Sicilian Wing Gambit

I've been getting crushed by the wing gambit and I'm having a hard time figuring out how to fight back. I've discovered, after a few defeats, that this may be a good option to play as white to avoid playing into my opponents favorite openings.

For example, in this game Game 4658452 I made a few opening mistakes. 5...Nf6? as I should have been more concerned with advancing the e and a pawns to block white attack lines. Also, keeping the white knight away from the weak b5 square should have been a priority.

I'm interested to know others' opinions on this gambit. Do you play it or recommend it for white? How do you take advantage of the pawn advantage as black? Any good games you have or know of that I can look at would also be helpful. Thanks.

after 4.Nxa3, Shredder says e6 is best, and that Nc6 leads to draw. Although, after 4...Nc6, the follow up moves of 5.d4 d5 defeinantly looks fun to play

Originally posted by allostery
I've been getting crushed by the wing gambit and I'm having a hard time figuring out how to fight back. I've discovered, after a few defeats, that this may be a good option to play as white to avoid playing into my opponents favorite openings.

For example, in this game Game 4658452 I made a few opening mistakes. 5...Nf6? as I should have been ack? Any good games you have or know of that I can look at would also be helpful. Thanks.

I think that firstly you have to advance your d-pawn to avoid the knight boot that happened in your game. Than take care of b5 right away. It looks like too many pawns moves in the opening since most likely you will have to move your e pawn in no time. But this is all very needed if you want to restrain white and then cash in on the pawn you was offered.

Game 4713373

The Wing Gambit is unsound - objectively Black has more than equalized. It's playable because almost everything is playable.

In the game you posted, Qxe3? gives up the defense of the c7 square, and after the recapture White adds a threat to the N on f4. You can't then defend against both exf4 and Nc7+ and therefore lose a piece.

One of the ideas for Black is to maintain the pawn on b4 if you can, in order to keep the N from coming to c3 easily (as it does in the Smith-Morra).

I usually play 1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.a3 d5! The move ...d5 is often a good plan when White starts playing weird stuff after 1.e4 (e.g. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3!? d5!)

Game 2764862
Game 3600119

I've posted this before, but the shortest game in U. S. Championship history was a Wing Gambit: IM K.Shirazi-IM J.Peters, 1984: 1 e4 c5 2 b4 cxb4 3 a3 d5 4 exd5 Qxd5 5 axb4??? Qe5+, 0-1 (White loses his QR)

Originally posted by gaychessplayer
I've posted this before, but the shortest game in U. S. Championship history was a Wing Gambit: IM K.Shirazi-IM J.Peters, 1984: 1 e4 c5 2 b4 cxb4 3 a3 d5 4 exd5 Qxd5 5 axb4??? Qe5+, 0-1 (White loses his QR)

worth pointing out that Shirazi ended up with 0.5/15 in this tournament (this game was played in round 13).

http://streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.com/2007/03/soul-of-wit-ii.html


Now, that, my friends, is a bad tournament.

Originally posted by JonathanB of London
worth pointing out that Shirazi ended up with 0.5/15 in this tournament...

Yeah, he scored only 0.5 points more than I would have scored! 😛