1 Hyperbullet tip

Hello All :)
I have seen several people who where sharing bullet tips (this article is about one hyperbullet tip) but i can't recall that someone wrote a tip about studying a popular Hyperbullet opening yet, or i forgot about that.
But anyway in this article i share something about a popular opening among the hyperbullet players.
Hyperbullet is a timecontrol with 30seconds for each side without increment btw.
Lichess the first respectable site who add hyperbullet on the site btw and the only other respectable site who add Hyperbullet is chess.com, they add Hyperbullet later at some point.

---

---

• Why is it good to study the Phillidor opening for Bullet (and esp for hyperbullet)

If someone knows some ideas how to play certain types of pawn structures + some little theory in in that ofcourse some nice advantage compare to a opponent who isn't as familiar with those pawnstructures.
And its especially usefull to know how to play and against a popular opening, since you will face the opening plenty of times if you play hyperbullet :o
Under the bullet / hyperbulet players the Phillidor opening is also called the Phillidor spam btw, because you can play alot of safe move quickly in the opening.

---

---

• The Philidor opening isn't about alot of theory but its more about typical ideas which you can play in this calm pawn structure.

---

---

---

• One popular hyperbullet opening,The Phillidor defence aka the Lion defence starts with 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7.

Notice that white also can play this setup with 1.Nf3 2.d3 3.Nbd2 4.e4
Notice also that many hyperbullet players also play this move order first 1.d3 2.Nd2 3.Ngf3 4.e4 and also 1..d6 2..Nd7 3...Ngf6 4...e5 including myself.

So this is blacks setup with the Phillidor opening.
And below you see whites setup with the Phillidor.

So The Phillidor is not a great opening but even from the white side but its a popular opening because its simple to play and esp in quick timecontrols its pleasant to play a simple pawnstructure,

This opening the Phillidor defence is more about ideas than theory, i share typical setups in this article and als some theory.

---

---

• How do i rate the Phillidor in scale 0 out of 10 for a classical game.

I would rate it 5.5/10 for classical games with 2 hours per person per game because its a passive opening but its not a terrible opening atleast.
If someone wanna play postional chess one could play opening where he take a bit more space like the Caro Kann starting with 1.e4 c6 or 1.e4 e5 for example.
White can play 5.g3 5.Be2 (rare move 5.Be2) 5.Bc4 5.g4 the move 5.g4 is called the Shirov gambit or the modern decent move 5.Rg1

---

---

• Typical setups Against or with the Phillidor opening.

  If Blacks knight comes on Ng6 ( than dxe5 dxe5? Bxh6 is strong for white since white attack the knight on f6 with tempo due that the pawn on f7 is pinned

If black answer dxe5 with dxe5 there is no more option for d5 to block of white bishop on a2.
In this case Bxh6 is not as good because black still got the option for d6-d5.

One of the many setups what white can play against The Philldor ->

The move a4-a4 is often played to stop c6 b5, even though not much is going on, i like it better to prevent b5 from black because black is more passive after a4 from white.

Some Typical Setup as Black when white is playing the Philldor.

Black is aiming for f5 white is aiming for b4 notice that is black prevent b4 by going a5 its a slight positional consession than white can play a4 and the square on b5 is more important than that white can play b2-b4.

White can go for for exd5 Re1 Nc4 sometimes.

Black can also play a kingsindian setup but i wouldn't recommend to play that in bullet because its easier to attack than to defend in bullet.

Typical ideas in the kingsindian setup are exd5 or e5 Nf1 Bf4 Qd2 h4 h5 Nf1-h2-g4 ->

Its just a Kingsindian with colours reversed, white is attacking on the king side and black is attack on the queen side.
Sometimes the moves a2-a3 are usefull and c2-c4 is sometimes usefull too.

in Hyperbullet especially its so much easier for the side to play with a safe king and if someone wanna play the kingindian as black.
This is one of the defensive setups what i would recommend in Hyperbullet where black played ...h6 ...Kh7 ....Rh8 ...Kg8 to have more protection on the Kingside since Practical play matters alot in quick time control.
In a classical OTB game where both players got a few hours for the game each Black should perhaps play it a little different but this playable atleast according the computer.

---

---

• Its important to known when to play dxe5 against the Phillidor or not.

Don't give up the tension with dxe5 too easily.
If its just will be a pawn trade with d6 dxe5 when black got a knight on d7.
Notice that 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.dxe5 is fine though dxe5 5Qxd8+ ! that the best line if white wanna go for a dxe5.

After 5.dxe5 dxe5 blacks bishop on e7 see the daylight suddenly and Black got a open square on c5 to work with.

---

---

• Its important to know the value of Bxf7+ sacrifices in the Phillidor there are 3 lines you need to know.

Below i share a interesting side line for white, its not a critical line white won't get advantage with it if black is prepared for it but its playable and lead to a equal position.

The Best move here for white is 6.0-0 btw.
6.Ng5 is playable but white don't have advantage according the engine with this move.
But in a practical game black can easily forgot his theory and end up in a worse Position.
When i played Hyperbullet against @Submarine11 he goes sometimes for the line with 6Ng5 and 7.Bxf7+
I reguarly forgot how to reply this line with 6Ng5 0-0 7Bxf7+ as black for example.
I forget my openings theory i general quickly and since Ng5 is a sideline,i rarely checking the theory about a sideline.

After 5.Bc4 Be7 6.Ng5 0-0 7.Bxf7+ Rxf7 8.Ne6 Qe8 9.Nxc7 Qd8 10.Nxa8 white currently is up a rook + pawn against a bishop but his knight will be trapped stockfish evaluate the position as unclear.

After 10..b6 its not like white got many moves which lead to a equal position :

White got some draw ideas with 11.Nb5 after 12.Nbc7 axb5 13.Ne6 Qe8 14.Nc7 Qd8 15.Ne6.

If the player behind the play pieces here wanna play on he can play 11..Nxe4 if black wanna play on after 12.0-0 a6 13.Nac7 the black player can go for 13...Nf8 even though objectively speaking white got a little advantage in this diagram after 13...Nf8.

My favourite move in the position after 10.Nxa8 is 10...b5 btw.

The idea is clear ofcourse black wanna go for 11..Bb7 and take the knight on a8 and if white goes for 11.Nxb5 black got the time to go for 11.Qa5+ 12.Nc3 Nxe4 and go for for Nxc3 before going for Bb7 Bxa8.

Now i show an example of Bxf7+ what can lead to advantage for white.
After the innocent move 6a4 !? which is mainly a move order in the Philidor opening black make several times the mistake to go for 6..a5 which stops 7.a5 for white but now Ng5 and Bxf7+ become very strong for white whites knight can chill on b5 now that black got a pawn on a5.

The move 6...a5 ?? is not a top 5 move according the engine.

Funfact in this position after 6..a5 the most players in the Master Database on lichess white played the move 7.0-0 23 times !
And 7.Ng5 ( which is by far the best move in this position only have being played 14 times).

So the main reason why this position is so much better for white compare the position with 6.a4 a5 being added is that black have no option to knight the knight on b5 quickly with a6.

One Bad example of a early Bxf7+ is the move 6.Bxf7+.

The move 6Ng5. got some important pointe what the move 6.Bxf7+ don't have :
6.Ng5 forcing black to castle and after 7Bxf7 Rxf7 8Ne6 Qe8 9 Nxc7 black can't play 9...Qg6 because the rook on f7 is blocked of the road to g6 for the queen.

After the best moves from white and black 6..Kxf7 7.Ng5+ Kg8 8.Ne6 Qe8 9.Nxc7 this position arrise.
White got a fork on the queen and the rook but that don't matter black is playing 9..Qg6 and after white captures the rook on a8 black getting in on the kingside with Qxg2.

After 11.Rf1 exd4 12.Qxd4 Ne5 13.Nh3 14 Rf2 Bh4 Black is close to winning.

After 15.Ke2 the computer like 15..Qg6 the most since after 16.Rf1 black got 16... Bh3 so black win the exchange regardless.
White is lacking king safety and piece coordination,black is very close to winnning here.
The better replys against 6.a4 just castle 6..0-0 This move is played 746 times in the Master Database while the second most played move in the position after 6.a4 is the move 6..c6 is only played 93 times in the Master Database.

Usually white just castle here as you can see in 703 games while the second most played move in that position is 7.a5.

The advantage for white is that he prevent a7-a5 for black but the disadvantage is that the pawn on a5 also can be a target to attack.

How to react on 7.a5 ?

Black can take on d4 and white can either play 8.Nxd4, the most natural move in my opinion but white can also go for 8.Qxd4 which
can lead to a sharp position.
Notice that white allready played 6.a4 7.a5 and 8.Qxd4 so those 3 moves are time consuming but white is not worse atleast.

This is a ugly engine line though, the move 10.b4 is ugly positional but its playable, the pointe here is that after 11Nxe4 Bxf3 ! avoids 11.. d5 ?? 12Nxf6+ Bxf6 13Qxg4 +- and after 12.gxf3 d5 black got a double attack with his pawn on d5, the knight on e4 is under attack and the bishop on c4 is under attack
and after the move 13Nxf6+ ?? Bxf6 white just gonna lose his rook on a1.

10.Qe3 is a option so white can answer Bxf3 with 11.Qxf3 white should have not a position like this vs the Phillidor
White got no advantage here and gotta play precise in order not to be slightly worse in my opinion.
His queen is randomly placed here, despite the purpose is to answer is Bxf3 with Qxf3.
Notice that this is a game between 2 correspondence players and i don't wanna sound too unfriendly but i gotta say that if i watch games in the database i could usually easy see how are the correspondence players in the masterdatabase and who not because the players who play correspondence chess playing a ugly positional style to be honest :).
White could play 9h3 to prevent Bg4 but than black got a idea to equalise with 9..c6 followed 10 Ncxe4 and 11...d5

After 10. 0-0 Ncxe4 11.Nxe4 d5 12.Bxd5 is the best move because after 12Nxf6 + ?! black just capture back on f6 with the bishop and the queen on d4 is hanging and the bishop on c4 is still hanging as well and black got a nice bishop pair there.
8.Nxd4 is also a option and this is the best reply : Ne5 black got ideas to target the pawn on a5 with c5 a6 Nc6 and black can put sometimes a knight on b4 because white got no more options for a2-a3.


9.Be2 is more logical than 9.Ba2 because the rook is defending the pawn on a5 here white the bishop blocking of whites rook from protection of the a5 pawn with 9.Ba2.

One nice game with 6.a4 in the Phillidor by Rapport as black Against Benjamin Bok in 2014.
It gotta be said that Bok didn't play on his usual level in this game but i share this game because Rapport had some nice tactics.

Bok, B. (2587) vs Rapport, R. (2704): Philidor Defense: Lion Variation • lichess.org

Black to move there are several ways to win the Game Ng5 is one of them but Rapport wanna win in a spectacular way.

He played 23...Re5 here as black with the purpose to have a double attack basicly, since he is attacking the bishop on c5 and if the bishop moves he can sacrifice his queen on h3 with mate to follow.
Bok Played 24.Bxf8 knowing that he got zero chances to win the game anyway at this point and allow a spectacular finish.

After 5.Bc4 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Re1 c6 8.a4 b6 9.d5 the move 9..c5 lead just to a big advantage for white, black got no counterplay yet and white got something to work with on the queen side allready.

The right move for black after 9.d5 is white will get a nice grip over the square on d5 though but black can generate counterplay though.
According the computer its only = += for white. but the black player need to know how to play this type of postion in order not to be worse very quickly after
12Nxe7+ Qxe7 13Bg5.

There is a fight for d5 here and white can play 12.Nxe7 13.Bg5 14.Bxf6 c4 b3 Nd2-Nb1-c3.
Black should play for f5 to get counterplay.


And after a pawn trade on d5 white lost his control on d5 and black win the pawn on f5 back and the position is around even.

White can also take the knight on f6 and play c4 but black got ideas to attack the pawn on b5 with Be6 a6 and b5 to break whites Maróczy bind.


And black going for d5 and winning a pawn back on b3 or b5.
Black can also play h6 g5 sometimes in the philldor, if black decided to go for g5 black should play it only if white played h3 so black go black can try to open the g file with g5-g4 to open up the g file after hxg4.

The Computer is not a big fan of it this setup for black to go for h6 g5 in general btw.
But this is also a way of playing the Lion / Philidor opening.
Attacking esp in quick timecontrol is quite practical even if its not that strong because defending is difficult in Bullet/ Blitz though.

One Sideline in The Phillidor for Black :

Black also can play a side line which in the Phillidor with 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4Nf3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7 6.0-0 exd4 7.Nxd4 Nb6.
White usually go for 8.Bd3 after 8.Bb3 black can go for Nfd7 with the idea to go Nc5 and black wanna get the bishop pair.
Ofcourse white can keep the with pair with a3 though but Nc5 is a decent square for blacks knight anyway.
If black decided to go for 6...exd4 than the pawn structure is just exactly like the old Phillidor line with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4.

---

---

• How to reply 5.g4 The Shirov Gambit or 5.Rg1 followed by g4.

First of all i wanna share one chess principle if a flank attack can be answered by a strong reaction in the center than the flank attack is just bad.
1.g4 is just bad, because black just take the center with 1..e5 or 1..d5.
But after 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 Black choose a passive setup and white can effort to do 5.g4 or 5.Rg1 without being worse because black got no powerfull reaction in the center.
I Share the first game with the Shirov gambit, Shirov against Azmaiparashvilli, this game was played back in 2003, when the engines where much worse.

Shirov, Alexei (2737) vs Azmaiparashvili, Zurab (2693): Philidor Defense: Lion Variation, Shirov Gambit • lichess.org

Shirov allready got an advantage early on.
5..Nxg4 is fine btw but i prefer to go 5..g6 myself because i'm not a good defender.

So 5.g4 g6 6.g5 Nh5 7.Be3 Bg7 8.Qd2 0-0 9.0-0-0 c6 10.Be2 Qa5 is a setup what black can play.

Black should be carefull when white is going for Kb1 and black should answer Kb1 with Re8 to avoid Ne7+ ideas.

The endgame for black is quite bad in this opening.

The pawn on c6 is under attack and after 14...Bb7 white is playing 15.dxe5 and white is winning the pawn on d6 and notice that 15...dxe5 is no option due 16.Rxd7.

After 12.Nd5 is the best move 12..Qd8 is the best reply but black is still in big trouble white got attack on the pawn on c6 and dxe5 is an annoying threat to deal with.
With could play Nh4 sometimes to attack the knight on f4 since white would win a pawn if Nf4 Bxf4 exf4 Qxf4 is being played and if black allows Bxh5 black got a weakness on the king side.
In this diagram black got several ideas vs 12.Nh4 (which is not whites main move btw).

Either the more standard 12..exd4 13.Bxd4 Bxd4 14.Qxd4 Nf4.
or 13.Bxf4 exd4 and white knight is trapped on c3 so black wins his material back.

The most creative but also most crazy line what black can play here is 12..Nb6 13.Bxh5 Nc4 14.Qc1 b5 ! ? !? unfortunately this idea is not entirely correct ( 14..gxh5 lead to a weakness on the kingside for black btw ).

If white want too he could sit on a extra piece

with 15.Bf3 b4 16.Ne2 d5, black got ideas got Rb8-b6 Be6 dxe4 and sometimes Na3+.
But if white lets his bishop on h5 hang with 15.d5 ! white is better unfortunately.


Its a random line afterall, black should just go for 12..Nf4 13Bxf4 exd4 or 12..exd4 13Bxd4 Bxd4 14Qxd4 Nf4.

---

---

• How to reply as black vs the modern move 5.Rg1, which is one of the best moves against the Philidor btw.

The Purpose is that white just wanna go for g4 g4 without that black got the option to capture white pawn on g4 with Nxg4.
Black didn't have a powerfull reaction in the center so its fine to to 5.Rg1 btw.
Black got several ways, 5..c6 is a idea and 6.g4 h6, the purpose of 6..h6 is to open the h file since white is going for g4 h4 g5 soon.

The Best move here is 7.Be3
After 7.h4 the eval dropped from +0.5 to 0.00
There is are a few draw lines in the line with 7.h4

If white goes for 11Be2 instead of 11.f4 11..Nh2 is decent.

The idea is to go Qb6 with the threat Qxd4 Qxd4 and one of the knight to f3 Bxf3 Nxf3+ and Nxd4 and black won a knight.
Against 5.Rg1 i would recommend 5..g6 as well just like against 5g4.

Compare to the line with 5g4 g6, the move Rg1 in this line don't add much to the postion vs the fianchetto system.
If the white player got both 5g4 and 5.Rg1 on his reportoir and know the black player going for 5..g6 regardless than i would recommend the white player to go for 5.g4.

In The Diagram the move 5..g6 6.g4 Bg7 7.g5 Nh5 8.Be3 0-0 9.Qd2 c6 10.0-0-0 Qa5 11.Kb1 Nb5, being played and 12.Nd5 is actually not dangerous for black at all in fact black is just better.


The engine recommend to reply a Be6 of black with d5 to block of the bishop on e6, and white will have a slightly better position.

---

---

• One Nice Trick i have seen which one can use if black play the Philidor like a system player.
  System Players usually do Qc7 early in the Phillidor according IM Bartholomew when i saw a stream from him when he faced the Phillidor.

So i check alot of streams from chess streamers in general btw and in one stream by @Pressive i saw this trick :

Its all about the Qh5+ idea.

Its also good to know how to reply if black goes for Ke7.

So the bishop on f4 is under attack and after Bxe5 Qxe5 black got the threat Kxf7 and Ng4 white got 3 replys to keep the advantage after 12Bxe5 Qxe5.
I like the Bb3 Rf7 Qg1 idea.
Notice that blacks best move after 11.Bb3 is Rf8 and second best move is 11..Rd8 12..Kd6 13..Kc7 the player behind the black pieces just keep a few moves to keep the king on a safe square.
White is up one pawn, one isolated pawn but the computer says that white is up a healthy pawn.

11..Ng4 would be met by 12.Rf7+ Ke8 and 13.Qg1 ->

---

---

• Notice that the idea with Nxe5 Bf4 dxe5 Bxf7+ is not as good if white got a king on g1 since black got a check on b6+ and after Kh1 Ng4 and Nf2+ where black can pick up an exchange.

So the queen is hanging on e5 and Nf2+ is next.
Black will be up a rook against a pawn and a knight, black is better here.

---

---

• One cool game in my opinion where i played with the Bxf7+ move.
  even though i played the wrong order :(.
  IM wateenellende vs HakanKaplanAntalya: Van Geet Opening • lichess.org
  Notice that Nf3xe5 is also sometimes a move but Kh1 was better but 10.dxe5 was also a improvement of 10.Bf4.

I Got this opening against HakanKapanAntalya allready 32 times according the lichess database.

White would still be slightly better after dxe5 but Bf4 was a mistake suddenly its black who is slightly better, because my King is on g1 and not on h1 !


And here fxe5 dxe5 Nxe5 Nxe5 Bf4 is good for white as i show you before because black got no more ideas for Qb6+ and Ng4 to pick up the exchange with Nf2+ to follow.
The funny thing is that i usually played the wrong order.
And here in this diagram above i played 9.a4

---

---

• One attempt to spice things up the line 1.e4 d6 2.g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 give the black player the option to decided if he or she want to enter the sharp complications with 3..Nxe4

• Or simply play 3..e5.

1.e4 d6 2.g3 Nf6 3.c3 gives black the option for Nxe4 !? which at the first glance look like a beginner mistake because white got 4.Qa4+ and 5Qxe4 but black enter the complications because there is 5..Bd7 followed by 6.Qxe4 Bc6.

And black picking up the rook on h1 and will be one pawn and a rook for a knight up but the bishop on h1 will be trapped though.

But in Practice its just very hard for both players to play this position correct, its not a dry 3exd5 french
so the value of -0.5 don't matter so much anyway.

If black want non of this wild complications black can just play 3..e5.

Compare to the standard Phillidor opening black can be happy ofcourse white don't have as much space as what he should have when he play a good opening against the Philidor.
I could write more about how to play against the 5.g3 line or 1e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.dxe5 dxe5 5Qxd8+ ( for games with this line i guess one should study all the games of Carlsen because hes known as the best endgame player in chess).
or the line to avoid the queen trade with 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nbd7.
But also random lines like 1.e4 d6 2.f4 a line which Ian Nepomniachtchi played lately against Rapport.
If one wanna look up how to play against these lines one can simply use the lichess master database and also check the lines with stockfish.
But i share enough information by now i think :).
This article is not a chessable course afterall where the one who is writing a chessable course is basicly "forced" to give all the crucial lines about a certain opening.

Thanks for your attention.