I have a friend in my chess club who, no matter if he plays as White or Black, he plays a Hedgehog formation with g3, b3, e3, d3, Bb2, Bg2, Nd2 and Ne2 (obviously with numbers reversed as Black). I can find it very frustrating to play against because I can find no weak point to attack and he is able to react to whatever I throw at him.
So what is the best way to combat the Hedgehog?
Originally posted by zebanoSometimes - this is the same problem as with the King's Indian Attack. There's no problem with the opening as such, it's just that some people who play it want a formula to follow and tend to switch off their brains...
Maybe not as white, but it's more than solid against the english (some scicillain systems also transpose with good results).
Hello Positional Player,
I'm a diehard Hedgehog player so I can tell you what I find to be white's best (and most annoying) responses to the hedgehog.
The beauty of the hedgehog is that it is a solid defence with few weaknesses that can be achieved through many, many move orders. Basically a Sicilian Najdorf is achieved while avoiding the sharp lines that white usually plays against it. I usually get into the hedgehog with the Sicilian Kan, Symmetrical English, Queen Indian and Nimzo Indian systems where black's dark squared bishop goes back to e7.
(Note that playing the hedgehog as white through the English is quite passive. In this case just try to open the game with d5 and try to gain the initiative.)
DON'T:
- Play the English attack (Be3, Qd2, f3 etc..)
- Castle Queenside
- Develop dark squared bishop early
DO:
- Trade dark squared bishop
- Castle Kingside early with Be2
- Open F file
- Get e5 break
- Stop black from getting in e5 (very important) and d5.
Hope this helps,
Akashic
