Originally posted by prosoccer
Does anyone here play it? It seems to open up a lot of attacking space for white while crowding black's pieces into his own end. The line is:
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 (attacking black's bishop)
It's my favorite opening, recommended by Morphy, Bronstein and me.
If the opponent plays 5...Bc5, I win 9 of the 10 games. And most opponents play that, for it is the most logical move. They think: I have moved my bishop to c5, I had to move it to b4, I have to move it again, so why not move it to c5?
I personally consider 4...Bb6 the best defense, if not the refutation. White isn't lost then of course, but the hanging pawn on b4 makes Nc3 impossible. 5. 0-0 is probably the best move there.
This is only the opinion of a quite weak player (around 1450), so I would like to hear what Korch Dragon Fire etc think.