Flank Opening (Polish Opening)

The Polish Opening (or Orangutan Opening) is a flank and rather uncommon opening starting with the move 1. b4. The purpose of this move is to fight for a spatial advantage on the queenside instead of immediately taking control of the centre. White will claim their share of the centre after getting the queen’s bishop fianchettoed and an eventual pawn advance in the centre. The move b4 can always be played later in the game which is the reason why this opening is seldom seen 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 Black responds with 1...e5 or 1...e6, usual play either continues with 2. a3, defending the pawn, or 2. Bb2, fianchettoing the bishop on the powerful a1-h8 diagonal. The idea after Bb2 is that the black can't play Bxb4 right away. For example, after 1. b4 e6 2. Bb2 Bxb4??, White responds with 3. Bxg7, at which point Black loses a rook. However, 1. b4 e5 2. Bb2 Bxb4!? 3. Bxe5 is actually viable for Black, in spite of the fact that Black cedes White a central pawn majority. Black will usually obtain some form of compensation with a slight lead in development. Chances for both sides in these lines are around equal, with perhaps a very slight edge for White.
• Another possibility is for White to advance their b-pawn with b5, so as to evade attack. This has been shown to be a good option in several lines, and White now has a clear spatial advantage on the queenside. On the other hand, White’s pawn is now overextended and difficult to protect. Once again, the positions resulting from these lines are generally equal.

1. b4

• 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.

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Wikipedia has related information at Sokolsky Opening