The Owen's Defense is Not a Good Opening Choice

Look at this game I played against Owen's Defense and tell me that the players are playing the opening right. People need to either learn how to play it well or not play it at all.

lets stick to your line with nf6. THIS is how black should play it.

Why are you having your opponent make stupid, beginner level moves?

like what? the op shows this line he plays, i showed him that even sticking to how he thinks black will play, it immediately at least equalizes. after ne4, bd2 is the most natural move, esp for his level but even qg4, is -0.1. This position is super comfy for black.

black can also equalize with this

Don't be ridiculous.

What exactly is -0.1?

There is no such thing as -0.1.

Those computer lines often depend on a single tactical thread 10 moves in advance no human could spot.

Even if -0.1 it can still be good for white as a human.

OP is careful to note that a lot of the time black ends up with that sort of position. He didn't say it always happens.

To be sure f4 can be a risky move and what happens after Qh4 always has to be checked and calculated carefully.

Same as how f4 in many attacks is evaluated lower by the computer but is favoured by grandmasters and gets the best human results. eg. against Pirc I think.

I wouldn't play f4 against the Owens just because the Owens is bad enough as it is, there is no need to get into such complications.

But it's not inherently bad, especially at lower ratings. Same as how the king's gambit works for white at lower ratings despite having a negative computer evaluation.

Just watch for Qh4 and make sure there's a good response to it.

So here's the Pirc: f4 the most played move among masters here and gets far better results than the computer best Nf3 (Be3 involves queenside castling so is a different type of opening).

Yet f4 not even in the top 5 computer evaluated moves.

Wow - how could that be? It's almost as if the computer evaluation isn't the same as a human evaluation.

GingerGM is a huge fan of pushing the f-pawn, proceeds to ignore computer evaluations and has gotten some outstanding results from it. (Though sometimes GingerGM is said to actually play unsound so may not be the best example, this isn't due to him not playing computer evaluations.)

-0.1 means a lot when you in move 5 agaisnt a defense where its supposed to take longer to equalize.
OP is finding critical lines which are in fact harmless. As a general rule in the owens, early f4 is harmless. Only if black has already closed the position does f4 become a legitimate threat in some lines. Otherwise, it is a fearsome looking move that helps black more than anything.
I will tell you whats happening. The black players here are quite weak an only know a few book moves agaisnt the standard responses (like when black goes 3.nc3 and 4.nf3 for example) so when white deviates with something like early bd3 and f4, leaves the players on their own limited devices. Here for example, you can tell, these players have no idea what they doing by castling too early. A good owens player develops a healthy allergy to being massacred on the kingside and only does so when it is absolutely safe to do so.

The OP is not wrong, if at his level , people are daring to play b6, they need to do their homework which they clearly arent. But the way white is playing it is not theoretically challenging and if the black players did do their homework, would be getting very pleasant positions.

It really depends

It’s perfectly fine if black knows what they’re doing. There are actually some confusing traps for black where they can win a pawn/rook if white isn’t careful.

Unorthodox, this is now I play against people who play those lines:

First thing he will do is put it into the computer and say no you're wrong because the computer says this is bad - despite the computer completely rejecting the Owen's in the first place and having it as one of the worst openings possible which doesn't bother him.

First one castling queenside allowing the Bxc3 might be suspicious though. I mean look at Qd5 or Bd5 along with a pawn storm, that's very dangerous.

Yeah on second thought I would play Nh3 instead.

Like this:

I would enjoy that position as white.

Potential Nc6 ideas would be countered by Rd1, and c5 I would gladly exchange the bishops.

if you ever got around to learning how to use the darn thing, maybe you woudnt stil be a class player

the first position basically hands over complete dominance of the light squares to white. Even if you won the e pawn somehow, black is slightly better already. Your dominance of the other square complex amounts to bulky pawn center with limited mobility instead of pieces.
as for the latter position. you have to be careful to not hang the e pawn. the position is equal but black has the comfier game since his dark square bishop is passive.

Well, that's where the middlegame comes in. I mean even as black I enjoy seeing b3, as it guarantees a least a balanced opening for black. Pushing the b pawn in the opening period is just not that good.

And just look at this game I had a week ago against the Owens Defense. They need to change their opening.