French Defense, Horwitz Attack main line

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MayCaesar

I usually like to play as many different variations as possible, to make the games more diverse. In one of my daily games, I played the Horwitz Attack, about which I only knew that it started with 1. e4 e6 2. b3. After 1. e4 e6 2. b3 d5 3. e5 I decided to look up the theory and was very surprised to see that in the main line white sacrifices the pawn, which black then gives back:

 

White gets the pawn back and things look pretty good. However, I was also looking at the lines in which black holds on to the extra pawn, and I simply don't see how white's positional compensation for the pawn is anywhere sufficient. For example:

Black's position looks fine, and engines give preference to black as well. Why isn't this the main line for black and what is wrong with it?

Yigor

Nothing wrong with it, it's a good gambit. happy.png White has the initiative and should materialize it during the middlegame. Btw the ChessOK evaluation of the last position is +0.00.

GredgePappatweeka

Against ...f5 you 0-0-0 and play ...d3 to open the d-file and launch direct attack against the queen + get a monstrous Bd3.