal3/1875); that magazine editor William Hallock used against D.P. Norton in an 1876 correspondence game played “by special request” to test the gambit (American Chess Journal 2/1877); that William Carrington tried in his 1876 match vs Mexican Champion Andres Clemente Vazquez (Algunas Partidas de Ajedrez Jugadas en Mexico, 1879); and which Lt. Soren Anton Sorensen recommended as “more solid and easier to manage” in his seminal Jerome Gambit essay (Nordisk Skaktidende 5/1877). 

As I noted: early in the Jerome's Gambit's life, there were players willing to accept one "gift", but who were skeptical of accepting two "gifts".

6.Nxc6

Probably the strongest move, although Bill Wall has experimented with 6.0-0!?, intending to meet 6...Nxe5 with 7.d4.

The Banks Variation, 6.Qh5!?, has scored 18-20-1, but is well met by 6...Qe7!?. See "Jerome Gambit Secrets #4".

6...dxc6

The better pawn capture, as 6...bxc6 would allow 7.d4, right away.

7.O-O

I considered both this move and 7.d3, and decided that castling was going to be necessary, in any event, while, perhaps, it wasn't yet time to give up on the opportunity to play d2-d4. My judgement was almost immediately rewarded.

7...Qh4 8.d4 Bg4 

Played quickly, probably with the idea that you don't always have to defend against an opponent's threat if you can come up with a greater threat. In this case, however, Black has overlooked a resource that White has.

9.f3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3+ Qf6 11.Qd3 

Black's game has come off the rails, quickly.

11...Qxf1+ 12.Kxf1 Rd8 13.Qf3+ Ke8 14.dxc5 Ne7

White has a Queen, Bishop and pawn for a Rook, but he still needs to be careful.

15.Kg1 Rf8 16.Qe2 Ng6 17.Nc3 b5 18.Bg5 Rd7 19.Rd1 Ne5

White's pieces are developed. Now it is time to put them to use: nothing subtle, just throw the pieces at him, especially the Queen and Bishop.

20.Qh5+ g6 21.Qh3 Rff7 22.Qe6+ Kf8 23.Bh6+ Rg7 24.Rf1+ Rdf7 25.Qc8+ Ke7 26.Bg5+ Black resigned

The finish would have been 26...Rf6 27.Bxf6+ Kf7 28.Bg5+ Nf3+ 29.Rxf3 checkmate.

Jerome Gambit: The Smallest Piece

Gerald Abrahams wrote in The Chess Mind that the smallest piece of a chess game was not a move, but an idea.

Bullet chess - in this case, a time limit of one minute with no increment - is all about looking at a position and getting an idea - quickly. The more you think on any one move, the less time you will have, on average, for every other move.

The Jerome Gambit is a wonderful playground for such a situation, as the following game by Angel Camiña shows.

angelcamina - pippol7
10 bullet, lichess.org, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+

The Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit.

5...Kxf7 6.Nxe5+ Nxe5 7.d4 Bxd4 8.Qxd4 Qe7 

It's time for White to go to work.

9.O-O d6 10.f4 Nc6 11.Qc4+ Be6 12.Qe2 Rhe8 13.e5 dxe5 14.fxe5 Kg8 

Black castles-by-hand, safeguarding his King, but overlooking 14...Qc5+ which would have allowed him to capture the offending pawn on the next move. With only a second or two of time for each move, a player misses things - that's part of the excitment of bullet.

15.exf6 gxf6 16.Qf2 Rf8 17.Qg3+ Kh8 18.Bf4 Rg8 19.Qf2 Ne5

20.Rae1 Ng4 21.Qd4 Rad8 22.Qe4 f5 

A slip. Curiously, the right move was again 13...Qc5+.

23.Qxe6 Qxe6 24.Rxe6 

White is now a piece up, but the clock is making its demand: move, move, move...

24...Rd5 25.g3 Rc5 26.h3 Ne5 27.Bxe5+ Rxe5 28.Rxe5 Kg7 29.Rexf5 Kg6 30.h4 Black lost on time

BSJG: Counter-Surprise

When you play bullet chess - say, with a time limit of one minute, no increment - the element of surprise can be an effective weapon. I mean, say, what if you are planning on playing an Evans Gambit as White, but your opponent switches things up with an unusual counter-gambit?

This might have been what happened in Angel Camiña's recent lichess.org 1 0 game - except that he probably was planning on playing the Jerome Gambit, and he also had his own counter- surprise.

angelcamina - umutkaraca09
1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit. Blackburne might have played the opening, but I haven't found any of his games with it. (Black whispers: take the pawn, take the pawn, take the pawn...)

4.Bxf7+

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit. I haven't found any games with it played by Alonzo Wheeler Jerome, but you know he would have loved to give it a try. (Black face palms and whispers: not that pawn...)

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8 6.Qh5+ Ke7

7.Qf7+ Kd6 8.Nc4+ Kc6 9.Qd5 checkmate

(Black: Ouch)

Jerome Gambit: Take the Half-Point (Part 2)

[continued from previous post]

perrypawnpusher- Abhishek29

"Italian Battleground" Chess.com, 2019

It's time to get the "Jerome pawns" moving - carefully.

19.f5 Bd7 20.Rf4

To protect the e-pawn, so I can play d2-d4.

20...Rf7 21.d4 Nb3 22.f6 

Or 22.e5. The text gains in strength after Blacks reply.

22...g6

A double-edged move. It blunts White's Queen's pressure along the g-file. On the other hand, it allows White's pawn to become passed, and weakens the dark squares around the King. The pawn on g6 calls out for White to advance his h-pawn, although that is not something I considered during the game.

23.e5 dxe5 24.Rxe5 

Normally, I would recapture with the pawn, giving myself advanced, connected passed pawns, but they looked like they could be easily blockaded (e.g. ...Nc5, ...Nd6) and my opponent already had shown that he was a knowledgeable chess player - that tool was likely in his toolbox. Instead, I worked to "advance" my f-pawn to e7, even though it would probably never move further. (Keeping the pawn at d4 also meant that Black's Knight would have to take a longer path back to the Kingside.)

24...Qf8 25.Re7 Re8 26.Rfe4 Rexe7 27.Rxe7 

I was pretty sure that exchanging Rooks in this position, especially given the Bishops of opposite colors and the slightly exposed Kings, would cause one of us to seek a draw by repetition of position. I would have been happy with a draw.

However, I suspected that my opponent would not be happy to split the point against a refuted opening (one that he had already lost to in the tournament). He would want to avoid the draw. A subtle psychological point, but, still...

27...c5 28.Qd6 

There are now too many things "loose" in Black's position.

28...Bc6

Can Black survive after 28...Rxe7 29.fxe7 Qe8 30.Qd5+ Kg7 31.Qxb3 - ? That is what he needed to find out.

29.Qe6 cxd4 30.Bh6 

I originally planned to snatch the Knight with 30.Qxb3, but got distracted when I saw the text move. Of course, I could have captured first, then offered the piece, as that would have been even stronger. 

30...Nc5

Well, that was annoying, why did I let that piece survive? I ran my Queen away as far she could go on the diagonal.

31.Qa2 Qxe7

Unfortunate. Capturing the Bishop allows 32..Qxf7+ with mate coming quickly.

32.fxe7 dxc3 33.Qd5 

The more you look at this move, the less powerful it appears. Black's pieces are just unfortunately placed.

33...Bxd5 34.e8=Q+ Rf8 35.Qxf8 checkmate

Like I say, in the Jerome Gambit, Black wins by force, White wins by farce. My opponent deserved better in this game.