Improving on Owen's Defense?

Great darkunorthodox88,
I have many questions but better step-by-step.
One is the question: d5 or c5 (see above)
1. With d5: black must be careful not to close the diagonal of its bishop at b7.
2. With d5: in case of exchange, black can easely take back with the queen as the queen has good squares at row 5.
3. With d5: black keeps pressure on white's centre.
Is this all true?

я человек

in the line shown above, nf6 is slightly premature. when black plays 3.e6 instead of 3.nf6, he will usually play 4.c5 first. One of the reasons why, is that black wants to tempt c3 so that if the f6 knight hops to d5, white has to waste an extra tempi  if he wants to play c4.

only in a few lines in the owen's does the f6 knight go to e4 instead of d5 or d7. usually only  when  the queen knight is on c3, and black can put extra pressure with bb4. In the line above, ne4 wastes too much time as white can just challenge the knight, and develop a piece without a pin via nbd2! black is now dangerously slow in development. 

yes, in a lot of lines with ne4, taking on the knight is poison because black will remove the d4 defender, and qxd4 follows.

in lines where you play d5, you WILL close the diagonal of your bishop but there is compensation for this. Black will go for either a big queenside cramp, via, c5-c4, b5, a5 going for b4, OR to play moves like c5 and a5, possibly with qc8, aiming for ba6 trading off the bad bishop. the positions are like the french defense, but their move order has some unique advantages and disadvantages (unlike the french defense with b6 thrown in, whites knight is in the inferior f3 square instead of e2, e2 is more dangerous, because white can begin with f4 and f5 after castling., also in a lot of these lines, white's queen is on e2, which means the ba6 trade off is more likely to work if you set it up, the downside is that you VERY rarely get to play f6 in this type of french as the e6 pawn becomes too weak, and black doesnt get to play qb6 early on)

Поздравляю! 

I've actually been playing Owen's Defense for a while now, and what I've learned from playing it is that the conventional advice on how to play it isn't quite correct.

First of all, you shouldn't play b6 first, because then white doesn't have to play 2. d4, and realistically shouldn't (in fact, I'd recommend 2. Bc4).  Instead, play 1. e4 e6 2. d4 b6!, to make sure you get the target (the d4 pawn) needed to gain the initiative.

The second point is that Staunton's advice of an early c5 is wrong.  And you only play d5 if e4 and c4 have already been played, enabling the d-file to be opened by force.  This move weakens b5 which will prove problematic, so it's best to keep this pawn at home, at least until you've had time to play a6 (which you won't for a while).  Once the bishop is fianchettoed on b7, e4 is weak, so white must either advance it with e5 (which opens the long diagonal) or reinforce with f3.  Both moves weaken white's queenside.  An early f3 can be further weakened by Qh4+. which forces g3.

In any case, your primary target is d4, so in the early going you want to overprotect the blockading square, d5.  It's often a good idea to put a knight there in order to provoke c4 (which weakens white on the queenside).  I never play Nf6, but rather Ne7 which is more flexible.  The early position is a little cramped, but both bishops are mobile and white loses immediately if the d-pawn falls.  Even if it doesn't, it is usually left isolated or backwards, and remains a weakness throughout the game.

Owen's Defense is best understood in hypermodern terms - follow Nimzowitsch's rules on restraint and blockade, and it works out quite well.  The fight in the center is often very sharp, and tempo is critical, often more so than material.  There are a number of gambit continuations, and a few sacrificing ideas if white leaves the pawn on e4.

The main virtue of Owen's Defense is early piece mobility.  The game unfolds much faster than in the French Defense, which you nonetheless should know and use whenever white doesn't play 2. d4.  Owen's is great option for the player who likes sharp tactics, but it's definitely not for the timid.

One line thats quite annoying is actually this. 

and this sadly may very well spell trouble 3...e6 as the more analyze these lines with a strong engine the more convinced i am that they border on refutation. Fortunately, 3...nf6 which is how i play it still seems to function just fine.

@darkunorthodox88 I've dropped you a line, as I'm interested in using the Owen's further (as a b3 player), but so far it's proved quite mysterious for me!