Alapin opening

A few years ago I read some of the SOS chess books, a book serie edited by IM Jeroen Bosch.
(SOS = "Secrets of Opening Surprises") It is an interesting serie of books about off-beat opening lines by various authors, like e.g. GM Reinderman.
One of the opening lines featured was the Alapin opening, which I never had heard of before.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alapin's_Opening
It is not a very good opening to choose, but can be fun to experiment with in blitz.
And after all, if Magnus Carlsen can surprise his opponents with Ponziani opening, King's Gambit, and even 1.g4, then why can we amateur chess players not have some opening surprise fun too ? :)

It is playable

@tpr #2
Wonderful ! Thanks for sharing this nice Chucky game.

Actually, I don't think the Alapin opening is particularly bad, its just that not a lot of theory has gone into it. By placing the knight on e2, it exerts some pressure on the center, and it prepares a strong attack after white castles, as the rook supports the f-pawn, which is very dangerous. The main problems with it are that it is slower than many of white's options, and the fact that a black bishop on c5 can paralyze white's attack via f4.

@clousems #4
Interesting point. I've continued experimenting with it and noticed that the Ne2 can go to the nice f4 square sometimes.

3...Bb4 is pointless with knights on c3 end e2.
As you play 3 Nbc3, it transposes to the Vienna anyway.
The true Alapin player plays 3 d4.
Look at the friendly game B. S. Vainstain - D. I. Bronstein, Kiev 1938:
1 e4 e5 2 Ne2 Nf6 3 d4 Nxe4 4 Ng3 Nxg3 5 hxg3 Nc6 6 Nc3 exd4 7 Nd5 Be7 8 Qg4 g6 9 Bc4 f5? 10 Rxh7 fxg4 11 Nxc7+ Qxc7 12 Bf7+ Kd8 13 Rxh8+ Bf8 14 Bg5+ Ne7 15 Rxf8# 1:0