Jerome Gambit: Running With Scissors

Adults know that it is not safe to run while holding scissors. You might fall and hurt yourself.

Yet, some of us, in a hurry, still do that.

That was my first thought when looking over the following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game. Every Russian school boy knows that you don't capture the h8 Rook when playing against Whistler's Defense. 

But, still...

Carllll - Pova_Vutin

1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2022

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 Qe7

Whistler's defense, referring to Alonzo Wheeler Jerome's correspondence match with Lt. G. N. Whistler, secretary of the Lexington, Kentucky Chess Club, was seen in Jerome - Whistler, correspondence, 1876 (0-1, 15).

8.Qxh8 

As I recently wrote in "Jerome Gambit: Still, Advancing... (Part 1)"

Capturing the Rook is objectively dangerous (because of the counter-attack 8...Qxe4+) but the play can be complicated.

The complications complicate the problem: according to The Database, in 637 games with this capture of the Rook, White scored a surprising 62%. 

Materially, White is up the exchange and a pawn, but Stockfish 15 evaluates him as almost a Queen down.

Is it wise to go into a "bad" variation, if you believe you can benefit from the complications?

The same question, of course, can be applied to the Jerome Gambit itself.

More sedate is the alternative 8.Qf4+. 

8...Qxe4+ 

The Database points out that in 75% of the games, Black makes this powerful move.

If you are playing White and hoping that Black does not play 8...Qxe4+, your odds are better than drawing to an inside straight in poker - but still not good.

In the games that I have found played by Alonzo Wheeler Jerome against the defense, he has a draw and two losses. There is an indication that he lost more games to Whistler, that have not yet been discovered.

9.Kf1 Nf6 10.Nc3 Qxc2 11.g3 Qd3+ 12.Kg2 b6 

The danger to both White's King and Queen is paramount.

White will have to either give up his Queen or be checkmated.

13.Rf1 Bb7+ 14.Kg1 Rxh8 White resigned

Do JEt-set ROnaldo and MEssi Want to Promote the JE-RO-ME Chess Drawn Final? (Part 1)

 

Do JEt-set ROnaldo and MEssi Want to Promote  

the JE-RO-ME Chess Drawn Final? (Part 1) 

  

(by Yury V. Bukayev) 

 

 

Very often current world news can be used to create new ideas. Thus, recently two jet-set football superstars Lionel (Leo) Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have promoted together the drawn final of the game WCC Top GM Magnus Carlsen vs Top GM Hikaru Nakamura (a draw by a perpetual check, https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1877676 ), and there have been superstar comments after it. I have created the following new idea, it is for them, first of all, and it uses the certain final of the Jerome gambit (JG) battle. 

 

The part 10 of my analytical research ‘JG: The New in Its Opening Theory, in Its Psychology’ (its parts 1-11 were published on Rick Kennedy’s blog in 2020-2022) on the standard line of JG contains the following new theoretical way: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qh3+! Ke7! 8.Qc3! Bxf2+! 9.Kxf2! Qf8+! 10.Ke1! Qf4! 11.Qb4+! Kd8!? 12.Rf1!? c5! 13.Qxc5! Qxe4+! 14.Kd1! Qg4+! 15.Rf3! Nxf3!? 16.Qf8+! Kc7 17.Qc5+! Kd8 18.Qf8+!. Please, look at the diagram.

We have a draw this moment of the perpetual check or as a result of the end of the perpetual check after 18…Kc7 19.Qc5+! Kd8. This variation (15…Nxf3) was named as ‘the War’s Stop First Variation’.  

 

Thus, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo can promote this Jerome gambit’s drawn final analogously to that their promotion. Why will everyone be able to understand their choice of the Jerome gambit as a chess opening? Firstly, “JE” means “jet-set”, “RO” means “Ronaldo”, “ME” means “Messi”, and we get “JE-RO-ME”. Secondly, Mr. Ronaldo and Mr. Messi are chess beginners, and my other analytical research ‘Was H.Nakamura Right? Is JG ‘Unbreakable’, Is EG ‘Legendary’ For Beginners’ Games?’ (its part 1 was published on Rick Kennedy’s blog in 2022) proves first that the standard line of the Jerome gambit can be extremely effective for chess beginners’ practice (due to the First Golden Beginner’s Trap), much more than a lot of other opening systems including 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 of that Carlsen – Nakamura game. Thirdly, Mr. Ronaldo as White (who has said about his checkmate there) will be able to say legally about his possible immediate checkmate here: 18…Kc7 19.Qc5+! Kb8?? 20.Qd6!#. 

 

Do they want to promote it? Unfortunately, now they don’t know about this my idea. So everyone will know about it after their reading, thinking and so on. Who wants to promote it also, after or before these sport superstars?   

 

 

Contact the author:  istinayubukayev@yandex.ru  

 

© 2022 Yury V. Bukayev (Copyright © Bukayev Yury Vyacheslavovich 2022). All rights reserved.  

[A legal using of this investigation with a reference to it is permitted  

and doesn’t require author’s consent.]