Chess Opening Theory/1. b4

Polish Opening
a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h
Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/1P6/8/P1PPPPPP/RNBQKBNR b
Moves: 1. b4
ECO code: A00
Parent: Starting position

1. b4 · Polish Opening

The Polish Opening is a flank and rather uncommon opening starting with the move 1. b4, the purpose of this move is to fight for an advantage on the queenside instead of taking control of the centre, getting the dark-squared bishop fianchettoed, b4 can always be played later in the game which is the reason why this opening is very rare nowadays, however, Tartakower and Magnus Carlsen have tried it in tournaments and won successfully. The Polish opening is classified under the code (A00) as an irregular opening.

• Fianchettoing is often a good idea. Why not grab a little space?
• At some point a quick b4-b5 might dislodge a knight on c6.
• Trading the b-pawn for the c-pawn may give white central power.
• If 1...e5 or 1...e6, usual play either continues with 2. a3 or 2. Bb2. The idea after Bb2 is that the black can't play Bxb4 right away, anyway. E.g., 1. b4 e6 2. Bb2 Bxb4? 3. Bxg7 where black loses material. However, 1. b4 e5 2. Bb2 Bxb4!? 3. Bxe5 is actually good for Black anyway despite the fact that black loses a central pawn for a flank pawn.

Statistics

www.chess.com's Game Explorer Master Games DB shows 1704 games with 1. b4:

White wins 37%, 41% are drawn and Black wins 22% of all games.

www.365chess.com's Big Database shows 6360 games with 1. b4:

White wins 33%, 26% are drawn and Black wins 41%.

ChessBase's Big Database 2010 has 14,389 games with 1. b4 giving White a 47.6% winning percentage - which is very bad when compared to White's winning percentages with 1. e4 (53%) 1. d4 and 1. c4 (+54%) and 1. Nf3 (55%).

The Big Database has 291 games (out of almost 5.5 million) played with at least one player having a FIDE rating of 2400 or higher. The winning percentages for these games are: White 46%, Drawn 30%, Black 24%.

The average FIDE rating of all players is 1926, the average performance rating is 1942 which again compares unfavorably with the average ratings of all players employing 1. d4, 1. Nf3, 1. c4 and the average performance ratings of these openings (both categories are +2200).

The average rating of all players employing 1. e4 in the DB is 2135 with an average performance rating of 2161.

Few Grandmasters (GMs) employ this opening in serious games. GMs Ivanchuk and Fischer played it three times – in simultaneous exhibitions. GMs Hort, Ljubojevic, Miles, Petrosian and Smyslov played it at least once against fellow GMs or IMs (International Masters); Larsen played it in at least 4 serious games.

Surprisingly, there are a few fairly recent books on this opening. Not surprisingly, none are by GMs (although two are by IMs.)

Play 1.b4! Shock your Opponents with the Sokolsky Language: English by IM Yury Lapshun, Nick Conticello Everyman Chess, 2008, PB

1.b4: Theory & Practice of the Sokolsky Opening Full of Fresh Analysis by Jerzy Konikowski, Marek Soszynski Russell Enterprises, 2009, PB - English

The Sokolsky 1.b4 (Orangutan) Foxy 106 by IM Andrew Martin ChessOnDVD, 2010, DVD Language: English

In theory and practice, Black usually responds by playing in the center with 1...d5, or by exploiting the weak position of the pawn by playing 1...e5 or 1...e6. The flexible 1...Nf6 has been played as well.

Further reading: http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-sokolsky-opening IM Tim Harding "Significant Games in the Sokolsky Opening" http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kibitz86.pdf http://www.chesscafe.com/text/lane140.pdf

Theory table

1. b4

	1	2	3
1	b4 e5	Bb2 Bxb4	Bxe5 Nf6	=
1	... ...	a3 d5	Bb2 a5	=
2	... d5	Bb2 Nf6	e3 e6	=
3	... Nf6	Bb2 e6		=
Outflank Variation	... c6	Bb2 a5		=
	... ...	... d5		=
Birmingham Gambit	... c5	b4xc5 e5		=
	... ...	a3 c5xb4		=/+

References

• Eric Schiller (2002). Unorthodox Chess Openings (Second Edition ed.). Cardoza. ISBN 1-58042-072-9. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
• Kasparov, Garry, & Keene, Raymond 1989 Batsford chess openings 2. ISBN 0-8050-3409-9.

For explanation of theory tables, see theory table and for notation, see algebraic notation.