Many strategies are possible when you desperately need to win playing with the white pieces. One of them is to avoid a theoretical discussion in the opening and play something that keeps tension on the board. While this strategy will fail in today's example, it has been used many times successfully. Perhaps the most emblematic case is Kasparov's victory to save the 1987 match against Karpov in Seville.
1. d2d4  1... d7d5  2. g1f3  2... g8f6  3. e2e3  3... e7e6  4. f1d3  4... c7c5 