After 4... Nf6 5. d4 Black has a wonderful knight outpost on e4, the move of the f-pawn means that White can't kick it away with f3.
Caro-Kann thing
... the king is weakened, looks to me. Long castle seems in the cards but all development so far on king side. Advanced Caro is more to handle for black, IMHO.
Kind of similar to a Reversed Dutch, but with White missing his e-pawn and Black without her c-pawn. White can develop his LSB without the hassle of moving e2-e3, saving a tempo. Black has an opportunity to place her knight on the e4-outpost, assuming White plays d2-d4 soon (guarding against a center pawn break such as e7-e5). White can attempt to discourage this with Bd3 after d4; or he can avoid playing d4 entirely; perhaps develop his DSB via b2-b3 and Bb2.
For Black, castling kingside is her more obvious option. I’d say it’s best to arrive to a castle via 4...g6, 5...Bg7, 6...Nf6, 7...O-O. Whereas Black will be quite safe, regardless of what happens.
Although the engine slightly prefers Black, I’d take White’s position, mainly because the absence of the e-pawn makes a sort of Reversed Dutch that is a tiny bit speedier, but that’s just my preference.
For Black, castling kingside is her more obvious option. I’d say it’s best to arrive to a castle via 4...g6, 5...Bg7, 6...Nf6, 7...O-O. Whereas Black will be quite safe, regardless of what happens.
Although the engine slightly prefers Black, I’d take White’s position, mainly because the absence of the e-pawn makes a sort of Reversed Dutch that is a tiny bit speedier, but that’s just my preference.
Bg4. You just solved black's bad bishop problem for her ?
Is e4 then f4 even a CK? Looks more like a Dutch...
Tonya_Harding wrote:
OP closed their acct anyway...
Don't you hate it when that happens?! 
I might be inclined to play e5 to 2; f4 anyway.. not obliged to play d5... if 3; fxe... Qh4+
Tonya_Harding wrote:
There are 900+ games with e5 in Chessbase, and only about 200 with exd5. The first grants White about 50% chances to score, while the other lets you with 38% chances to survive the game...
Okay, I looked. Assuming d5 exd cxd, what has w gained? traded a centre pawn for a flank one and it's likely to turn into the exchange variation at some point, which isn't great for white...
It's playable, but it also gives Black a super easy game, as far as development goes.
3.e5 would be a better try for White. But after 3...Bf5, we're in an Advance setup, with White being one move slower, due to his f4 pawn move. (So, again, Black isn't really sweating over anything.)
KnightChecked wrote:
It's playable, but it also gives Black a super easy game, as far as development goes.
3.e5 would be a better try for White. But after 3...Bf5, we're in an Advance setup, with White being one move slower, due to his f4 pawn move. (So, again, Black isn't really sweating over anything.)
It's kind of depressing, ya' know? I actually tried the ridiculous looking 3.Bd3 in this line (1.e4 c6 2.f4 d5 3.Bd3) trying to keep black's bishop out of f5. The results were too horrible to talk about in mixed company........
In general terms I might be bold enough to suggest that Bd3 is a bad idea for white unless there’s an exceptional reason to play it. It’s a trade black will happily make when the time is right
What yall think?