The English Rat Defense: Berlin Defense of 1.d4?

above is the general starting position. it is similar to the Kings indian defense: ukranian variation as well as the philidor defense.

i believe it can transpose into a favorable kings indian if white insists on maintaining a space advantage, or the kings indian of your choice. 

an early f5 is possible. who knows if its ideal, but its interesting and i play it exclusively. the middlegame in these positions is no harder than the middlegame in the regular kings indian with a delayed f5.

white generally castles on the queenside. if they play e4, you have holes to work with. given the opportunity, you can exchange dark square bishops on c5 and have a dark square advantage often or have good outposts on some dark squares.

example game that reaches similar positions. anyway, good stuff. ive beaten 1800-1900 rated players with it and probably lost about 20%-30% of the games ive played with it. its extremely strong, theoryless often times, and enjoyable. you have to enjoy endgames and maneuvering a little to play these positions but there can be attacks and tactics. ive steamrolled some people who castled kingside with queens off the board (at the same time i had full control of the queenside while i attacked his king).

id also like to mention that it takes the d4 players out of d4 positions and into more of e4 positions. its a strong practical opening. easy to draw with this opening. i blundered a pawn, then, all i did was sit back, let my opponent push then i pushed pieces into his weaknesses and he couldnt do anything because of the pressure. he offered the draw, not me (i had time advantage as well and the initiative). good stuff, amazing games.

What's interesting is Chess.com's statistics for Black being favored to win from this.

hahaha nice!!!! i didnt see that!! good point!!! wow im so happy! im glad im doing something right lol. i expected it to be slightly inferior statistically but black would have a practically better game (like easier to make a plan i think).

1.d4 d6 2.c4?! is meant to be inaccurate due to 2...e5 and Black's already at least equal.

2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 is the Philidor Lion, which can be quite cramped for Black in the mainline (4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.Bc4). 5.g4!? in that line is also an interesting option, with White having most of the fun. But the Lion's a perfectly viable choice for Black.

nc3 is strong and in this analysis it seems it goes into the King's Indian, Fianchetto, Panno Variation perhaps. my analysis could be wrong but this is the position i would aim for. nc3 seems to prevent or discourage an early f5. ill look at that in a bit. thanks for the contribution, both of you.

similar to this perhaps http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1523741

I would also expect 3Nf3, to be a better try for white than 3d5 or 3pxp. It is more motivated to try d4xe5 after 3Nc3 f5 but most of the other d4xe5 endgames look extremely lame attempts by white.

nf3 is a nice move

3...e4 is much better option than exd4

here is a sample game

8cd cd and 9f3 bd6 (ambitious, or be7) and in this position black cant castle but black cant attack because the center is closed. unless he sacrifices on e4 or d5. i would still prefer the black side despite the nature of the position. i always enjoy facing the french defense. perhaps in this position with liquidated pawn breaks black can play h5 and play for the greek gift sacrifice, who knows. 

Bottom line - you can play what you're putting above for black - if white does the exchanges, black has a very comfortable position, and has the *easier play*, in my opinion - black's pawn structure makes the development rather easy, and the plan is pretty straightforward. 

That's why white shouldn't exchange against the Rat opening. 

White can get an opening edge if he/she plays correctly, but black always the opportunity to outplay the opponent in this opening. 

There's a reason this line isn't played much. It's 2. e4.

If your opponent does not ever play 2. e4, then I suppose it's not bad.

I am also reminded of US Champs Akobian-Gareyev which continued 2. Nf3 h6?!?!!? 3. e4 g5 and ended in a draw.

thanks OP, i've been researching this opening alot, this was pretty helpful

2. Nf3 is critical and what most 1. d4 players will go for rather than 2. e4.