Weird English line
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4. e4 is a perfectly good line for white and I think the only good line black has is 4 ..Nc6:
4 ..d5? white opens things up and is better due to development.
4 ..d6? is just passive against 5.d4!
If you play a setup with e6 it is very normal to see a c4 e4 bind (since you don't have anything to stop it). You can't stop it unless you play d5 at some point and as above that is not good.
If you don't like the bind there are plenty of ways to play around it or make it not effective:
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3, how about 2 ..e5. I don't think white plays 3.e4?! here because if nothing else black can copy by responding with c5 and it is almost equal. Even better is just the simple 3 ..Bc5 and black is equal.
Or if you play a d6 sicilian with fianchetto that is also solid and good.
Black should go for an open position and should be able to equalise if he's careful not to fall behind in development
The alternative is to allow white a bind under more favourable circumstances than in the line wih 5.d4 which is hardly desirable.
yeah im pretty comfortable against the d4 line i just hate the Be2 line against my setup. But thanks for the help.
This is a tricky position for Black. 5.d4 leads to a position in which Black does well because he can play ...Bb4 at some point. The critical line here is 5.e5 Ng8 6.d4 cd 7.Nxd4 which leads to a tricky gambit called the Mikenas Attack. If you attempt a Nimzo the position can also be reached after 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 c5 4.e5 Ng8 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.d4 and so on.
Anyway I don't know the theorectical standing of this but it's not something that's easy to deal with otb especially if you've never seen it before. If you don't want to deal with this then you can consider 3...g6 or 3...d5. I'm not sure if 3...Nc6 is good here.
the reasson i play this is to AVoid the mikenas. If e5 here black can play ng4 and win the pawn i think
Do any of you know a good line for black against this?
1. C4 Nf6 2.Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 e6 4. e4!?