The Jerome Gambit

by Bill Wall

The Jerome Gambit, 1.e4 e5

2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7
(with the most likely
continuation of 4...Kxf7
5.Nxe5+ Nxe5) is an offshoot of
the Giuoco Piano where White
can sacrifice two pieces to
expose Black's king. The
Encyclopedia of Chess
Openings (ECO) designation for
the opening is C50. It was
named after Alonzo Wheeler Bill Wall
Jerome (1834-1902).

There are a lot of traps in this

opening, and if Black does not
know how to defend properly,
he will most likely get mated or Chess is a good mistress, but a
lose quickly. My first bad master. -Abrahams
experiment with the Jerome was
in 2001. I started playing this
gambit regularly in early 2010
after seeing Rick Kennedy's
(Perrypawnpusher) blog on the
Jerome Gambit, which he calls
the duck-billed platypus of chess
openings. Kennedy wrote an
article on the Jerome for Chess
Life for Kids, calling the article
"The Worst Chess Opening
Ever."

Rick Kennedy has a free

database of thousands of games
with this opening and has
written and researched the
Jerome Gambit for the past
several years. Email to him and
you can get his database of
Jerome Gambits up to 2016. He
also includes a collection of
Blackburne Shilling Gambits
(1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4
4.Bxf7+).

Wikipedia calls it an unsound

opening and that it is never seen
in high-level chess. White
probably loses by force in
master play, but it is not that
simple if you have to work it
through the first time you see it.
I have over a 90% win rate with
White in blitz and rapid chess
with it.

The gambit works fine if you

know it and can surprise a
player who has never seen it and
does not know how to defend
against it. Perfect for blitz or
Internet play at faster time
controls.

Alonzo Wheeler Jerome was

born on March 8, 1834 at Four
Mile Point, New York. He
started playing this opening after
the Civil War and sent some of
his games to the Dubuque Chess
Journal, edited by O.
Brownson.

In 1868, he moved to Paxton,

Illinois and became manager of
a hemp and flax company.

An article appeared about the

opening in the April 1874 issue
of Dubuque Chess Journal (vol
6, #50), calling it Jerome's
Double Opening. The July 1874
issue (vol 7, #53) carried the
first Jerome Gambit between
Jerome and the chess
problemist, William A.
Shinkman (1847-1933). The
correspondence game went:
Jerome — Shinkman,
Correspondence, 1874
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5
4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5
6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4
Qf6 9.fxe5+ Qxe5 10.Qf3 Nf6
11.d3 Ke7 12.Nc3 g5 13.Rf1 c6
14.g3 d5 15.Bd2 Bg4 16.Qg2
Rhf8 17.h3 Nxe4 18.Bf4 gxf4
19.gxf4 Rxf4 20.Nxe4 Rxf1+
21.Kxf1 Rf8+ 0-1
In 1876, Alonzo played a
correspondence game with the
Jerome Gambit against Lt. (later
Colonel) Garland Whistler
(1847-1914), who was secretary
of the Lexington Kentucky
Chess Club. Whistler's brother
was the famous James Abbott
McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
who painted Whistler's Mother.

Jerome contributed to the

American Chess Journal,
sending his Jerome Gambit
games. The editor, W.S.
Hallock, referred his gambit as
"Jerome's Absurdity."

Jerome became a printer and

patented a method to form
letters for a printing machine.
He later moved to Springfield,
Illinois and worked as a guide in
the state capitol building.

In 1896, the opening appeared in

the third edition of Chess
Openings, Ancient and Modern,
edited by Edward Freeborough
and Rev. C. E. Ranken. They
wrote, "The Jerome Gambit is
an American invention, and a
very risky attack. It is described
in the American Supplement to
Cook's Synopsis as unsound but
not to be trifled with. The first
player sacrifices two pieces for
two pawns, with the chances
arising from the adversary's king
being displaced, and drawn into
the centre of the board." In
September, 1899, he wrote a 23-
page souvenir booklet for those
he escorted through the state
capitol building. He title it, The
Great Debate: A Platform Scene
in the Seven Joint Discussions
between Lincoln and Douglas,
which covered the debates
between Lincoln and Douglas.

Jerome died in 1902 at the age

of 67.

In the late 19th century, Joseph

Henry Blackburne (181-1924)
played against this opening and
wrote, "I used to call this the
Kentucky opening. For awhile
after its introduction, it was
greatly favored by certain
players, but they soon grew tired
of it." In 1880, an amateur
player tried to play the opening
against Blackburne.
NN — Blackburne, England
1880
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5
4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5
6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxe5 d6 8.Qxh8
Qh4 9.O-O Nf6 10.c3? (10.Qd8)
Ng4 11.h3 Bxf2+ 12.Kh1 Bf5
13.Qxa8 Qxh3+ 14.gxh3 Bxe4#
0-1
So why play the Jerome? Rick
Kennedy writes
The Jerome Gambit can be fun
at blitz, in informal games, or
when giving odds to a weaker
player. There is no sense in
trying to "prove" that the
opening is "good." It has many
time-tested refutations. For
those playing the Jerome, it
becomes an issue of finding the
most challenging lines of play,
until either the opponent
collapses — or wins.
The Jerome Gambit was covered
by Jon Speelman's Agony
Column #24, pubished on
ChessBase on October 26,
2016.

For a couple of hundred Jerome

Gambit examples, see my pgn
collection of my own Jerome
Gambit games. I regularly play
the Jerome Gambit at
chess.com, playchess.com,
lichess.org, FICS, etc.

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