That's two posts now where 'Chessmaster' has been mentioned. I still play the last version of that amazing game from 2005. Totally pimped out with over 500 GMs and even the exact Chesscom board!

Yes I noticed too manny complainers for nothing

Just play the hyyppoo and enjoy the life without complain LOL

Amen!! 🙌

After watching the Chess Giant's course i've switched from b3 to g3 with white, and from b6 to g6 with black. Mainly because it means you can castle sooner. I think that's probably the main reason Grandmasters always seem to start with g-file moves when playing the Hippo.

What exactly is a Semi-Hippo?

I have seen people mention it, but I never heard of a Semi-Hippo.

For Example:

I play the Modern Defense.

Then I either continue playing a Modern Defense or I transpose into Hippo depending on what my opponent does.

In my situation, there isn’t really any confusion on what I am playing.

Is it different for other players? Or other move orders?

Don't open that can of worms! 🤣

Some of the biggest arguments on this thread are about the nomenclature of different Hippo lines. Serious arguments that go on for pages. I try to stay out of it but usually get dragged in. 😭

(Play the Hippo Attack and Defense and the The Hippo System) Books by Eric Briffoz

Any thought

It's more of a games collection rather than 'systematic opening instruction' like the De Santis book. But I liked it. There are a few typos, even in the 4th Edition, but the game text is fine, which is the most important part . The humour was good. I always like humour because chess books can become dry reading otherwise. The greatest Jeremy Silman's books were 50% chess 50% comedy! 😁 I'd rank it as the second best Hippo book (after De Santis). Andrew Martin's book reads more like a history and overview of the Hippo. Plus the 4th Edition of the Briffoz book is a very big book. There is a lot of annotated Hippo games to look through. One other thing about Briffoz is his book is the only one I know that covers the white Hippo. Half the book is white Hippo games. I play the Hippo with white and black so from that point of view it's a book I will definitely keep re-reading.

Make sure you get the 4th Edition if you buy the Briffoz book. It's huge compared to the first three editions.

My experience with Hippo Defense has been different vs. others on this thread.

I have read the several posts made in this thread and It seems like a lot of people on this thread have said they like Hippo because it isn’t very theoretical or it’s easy to play.

A lot of people on this thread who have said the above things have also showed Diagrams with Black playing 1…b6.

I have always played the 1…g6 move order and it does make me think that the Hippo Experience is vastly different.

I think the Hippo can be very theoretical for example. It has moments where it can completely shred white if they have screwed up or done something inaccurate.

Would people feel the same way about the Hippo if they played using the 1…g6 move order vs. 1…b6 move order?

It does make me wonder if the different starting moves can alternate a person perception of a line.

I feel like it would, but I have never played 1…b6 so I don’t really know.

Has anyone tried both move orders?

This is a real opening

I always played b6 (and b3 with white). It's recommended by De Santis and by Simon Williams in the Chessable course based on the book. It's supposed to be easier to blunt the Austrian Attack. But after watching the Chess Giant's course i've switched to g6 (and g3 with white). The Chess Giant thinks the fact you can castle quicker is a huge benefit of playing g6. He thinks the Austrian Attack isn't all that scary, unlike Simon Williams who seems terrified of it. The big difference between the Chess Giant and Simon Williams is one has played 1000s of Hippo games and the other played it occasionally. Everything the Chess Giant says is battle tested. He became a National Master playing nothing but the Hippo with white and black. His journey to the title is documented on his Youtube channel, and all the videos are on his 'Hippo' playlist.

Plus most Grandmasters playing the Hippo start with g6. It's fairly rare to find GMs starting with b6. I should know because when I was playing it I had to search high and low to find example games! 😂

I just noticed you lost to Robert Drury who played the white Hippo against you. Did you see his video on Youtube about the game?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-M2-M-L4So

Four editions of the same book. Mostly a money grab. Not a good book for learning the Hippo. According to Briffoz almost anything is a Hippo. He claims even Nimzovitch played the Hippo.

Yes, and it is easier to reach the full Hippo using the 1...b6 approach.

edited for clarity:

However both 1...g6 and 1...b6 can suffer from an early push of a white center pawn. For example 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.e5, when Black will be unable to develop his d-pawn to it's Hippo square of d6 without risking the possibility of compromising the center.

The double fianchetto also suffers greatly from early center pawn advances and is therefore not a good way to initiate a Hippo build.

Against 1.e4 I play 1...d6 and vs 1.d4 I play 1...e6 and then develop the other center pawn. Once the center is secure, build Hippo reactively. The Hippo king is safer in the center for longer than with most other openings. Therefore, castling is not an urgent issue and can sometimes be omitted altogether when the king becomes a more active defensive as well as offensive piece in the middlegame.

This is usually the case when playing the full Hippo.

I can't even find one Master level game with that move order in my Hippo Database. But I will still have to try it out because i'm a Hippo fanatic! 😁