What is the significance of this setup?

Originally posted by chessisvanity
THE HIPPOPOTAMUS!! IS GOING FOR THE NUMBER 1 SPOT BABY!!!

WOO WOO!! FREIGHT TRAIN BABY!!

I dont understand.

it is hugely defensive and it cannot be refuted.

it leads to closed positions and it can be played against all openings.

If you are not a good player you will get crushed playing this as white or black...so be carefull

Somebody played this against me OTB a couple of nights ago.

I'm not sure I'd go so far as ChessIsVanity but I must confess it's trickier to play again than it might look at first sight.

I know Luke McShane used to play this a lot a few years back.

The guy played what? 4 games with it....its amazing how a GM can play a new line a few times and everyone says he is an expert...

no offense to the guy ^above^....but i see this in books all the time.

Take "Larsens opening"....Larsen played it what? 30 games?....he was a 1.c4 type of player...... anyways....

Originally posted by nihilismor
Originally posted by chessisvanity
[b]THE HIPPOPOTAMUS!! IS GOING FOR THE NUMBER 1 SPOT BABY!!!

WOO WOO!! FREIGHT TRAIN BABY!!

[fen]r2qk2r/1bpnnpb1/pp1pp1pp/8/8/PP1PP1PP/1BPNNPB1/R2QK2R w KQkq - 0 11[/fen]

I dont understand.[/b]

An amateur under the pen-name "Pafu" wrote a book called "The Beginner's Game" in which he advocates the above setup for both White and Black.

You can view the first five chapters of the book for free at http://www.beginnersgame.com

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS LIVES!!

ALL HAIL ME!!!

Clan 24911

Originally posted by chessisvanity
The guy played what? 4 games with it....its amazing how a GM can play a new line a few times and everyone says he is an expert...

no offense to the guy ^above^....but i see this in books all the time.

Take "Larsens opening"....Larsen played it what? 30 games?....he was a 1.c4 type of player...... anyways....

Perhaps they mean't he was an expert because he had a better understanding of it. Not because he had played many games with it.

I think my opponent was trying to set it up in this game and still is trying to set his position similar but he is losing

Game 4358243


no comments as it is still in progress

It's reasonably good in blitz because you can play pre-defined moves & often white (or indeed black) wastes time trying to find a weakness.

I've also played against it & the best answer seems to be to blow-open the center fairly early on, after some routine development. Decisive play is needed against it though because otherwise you can just get swamped by the pawn-pushes.

Game 2795950

Originally posted by chessisvanity
The guy played what? 4 games with it....its amazing how a GM can play a new line a few times and everyone says he is an expert...

no offense to the guy ^above^....but i see this in books all the time.

Take "Larsens opening"....Larsen played it what? 30 games?....he was a 1.c4 type of player...... anyways....

None taken ... because I never said he was an expert but just that he used to play the line often.

My impression was that he played it more than infrequently. I've personally seem him play it twice so I imagine it he punted the system more often that you indicate.

Does that make him an expert? Not necessarily but he is, I suggest, the highest rated player of recent years, probably ever, to rely on the Hippo regularly - and that's worthy of mention I think. Especially of a rarely played opening.

And yes, a GM playing a line just a handful of times probably does give him/her a greater understading of it than you or I.

Originally posted by Squelchbelch
It's reasonably good in blitz because you can play pre-defined moves & often white (or indeed black) wastes time trying to find a weakness.

I've also played against it & the best answer seems to be to blow-open the center fairly early on, after some routine development. Decisive play is needed against it though because otherwise you can just get swamped by the pawn-pushes.

Game 2795950

Timing the central break can be tricky I think. If you mishandle it and allow Black to close things down you can run into trouble.

I agree with you about the need for decisiveness. Assuming you're just going to be better because Black has sat back is the road to ruin.


PS:-
not a Hippo but an example of a lot of pawn moves proving effective...
http://streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.com/2007/12/rope-dope.html

I spotted this Hippo game in the news today (from the Commonwealth Championship being played in India).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/12/11/result071211.xml

Originally posted by nihilismor
Originally posted by chessisvanity
[b]THE HIPPOPOTAMUS!! IS GOING FOR THE NUMBER 1 SPOT BABY!!!

WOO WOO!! FREIGHT TRAIN BABY!!

[fen]r2qk2r/1bpnnpb1/pp1pp1pp/8/8/PP1PP1PP/1BPNNPB1/R2QK2R w KQkq - 0 11[/fen]

I dont understand.[/b]

White is winning since it is his move and Black will have to break the symmetry.

Originally posted by gaychessplayer
You can view the first five chapters of the book for free at http://www.beginnersgame.com[/b]

Lol, that site gave me some good laughs.

Originally posted by der schwarze Ritter
White is winning since it is his move and Black will have to break the symmetry.

if white has the move...wouldn't he have to break symmetry?