As tasty as the tactics in the Sicilian Wing Gambit Secret Sauce are, sometimes a customer doesn’t want to eat the offering. I refer to the situation when the Wing Gambit is accepted (1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.a3 bxa3) but after 4.Rxa3 e6 5.Nc3 Black doesn’t capture the rook on a3 as the Secret Sauce Declined. I have numerous examples showing that should Black avoid playing 5… Bxa3, thus leaving rook to roam the third rank, they do so at their own peril.
The game below is an instructive example of the power of the Rook in the third rank in the Sicilian Wing Gambit: Secret Sauce Declined. I played White at Rook Odds but the moves should still serve as a model game for anyone interested in playing this opening. Note how useful the quickly developed Rook becomes and that had Arnav attempted to force a trade of Queens with 10… Qe6, I would ruined his plan by forking the King and Queen with 11. Nc7+.
[Event “Sicilian Wing Gambit: Secret Sauce Declined “]
[Site “Cupertino, California “]
[Date “2015.01.13”]
[Round “Rook Odds”]
[White “Chris Torres”]
[WhiteElo “”]
[Black “Arnav”]
[BlackElo “”]
[Result “1-0”]
[FEN “rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBN1 w Qkq -“]
1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.a3 bxa3 4.Rxa3 e6 5.Nc3 d5 6.exd5 Nf6 7.Bb5+ Bd7 8.dxe6
Bxb5 9.Nxb5 Qe7 10.Qe2 Na6 11.Re3 Qb4 12.c3 Qb1 13.exf7+ Kxf7 14.Qc4+ Kg6
15.Rg3+ Kh5 16.Qe2+ Kh4 17.Nf3+ Kh5 18.Qe5+ Kh6 19.Qg5#
1-0
