1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4?
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3. f4 is too commital. I recommend that you stick with basic opening principles of developing your pieces and not creating exploitable weaknesses.
White's position isn't terrible, he pretty much has a french setup. Can't offer any advantage though, and he might even be worse.
shepi i don't think those positions are that similiar.
f4 and c4 are simply not a good combination to play in tandem, in the opening. Weaknening your central squares poses serious issues as you will have atleast one weakness you need to keep your eye on always.
i play 1.f4 pretty frequently, and I never even consider c4 at all so early in the game.
@shepi- in your diagram, white seems to have superior development, and after castling, white should have a slight advantage. Why do you think the position is superior for black?
Because black played dumb moves like c6, cxd5, and 0-0 in my diagram. Perhaps cxd5 Nxd5 is an option, and if that is the case c6 loses tempo, and there are many other choices as well for black. White's position is so loose that black can have major problems, and white must play very carefully. The diagram wasn't the way black should play, just to illustrate that there is enough similarity to playable positions that white shouldn't be outright lost, just slightly worse.
the ratings given like dead even apply to grandmaster level play not to most of us plebs. You can ignore those ratings and play any opening until you know how best you want to play it or until you get discouraged . Winning is not what opening you play but how you play the game with any opening. Some openings suit uour style more than others. I play any sicilian and any queen pawn opening
In shepi's diagram, why not play 7.cxd5 instead of 7.c5? I think White is in a good position here.
I also made a line of this:
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 exf4 4.d4 Bb4 5.Bxf4 Ne4 6.Qb3 a5,
and White is good here.
I don't see how the f4 move coordinates with the earlier c4. It's not a horrible line, it just seems a bit random to me. If you want to prevent the e5 advance hard, why not just play 1. Nf3 or 1. f4? As it is, you give black the open e-file, and after 4...d5 your structural integrity is a bit of a mess.
Ahh, I had a good post with some interesting possibilities but was in the wrong thread. But, what you have here is a Colorado Gambit where you spent the extra tempo putting a pawn on c4. If you try to hold onto the pawn or go rook hopping or play Qh4+ at all your done. But it's not sound. Let's apply the Colorado Gambit refutation to your gambit.
I had put up a bunch of trap lines including the crazy queen sac with the entire game but in this setup. Wrong thread and don't have the time to do it over again right now, but it starts like this.
If someone tries Nh5 or Bd6 then Nh5 both followed by Qh4+, there screwed. The only way this type of gambit is playable is if you start by putting a pawn on a3, then e5 Nc3. If 2.d4 you've spent your turn as white playing an offbeat defense to e4. If Nf6, f4 and the Bb4 dilemna is solved.
I was looking through openings as white, and 4.f4 looked like a strong move for white. Engines have it dead even (0.0 on 15 ply), but the move seems to give up a momentary pawn for a good center if white takes (4. d4). If black advances the pawn, white seems to still have good play with Qc2. Is this a good line to play?