After years of playing and research of the Pepsi Opening I have come to the conclusion that the Pepsi Opening is a strong underused opening but it could be improved, this is why after my days on end of research I have decided to create the New Pepsi Opening and rename the Pepsi Opening to the Old Pepsi Opening. There are 2 main lines to the Modern Pepsi Opening being the Pepsi Gambit or the Pepsi Dragon.
Lets start with the beginning of the Pepsi Opening, the Old Pepsi Opening and how to use it effectively.
(Note: All of the Pepsi Openings usually lead to an open game and The Pepsi Openings all start with the Saragossa opening. Also keep in mind if after you play the Saragossa opening and black plays something other than 2.bpd5 you can study some other variations with the analysis feature but I will not be covering to much of it in this post but I probably will cover moves other than 2.bpd4 in the comments.)
The Old Pepsi Opening
This is the Old Pepsi Opening and it is a extremely hard opening to use. The Old Pepsi Opening begins with bringing your two pawns to f3 and c3 before putting your queen on b3. At first you may think that putting the queen on b3 serves no purpose but it serves purpose as a worse bishop used for forks and traps in mid game either mating or winning pawns leading to the demise of black. Personally I think this opening should be given more credit but it's understandable why you wouldn't think it's a good opening.
The New Pepsi Opening (Also known as the Modern Pepsi Opening)
This is the New Pepsi Opening, it follows the same general idea of the Old Pepsi Opening but instead cuts out the weak move of f3 giving more potential for traps and just giving more space for the pieces on the king side to move in general. Usually a main line goes to either the Pepsi Gambit or the Pepsi Dragon depending on whether black plays 2.bpe5 (Pepsi Gambit) or some other move like 2.bnf6. Here is how to play both variations.
The Pepsi Gambit
The Pepsi Gambit has two lines where it is either declined or accepted, the better choice said by an engine and by me is to decline the Pepsi Gambit as if you accept it white gets opportunity to set up an attack with both knights extremely swiftly while if the Pepsi Gambit gets declined with the move 3.bpd4. (Usually black plays this but in some scenarios black ignores the gambit and develops pieces, in which case you usually take the pawn and play an open game with a developed queen.) white also has the opportunity to bring out their bishop into the center board quickly attacking weak squares on the board. When the Pepsi Gambit you can do some seriously devious stuff with both knights out and a rook.
The Pepsi Dragon
After you bring out the knight, it is very hard for black to develop pieces as most of the board is covered by the queen and the knight. The best move black can do is 3.bpc5 which is an extremely hard move to find.
