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The Hippopotamus Defence: A Deceptively Dangerous Universal Chess Opening System for Black - Paperback | Diverse Reads

The Hippopotamus Defence: A Deceptively Dangerous Universal Chess Opening System for Black

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The Hippopotamus Defence is just what a club player needs. It’s a clear-cut and straightforward chess opening that avoids the ever growing body of mainline theory. It’s universal: Black can use the Hippo against virtually all of White choices: 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.c4, 1.f4, the Colle, London, Trompovsky, Réti and others. It’s not yet very well-known and will surprise many opponents. On top of all that, the Hippo is seriously underestimated: with its characteristic double Fianchetto, it may look quiet but is in fact a very dangerous animal. Alessio de Santis is one of the world’s greatest experts and has written a practical, well-structured and accessible manual. His book can be studied on three levels: after a first flash of 3 to 4 hours you will be familiar with the Hippo’s basic moves and key variations, its strategic themes and recurring manoeuvres. In the second and third phase De Santis leads you through the most important concrete lines and introduces the Semi-Hippopotamus to counter some specific White ideas. You can use the Hippo as a surprise weapon or as your main repertoire. The extensive explanations and clear conclusions make this book an easy-to-navigate manual for club players. If you like to confront your opponents with some unexpected counter-attacks, you need not look any further.

ISBN-13: 9789056918316

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: New in Chess

Publication Date: 09-15-2019

Pages: 336

Product Dimensions: 6.70(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.80(d)

Alessio de Santis is a FIDE Master and one of the best known chess authors of Italy

Table of Contents

Explanation of symbols 6

Preface 7

The Hippopotamus in 60 seconds 9

Layout of the book and study method 10

Stage 1 Flash 11

Chapter 1 Introduction to the Hippopotamus system 12

Chapter 2 A universal defence or not? 15

Chapter 3 The idea behind the Hippopotamus defence 21

Chapter 4 Why play the Hippopotamus? 23

Chapter 5 Hippopotamus or semi-Hippopotamus? 25

Chapter 6 The strategic elements of the Hippopotamus 30

Chapter 7 The significance of the Hippopotamus moves 46

Chapter 8 The significance of the semi-Hippopotamus moves 53

Chapter 9 Three famous Hippopotamuses 58

Stage 2 Reflection 65

Chapter 10 History and development of the Hippopotamus 66

Chapter 11 How to classify Hippopotamus games 76

Chapter 12 Instructive games 81

Section 1 From the king's centre to a King's Indian centre 82

Section 2 From the king's centre to a French centre 107

Section 3 From the classical centre to a Sicilian centre 122

Section 4 From the classical centre to an open e-file 132

Section 5 From the classical centre to an open d-file 138

Section 6 Extended 3-pawn king's centre (Austrian Attack) $$$f4+$$$e4+$$$d4 146

Section 7 Attack with the h6$$$+g5$$$ and attack with the a6$$$+b5$$$ 165

Section 8 Using the f5$$$ 181

Section 9 Extended 3-pawn queen's centre $$$e4+$$$d4+$$$c4 188

Section 10 Benoni structures 207

Section 11 4-pawn centre $$$c4+$$$d4+$$$e4+$$$f4 211

Section 12 1-pawn centres 218

Section 13 The Super-Hippopotamus 237

Stage 3 In depth 245

Chapter 13 Elements of advanced strategy 246

Chapter 14 Theory 258

Section 1 Theoretical problems in the 2-pawn centre (classical centre) 259

Section 2 Theoretical problems in the 3-pawn centre (Austrian Attack) 266

Section 3 Theoretical problems in the 3-pawn queen's centre 275

Chapter 15 Mistakes to avoid 281

Chapter 16 Complex games 291

Points to remember when building a repertoire 313

Repertoire with 1…g6 314

Repertoire with 1…b6 315

Index of players 317

Bibliography 320