Sokolsky Opening. Has anyone had success persisting with the lines

I ordered Lapshun's "PLay b4!" and Konikowski's "b4. Theory and Practice" as well

I own all 3 books. You just have to watch out for what each one says about certain things. For example, Lapshun over-estimates the Sokolsky Gambit - 1.b4 e5 2.Bb2 f6 3.e4 (First 8 of the 11 games in the chapter). Hansen doesn't even cover it. The theory and practice book covers it but acknowledges that it is basically "equal at best" and indirectly saying that Black is probably for preference.

Another untrustable line Lapshun covers is one with an early f4 - I think it is game 18, but not looking at the book at the moment. Even they say declining with 3...d6 (I think it is 1.b4 e5 2.Bb2 Bxb4 3.f4 (Just take on e5) gives Black the advantage. They do a lot of this. They throw in games because they are cute, but in reality useless. If memory serves me right, I think this was the one where White got the Rook on h8 and Black "promoted" to Queen with hxg1, of course recaptured, I believe by the king.

The b4 Theory and practice is a complete coverage book, but can be confusing because they often refer you back to other games from previous side notes, and some may view as a database dump of lines as there is less prose. If you need a line for Black, that is the place to look.

Now keep in mind, complete coverage is complete coverage of what was known in 2009. 4.c3 in the Exchange Variation was a fairly new phenomenon and everyone played 4.c4 or 4.Nf3, both of which got full chapters, along with 2...f6, 2...d6, and 2...e4, all got a chapter each. Lapshun's is a repertoire book with some added "cute" stuff. Ignore the cute stuff, which off the top of my head I believe is just games 1 through 8 and 18, and you basically have a repertoire for White.

So here is how I see the 3 books:

Hansen - Some of the more modern ideas. I use his gambit line against the out-flank attack. This one is legit as you are not weakening the White King to do it. In Lapshun's gambits, they all are f4-based. This one is 1.b4 c6 2.Bb2 Qb6 3.a3 a5 4.Nc3! (This is covered as a sideline, he also covers 4.c4) axb4 5.axb4 Rxa1 6.Qxa1 (the point of the pawn sac) Qxb4 7.Na4 f6 (only move, and many amateurs don't find it, it is to prevent 9.Be5) 8.Bc3 Qd6 9.Nb6 Qc7 etc. Moves like Na8, Qa7, Ba5, etc, all come into consideration. I also think his coverage and the theory and practice coverage of the German Defense (1...d5/2...Qd6) is better than Lapshun's.

Lapshun's book is good if you can weed out the garbage (games 1-8 and 18) and also consider that some legitimate lines by Black are left out - like in the German Defense, particularly Black's 4th move.

The theory and practice book is the most dense, the hardest to follow, will require the most work, but is the most complete based on 2009 standards. The assessments are the most accurate, and what is covered really has not changed. They just don't cover some of the newer ideas, like Carlsen's 4.c3 in the Exchange Variation or the 4.Nc3 gambit in the Outflank Attack.

So I would read Hansen's and Lapshun's first, but keep in mind you are basically wading in the shallow end of the pool. The deep dive is the theory and practice book.

I also believe, if memory serves me right (the authors of the latter mention it, I did not proceed to count), that there is a 26 game overlap between the Lapshun (out of 82) and Theory and Practice (out of 95) books, though looking at a game twice from two different perspectives is not a bad thing. While the opening is now considered hogwash (Playing Bd3 in Bird's Opening that is and leaving the pawn on d2), how many times have you seen the Bird's opening game with the double Bishop sacrifice on h7 and then 2 moves later g7? I have seen it at least 3 times, all for a different purpose. One was an intro game from the 2006 Everyman book on Bird's opening while another was part of the Tactician's Handbook series - I think it was the 4th of 5, the others being Alekhine's Block, The Crosspin, Mitrofinov's Deflection, and the Steeple Chase. There were supposed to be two more, but never got published, and they then included those two plus the original 5 in a condensed version a decade or so later but with fragments instead of games. But the point is that seeing a game more than once isn't always a bad thing, especially from different people's perspectives.

Many have the misconception that mastering 1.b4 is a 30-minute exercise and that we are "lazy", but that just is not the case at all. It may not be as deep as the Najdorf, but it's not the Colle Koltanowski either!

Good luck with your endeavors!

What if you as a 1. b4 Sokolsky player were confronted with this move, while playing the Black pieces! What would be you favourite variation to play against it?

Thanks for your elobarate answer to me getting the two other books @ThrillerFan! I will study them indeed with the knowledge of their date of publication, standards of theory at the time, in comparison to Hansen.

Meanwhile I have several correspondence games running to learn more from practice. My biggest challenge is one in which my Black opponent launched a KIA. Tough struggle so far.

The Exchange Variation

Against 4.Nf3, take the center with 4...O-O and then d5 and c5.

Against 4.c4, delay ...Nc6. 4...O-O 5.Nf3 (a3 should be considered here or move 7) Re8 6.e3 d5 7.cxd5 (I almost view this as a mistake - 7.a3 first) Nxd5 and now 8.Bb2 Nf4 or 8.Be2 Rxe5.

Against 4.c3, 4...Be7 and 5...O-O (White needs to take on f6 when Black castles, which may not be as blatantly obvious to White as say, Nc6 or d5. Black will still play d5 and c5. I see the early Nc6 without c5 as a mistake for Black.

Oh, and by the way, in my 3300+ over the board games of standard time control (Game in 30 minutes or longer), presumably half of them with Black, I have faced 1.b4 a total of 3 times, or roughly once every 550 games with Black. I have 2 wins and a draw against it. Of course, I have something like 300 games with White.

Well, it's really a KID, not KIA, but that is one line where my preference is Lapshun's idea. Delay castling until you see what happens in the center and queenside. If a file opens or semi-opens. Like ...exd4 by Black, castle kingside. If it locks, castle long.

Here is that game that is still running, where Black opens up an attack on the king-side.

Please only comments on what has happened so far, no suggestions to future moves, or anything that can help me to contiunue this game!!! What I would love to know, is how I have done so far against a KIA, or what I should learn more about it in relation to the Sokolsky.

So far it is a hard struggle, and I am not convinced of all my moves, eventhough the engine provides me with the idea I am still slightly better(?).

I would myself have played 9.a4 and waited to castle. Try to get in d4, if answered by e4, go back to d2 with the Knight, entice d5 by Black to protect the e4-pawn, respond c5 to that, and once he plays c6 or b6, Advance the other pawn and castle queenside. If he takes on d4, recapture with the Knight and castle kingside.

Was blitzed out to a Time vs Insufficiant Material Draw in a mate in 3 scenario, but here is another, otherwise, successful Sokolsky by White in the Exchange Variation.

Games like this are why chess.com ratings must be taken with a grain of salt - all over the board games now-a-days have delay or increment.

https://www.chess.com/game/live/90508874753

Erwin, I think it's a good position and both sides have chances. I do agree with Thrillerfan that stopping the advance of the a pawn was a priority.

good game Thrillerfan! black wasted a lot of time on those early rook moves. you defended well. at the end of the game, I think Rb1 instead of taking the pawn would have forced the win sooner. he can't stop the b pawn with out giving up the bishop.

when black played a5-a4,you should have played a3, and the a4 pawn is permanently weak and will likely be sniped by nc3- nxa4

if i suspect my opponent doesnt know what they doing , 1.e5 2.bxb4 and will play one of the critical lines. i may also be tempted to play 1.c6 and try one of the trick lines. 
if my opponent is much stronger, i may go for the drawish QID lines.

Perhaps I should have looked for 9. a4 at the time of playing. However, I contemplated Black's idea at the time and could not imagine he would waste another two more moves to continue pushing his a pawn all the way to a3. Where at the moment during the current position in the game, as posted here above, I see no real addition to that Black pawn on a3 in any way hindering me.

I might me wrong of course, but I think Black wasted two moves, while having other chances.

I didn't play my pawn move to a3, when Black played his move prior to a4, because I got a bad feeling about his options of getting his knight on the free c5-square in addition with another following move of his pawn moving to e4. But that was somehting I felt at the time.

Either playing a4 on move 9 or later something else, might have indeed given me less troubles ;-)

I will make some notes in my booklet on my games, with all of your remarks guys! Thanks.

I currently also play a wonderful game, in which Black replied with 1. .. Nc6! Probably the only move Black should never play!!!!

It is an odd game so far, where I am taking a lot of space with my pawns, and kicking the Black knights around. No idea how this will end.

https://www.chess.com/game/daily/506182759

this is my only win with the sokolsky in daily games. all my losses so far have been against 1900 or higher rated players and I lost because of questionable middlegame play on my part, through no fault of the opening. any comments or criticisms are welcome.

two things .
1. the minute you see black play d5 and c5 in the old polish main line, its immediately time to swap cxd5. The last thing you want is for d5-d4 to happen.
2.you should retreat the bishop sooner rather than later, the tempo often allows black to show his formation of choice and more importantly you avoid the potential threat of rxe5, nxe5 qf6 which looms. Bxf6 is almost never played if you go for c4, if you dont mind bishop swap for knight,just learn the c3 modern c3 lines.

thanks for your comments.

this game is the first time that I played the Polish in Daily. I watched some videos on YouTube and probably mixed up a bunch of the ideas.