2.c3 is playable, if not very ambitious. It's the common move for colle/torre/stonewall players who want to reach their usual opening setup. Don't expect many black players to reply with 2...c4?? however; there are no words to describe the ugliness of that move. 3.e4 would be the most natural reaction, but the way you reacted is more than enough to punish black.
What if we did this against Old Benoni?
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Hi Unleash_the_Queens--there's a lot you can do on move two there, but 2. d5 will get you to different flavors of the Benoni after ...e6 or ...d6 by black. 2. e3 and 2. c3 are both playable, as is 2. Nf3, but you quickly exited Benoni channels and left black as the aggressor. 2...c4 was premature as mentioned; the right plan was to take over the center with ...d5, ...e6, ...Nf6, ...Nc6, etc. 3. e4 was even stronger before you played Nd2, and 3. Qa4!? was interesting to stop ...d5 altogether. So some unusual play on both sides, more errors by black, and you emerged with the upper hand as a result. Nicely done.
Well, he didn't know the ideas behind it, I didn't know the ideas behind it. We both didn't. But I knew the ideas behind Queen's Gambit, and so I tried to go for it, but he didn't knew the ones behind Benoni, so I don't know why he tried it.
And yes, I literally have NO idea why he played 2...c4. I think you shouldn't put 2 question marks. You should put about 30.
pentiumjs wrote:
Hi Unleash_the_Queens--there's a lot you can do on move two there, but 2. d5 will get you to different flavors of the Benoni after ...e6 or ...d6 by black. 2. e3 and 2. c3 are both playable, as is 2. Nf3, but you quickly exited Benoni channels and left black as the aggressor. 2...c4 was premature as mentioned; the right plan was to take over the center with ...d5, ...e6, ...Nf6, ...Nc6, etc. 3. e4 was even stronger before you played Nd2, and 3. Qa4!? was interesting to stop ...d5 altogether. So some unusual play on both sides, more errors by black, and you emerged with the upper hand as a result. Nicely done.
Thanks, I was a bit scared at start, as I was a bit like "What the slip is this opening?". But I did a couple of moves that looked logical and finally won. That was nice for me, as I managed to react against an opening I knew nothing about!
I used 2. Nd2 so that I could lure him in to play d5. Sounds strange, but I wanted this to happen so that 1) black's development was delayed even more 2)when I played e4, if he took the pawn I could have a magnificent central knight, better development, and after b3, black would have messed up pawns and I would have the a file open. Actually, opening the a file was really what I finally managed to do.
Also, with the knight defending c4, I could have a nice outpost for my light squared bishop.
Please change the grey board to green, blue, or brown. I can't look at it long enough it finish the game.
IM pfren nails it on the spot, as always.
Played it randomly as I didn't know anything to do against Old Benoni, but actually won. Doesn't look that bad though:
I don't know. Looks good and I was successful.