I was impressed with the position he got out of the opening and have used it in blitz games ever since. I haven't tried it in a serious game yet because I meet 1.b4 so rarely.
My mistake, I had the move order slightly wrong because White played an early Nf3 ( making the opening the wonderfully named "Santasiere's Folly" )
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1607145
Originally posted by Data Fly A friend of mine, who has a FIDE rating of around 2300, played this in a 4NCL game a few years ago:
[pgn]
1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Qd6 3. a3 e5
[/pgn]
I was impressed with the position he got out of the opening and have used it in blitz games ever since. I haven't tried it in a serious game yet because I meet 1.b4 so rarely.
My mistake, I had the move order ...[text shortened]... 2. Bg6 Ne7 73. Bh5 Nf5 74. Bg4 Ne7
75. Bd1 Kf7 76. Bb3+ Kf6 77. Bc2 Nf5 78. Bb1 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]
19.Nxe6 was a serious mistake by white i feel. Why exchange such a strong knight for such a terrible bishop? White had all the time in the World. 19.Na6 followed by Nb4 and how is black going to regain control of c6? Positionally black would be totally busted.
I guess Black was planning on playing f5-f4 and White decided to stop that by keeping the initiative even though that meant swapping off his opponent's "bad" bishop. That sort of thing happens all the time, you can't always have all the advantages on your side, you've got to be willing to give up some (better knight in this case) in order to increase others (rook coming straight into c6, Black on the defensive and no time for an immediate f5-f4). It was a typical FM level sort of game.
Originally posted by Data Fly I guess Black was planning on playing f5-f4 and White decided to stop that by keeping the initiative even though that meant swapping off his opponent's "bad" bishop. That sort of thing happens all the time, you can't always have all the advantages on your side, you've got to be willing to give up some (better knight in this case) in order to increase others ...[text shortened]... ck on the defensive and no time for an immediate f5-f4). It was a typical FM level sort of game.
Actually it's even simpler than that. 19.Na6 wins the exchange because if say ..Ra8 then 20.Rc6 is curtains..
Originally posted by beauroberts I played an OTB game yesterday as black. For the first time ever an opponent played 1. b4?
I was completely in awe about how to respond it caught me off guard.
What opening is this?
I responded 1.b4 d5.
Was this the best move for me. I got beaten and badly so I am unsure about this b4 problem.
Any thoughts?
Beau
The opening was played by S. Tartakower and later by A. Santasiere (who sometimes played 1. Nf3 and 2. b4). It was later analyzed by Sokolski. It is known by several names: Polish Opening (after Sokolski), Orangutan (Tartakower's facetious name for it), Santasiere's Folly. It is an eccentric opening but not without theoretical significance: White attempts to control the center from the flanks, rather than by direct occupation. An outright refutation is not known to me. Playable replies are 1. ... d5, 1. ... e5, and 1. ... a5. Anything timid let's White have it all his own way.
If there was truly an answer to this opening move then there would
not be so many different responces and ideas posted.
Nor would we have players swanning about playing it with any form of regulararity.
Post the game so we can see what happened after you, having never
played against 1.b4 before, felt that 1...d5 was the best reply.
Maybe you can work on that. 1...d5 is OK.
In the end it will come down to you and what you think is the best reply.
Originally posted by beauroberts I played an OTB game yesterday as black. For the first time ever an opponent played 1. b4?
I was completely in awe about how to respond it caught me off guard.
What opening is this?
I responded 1.b4 d5.
Was this the best move for me. I got beaten and badly so I am unsure about this b4 problem.
Any thoughts?
Beau
I have no idea how to post it in game form but here it is. I am still fairly new to Chess notation so hopefully I got it right. Any thoughts on where I went wrong would be appreciated... Beau
Blacks best response to b4
25 Feb '14 13:44
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