I play the English opening as White, and I like to play 1. c4 e5 2. Nf3 instead of the more typical 2. Nc3. Generally, it transposes into some sort of four-knight English or symmetrical English (after, say, 2. ... Nf6 3. Nc3).
However, recently I've been facing a lot of 2. ... e4, the so-called Nimzowitsch-Flohr variation. A typical continuation is 3. Nd4 c5, at which point I play 4. Nc2 (see http://en.lichess.org/t6JawSOZ#0 ). I have found online that perhaps a better move for Black is 3. ... Nc6 instead of c5. It seems that the recommendation at this point for White is to play 4. Nxc6, but I would rather play 4. Nc2 again. In any case, White doesn't seem to score well at all in this variation, but there aren't very many games in this variation (that I could find, at least).
Does anybody else play this? I am wondering what a typical plan would be for White in this set-up after 4. Nc2, and whether White is in fact performing poorly in this variation. Is there anything better than 4. Nc2? Also, as I said, I couldn't find many games online with this variation--any example games out there?
Looking forward to hearing comments/suggestions/discussion, whether you fancy the English opening or not!
However, recently I've been facing a lot of 2. ... e4, the so-called Nimzowitsch-Flohr variation. A typical continuation is 3. Nd4 c5, at which point I play 4. Nc2 (see http://en.lichess.org/t6JawSOZ#0 ). I have found online that perhaps a better move for Black is 3. ... Nc6 instead of c5. It seems that the recommendation at this point for White is to play 4. Nxc6, but I would rather play 4. Nc2 again. In any case, White doesn't seem to score well at all in this variation, but there aren't very many games in this variation (that I could find, at least).
Does anybody else play this? I am wondering what a typical plan would be for White in this set-up after 4. Nc2, and whether White is in fact performing poorly in this variation. Is there anything better than 4. Nc2? Also, as I said, I couldn't find many games online with this variation--any example games out there?
Looking forward to hearing comments/suggestions/discussion, whether you fancy the English opening or not!