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French > Wing Gambit
The Wing Gambit succeeds better in the French Defense than in the Sicilian because White is already committed to ...e6 locking in the bishop at c8.
E.Schiller - Unorthodox Chess Openings
White's path into the Wing Gambit against the French is a move longer than in the Sicilian. Against the Sicilian (1. e4 c5) White can initiate his gambit counter immediately with 2. b4. In the French variant (1. e4 e6) the first player introduces the king's knight into play (2. Nf3 d5) and is then forced to advance his e-pawn (3. e5 c5) before the offering of the gambit is appropriate. This throws a different light on the Wing Gambit, although transpositions often occur from the Sicilian move-order, Black's game remains French-like.
1. e4 e6
2. Nf3 d5
3. e5 c5
4. b4!? |
       
   
     
Black has a choice of two strategic paths here; either he accepts the proffered pawn with 4... cxb4, or he declines it in one of the following ways (in order of frequency):
4... c4 leading to some irregular pawn structures and frequently original play.
4... b6 is the classical defensive response which builds a solid foundation for Black's middlegame.
4... Nc6!? Fluid development which allows Black the options of transposing into other wing gambit variants such as 4... Qc7. White's natural option is the exchange of pawns 5. bxc5 - Flaata - Fant, Gausdal 1996 shows the activity Black can generate with 5... d4 and what happens when White dogmatically plays for the kingside attack instead of conforming with the position. After the normal 5... Bxc5 6. d4 Wouters experimented successfully with 6... Be7 and took to slashing White on the kingside with an aggressive pawn-storm (de Jong - Wouters, Utrecht tt 1995). On 6... Bb6 White has some attacking options and in Cukerman - Medrano, Florianopolis U18A 1998 (7. Ba3) he brought a dubious Greek gift sacrifice off with impressive creativity. 7. c3 is similar, and with Black's king-knight development with 7... Nge7 (in Cabot Muntane - Martinez, Manresa Open 1996) after an exciting opening battle where Black was not worse, but lost his way in the middle game and White smashed through the centre with some accurate tactics. 7... f6 (Koop - Schmidt, Landes-Einzelmeister 1991) saw Black slowly outplay a solid White. An exchange sacrifice by White created two central passed pawns where Black defended the position accurately, but later settled for a repetition of position that pursue the endgame win he so deserved.
4... d4 is an attempt to constrict White's natural development, although in the middle game Black usually has problems with his b7-pawn. With 5. Bb2 White's lacklustre opening play collapsed quickly in Asadpour - Berg, It Open 1994. In the natural 5. bxc5 Bxc5 6. Ba3 play can develop along the line 6... Nd7 where a quick exchange of queens allowed Black to dominate and win a nicely polished positional game (Los - Bosman, Dutch tt 1992). The main line seems to be 6... Qa5 with Black clocking up two wins in Boersma - Korchnoi, Leeuwarden 1977 and Chlaifer - Wintzer, NRW-II 1996, the first game being a technical endgame performance from Korchnoi. Schmittdiel's transpositional 6... Qe7 was enough to encourage Buecker to accept a quick draw (Buecker - Schmittdiel, German ch 1991).
Lesser adopted continuations which don't really trouble White:
4... Qc7?! is a relatively quite positional continuation, though it allows White to play his natural aggressive game. However any stereotypical play by White lands him in great danger as in Pankovsky - Savvopulo, Yalta Open 1996 where White attempted to get back into main lines with 5. a3 and was positionally blown out of the water by clever Black development. After 5. bxc5 Bxc5 6. d4 puts the question immediately to the bishop (Pallag - Botta, Paks 1996) and suicidal castling by Black allowed White to demonstrate the power of the Bxh7+ Greek gift sacrifice. Two other White games deviated into 6. c3, where Black's risky 6... d4?! secured him some play, until a big blunder forced the issue in White's favour (Simon - Parisse, Cappelle Le Grande Open 1995). The more natural 6... Nc6 from Capron - Savalle, Thonon Les Bain 1995 was despatched in a typical Wing Gambit attack.
4... Qb6!? - a typically French reaction, however the open b-file leaves this piece an open target. In Linder - Wienkamp, Dortmund Open 1990 White tried an ambitious pawn-sacrifice (5. bxc5 Bxc5 6. d4 Be7 7. Bd3 Bd7 8. a4!?) which opened up the queenside and kept the Black king stuck in the centre. The alternative Black idea is 7... Bb4+ which was tried in von Rahden - Nickel, Saal-Neukl 1996 where Black managed to apply pressure on the backward c-pawn, missed the winning combination and fell into a tactical finish benefitting White.
4... Nd7!? is a crafty reply anticipating 5. bxc5 Nxc5 6. d4 Ne4!?. From Leinonen - Luoma, Tampere 1989 Black equalised quickly, and by seizing the initiative built up pressure on the c-file. White's counter pressure on the kingside led to an inventive tactical game which Black was the successful aggressor.
4... f6?! - (Helin - Johansson, Voxja ch 1992) allows White to consolidate with an additional tempo.
4... Bd7?! a solid-looking positional continuation, maybe a little planless. In the game Weng - Just, Braunfels 1996 Black was over-ambitious in castling queenside, and White cleaned up with a fine mating attack.
4... Nh6?! - Schmitz - Hohelj, Porz Open 1992 saw Black going for an ambitious kingside attack which was effectively neutralised by White, who clinched the game with a tricky endgame finish.
4... a6?! with the plan to set-up a total light-square barricade with pawns was smashed rather effectively in Haub - Thiemonds, Eupen Open 1993
4... a5? severly weakens Black's queenside, and his downfall is quite swift (Gara - Horvath, Zalakaros Open 1994)
4... cxb4, the gambit acceptance is Black's most popular option at this point, with 71% of Wing Gambits staying on this track.
White's major alternative here is 5. a3.
The experimental 5. Bd3?! was unsuccessful in Fastberg - Raaste, Vantaa 1994
Black's plethora of counters includes 5... Bd7!? which is seen as Black's strongest line against the Wing Gambit. Black's other choices are:
5... Ne7!?
5... b6
5... f5
5... Qb6
5... Qa5
5... Nd7
5... Qc7
5... Nh6
6. a3 bxa3
7. c3 Bd7
8. Bd3 f5
9. g4 Nge7
10. gxf5 Nxf5
11. Ng5 Qe7
12. Nxa3 O-O-O
13. Nb5 Kb8
14. Bxf5 exf5
15. e6 Bxe6
16. Bf4+ Kc8
17. Nxa7+ Nxa7
18. Rxa7 Bd7+?
19. Kd2 b6
20. Rc7+! |
(Hald - Jensen, Copenhagen Open 1990)
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