I have a friend who only opens with 1. d4. I find that 1...a5 tends to throw him off balance, followed by ...a4 and ...Ra5 in the future. Has anyone else tried something like this?

It's garbage. Throwing someone off balance is only reasonable if your move have a purpose.  If you win with that opening it's because your opponent makes poor moves, not because they were "thrown off".

the Ware opening (a4) is never a good move

ok so ur plan is to bring the rook out... how about 2. Bd2 witch ruins ur plan by attacking a5 where u wanna bring ur rook 2... ? its a bad move and easily countered

 

Better yet, why counter it? Bringing a rook out so early is asking to lose a rook.

Very really stupid opening, usually beginner do it. remember, don't bring your rook out too soon.

I've mostly seen it with beginners. I think their reasoning is that they want to bring out their most powerful pieces first for a quicker and deadlier attack.

actually, besides beginners, very good players will use opennings like that, because they can

it's fun to throw off your opponents in casual blitz games with unorthodox opennings.   

I once knew a player who was 1300 rated that played this opening in tournaments against weaker players just to show his superiority.

2. Bd2 is a bad move. The reason is that the move only stops one plan, bringing a rook to a5. Firstly, there is no way to know this is actually black's plan. Secondly, as dfitzpatrick points out, you're not even preventing a good plan, you're preventing a bad plan. Thirdly, the move doesn't accomplish a secondary purpose -- a good move will accomplish more than one goal.

 

I play 1. d4 almost all the time and from my experience, d2 is not a productive square for the bishop. So let's imagine black regains sanity for the second move and the game goes 1. d4 a5 2. Bd2 Nf6 where black will play a King's Indian Defense setup. Sure enough, Bd2 is just a wasted move against this setup, so both sides have wasted a move (a5 and Bd2) and you've let black off the hook. Not only that, in some variations of the King's Indian black will play ... a5 in order to secure a knight on c5. So white's Bd2 is a waste, but black's ... a5 might prove valuable.

 

Bottom line, when black plays 1. ... a5, white should be a big boy and get aggressive. Play moves that grab the territory that black has ignored. Don't play passive, reactionary, defensive moves like 2. Bd2, come out swinging with an attack of your own. 

kamapuaa wrote:

actually, besides beginners, very good players will use opennings like that, because they can

it's fun to throw off your opponents in casual blitz games with unorthodox opennings.   

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 Well, to be honest, i have played the a-pawn as the opening move a few times, but i have a much less expectation to win when i do.

sugaristan wrote: the Ware opening (a4) is never a good move

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I have drawn against a chess computer on the highest difficulty using 1. a4. I have never tried 1...a5 in response to 1. d4 from a computer though.

Traditionally, a bad opening as mentioned elsewhere. Bring that rook on over! Your average opponent will have a blast chasing it around and getting pieces into play while you try not to lose it.

KillaBeez wrote:

I once knew a player who was 1300 rated that played this opening in tournaments against weaker players just to show his superiority.

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He also played the Crab Opening: 1. a4 2. h4, and the Cornstalk Defence: 1. e4 a5. Everyone in his division sucked, so he could get away with it. However, I've played him many times, and beaten him almost always. I never played him in tournaments because I opted to play one level higher.

duskwalker wrote:

I have a friend who only opens with 1. d4. I find that 1...a5 tends to throw him off balance, followed by ...a4 and ...Ra5 in the future. Has anyone else tried something like this?

This idea cannot be good because allows White to occupy the centre which plays an important role in chess.

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 The simplest continuation after 1. d4 a5 would be 2. e4. Rook a5 no longer works because of Bxa5 and white has both his central pawns out. Hopefully black would regain his sanity with maybe Nf6 or something else to fight for the centre.

 Maybe you should name your own gambit 1. d4 a5 2. e4 Ra5 3. Bxa5 bxa5. I'm not sure where the compensation is:  Bb7 for a hypermodern fianchettoed central control?

 Bottom line, don't play it unless you have a computer in the background and you want to make your opponent look like a fool. (I beat you with a5, haha)

no offense but you are doing something like a queen raid except it's a rook raid.

bad opening....but when people have played it I assume they are wanting to bring their rook out or do a pawn push...either way I encourage it  by developing a strong center and then DESTROY them.

 

Exactly how good at chess is your friend?

Klunk wrote:

 The simplest continuation after 1. d4 a5 would be 2. e4. Rook a5 no longer works because of Bxa5 and white has both his central pawns out. Hopefully black would regain his sanity with maybe Nf6 or something else to fight for the centre.

 Maybe you should name your own gambit 1. d4 a5 2. e4 Ra5 3. Bxa5 bxa5. I'm not sure where the compensation is:  Bb7 for a hypermodern fianchettoed central control?

 Bottom line, don't play it unless you have a computer in the background and you want to make your opponent look like a fool. (I beat you with a5, haha)

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 No no no. 1. d4 a5 2. e4 Ra6?? 3. Bxa6 Nxa6 is NOT the correct line. As black in this case, I might start with a5, then "regain sanity" as some might say by developing the queen knight and some pawns, then around move 6 I play a4 (if my opponent hasn't played a4 already), then move 7 or 8 is Ra5. I find that most people like to attack the advanced a-pawn rather than worry about my unconventionally developed rook, which ends up costing them. I tend to bring it in front of my king or queen, whichever file gets opened up.