premium_steve
82 ( +1 | -1 ) c3 Sicilian Question :)I was wondering about this idea in c3 Sicilian games: 1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.c4?! (Now, this might seem a bit ridiculous - moving the c-pawn twice within the first four moves. It leaves the d4 backward and weak and it doesn't develop a piece. Is it a bad idea?) 5...Nb6 (This seems like the best move, but 5...Nb4 might be possible too. The position is a lot like an Alekhine, but white hasn't played d4 and black has played c5 instead of d6.) 6.b4 (I like this move better than an immediate 6.d4. But is this something White wants to go into? 6...d6 might be a good answer for Black, strengthening the c5 pawn and leaving White with a bad d-pawn. Accepting the sacrifice might be good too.)
I thought I'd mention this for fun and for my own improvement. Sometimes it's good to just let all your ideas out even if they turn out to be bad. If you understand why they're bad, that helps a lot I think.
bucklehead
62 ( +1 | -1 ) HmmThis is not my kind of position, but my gut sense is that 5. b4 cxb4 is a killer. White doesn't "gambit" a pawn in the traditional sense, especially since black's pawn take much time to reclaim, and while it's there it's a serious headache to develop white's QN to its natural squares. Sure, white gets a big center, but without any pieces developed it just doesn't strike me as that strong. 5. d4 cxd4 6 Qxd4 Nc6 7. Qe4 e6 8 Nc3 d5 solves a lot of the potential "cramping" problems black might face down the line. 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Na3 e6 8. Nb5 d5 9. Nbxd4 also looks ugly for white, but there's a lot of messiness to contend with.
bucklehead
109 ( +1 | -1 ) Three gamesHere are three games I found poking around. White's sole win is in a game where he outclasses black by 400 rating points, so I don't know if they'll be of much value. Interesting is the option 4...Nc7.
thunker
213 ( +1 | -1 ) For what it's worthChessbase has the following games using this position. Looks better for black on the surface. [Event "Cologne SV-ch"] [Site "Cologne"] [Date "1995.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Heppner, Herbert"] [Black "Breuer, Marc"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B22"] [PlyCount "102"] [EventDate "1995.??.??"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2000.11.22"]