The Polish Opening Revisited
I have not been playing the Polish that much anymore. Mainly because I played it agains people lower than me in skill when I was gaining points in Reserve section tournaments and am now smart enouch to realize the risk white, or black, is taking with these Unorthodox Openings.
I had a friend in school that I played chess constantly with. At the time, I always played 1.b4 or 1...a6 against him constantly and would near always win (unless it was in the morning and I was not fully awake).
This position occured in some of our blitz games. My friend just developed towards the center normally and didn't stop to ask the potential of my first move.
It got to such a point that my friend wanted to learn the Polish himself. So, I taught him and we played a game.
In the end, I launched a devestating attack that obliterated my friends kingside. What went wrong? He did not attack quickly enough on the queenside and merely reacted to my threats. As chess players, we never want to react and should always act with a plan in mind. In this variation, white should try to smash through with a queenside attack as soon as possible.
My friend and I played more and he started to get better and I had to rethink how to play against my own advocated openings. I came up with the most aggressive line possible and it ultimately made myself stop playing the Polish. The line goes...
This line gives black much better chances than the previous one. The definite interesting part about this position is each side has developed only one piece and are already prepared to play b5 for white and f4 for black. White is somewhat cramped in this position and is going to have to seek out trades to free the position up. This makes the position unique since white (who moves first) unlike black in most games is cramped because he wasted moves on a3 and b4 when he should have developed pieces. Black's counter pawn moves are much better. So...how does each side continue from here?
I believe black has better chances in this variation. White does retain attacking chances on the queenside. I will finish with by showing that this plan for white against the Polish Defense pretty much refutes it. White with an extra move has full control.
