Bird Opening Powerbook 2019

It is almost always the case that the Dutch is being played with an extra tempo, be it with e3 followed by the Stonewall (d4) or the Classical System (d3); or g3 is played and we head off on the direction of the Leningrad Variation. But there are also completely independent lines which are hardly playable in the Dutch. For example 1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 g6 4.d4 Bg7

Instead of, as in humanoid chess, playing the most frequent 5.Bd3 and later c3 to set up a Stonewall, the Bird Opening Powerbook offers in first place the surprising 5.c4!?. A score of 48% does not look particularly tempting, but this performance is above average (for players with White). That need not be a recommendation, but it certainly allows you to obtain the effect of surprise.