Recently I had been driven by a fascination with the Hippopotamus Defense. This is a Black side opening where Black fianchettoes the 2 Bishops and plays the 2 center pawns
at d6 and e6 and the Black Knights go to d7 and e7. This is essentially a Black side defense which is flexible. Which means that it can be used against any kind of White opening setup. However there are hidden dangers within this opening. Black has to delay castling because if White is setup for a Kingside attack, Black could get chrushed with a Kingside attack.
I had recently discussed the Hippo with my friend National Master Reynolds Takata. He said that if I played the Hippo against him in a game I would have no chance of winning because the Hippo is unsound. It would be easy for him to crack open my Kingside and checkmate my king. I actually do not believe that this was true, so I decided to do further research on the Hippo.
On Youtube on the internet, I found a chess video on the Hippo by GM Dzinhasvili. He said that when your opponent is confronted by the Hippo, the 2 most likely reactions would be to play ultra conservatively or be too overly aggressive against the Hippo. Your opponent would feel anger and try to crush your unsound opening. He also said that the Hippo is also not recommended because it was not sound.
When I did the search for the Hippo on Youtube, I saw 3 videos on an opening called the "Pincer Attack" by J Robi of Youtube. I was definitely curious, so I looked at the Pincer Attack videos and discovered that the Pincer Attack was a reversed form of the Hippo played from the White side a tempo up. White played the 2 fianchettoes, the 2 pawns at d3 and e3 and placed the 2 knights at d2 and e2. J Robi was still in the process of developing the Pincer Attack. The term Pincer is often used in battlefield tactics Robi
was trying to adapt military tactics to the game of chess. J Robi has not much success with the Pincer Attack, but he was in the process of working out the kinks in this opening. He first attempted to play 1.d3 as the first move, but has been experimenting with 1.b3 as a first move. He said the key to making this opening work was to
look at why White lost the games.
Listed below are the 2 web links to the Pincer Attack by J Roby of Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ACvf9dePHY&feature=fvwrel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwgl2-f6tb4
I did further research on the Pincer Attack by setting up a position from the White side with pawns at a2, b3, c2, d3, e3, f2, g3 & h2, B's at b2 and g2, N at d2 & e2. There were no pieces and pawns setup for the black side. And did a search with my Chessbase
program. I came up with 500+ games and was not surprised to discover that the Pincer had been the Pincer Attack had been played before by GM's and Masters. The earliest known game occurred in 1868. The list of GM's that have played the Pincer includes Pavel Blatny, Bobby Fischer and Gata Kamsky. Fischer knew about the Pincer Attack
because he studied 19th century chess extensively and Kamasky probably knew about the Pincer Attack because he studied Fischers chess games. Currently Pavel Platny is the foremost expert on the Pincer Attack because he has played it in tournaments more than anyone else.
There exists 4 major pawn breaks in the Pincer Attack. They are c4, f4, d3 and e3. In his games, GM Blatny favors playing the pawn break c4 with a pawn break at either d3 or e3. His main strategy is to pick off the center pawns and the queenside pawns and play for the endgame. I also saw 2 games by a Master playing a senior Master and losing. I will have to investigate these 2 gamess further.
At this point in time I do not believe that the 2 white knights belong on d2 and e2. They could also be played at a3 or h3. My second search for the Pincer Attack will have the pawns on b3, c2, d3, e3, f2, g3, with the B's at b2 & g2 and no knights on the
Board and also no black side pieces or pawns. White has to coordinate his castling with the pawn breaks.
Best Regards
Clyde Nakamura
at d6 and e6 and the Black Knights go to d7 and e7. This is essentially a Black side defense which is flexible. Which means that it can be used against any kind of White opening setup. However there are hidden dangers within this opening. Black has to delay castling because if White is setup for a Kingside attack, Black could get chrushed with a Kingside attack.
I had recently discussed the Hippo with my friend National Master Reynolds Takata. He said that if I played the Hippo against him in a game I would have no chance of winning because the Hippo is unsound. It would be easy for him to crack open my Kingside and checkmate my king. I actually do not believe that this was true, so I decided to do further research on the Hippo.
On Youtube on the internet, I found a chess video on the Hippo by GM Dzinhasvili. He said that when your opponent is confronted by the Hippo, the 2 most likely reactions would be to play ultra conservatively or be too overly aggressive against the Hippo. Your opponent would feel anger and try to crush your unsound opening. He also said that the Hippo is also not recommended because it was not sound.
When I did the search for the Hippo on Youtube, I saw 3 videos on an opening called the "Pincer Attack" by J Robi of Youtube. I was definitely curious, so I looked at the Pincer Attack videos and discovered that the Pincer Attack was a reversed form of the Hippo played from the White side a tempo up. White played the 2 fianchettoes, the 2 pawns at d3 and e3 and placed the 2 knights at d2 and e2. J Robi was still in the process of developing the Pincer Attack. The term Pincer is often used in battlefield tactics Robi
was trying to adapt military tactics to the game of chess. J Robi has not much success with the Pincer Attack, but he was in the process of working out the kinks in this opening. He first attempted to play 1.d3 as the first move, but has been experimenting with 1.b3 as a first move. He said the key to making this opening work was to
look at why White lost the games.
Listed below are the 2 web links to the Pincer Attack by J Roby of Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ACvf9dePHY&feature=fvwrel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwgl2-f6tb4
I did further research on the Pincer Attack by setting up a position from the White side with pawns at a2, b3, c2, d3, e3, f2, g3 & h2, B's at b2 and g2, N at d2 & e2. There were no pieces and pawns setup for the black side. And did a search with my Chessbase
program. I came up with 500+ games and was not surprised to discover that the Pincer had been the Pincer Attack had been played before by GM's and Masters. The earliest known game occurred in 1868. The list of GM's that have played the Pincer includes Pavel Blatny, Bobby Fischer and Gata Kamsky. Fischer knew about the Pincer Attack
because he studied 19th century chess extensively and Kamasky probably knew about the Pincer Attack because he studied Fischers chess games. Currently Pavel Platny is the foremost expert on the Pincer Attack because he has played it in tournaments more than anyone else.
There exists 4 major pawn breaks in the Pincer Attack. They are c4, f4, d3 and e3. In his games, GM Blatny favors playing the pawn break c4 with a pawn break at either d3 or e3. His main strategy is to pick off the center pawns and the queenside pawns and play for the endgame. I also saw 2 games by a Master playing a senior Master and losing. I will have to investigate these 2 gamess further.
At this point in time I do not believe that the 2 white knights belong on d2 and e2. They could also be played at a3 or h3. My second search for the Pincer Attack will have the pawns on b3, c2, d3, e3, f2, g3, with the B's at b2 & g2 and no knights on the
Board and also no black side pieces or pawns. White has to coordinate his castling with the pawn breaks.
Best Regards
Clyde Nakamura
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