Sokolsky Opening. Has anyone had success persisting with the lines

there is one line you should consider vs a super early d5. 6.e3 nc6 7.cxd5 nxe5 8.qa4+ c6 9. qxb4 
 
as for early nc6 before d5, here is an improvement over your line. i personally dont like dxc3 at all.

Grob attack from wish

Yes!!!!!  Kingsknighttwitch

“”Would you all be interested if I made some videos on Sokolsky opening theory?””

I think it would be very instructive for general and intermediate players like me and others who have posted here with a curiosity and interest.

There are advanced players here who play the Sokolsky regularly . But also others who wish to use the opening as white to be more competitive against players with much higher elo’s . Who are  overwhelmed in the c4,d4,e4 openings against chess theorists who have studied them ad nauseum.😇😇

Yes Erwin. That game you showed with c4 rather than c3. It’s a game I mentioned earlier I played where black gets an open  d file. You mention it also. Somehow the “ Alekhine pistol” begins to form with black who knows that line. The queen and two rooks after queenside castle float into the d line. White can hold it with advanced players but it’s a trap for lower players like me.

Oh yes. I see Miguel doesn’t open the d file!! He doesn’t play dxc3.

Thats the answer I needed…..to stop the Alekhine pistol being as effective. Keep the d file closed.

Can someone please show the lines against the Birmingham opening after bxc5. After black plays d6 I’ll ask the obvious question why you don’t take the pawn again. Is that a trap for unknowing  players like me again to gain a pawn. It looks suspicious.I played e4 and off we go. 

you almost never play dxc3 in the sokolsky, it creates 3 pawn islands. even in positions where the engine thinks its equal, its practically much easier for white to lose the endgame because of holes on the queenside.

for example, in the normal lines with nc6 0-0 and d5, you almost never see  early nc3 despite threatening to swap the annoying d5 knight. you see, both nc3 (and d4) being somewhat delayed and white plays qc2 or qa4, rc1. why? to avoid dxc3.

Yes. I see it!!😊😊

Refuted

There was another exchange variation game I recently was able to flunk, because of ignoring one move in turn 13. I thought it was useless, but it eventually opened up an attack for Black on the kingside. (Yes, even in correspondence chess, you can make an obvious mistake, because you don't understand the importance.... as a newby player taking up chess again after 30 years)

The main idea of myself was to be prepared and develop the White king's knigt to e2, and not as I had previously played to f3. This would allow me to be armed against any Black advance on his queenside, even allowing a move of the c-pawn to c4. I would then have enough to counter that with an attachk in the center on the hanging d5 pawn.

I will show you part of the game, which after my mistake (I think) went on to move 27  when I gave up. It is I think indeed an example not to forget, as it is a standard position many other might encounter.

Anyone with thoughts, comments and ideas, you are welcome.

this is an alternative configuration which i dont trust. bd3 nd2,ne2 may seem more natural but if black plays, c5-c4, b5 and a5, i find that the pressure in creating a passer is annoyingly high. black may already be slightly better in fact.

g3 bg2 not only doesnt encourage c5-c4 gaining a tempo on your bishop but ne2-nf4 puts significant pressure on d5 which if white already played c5 is practically an isolani.

Could you explain a bit bit more here @darkunorthox88?!

You kind a lost me with the idea of an isolani here.

(I played a game recently with g3 / Bg2 and just got away with it. I can show this here later if you wish.)

super handy when u r playing black and purposely playing bad moves

tell which move by black is so terrible? literally the only move i played that was purposely subpar was a6 which was a reasonable human move to get queenside space

besides, the point of that position wasnt to discuss theory,but to show some of the positional motifs the opening revolves aroundd. e.g adding pressure on the weak light squares put pawns in dark squares.

this was from my last lichess game https://lichess.org/bniyn3St#39   and my opponent resigned quite prematurely,, but look how artistic white's game is! although 14.qb3! was even more convincing

That look slike a really nice game!

I do like the idea of placing the White light squared bishop on the h1-a8 diagonal! Perhaps better sometimes tahn the b1-h7 diagonal. Which would hamper the development of both White's knigts to d2 and e2. I must remember this for my own future games.