The History of the Bongcloud Attack
Recently, a fairly new chess opening has risen to prominence in the chess community. It is a beautiful, complex, genius opening used by the top grandmasters. This opening goes by a name as great as the move itself. I am of course, talking about the bongcloud.
First, let’s look at the facts. The bongcloud, known formally as the bongcloud attack, begins fairly normal, with the move 1. E4. After black makes their move, white completes the bongcloud with the surprising move, 2. Ke2. I will illustrate the moves in the diagram below.
The origin of the opening is clouded in mystery, but most believe it to originate on Chess.com, the name coming from user Lenny_Bongcloud, who was a fan of the opening, but obtained very little success with it. I like to think it’s called the bongcloud because you you have to be high to use it seriously. The opening lived in obscurity for a while, but started to gain popularity alongside the growth of internet chess. As the chess crowd grew younger, the generation obsessed with memes was bound to find some chess meme to call their own, thus, the rise of the bongcloud began.
The most popular user of the bongcloud is actually a very prominent figure in the chess community; Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura. Hikaru is known for mixing chess with memes and pop culture, so this opening seems like it was made for him. He even did a series on his twitch where he tried to reach 3000 elo using only the bongcloud opening.
The bongcloud attack reached new levels of notoriety when Hikaru played it in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour against a fairly unknown player who goes by the name Magnus Carlsen. And not only did Magnus use it against Hikaru, but Hikaru responded to it… using the bongcloud! They then repeated it three times and the game ended in a draw by repetition. The great chess grandmasters of old were rolling in their graves.
Recently, I’ve been playing games using the bongcloud attack just to test it out. The surprising thing is, I actually won most of the games. The fact that most of the games were against my amateur friends is irrelevant. But seriously, while the bongcloud provides no tactical advantage other psyching out your opponent, it’s not a game killer, and you can still play a competitive game after using it.
The bongcloud attack is actually a very interesting opening, not as a strategy itself, but as a case study on human behavior. It shows peoples desire to find something common to laugh about. Whenever people discover a passion, they want to be able to joke about, and share that laughter with others. It makes them feel like part of a community. So in conclusion, the bongcloud attack is many things: a stupid opening, a hilarious joke, and a bond between a new generation of chess lovers.
- daishukyo
