A few years ago, chessfriend Dan Middlemiss sent me some Anti-Bill Wall Gambit games featuring the unusual line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6 7.f4 Bf2+ [Updates are in Blue]
At the time, his collection raised the number of Anti-Bill Wall Gambit games in The Database to 30. [Currently there are 73.]
Dan pointed out that after 8.Kxf2 Nc6 Black seems to do well. In fact, Black won 6 of 9 games. [Currently Black has won 9 out of 18 games]
Quoting further from the earlier post
That got me thinking.
The solution for White is hidden in a couple of those losses: 9.d4.
It is clear that the d-pawn can not be taken, e.g. 9.d4 Nxd4 10.Qd5+ followed by 11.Qxd4; although 9.d4 Nxd4 10.Rd1 is interesting as well. None of this has shown up in practice [currently there are still none]
Black can focus on ejecting White's queen. So 9.d4 Nf6 [still no games], although 10.d5+ Ke7 11.Qf3 can lead to a goofy rook sacrifice, 11...Nb4 12.e5 Nfxd5 13.c4 Nc2 14.cxd5 Nxa1 15.f5 and the menacing pawns + the queen give White a clear advantage.
So maybe 9.d4 g6 is the better idea to deal with White's Queen [still no games]. Still, weirdness abounds: 10.d5+ Kf7 11.Qf3 Nce7 12.Rf1 d6 13.Kg1.
The two games I have with 9.d4 were answered 9...d5 (reasonable) and 9...Ke7 (likewise). [Nothing has changed]
Stockfish 15 recommends meeting 9...d5 with 15: 10.Nc3 Nf6 11.exd5+ Kd6 12.Qg5 Ne7 13.Re1 b6 14.Bd2 Nfxd5 15.Qe5+ Kc6 16.Nxd5 Nxd5 17.Qe4 Ba6 18.c4 Bxc4 19.Rac1 Kb7 20.Rxc4 and White is a bit better.
Likewise, the computer recommends meeting 9...Ke7 with 10.d5 Nb4 11.Qd1 Kf7 12.a3 Na6 13.Rf1 d6 14.Kg1, again with a small plus for White.
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