I was playing with a friend who, after the typical 1.d4 Nf6 2.e4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4, he played 4.c5?
I ended up playing Bxc3. My opponent won eventually with a strong queenside push.
Seems to me, white is at a disadvantage due to poor development and doubled pawns, but also ends up with an advanced pawn (with the ability to double up one of blacks pawns), and prevents ….c5. Furthermore, Ba3 would help protect the pawn and lead to some interesting positions with the threat of Bxf8.
But there must be a reason this move is never played. There was only 1 >2000 game on the internet I could find (which probably means it’s a junk move) but white won a fun game. http://www.365chess.com/view_game.php?g=629177
I’m not familiar with this opening, and so I was curious to ask what you all think of it. My friend explained he’d used it a few times with Ba3 and Qb3 to create some attacking chances, but strong players don’t fall for it.
Is it playable?
I like the look of ...b6.
I think that other options would be fine for black too though.
I don`t like c5 since it neglects development though I think its playable but not a good move.
Black doesn`t need to play ...axb6.
He could play ...o-o for example and really begin to be scarily ahead in development maybe.
Then black might take advantage of that development by unleashing brilliancies learned at chesstempo.com
Yeah you're right, it's not a good play for white. I was quite shocked by it at the time, thinking white could implement some kind of trap to snag my bishop, but there's nothing really there. The best white can get is an attack on the castled rook using the c-5 pawn for cover, after the bish-knight exchange. It also ruins the tempo if your opponent is used to this opening and likes to play ...c5.
black might have more forcing moves than the line you posted, eg.
cxb6 axb6
e3 Bxc3
bxc3 Bb7
Nf6 Ne4
Now the c pawn is under attack and if Qc2 black can respond with a wide variety of plans.
h6, 0-0, f5, maybe even Ra5
As you said, c5 doesn't seem to accomplish anything except create a hole on d5 and waste a tempo.