The more adventurous souls might try the "mousetrap gambit" 1.e4 b6 2.d4 Bb7 3.Bg5!?.

Forum member buecker wrote an article about it at chesscafe: http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kaiss04.pdf

So far I´ve only tried it in blitz matches, but it is surely fun to play. The white plan is straightforward, and black may go astray early in the game. Objectively speaking I know there must be better variations for white.

Quote:


Hello there,

I put the pawns on c4,d4,e4 the King's Bishop on d3. Since I am an e4 player, it often (2 times in 3 years) goes : 1.e4 b6 2.d4 Bb7 3.Bd3 e6 4.c4 followed by Nge2/Nbc3 with the idea of pushing to d5 followed by f4 and the Queen's Bishop goes to e3, the Queen's Knight to e4 and so on ...

Practically, the play has to be adapted to what Black is doing from move 4th ... There is a variety of setup to choose from depending on what black is doing.

I think in terms of chess reference, you will have to investigate on several books... Some coverage in Fundamental Chess Openings and Mastering the Chess Openings or Chess Opening Essentials and a database should be a good tool as well to investigate. There is the free online database from Chessbase for instance http://database.chessbase.com/js/apps/onlinedb/

Cheers,

Pale Horse, Pale Rider wrote on 07/03/14 at 23:27:40:


I have been known to meet 1. c4 with 1. .. b6. The main idea when I use it is to annoy players who would otherwise play 2. g3. The middle game idea  is to steer for Hedgehog positions, with the fall back that if they try e4 and Nc3 that you employ Hippo ideas. It may be most accurate to play e6 early. That way you are threatening to play Bb4 which might provoke a3. You then play .. g6 because your idea was always to play  Nge7.

I'm fairly sure that many top players figured this out years ago, but it isn't well documented in published theory and generally accepted openings.

Quote:


I transpose into genuinely english lines against the Owen

1. e4 b6 2. c4 Bb7 3. Nc3 ... This is the approach advocated by Marin and Kosten in the move order 1. c4 b6 2. Nc3 Bb7 3. Nc3. I think the line is good for white and probably not what an Owen player is best prepared for ...