Originally posted by RabbitCold
Someone should make a guide for the hammer so all can learn... 😉
Ok here it is, the guide to using the Hammerschlag.
I will start with some common defences:
1.f3 e5 2.Kf2 d5 3.e3 This is by far the most common setup. There are three continuations here Nf6, Nc6 or the strong d4!
If 3..Nf6? then 4.d4!(Nf6 is bad because it blocks the queen from protecting the vital d4 square i.e Qh4+)4..exd4(If 4..e4? then 5.c4! followed by Nc3. If black takes the f3 square you develop your knight, your king is still safe and you're up development!)5.exd4 5..Nc6
From here white can develop two ways.(6.Bb5 6..Bd7 7.Nc3 7..Bb4 8.Ne2 8..O-O Then white gets a good game with 9.a3 or Re1 or Be3.)(6.Be3 preparing for c4 6..Bf5 7.c4 7..dxc4 8.Bxc4 8..Be7 9.Nc3 9..O-O 10. Ne2 and white has winning chances.)
If 3..Nc6 4.Ne2 4..Nf6(If they try to prevent d4 with 4..Bc5 then 5.c3 5..Nc6 6.d4 6..exd4 7.cxd4 7..Bb6 or Be7 8. Nc3 8..O-O 9. Nf4 and then white gets a good game) 5.d4 5..e4(If 5..exd4 then 6.exd4 6..Be7 7.Nc3 7..O-O 8.Be3 or Nf4 and white has some winning chances)6.f4 6..Nh5 7.g6 7..Bg4 8.Bg2 8..Be7 9.h3 9..Be6 10.b3 10..O-O 11.Nd2 11..Qd7 12.c4 12..f5 13.cxd5 13..Bxd5 14.Nc4 then white stands fairly good.)
If 3..d4! then 4.d3 4..Bc5 5.e4 5..Nc6 6.Nd2 6..Nf6 7.Nb3 7..Bb6 8.Ne2 and white will have a very difficult game, but still playable.
Ok, now that we have covered some common variations, lets see what happens if black resigns the center.
1.f3 1..b6 2.Kf2 2..Bb7 3.e3 3..g6 4.d4 4..Bg7 5.c4 5..d6 6.Nc3 6..e6 7.Bd3 7..Nd7 8.Ne2 8..Ne7 9.Nf4 9..O-O And white has good winning chances
Some tips when playing then Hammerschlag
1. Never place your bishop on g5 to pin the knight to the queen, this loses to Ng4+ fxg4 Qxg5 wins the material back and destroys the kings safety.
2.Moving the knight to f4 is a great outpost for it.
3.If you ever find your king in danger play g3 or g4 giving your king a good escaping square.
4.Don't be afraid to let you opponent attack you while you make your own plans(your king is on a safe square and there is no danger!)
5.When you reach the endgame use your developed king to dominate
the position.
Why play the Hammerschlag over other openings?
There is a large phycological advantage, your opponents first instinct is to attack the "exposed" king. When your opponent attacks you, develop your material and when your opponents attack inevitably runs out of steam, you can attack back at thier undeveloped position. The idea behind the hammerschlag is to sacrifice a tempo early to gain 2 tempi in the endgame. Consider the pawn structure of a kingside castled king, it takes two moves for the king to get to the second rank while on the Hammerschlags side the king is already there.
Well i'm going to stop here my fingers are tired😛. There is still alot more material to cover, but I think I got the basics down. I am really interested to hear what some higher rated players think of my analysis.