Quote:Rick,
Thank you for sharing your game and its in-depth analysis. I'll take a closer look at it later. Do you have any comments to the game as well as lines? Thanks again!
Some thoughts:
I flatter myself to remember Bronstein's comment that it takes three small errors to add up to one big error - instead of one big honking blunder, I nibble away at my advantage.
For Black, the ...e6 and ...g6 seemed to weaken the dark squares, and my strategy for much of the game was to take advantage of that, especially the square d6. I think I was right to do so: the problem came in not finding the right time to do something more than just improve my position.
Black's Queen maneuver - Qb6-a5-d8 - seemed to waste time and give White the edge. The move to a5 seemed well-met by my Knight move to d2.
White's 9th move was stereotyped - "Ba3 is the kind of move you make in this kind of position (i.e. the Sicilian Wing Gambit)" - but it's still not clear to me whether 9.Bf4 was the better idea. One of the computers liked c2-c4 followed by Ba3, so perhaps I just got the idea backwards? I'm still puzzling over the position - I'm better, but exactly what to do? Or are there several things to do?
Frankly, I was astonished later to see that my c2-c4 (threat: c4-c5) idea was thought to be sound by the analysis engines - it was a pawn, not a piece moved; and it seemed a bit loosening at the time, but I wanted to go with it, as it reminded me of a successful maneuver I played in an OTB Sicilian Wing Gambit many years ago.
It looks like the computer-recommended breaking in the center with 13.d5 was stronger than my 13.Bb2, which prepared for the center break - but then I changed my whole strategy with 14.e5. Can't remember why I did that; probably didn't analyze deep enough! Likely this is where the advantage slipped away.
Throughout the game I had "compensation" for my sacrificed pawn, but regaining the pawn seemed to drain the compensation and lead to a drawn game. This kind of suggests that had my opponent been more accurate in his early pawn moves and Queen moves, I wouldn't have had enough for the sacced pawn. Which is the assessment many have of the Sicilian Wing Gambit.
I will definitely play 2.a3 again vs the Sicilian.
Rick