1.f4!

Interesting line!  The mestel variation is the same line I'm talking about.  I don't feel white is any better than equal.  BUT... this 1. f4 Nc6 reminds me of a very uncommon dutch 'refutation' that has been proven winning for white.  I'll have a take a closer look at that!!!

If you play From's gambit, you better be ready to play against king's gambit... prehaps prepare a Falkbeer countergambit?

"1. f4 e5 2. fe d6 3.Nf3!"

I don't know about an "!". I like black's game after 3.g5!

 ih8sens,

what 'refutation' would that be?

bidari, not today because i left already but next time you're at CM we should sit down with a board and look at some of these lines.

ok

You're right, it does, and if that happens then the exclam for 3.g5 is undeserved. However, most people who play 3.Nf3 are looking to avoid main line From's and would likely not dare transpose and if they did they probably wouldn't be comfortable.

From's Gambit is unsound in my opinion fro black 1.Nf6 is most flexible. If you play 1..d5 I like 2.b3, going for the Bird Larsen attack, as in the book written by Andrew Soltis. I have played this for over 30 years great fun at OTB or CC.

Henrik Danielsen, Danish GM, calls f4 the polar bear attack.  he does some lesson at   http://www.videochess.net.   he has some pretty interesting ideas about f4 and how to make it work really well.  plus, free lessons from a GM.  can't beat that.  i don't know of any other GMs that use f4 regularly so, if you fancy it, he's your man.

some of his games:   http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=56533

After playing the birdbrain 2 tournament... (and trying to use a lot of Danielsen's work) I have to say, 1.f4 <--- thumbs down.  Yeah sure, you can get an awkward sort of playable thing if you really study... but basically, black has a zillion answers all of which are playable. 1.f4 and I feel like I'm passing the initiative to Black -- I'm the one with problems to solve, not him. ... It's so not sharp, so begging your opponent to transpose to his comfort zone. I have nothing against unusual openings... but 1.f4 is not for me. It's basically playing the Dutch defense with White (Danielsen being a Dutch defense expert btw) ... I don't like the dutch, so no surprise I don't like the Bird.

i love using it, but for me when it goes wrong--it goes pretty wrong.  i suppose the more your opponent knows about it, the worse off you are.  maybe at higher levels players know far more than they do at my level.

I notice Danielsen's rating is under 2500 and hes not so old. ( 1966 ) I wonder if its due to 1 f4 that he cant keep his rating above 2500 ?

hahaha  maybe. 

thanks for the comments. i posted it because my opponent has a rating of 2100 uscf and he plays f4!