I mean you could also just play 3. Nf3/Bd3 Bb7 4. Bd3/Nf3, after 4… c5 5. c3, after 4… Nf6 5. Qe2, and you have massive winning chances.
Noob explains how to refute the Owen defense
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Ethan_Brollier wrote:
I mean you could also just play 3. Nf3/Bd3 Bb7 4. Bd3/Nf3, after 4… c5 5. c3, after 4… Nf6 5. Qe2, and you have massive winning chances.
Yeah you can do that, but I find this line more tricky
Aug 19, 2023
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#6
3...bb4 is already a mistake, early bd3 with nc3 immediately suggests that white intends to play nge2 so bb4 is bad. Black should play 3.nf6 after which 4.nge2 black must choose between the aggressive 4...d5 5.e5 ne4 ( actually ng8 may be playable too but ugly) and the positional d6 where after an eventual c5 (you cant play it right away) you get sicilian hedgehog like positions.
This formation bd3 nc3 nge2 is probably the most challenging because few black players know it right and most of the natural moves for black are not good although it i5 not theoretically the most critical.
this is a very recent development in the history of the owen's. The nge2 line was only tricky if black played bb4 on autopilot. the standard solution has been to play c5 and either cxd4 nxd4 nc6 or d6 with a hedgehog like position where bishop on d3 is harmless. it was the discovery of c5 d5! that brought a lot of trouble. You ended up with the conundrum that 4.bb4 4, c5 and 4.d5 e5 5.(nfd7?) which is the most natural night placement where all refuted. At one point i even feared this was the refutation . but 4.d6 holds and 4.d5 e5 5.ne4 is super complicated and should at least be playable sub GM level. I actually spoke in lichess with GM Ratkovic who published not long ago an amazing video series on b6 and after going over some critical computer lines, replied with some lines that the computer may overvalue at first, but where black is prob not worse in the 5.ne4 variation.
if you'd like to see some tricky lines against the Owen defense, and you don't aspire to be a GM someday, have a look at this video!