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Chessville
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In 1957, John Crittenden Thompson, an Englishman, wrote and self-published a small pamphlet on the Hippopotamus Chess Opening. The chess world, by and large, yawned. To be fair, a contemporary, W. Evans, had suggested earlier that “Mr. Thompson may be the only man who has invented a completely new opening for a century or more!” While Harry Golombek had been a bit less charitable, suggesting “He ought to be psycho-analysed!” The Hippopotamus, which Thompson revealed in the pages of HCO, could be played with either the black or the white pieces, and the game should start out, if at all possible, with the moves 1.f3, 2.g3, 3.Nh3, 4.Nf2, 5.e3, 6.c3, 7.d3, 8.Be2, 9.Nd2, 10.Nf1 11.b3 or 1…f6, 2…g6, 3…Nh6, 4…Nf7, 5…e6, 6…c6, 7…d6, 8…Be7, 9…Nd7, 10…Nf8 and 11…b6. There is much that is odd about this beast. With such a precise listing of the piece and pawn setup, for example, it’s a bit of a surprise that none of Thompson’s games in the booklet start off with that move order, and only one transposes to the final position! (Michael Macdonald-Ross, in his “J.C. Thompson and the ‘Hippopotamus’ ”article in the Myers Openings Bulletin, Vol. 2, No. 2, February – March 1981, wrote that “only fourteen games [of Thompson’s play with the Hippopotamus] have survived in print.” Those games are provided in PGN format for Chessville readers.] According to Hugh Myers (MOB, Vol 2, No. 10, March – April 1982), the name “hippopotamus” had already been bestowed on Alapin’s Opening 1.e4 e5 2.Ne2 (American Chess Journal, June 15, 1876) and on the Hammerschlag 1.f3 and 2.Kf2 – but the name has generally stuck to Thompson’s creation. Sort of… Myers pointed out that if the King bishops were fianchettoed (g7 or g2) then we would not have a Hippo, but rather a Krazy Kat, put forth by the American Edward Bradford Adams. Fianchettoing both bishops, with pawns at d6 and e6 and knights tucked in behind them at d7 and e7 would turn the beast into MacLeod’s Defense. There’s more to get to here – but I digress… Alessandro Nizzola wrote a wonderfully wry article about “Thompson’s Hippopotamus” for ChessCafe.com about three years ago, (http://www.chesscafe.com//text/skittles207.pdf) introducing a “Hippopotamus Immortal game” and passing along this mind-boggling gem as well:
Silva, J. - Rafael, J.
Draw Agreed. (I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more, Toto.) The Nizzola essay also included the text of an article from the May 14, 1955 issue of CHESS, reporting on Thompson’s use of his opening (“The Hippopotamus Opening – what’s that??”) in every game at the Stevenson Memorial Tournament at Bognor (something Thompson did a few years running). It indicated that “[a]bout eighteen months ago, Mr. Thompson started experimenting against studious opponents in getting the game right away from the ‘book’.” So it can be argued that Thompson’s 1957 oeuvre really was the result of years of analysis and practice, including games from simultaneous displays against Keres, Tartakower and Tolush (he did not go 0-3, by the way). Imagine my delight when I discovered that International Master Andrew Martin had recently written a book on The Hippopotamus. Still, I approached my review assignment with some trepidation. Not all serious chess players appreciate or take seriously openings that don’t seem, well, serious. I remembered how Grandmaster John Nunn, in his Secrets of Practical Chess, reported he reacted when he learned that GM Tony Kosten had written a book on the Latvian Gambit:
So IM Martin, in The Hippopotamus Rises The Re-emergence of a Chess Opening, mentions J.C. Thompson (“this man was an iconoclast and simply wanted to ‘cock a snook’ at accepted chess practice”) and his booklet, gives the first 4 moves of the game Ragozin – Thompson, Simultaneous, London 1956 – all on the first page of the Introduction – then notes: "Nobody can play this way today. Well, they can, but they are going to be slaughtered…" After four more moves, on page two, the author points out: "Black’s play is a joke in this game. He does nothing and gets wiped out." Makes GM Nunn kind of look like a slacker, doesn’t it? So, has the illustrious International Master come to bury the Hippopotamus, not to praise it? It would seem so, as the Introduction draws to a close:
But – wait! All is not lost! He goes on:
Now there’s the Andrew Martin whose chess investigations many of us have come to appreciate! (Note: he focuses on play with the black pieces.) In the rest of the book he extracts the essence of the Hippopotamus, and from it develops basic guidelines for play. He then gathers up a selection of master games that match as closely as possible the family Hippopotamidae, and organizes and annotates them. Therefore, after the “Introduction,” we have “The Modern Approach – and Game Plan.” The chapter title is a bit sly, as he’s not only addressing what we might now call the “Neo-Hippopotamus,” he’s also drawing from some games that start out as the Modern Defense – 1…g6 and 2…Bg7. (I think Keene and Botterill’s 1972 The Modern Defence gave the position for Black with both Bishops fianchettoed, pawns at d6 and e6, and Knights at d7 and e7, and referred to it as a Hippo. MacLeod’s Defense! purists might shout. To say nothing of the response of Ezzat Eldak, who wrote an entire book in 1992 on what he called the Egyptian Defense A Modern Chess Opening.) Hippos seem to enjoy the mud and the muck, and Martin’s game against John Shaw (4 NCL, England 2004) – starting from 1.e4 b6 – is a wonderfully messy win for Black, honestly evaluated by the author all along the way. There follows “Bc4 Systems,” which Martin assesses as “among the easier ideas to combat.” He sees …a6 and …e6 as important parts of the defense, as in 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Bc4 a6 5.0-0 e6 (Barczay – Ivkov, Intersonal, Sousse 1967, 0-1, 21) – although there are other move orders to get Hippo-ish. A short summary at the end of the chapter helps the reader draw the appropriate lessons. “Austrian Attack” is the longest chapter, as it is dangerous against both the Modern and the Hippopotamus. The ideas behind 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 e6!? are explored, and it is encouraging to find the likes of Davies, McShane, Spassky and Krasenkow taking the black pieces successfully. Martin has suggestions and improvements to steer the reader through the swamp. “Quiet Systems” is an important chapter, as White doesn’t always rush to crush his opponent. Most of all, Black needs a plan to guide him, and a proper sense of timing of when to act, which the author provides. This is the same for “Systems with an early Be3 or Bg5.” Again, because Martin casts a wide net for his Hippo – different move orders, similar but not-quite-the-same positions – it is possible to see even Ponomariov defending. There are lines where Black must leave the beast behind and play differently, and again The Hippopotamus Rises The Re-emergence of a Chess Opening gives a topical map. In “A Hero of the Hippo” we see four games of Dr. Max Ujtelky, who was an early interpreter of 1…g6. The following position is from Nezhmetdinov – Ujtelky, Chigorin Memorial, Sochi 1964, and shows how far a hero will go:
A little while later we see the Hippo has expanded:
Writes Martin:
A 1964 game between Spassky and Ujtekly, muses Martin, may well have been the spark that led Spassky to play the Hippo twice in his World Championship match against Petrosian in 1966. In “Friends of the Hippo,” there is a collection of games that start from non-Modern formations – “In this chapter I’m going to take a look at some very strange ways to start the game, some of which admittedly appear ludicrous…” The players appear to be Hippo-philes, and the moves they make construct beasts like the kind that would be expected to hang out with our favored animal. The book closes with a short “Closing Summary,” an “Index of Games,” and an “Index of Variations.” To play the Hippopotamus and enjoy The Hippopotamus Rises The Re-emergence of a Chess Opening it is important to grasp the author’s point of view:
It is also important, according to Martin, to maintain a sense of humor: "The occasional horrible defeat is inevitable playing this stuff. Mind you, that’s true of any opening." The Hippopotamus Rises The Re-emergence of a Chess Opening is the first book-length treatment of this opening – J.C. Thompson’s booklet was not much over a dozen pages. As a path-breaking survey, it is a must for any player wanting to understand the opening according to modern standards of play, especially for anyone interested in guidance from an International Master. I have mentioned elsewhere that Some Loser’s Unorthodox Chess contains Hippo- and Hedgehog-style games (over 400) but many of those beasts seem to have feasted on loco weed and then stampeded chessic pygmies. Pafu’s The Beginner’s Game (2000) has Hippo-like formations, and deserves a review of its own, but the author is admittedly an amateur, and players have been known to turn up their noses (for better or for worse) at such offerings. I do have a few grumbles and quibbles about The Hippopotamus Rises – nothing to stop a true fan of the unorthodox from purchasing it, but in order that their reaction to the book not go from “Ooooooooooooh!” to “oh” upon perusing it. As is the case with too many books these days, there is no Bibliography. Readers wishing to expand their exposure to Hippo-ideas might like to receive a few more clues as to where to search. The back cover says that the author “traces the history of this fascinating line” but that is not quite right, and Martin himself writes inside that “ you can find all the old stuff elsewhere and frankly, it’s not my intention to give a history lesson.” Upon first thumbing through the text, my first thought was that the author might be growing a wee bit old of tooth, and weak of eye, and that his publisher had kindly compensated by providing a font sufficiently large, and white space sufficiently adequate, as to make reading easier for the seasoned citizen. Of course, my next thought went to the intended readers, not the author, and to my own eyes – yes, by gum, this book is printed quite large enough to see, even in dim light. Lastly, though, I was reminded of “The Kennedy Kids,” who tended to respond to a class writing assignment requiring a certain number of pages by either adjusting up or adjusting down the size of the font they used, in order to fill more pages or to squeeze more verbiage in… Lets just say that besides the occasional blank or almost-blank page, Batsford still had enough room to fit in four pages listing their available chess titles. Perhaps this is an artifact of books being assembled in 32-page signatures, and couldn’t be helped; but to the sharp-eyed reader this Hippopotamus may seem a bit bloated. Finally – wait for it – my evaluation of Andrew Martin’s work is a hearty “Hip, Hippo-Ray!” (You saw that one coming, didn’t you?)
Addendum: After reading my review, International Master Gerard Welling passed along a handful of history on the Hippo. There was a strong Brussels club player in the 1920s, a Mr. Gaty, who played a similar beast, as in: Colle,E - Gaty 1.d2-d4 d7-d6 2.Ng1–f3 e7-e6 3.c2-c4 Ng8-e7 4.Nb1–c3 h7-h6 5.e2-e4 Nb8-d7 6.Bf1–d3 g7-g6 7.0–0 Bf8-g7 8.Bc1–e3 g6-g5 9.Nf3-d2 Nd7-f8 10.Qd1–h5 c7-c5 11.d4-d5 Bg7-d4 12.Be3xd4 c5xd4 13.Nc3-b5 Nf8-g6 14.Nb5xd4 Ng6-f4 15.Qh5-f3 Ne7-g6 16.Bd3-c2 Ng6-h4 17.Bc2-a4+ Bc8-d7 18.Ba4xd7+ Qd8xd7 19.Qf3-g4 0–0–0 20.g2-g3 h6-h5 21.Qg4-d1 Nf4-h3+ 22.Kg1–h1 Nh4-g6 23.Ra1–c1 Kc8-b8 24.Kh1–g2 h5-h4 25.d5xe6 f7xe6 26.Qd1–g4 h4xg3 27.h2xg3 Ng6-f4+ 28.g3xf4 g5xf4 29.Qg4-d1 Qd7-f7 30.Rf1–h1 Qf7-g7+ 31.Kg2-f1 Qg7xd4 32.Qd1–e2 Nh3-g5 33.Rh1–g1 Rh8-h5 34.Qe2xh5 Qd4xd2 ½–½ Gerard also mentioned Dutch player Philip Du Chattel (who eventually chose computers over chess) whose personal formation was 1..g6, 2..c6 , 3..d6 , 4..Nh6 then ..f6 and ..Nf7. He says Du Chattel used to experiment with the move order, and eventually settled upon 1.e4 Nh6 and 1.d4 g6 2.c4 Nh6. There is also the 1984 book “Eröffnungen abseits aller theorie” by the German FIDE Master Bernd Feustel, that Martin and I seem to have missed. A large part of Feustel's book covers Hippo-like formations. Finally, the word
is out that Bill Wall and Gary Gifford are finishing up a book on the
Hippopotamus, Krazy Kat and the Paris Openings. Hippo fans, take
heart! Thanks, Rick
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