9.Rxe3

Hi everyone. I would like to discuss this sacrifice in the 1.b4 opening.

What are some of the ideas for both sides here? It looks like a complicated game.

Black isn't lost, he has three pawns for the piece, although White could have improved earlier on.

To my poor knowledge the resulting position after 11.Qb3 (much better than 11.Qc1) is approximately balanced. At least this is the claim of mr. Yuri Lapshun in his Sokolsky book.

So, the sacrifice is both correct and stupid, simply because Black was already slightly better before his ninth move (9...Bf5 is calmer and very likely the better move). There was no need to complicate matters like that.

Thanks for the comments! I read about this years ago in an article from chessbase but the annotator just mentioned 9...Rxe3!? in passing and moved on to the rest of the game.

But even without the sacrifice I would prefer Black just because it looks easier to play. All the pieces are developed classically, the pawn structure is perfect and I can just think of a plan.