I usually try to copy their irregular move and see how they respond. Now I think that I will take the advice in the article.
response to irregular openings
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Dec 18, 2009
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#3
On a related point, the exeter chess club site (in england) is excellent for disciplined effective and targeted self study.
i was just reading about openings on Exeter Chess Club (link here) and i came across this simple suggestion to playing against odd openings:
"One route to picking the best move is to think about transposing into a type of position where your opponent's odd move is irrelevant or actually bad."
what simple, great advice that i never really considered before. the article goes on to cite an example of 1. a4? and what such response should black give. the article suggests 1...e5 because most standard defenses to 1.e4 do not use the move a4 (and some use a3 which cannot be played now). therefore, attempting to transpose into one of these lines is a good idea for black.
against odd openings i used to simply ignore them (for the most part) and continue with my regular development. however, now i will definitely consider this great advice in the future.