Know Your Greek Gift Prep! I Learned the Hard Way
This week I played an 1860 OTB. He played the French and I'd studied the Wing Gambit recently so was eager to try it out. A key concept in the Wing Gambit is the Greek Gift sacrifice.
After ...9: 0-0, Bxh7+, Kxh7, Ng5+, Kg6, h4, Qe8, Qg4, Nf5 we reached the position shown.
The video I watched glossed over how easy it is to win from here, "it's simply winning, the queen is trapped, the king has nowhere to go", etc. and I just assumed I'd figure it out. I spent about 20 minutes on the move and couldn't find the winning follow up.
I played Nxe6+ trying to win back the material. It not only blows the easy win, but all of a sudden I'm at a disadvantage. I went on to lose the game.
The winning move is h5+, Kh6, Ne4+!, Kh7, h6!, and there's no response. Ne4, without knowing ahead of time, is really hard to see, let alone h6 as the only winning move after it.
So this was instructive for both sides. I assumed the game was over after I played Bxh7 and felt foolish that I lost it. If you're black, be on the look out, if you're white, know how to convert.
P.S. I highly recommend the Wing Gambit if you're looking for something against the French. I find it way more enjoyable than the exchange French and opponents are much less prepared than mainline theory, he admitted to being caught off guard by it after the game.