User:Msuman 1/sandbox

2. b4! - Virginia Creeper Opening
2. b4 is the Virginia Creeper Opening. White takes his momentum to the queenside and seems to throw away tempo and opening theory altogether. b4 can be met many ways by black but almost all moves give black a small edge over white. White's main objective is to put pressure on the queenside by having an advanced pawn on b5-b6, to prevent Nc6 by having the pawn on b5 and to try and develop and castle king-side as normal.

This opening looks like the Polish opening but it acts slightly differently. White will normally not go Bb2 but advance his a-pawn and try to play Ba3 in an effort to exchange dark-squared bishops and to recapture with the Knight on b1. If your opponent plays correctly he can win simply because his moves are based on theory, however, White is not completely out of luck by playing this opening and is really not as bad off playing this then most people think.

Black's responses
Black will normally play any number of moves that attack the now advanced b4 pawn. White should try to hold on to it, but black wants to either attack it early or after his development. If black does not attack the pawn in some way at first, he is allowing white to reach equality with ease, but will not be too worse off.

Theory table
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'''1. d4 d5 2. b4'''