Wrong footing 1...g6 players with 1b3!

OK, the exclamation mark is subjective...

I've been thinking about the growth of 1...g6 as a defence. I'm not saying 1d4 or 1e4 are of course bad, but I notice some practitioners trot out 1...g6 all the time.

Has anyone used 1b3 against those players that always play 1...g6 to take them out of their comfort zone?

But NLA 1. b3 doesn't pose any real problem to play 1...g6.

It might if you are about 70 years old and have been playing 1...g6 for the last fifty years, but can't play your favourite defence !

Oh right, OK. Are you saying 1b3 g6 is OK for black ?

It's a line

I'm not that big a fan of 1b3, but would play it more often if folks thought 1..g6 was OK, I must admit...

Lol yeah g6 looks wrong is and probably not the best move after b3, but after Bb2 Nf6 it's not like Black's losing or anything

I'm happy to play Bxf6

Exactly.

It's also a solid opening in general, Nakamura is always using it in FIDE rated blitz and rapid games, check out his games for ideas if you're interested enough to use it against non 1...g6 players. 

How ironic...

1...g6 is one of the best responses to 1.b3! Most people prefer Nf6 first, but it should transpose.

I play the modern defence, but if my opponent knows I play the modern and open with 1.b3 I get happy since I imagine my opponent has not done much home preparation before the game. Well prepared opponents ready to go into critical lines is the worst.

I've played 1. Nf3 g6 as black when I knew my opponent was planning 2. b3. 

It's a line. 

I know that Eric Schiller is not considered the most accurate chess author ever, and that's an understatement, but I remember reading his analysis of the so-called Polish Spike.

Looking at this, I have no idea what to think.  Surely if it is even slightly better for White in the Polish, the b3 move order should be a better version.

1: b3 e5/d5 is super risky for black because white is a tempo up, but not like 1: e4/d4 g6 which is a game but should be fine. Therefore, 1: b3 g6 is actually not a bad move, playing a hypermodern game instead of going for the center a tempo down.

In bullet I like to play this cheap trick:

It works because many g6-Players premove Bg7. Against the modern it is very strong because you also win the rook.

I believe the correct defence against the spike is 1. b3 g6 2. Bb2 Bg7 3.g4 h6! and White is wrongfooted, since 4.h4 d6 5.g5 doesn't quite work, as the rooks get exchanged and Black can sidestep any Bb2 threats. So this leaves White with the sad necessity of playing h3. 3.e4 d6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 on the other hand is a good try for a space advantage, but this result is normal for whoever plays 1...g6 in first place.

Well I'm willing to give it a go. Thanks SmithyQ for the idea

Yes, I believe you are right - on second thoughts

I'm happy as white to give up the bishop pair and to play against the doubled pawns though...

Bxf6 is probably a lot better than this g4 stuff...