Re: OT: Chess

On Sat, 28 Sep 2024, William Hyde wrote:

The hippo is a fascinating device! I have a book on it I haven't yet
gotten around to read. I can't make up my mind if it is madness or
brilliance.

The hippo scored a number of outstanding wins when it was first systematized in the seventies (it had existed before but only as a "push all pawns to the third rank" idea).  Ways were found to deal with it and it's status now is that of an inferior defense.  But it you're not playing against 2600 level opponents it's still quite playable.

Exactly my position! I see a lot of discussions online how Magnus or
other players would easily beat any nr of openings like the Hippo, but
my philosophy has always been that I am _not_, and most likely never
will, play against 2600 level opponents, so why on earth should I
optimize for something which will never happen?
I play happily from time to time at opponents I eastimate to be between
1400 and 1800 and I think that perhaps the hippo might be a fun choice
there.
I have a wonderful excel spreadsheet where someone on some forum I now
have forgotten did some data crunching on opponenings based on their
win/loss/draw rates for different strengths. It has helped me a lot to
select which openings to focus on.

Usually, since I do not have a lot of time to devote to chess, I prefer
"easy" openings and systems such as the Colle. The colle, although
easily crushed by good players, serves me well when playing other
non-professional and non-amateur players like myself.

The Colle does not lead to a disadvantage for white.  It's problem, from my point of view, is that it is a strategically unsophisticated opening which is easy to equalize against.  I enjoyed playing against it as black as my opening problems were soon over.
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But Colle was no fool, and the opening packs a punch.  It doesn't take much in the way of carelessness for black to be facing an irresistible attack after white finally achieves e4.  Nowadays I am weak enough that I'd probably lose to it against any kind of strongish player.
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American Senior Master (and world poker champion) Ken Smith recommended that players without the time to learn a lot of theory try either the Colle or the Stonewall attack as white. When I lived in Texas both were very popular with players under 2000.

Yes!! I'm happy to hear this. ;) World Poker champion _and_ senior
master? Sounds like quite a mental athlete!
With the Colle I can also go the Colle-Zukertort if I feel like it, so
there is some room for creativity. A disadvantage which on my level is
probably quite small, but that I am aware of, is that sticking to
systems tends to breed a certain "laziness" which is probably not good
for longer term development.
If I would play seriously at a chess club, I would probably do something
about it. But, the great advantage of playing only for fun is that I can afford to not having to optimize all the time. ;)

For variety, you might want to take a look at the Stonewall, both for white and black.

Ahh... both for white and black? That is interesting! The Stonewall is
on my list, but never thought of it as a tool for both white and black.
Thank you very much for the recommendation!

William Hyde
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