Hippopotamus Defence

Yes, that was played in the World Blitz Championship 2007. I did a Stockfish 4 analysis at depth 20 and it seems White was down by around -1.50/-2.00 for much of the game from making several small inaccuracies until 23.Bc4 which Stockfish gave "??".

True, Blitz games don't carry the weight of games played by the standard time control. But here are two players rated 2700+ and the Hippo made a good showing. I don't think you can count it out as yet. Time will tell.

And of course openings don't win games anyway; they just get you to the middlegame.

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2019.07.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "jeet-kune-do"]
[Black "Poradnik"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "1858"]
[BlackElo "1906"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[TimeControl "600"]
[WhiteClock "0:05:53"]
[BlackClock "0:03:56"]

1. g3 {0} e6 {1} 2. Bg2 {3} d5 {1} 3. d3 {4} Nf6 {2} 4. Nd2 {3} Bb4 {5} 5. a3 {
3} Ba5 {2} 6. h3 {13} c5 {14} 7. e3 {3} Nc6 {4} 8. Ne2 {3} Bd7 {22} 9. b3 {3}
Bc7 {8} 10. Bb2 {4} O-O {25} 11. O-O {3} Be8 {15} 12. c4 {33} b6 {22} 13. e4 {
13} dxe4 {11} 14. Nxe4 {5} Nxe4 {5} 15. dxe4 {3} Be5 {12} 16. Qc2 {7} Nd4 {6}
17. Nxd4 {3} cxd4 {7} 18. f4 {6} d3 {10} 19. Qd2 {13} Bxb2 {3} 20. Qxb2 {1} Qe7
{28} 21. Rad1 {9} Rd8 {2} 22. Kh2 {3} Bc6 {25} 23. Rd2 {9} f5 {18} 24. e5 {11}
Bxg2 {19} 25. Kxg2 {3} Qc5 {12} 26. Rf3 {16} Qc6 {35} 27. Qc3 {4} Qc5 {6} 28.
b4 {4} Qc6 {6} 29. Rdxd3 {2} Rd7 {11} 30. Rxd7 {5} Qxd7 {1} 31. Rd3 {2} Qc6+ {2
} 32. Kg1 {6} Qe4 {13} 33. Qd4 {10} Qe1+ {9} 34. Kg2 {3} Qe2+ {2} 35. Kg1 {8}
Qe1+ {2} 36. Kh2 {27} Qe2+ {2} 37. Kg1 {2} Qe1+ {Game drawn by repetition}
1/2-1/2

I finally came across the hippo during an OTB tournament last week. I was white and i won (because my opponent made a horrible blunder) but i was quite impressed with the system itself. I've tried it a few times as black during live rapid games and managed to play it successfully. 

Is there any move order preference for playing the hippo, and is it a good idea to play it as white as well?

Some advantages i have come across with hippo:

• No need to study much theory, just the key ideas
• Easy to remember
• Efficient in fast time controls 
• Psychologically powerful - it frustrates the opponent by either tempt him into attacking too early or confuse with the variety of moves he can play where it is hard to know which is best.

Hippo with White:

The general consensus is that if you want a win with White there are better ways to get it than with the Hippo, due to it's passivity.

Move order:

1...b6 is considered a more sure way of achieving the Hippo formation than 1...g6 mostly due to the Austrian Attack played by White against 1...g6.

Aside from that, Black plays reactively according to White's developing moves so that the actual move "order" will depend on specific threats being met as they are presented by White.

If you want to learn about the Hippo, join our club def Hippo. Lots of references and example games and we only play Hippo in vote chess. Always plenty of vote games in progress where you can ask questions and make suggestions..

https://www.chess.com/club/def-hippo

I imagine Moto Moto playing chess--

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9081.pdf

Thanks for the Vote Chess Game Name. 

https://www.chess.com/club/book-hippo-de-santis

What is this opening name? Is it hippopotamus defence?

When in doubt - play a Hippo!

       Join the club

      def Hippo

That might be the formal name, but many people just say, “Hippo.” Also you can play it as white. There is a book called, “The Hippo System.”

Interesting.

THE TIME BETWEEN THE LAST GUY WHO COMMENTED IN THE TOPIC TO MY COMMENT (WHICH IS THIS ONE) IS ABOUT A YEAR!!!!

anyways wat is hipoo

@YidingL1

Hey there, rating twin!

it is "Bad" but actually busting it without knowledge is very hard. 
usually, white needs to have at least 3 pawns in the center to have substantial advantage. piece play and a two-pawn center rarely works agaisnt the hippo formation well. White needs to be able to choke black's position with a pawn advance, once the inevitable, c5 or f5 is played. One strategy that works fairly well is to play for a well timed early h4-h5 trying to force black to play g5, and follow up with f4.

but trust me when i say that the hippo is up there with philidor as some of the most annoying openings to try to punish. It's the easiest thing in the world to try to prematurely punish the formation only  to end up your attack blowing on your face. the structure has a lot of pent up energy, with unexpected pawn thrusts that can be dangerous

Thank you! Everything you have said here has paid Hippo the greatest compliment. 

O.K.  First I am pretty much an idiot at chess with an internet rating of 700 and less at times.  I am really a dorky player.  Also, I have not read all of the posts so I might be overstating myself.  I think the Hippo has potential, it is just that you need to make the correct move at the correct time.  There are ten moves to its opening unless it is a semi-hippo which has several variations and one must be familiar with these variations as well.  It is not, as I understand, an opening which you can play move by move.  You must be aware of what white is doing and the hippo just might have to become a semi-hippo.  The hippo, like any other opening, is only effective when the person playing it understands it.  You cannot take the ten fundamental moves and play them over and over with the expectation that you will get at least a draw

    I hope I have said something significant to enlighten the Hippo and the semi-hippo.

My qualifications are that I am the creator and manager of a club dedicated to the study and play of the Hippo Defense. Thus far we have played more than 100 instructive Hippo vote chess games.

I don't believe in the so called "semi-Hippo".

There are three reasons to abandon the Hippo setup:

a) The opponent plays an early attack which forces Hippo to defend with non-Hippo moves. These are not common and usually result in weaknesses which the Hippo player can exploit.

b) The opponent develops with weaknesses too good to pass up which provokes an early attack.

c)  The Hippo player is scared to play the Hippo.

The ten fundamental moves are played in a reactive manner according to White's developing moves. So the move orders are almost always different from game to game and often it takes more than ten moves to complete the formation. The Hippo player does not need to memorize move orders, but rather needs to be familiar with basic circumstances which arise during setup in order to chose which of the ten moves to react with.

At the higher levels you might play Hippo in order to secure a draw, but down here where we play you can expect plenty of wins because the Hippo player is going to know the territory better than the opponent, most of the time.