[Event "JoaBN's Study: Hippopotamus Defense"] [Site "https://lichess.org/study/0iVkxKw7/YRgFR44R"] [Result "*"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "B06"] [Opening "Modern Defense: Two Knights Variation"] [Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/JoaBN"] [UTCDate "2021.05.29"] [UTCTime "10:06:09"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/0iVkxKw7/YRgFR44R"] [Orientation "black"] 1. e4 { The king’s pawn opening 1.e4 is the most common move, you’ll meet it 40% of the time. } 1... g6 { You fianchetto on the kingside to move the dark-squared bishop onto the long diagonal h8-a1. Since this fianchetto is present in the Pirc/Modern/Dragon, White needs to bear in mind a great many transpositions. You can start off with 1...d6, 1...e6, or immediately 1...a6, 1...h6, each of these requires special tuning to deal with the problem of the Austrian Attack } 2. d4 { White brings up a second pawn alongside the first, occupying the centre, as prescribed in the chess bibles. } 2... Bg7 { You complete the fianchetto by deploying the bishop. Note that your king’s bishop is attacking the d4♙, but it’s defended by the white queen. Had you begun with 1...b6/2...♗b7, the attack would be on the undefended e4♙. } 3. Nc3 { White develops naturally. For him it is too early for drastic moves like 3.f4, against which you have valid options such as 3...c5, or 3... c6 followed by 4...d5, or even 3...d5 immediately. } 3... d6 4. Nf3 { This is the first key moment. White has to decide between a solid ‘normal’ development and an aggressive 4.f4 or 4.f3. I can tell you straight away that in practice you will often reach the generic Hippopotamus with 4.♘f3. } 4... Nd7 { You develop the knight to a sheltered place and control the e5-square. You can continue with 4... e6, 4... b6, 4...h6 or 4...a6 (the latter is considered best by Tiger Hillarp Persson) but clearly these are less useful moves. } 5. Bc4 { White can develop this bishopon various squares. He’s alsothreatening the trick ♗xf7+,if Black isn’t careful, e.g. 5...a6? 6.♗xf7+ ♔xf7 7.♘g5+ ♔f6 (7...♔e8 8.♘e6) 8.♕f3#. } 5... e6 { [%csl Rc4] } 6. Bg5 Ne7 7. Qd2 { [%cal Ge1c1] } 7... h6 { The h-pawn takes the g5-square away from the white pieces and prevents the swapping off of the fianchettoed bishop, so we would have played it anyway. } { [%csl Rg5] } 8. Be3 (8. Bf4 { [%cal Yg6g5,Ye6e5] }) 8... a6 { [%cal Gb7b5] } 9. a4 b6 { [%cal Gc8b7] } 10. O-O Bb7 { The set-up is complete. Note that in this example, White has lost a tempo; he might lose two, or none at all. From here onwards, the middlegame plans will take shape. You will be able to choose what plan to follow based on the drawbacks that you identify in White’s next move. } *