It is still going to be a middlegame, so you should develop your pieces and castle. After that, you can find out what you can attack. I would play something like this.
e4,e5,d4,d5,dxe5,dxe4,Qxd8+,Kxd8,Nc3,Bb4
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thanks, that's a good option. really nice to develop a double pin and follow it up with a fork to gain material. that's the sort of thing i'm just not very good at visualizing in the middlegame, but i'd have to make a big mistake to lose after that.
However, it seems that black can prevent it by blocking the check with 7... Be7 rather than 7...Nge7. I can still castle to create the double pin, but I can't go 9. Nd5. I'd have to go 9. Nxe4 to protect my bishop, and then 9... Nxe5. Now my knight is stuck protecting the bishop, so i either need to trade bishops (no development help for me, but it develop's the black knight), i could back off my bishop (allowing black to use my "wasted" move gain a development edge), or i could try to unlock the knight as part of continued development (possibly by letting black initiate the trade).
i played it out and ended up winning, though i'm not sure whether i just played it really well or unknowingly took advantage of a black mistake. my edge came at the end with my pawns working together as opposed to split like black's. material was even until then.
honestly, this is what the vast majority of my wins look like... namely, almost all material gone, and i'm able to promote a pawn or two.
anyway, then main question is... after trading pawns in the center at move 9, was my continuation the best way forward, or at least a good one that would compete well against a better opponent?
thanks again.
playing white, i'm having trouble figuring out whether to get agressive from here or back off and develop for a longer game. it seems to be begging for someone to attack quickly, where the one who takes initiative should gain an advantage. However, every aggressive route I've tried seems to end up just short of being able to finish it off, and I end up in a weak position and Black with the advantage. If I play conservative, on the other hand, I still end up at a disadvantage eventually, though that's likely at least partially due to the fact that my middle game tactics aren't that strong... maybe not so much due to the opening being to my disadvantage.
a search of the opening in a games database indicates that 3. dxe5 leads to a win for white in 26 out of 27 games. Then following the most popular moves for each side leads to the above position, and 6. Bd2 won 2/2 and 6. Nge2 won 1/1. If i go Bd2, the computer I'm playing against keeps choosing 6... Nc6, which doesn't exist in the games database.
does anyone have any ideas on this? thanks in advance.