I enjoyed this game since I was put into a new position by move 2. It’s not uncommon for people online to play specific systems that they’re comfortable with and not many people know. The opening below is completely playable but not played very often, it transposes to something like a Semi-Slav where Black looks to play and solidify d5.
Although not familiar with this opening, the principles of opening development are enough to make it through anything unfamiliar. I simply exchange the wing pawns since that’s my typical play in every Slav or Semi Slave structure, get the Knights to c3 and f3 to influence the center, look for good squares for the Bishops (there is a pin option on a good diagonal) and put my Rook on the open c file to pressure a piece with few defenders.
Every piece is serving some purpose in the opening, the last two pieces (The King’s Rook and Queen) have yet to be determined where they would be best. From this point on it becomes about developing a plan, there is pressure on the c6 Knight and one of the defenders of it is pinned to a Rook. The Knight attack was the start point for my middle game plan, which slowly compounded until it ended up being able to cause enough problems Black missed the proper defense and everything began to fall apart.
