Ideogram
#29: The 14 Rules of Hedgehog Club
Welcome to Hedgehog Club. The first rule of Hedgehog Club is: you do not talk about Hedgehog Club.The second rule of Hedgehog Club is: you do not push your pawns beyond the 6th rank in the opening (after ...c5 and ...cxd4).
When you join Hedgehog Club, you give your opponent the space.
In Hedgehog Club, you will have to learn how to play without space. How to play against someone who has the space.
The Hedgehog is a unique way of life where, after ...cxd4 in the opening, you can even win a game without any of your pawns or minor pieces crossing the 6th rank.
You can also play the Hedgehog as White, but it isn’t as common, so we’ll focus here on playing it from Black’s side.
Third rule of Hedgehog Club: you can’t force it.
To play the Hedgehog, you need to trade your c-pawn for White’s d-pawn, and line up your four spikes—the pawns on the 6th rank. This can happen from several openings, but you can’t make it happen. Your opponent has to play a part.
Because you can’t force it, being able to play the Hedgehog is a privilege.
Because the opponent also has to play a part, the Hedgehog arises from a mutual agreement with your opponent. The Hedgehog is not a cheap surprise you play to win in the opening, but a two-way invitation to a middlegame battle. Nowadays, when concrete theory has expanded even to ‘sidelines’, playing the Hedgehog is a breath of fresh air as there aren’t many forced lines. It’s more about understanding.
Here are several ways the Hedgehog can be reached:
Fourth rule: you will be brutally beaten.
In the Hedgehog, you give up space. And on the way to understanding how to survive without space, let alone thrive without it, you will lose many games.
You will lose from your opponent playing a fantastic Nc3-d5 sacrifice.
You will be simply outclassed by your opponent.
And sometimes, you will lose in 20 moves if you don’t react correctly to f4-f5.
Even when you’ve played the Hedgehog for a decade, you’ll still make mistakes. But you learn new things about the creature each time—what to do, what not to do. And your Hedgehog grows another spike in its armour.
Fifth rule: learn how to conquer Space Invaders.
So why is the Hedgehog playable when you don’t have space?
1. Your position is harmonious
Although seemingly passive on three ranks, your pieces coordinate well, and are ready against any attempt at an invasive pawn push into your half of the board.
2. White can overextend, leaving weaknesses
White, as the side with more space, should play actively, the most direct approach being preparing a 5th-rank pawn advance; most commonly with a5, b5 or c5 on the queenside, or e5, f5 or g5 on the kingside. The risk for White is that these advances can open up squares or lines for Black to exploit, so conditions need to be ripe.
3. Black can unleash the potential of their pieces through pawn breaks and/or improving their pieces
We can see this with the
Sixth rule: learn the power of ...b5/...d5
Your main goal in the Hedgehog is these freeing advances (either or both).
When you can successfully execute at least one of these, your pieces come to life surprisingly quickly and can dominate. These moves are so powerful because they break through at the heart of White’s position, the gatekeepers on c4 and e4. Often, these thrusts set off a war between the armies which spreads across the whole board.
Seventh rule: be comfortable with advancing ...g5
Strong opponents will do their best to prevent your ...b5 and ...d5 advances, or even when it’s played, make sure they can take advantage of it or not suffer from it. Another dynamic plan you can go for is pushing your g-pawn, known from Fischer–Andersson, 1970 and perhaps originally, Paulsen–Morphy (1857, blindfold simul!).
This is often a viable plan when White hasn’t been in a hurry to prepare a 5th-rank advance, so Black has the time to initiate kingside operations. It can be effective when White has pushed f3 or h3, but not as effective against a fianchetto/pawn on g3.
It’s also important to learn from games you failed to get anything going with ...g5.
Eighth rule: be comfortable with advancing ...h5
Pushing the other kingside flank pawn is also a common guest at Hedgehog parties. Similar to ...g5, ...h5 can be useful when White hasn’t been proactive enough in preparing critical 5th-rank invasions, so Black has the time to gain some space on the kingside or create discord in White’s camp through this unsuspecting flank activity. Flank pawn advances impact that side of the board, but also indirectly the centre, too.
The ...h5 advance, if not played at an appropriate moment, can also lead to disaster.
Ninth rule: become friends with your pieces.
- ...N(b)d7 is the ‘pure’ Hedgehog development for your Nb8—you can play ...Nc6 in some cases, but cultivate an understanding of the differences between the two through practice. Prefer and immerse yourself in ...N(b)d7 to begin with.
- your dark-squared bishop most often starts on e7, but in the middlegame, it can be deployed to c7 via d8 or g7 via f8. Learn how to diffuse White’s pressure on your d6-pawn, and in what situations your bishop may be even better on c7 or g7.
- your light-squared bishop often retreats from b7 to a8. This is often to empower your queen (similar tucked away on b8) in protecting b6 and supporting ...b5.
- your h8-rook, after castling, can be effective on e8 (standard placement), but also on d8, c8 or even g8 (preparing ...g5). Learn the pros and cons of each placement.
Every piece and pawn in your Hedgehog setup have their standard squares, typical manoeuvres and lofty dreams. You will improve your understanding of how different combinations are suited against different White systems through playing and studying.
Tenth rule: read the Scriptures.
For Hedgehog Club, GM Sergey Shipov’s two-volume series, The Complete Hedgehog (2009, 2011) is the seminal work.
In the early ‘70s Ljubojevic did the most important thing—he laid the foundation of the system, broke up the soil, and grew a forest in which spiny creatures could live and fight. With his games and analyses he was able to convince his colleagues that it is possible to play and win in the Hedgehog!
GM Mihai Suba’s The Hedgehog (2003) was another book I enjoyed as a junior, and GM Garry Kasparov’s Revolution in the 70s (2007) also has a fantastic section on the system.
If you’re looking for a more recent resources, Modern Chess’s database Understand the Hedgehog (2022) is good, but not cheap either, so I’d recommend the above books for their top-quality annotated games.
I've compiled my 50 Hedgehog games from 2004 to the present day in a Lichess study (including some above): click on the three dots in the below viewer and select 'View on Lichess'.
Comment if you know of other good resources.
Eleventh rule: know the difference between 4 ranks and 3.
From a practical point of view, White, with more space, has many more options on how to position their pieces and pawns, and this is where inexperienced White players struggle. You saw how many arrows were drawn on Black’s potential piece/pawn paths above—there are double or even triple the number of combinations from White’s side. As White, it’s often difficult to determine what to aim for and where to position the pieces while watching out for Black’s ideas and pawn breaks.
Images: Ideogram
Twelfth rule: know that with space advantage comes space responsibilities.
As with any system in chess, White has the objectively better chances. Engines love space, and good setups and strategies against the Hedgehog have been cooked in countless labs over 50 years, especially now with various courses on the White side.
What I can tell you from my experience of playing and studying the Hedgehog over two decades, mostly from the Black side but also a little from the White side, is that White needs to play actively. White needs to look for the initiative, and attack.
The thing with the Hedgehog is that White’s position is always going to look comfortable. But if your opponent is content with having an apparently comfortable position, improving their position without urgency, you get plenty of time to optimise your pieces and organise counterplay. When your opponent is shuffling about, you know you have your chances. They snooze, and your pieces can spring to life.
Thirteenth rule: Learn about the relationship between space and liquidation
In chess, you learn that in general, the side with space wants to keep pieces on. This is because the side with less space finds their position too cramped for their pieces.
However, in the Hedgehog, Black is content with manoeuvring on the back three ranks. When White overextends, Black is happy to exchange pieces and exploit the weaknesses in White’s position, but in general, true Hedgehog devotees don’t like exchanging unless there’s a good reason. Even though you have less space, you want to keep your pieces so you can create counterplay.
And the fourteenth and final rule: if this is your first time at Hedgehog Club, you have to play the Hedgehog.
On your way to Hedgehog expertise, you will lose many games. You will be suffocated on your three little ranks. You will be squashed by seemingly caveman pawn storms.
Over time, you start understanding how to fight against White’s space. You will identify with the Hedgehog’s spikes, learning about when to defend and when to counterattack. You will go about your life, building your sanctuary within your three ranks. Some people will think they can invade your space and trample over your sanctuary. Others will advance their pawns towards you without any consideration. And even years into your Hedgehog journey, you will be brutally beaten. But you will never go down without a fight. Because within the three ranks you’ve mastered, you are strong. From the confinement of your three ranks, to not only the fourth rank and fifth rank, but the edges of the world —your potential is limitless.
Madame Michel has the elegance of the hedgehog: on the outside, she’s covered in quills, a real fortress, but my gut feeling is that on the inside, she has the same simple refinement as the hedgehog: a deceptively indolent little creature, fiercely solitary—and terribly elegant.
—Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog
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