that is BAD! b pawns are completely unprotected. thats one thing.
Any 1. b4 players out there?
Sort:
1.b4 is an okay opening, white can gain a huge lead in development if black is not careful.
A high level game won by white with 1.b4 against the response 1...d5:
[Event "Israeli League"]
[Site "Ramat Aviv ISR"]
[Date "2000.??.??"]
[White "Zilberman,Y"]
[Black "Kogan,A"]
[Round "1"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2505"]
[BlackElo "2483"]
[ECO "A00"]
1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Bf5 3. e3 Nd7 4. Nf3 Ngf6 5. c4 dxc4 6. Bxc4 Nb6 7. Be2 e6 8. a3 a5 9. b5
Bd3 10. Bd4 Bxe2 11. Qxe2 Nbd7 12. O-O Bd6 13. d3 Qe7 14. a4 O-O 15. Nbd2 e5 16. Bb2 Nd5 17. Nc4
f6 18. Rfd1 Bb4 19. g3 Qf7 20. e4 N5b6 21. Nxb6 Nxb6 22. d4 Qc4 23. Qxc4+ Nxc4 24. Ra2 Rad8 25. Ba1
exd4 26. Rxd4 Nb6 27. Rxd8 Rxd8 28. Bd4 Nc8 29. Rc2 Rd7 30. Kg2 Ne7 31. h4 c6 32. Bb6 cxb5 33. axb5
Rd6 34. Bc7 Re6 35. Rc4 Kf8 36. h5 Ke8 37. Bf4 Rb6 38. Nd4 g5 39. Bc7 1-0
diagram of above example I gave:
inject_the_venom wrote:
salazar wrote:
if b4, then i play d5 a3 Qd3 Bb2 d5 with positional advantage for black, and i have won 80% of the games playing blackÂ
 Another possible line is 1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Qd6 3. b5 e5 (if 3. ...Qb4 then 4. Bc3 Qb5  5. e4) or instead of 3. b5, play 3. a3 e5 4. Nf3
a. no one who knows any chess would play 1.b4 d5 2.a3, barring a major theoretical discovery in this line. After 1.b4 d5, 2.Bb2 is 'automatic'.
b. example of high level game won by white against 1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Qd6:
[Event "Bank Zachodni Open"]
[Site "Swidnica POL"]
[Date "1999.??.??"]
[White "Jaracz,P"]
[Black "Motylev,A"]
[Round "4"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2439"]
[BlackElo "2514"]
[ECO "A00"]
1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Qd6 3. a3 e5 4. e3 a5 5. b5
Nd7 6. Nf3 e4 7. Nd4 Qg6 8. d3 Nc5 9. Nc3
Nf6 10. Qd2 exd3 11. cxd3 Bd6 12. f4 O-O 13. Be2
Bg4 14. Rd1 Bxe2 15. Qxe2 Bxf4 16. O-O Bd6 17. Nf5
Rfe8 18. Qf3 Rad8 19. Nxg7 Qh6 20. Nxe8 Bxh2+ 21. Kf2
Rxe8 22. Ke2 Re7 23. Na4 Ncd7 24. Rh1 Qh4 25. g4
Nxg4 26. Rdg1 h5 27. Kd2 Kf8 28. Bd4 Nde5 29. Qxd5
Rd7 30. Qe4 Ng6 31. Rxh2 Qg5 32. Rxh5 Qxh5 33. Qxg4
Qxb5 34. Nc5 Rd8 35. Qf5 Qc6 36. Qf2 1-0
diagram:
An example of high-level white win against 1.b4 e5:
Â
Lately, sometimes here the diagrams load very slowly, so here is the pgn of the white win against 1.b4 e5 diagrammed above:
Â
[Event "10th Open"]
[Site "Bad Zwesten GER"]
[Date "2006.??.??"]
[White "Bauer,Ch"]
[Black "Thimm,T"]
[Round "2"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2174"]
[ECO "A00"]
1. b4 e5 2. Bb2 Bxb4 3. Bxe5 Nf6 4. Nf3 O-O 5. e3
d5 6. Be2 Re8 7. O-O Bd6 8. Bb2 c5 9. c4
dxc4 10. Na3 Bf5 11. Nxc4 Bc7 12. Qb3 Nc6 13. Qxb7
Qd7 14. Qb3 Nd5 15. Qd1 Re6 16. d4 Rd8 17. dxc5
Qe7 18. Qa4 Rh6 19. Nd6 Bxd6 20. cxd6 Qxd6 21. Rfd1
Qe7 22. Rac1 Nb6 23. Rxd8+ Qxd8 24. Qf4 Bd7 25. Ne5
Nxe5 26. Qxe5 Rg6 27. h4 Bc6 28. Rxc6 1-0
I played a guy once in ireland who played this against me! luckily i had a friend who gave me a few tips about this opening before i played him so i kinda knew what to expect! He had me on the back rank the whole game doing nothing while he had all the space! I had no initiative. Then when time got low things unravelled and i think i kinda came out on top while we were moving very fast with less than minutes left. I was so shaken that when he offered me a draw i instantly agreed! Probably should have looked at his clock first though as it was gone. Besides that if i had time id say i would have won. It was the first game of a tournement and he was going for the 1st place and after this he went on to get 4/6 i think. Glad he didnt win as it turns out he was quite an ignorant person which i found out when he was sitting next to me a few rounds later telling his opponent to resign not very nicely. feels good to get that off my chest.....