The Gambit and the Gordian Knot

I usually get punished for playing a gambit… unless it’s clearly a winning position, which isn’t a true gambit.
-I don’t count the Queen’s Gambit since it’s a major opening, and the theory is well developed.

But occasionally my gambits rule the roost.

So I give you this nicely played game. I’m black playing against the Polish opening. Clearly the opponent knows some theory about the opening.

[Event “15+15 Lichess unrated standard game”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2019.06.08”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Opponnent”]
[Black “James”]
[Result “0-1”]
[BlackElo “0”]
[Classes “?”]
[ECO “?”]
[GameNo “-1”]
[TimeControl “15+15”]
[WhiteElo “0”]

  1. b4 e6 2. Bb2 d5 3. e3 Nd7 4. a4 a6 5. a5 Ngf6 6. c3 c5 7. Qa4 Be7 8. Nf3
    O-O 9. b5 c4 10. b6 Nc5 11. Qc2 e5 12. Nxe5 Bd6 13. Nf3 Bg4 14. Nd4 Re8 15. h3
    Bh5 16. f4 Bg6 17. f5 Bg3+ 18. Ke2 Bh5+ 19. Nf3 Nfe4 20. Na3 Qe7 21. Rd1 Nb3
  2. d3 Nf2 23. e4 Nxh1 0-1

The GAMBIT was done for positional reasons. It looked like my opponent’s strategy was that if he couldn’t win the game, he was going to make sure everything was locked up as tight as possible so the only option would be a draw.

I’m playing black, so I have the black on the bottom of the diagram.
After 11. e5 (opening it up to being taken by the white knight)

The Gordian Knot (final position) 0-1