Van't Kruijs Opening: what to play after e5?

In the Van't Kruijs Opening, White's overwhelmingly preferred and engine-recommended continuation is Bb2. Having prepared the kingside fianchetto with an early pawn thrust, White immediately develops the bishop to contest the long diagonal and apply indirect pressure against Black's central pawns. While engine evaluation places the position at -0.32, Bb2 remains the dominant choice to keep development active and fluid.

The Strategic Role of Bb2

The move Bb2 accounts for 98.7% of all recorded games in this position, comprising 3.17M recorded encounters where White achieves an overall score of 52.3%. Placing the bishop on b2 activates the c1 before Black can consolidate a space advantage. From this post, White prepares to strike at Black's center with pawn breaks like c4, as seen in the illustrative engine line Bb2 Bd6 c4 c6 cxd5 cxd5.

Alternatives and Central Confrontations

Other moves appear far less frequently in practice. White sometimes opts to establish central presence directly via d4, recorded in 21K games (0.7%) with an engine evaluation of -0.66 and a White score of 46.7%, leading to continuations such as d4 e4 Ba3 Bxa3 Nxa3 c6. Alternatively, White chooses d3, seen in 22K games (0.7%) with a 49.2% score and an evaluation of -0.78, followed by d3 Nf6 Bb2 Bd6 Nf3 Qe7. Engine variations also evaluate quiet waiting moves like Be2 (-0.56) and a3 (-0.58), though neither challenges the natural development offered by the bishop on b2.