Chess Zoo, Part II
- Chess Friends Books
- Oct 24
- 5 min read
Howdy! It’s the Chess Friends!
Have you read Chess Zoo, Part I? We talked about the Cow, the Bird, and the Whale! Today we’re continuing our popular series with the Orangutan, the Elephant gambit, and the Hippopotamus! Let’s dive in!
The Legend Vivaan: The Orangutan!
Did you know orangutans are vegetarians like me, though, unlike me, they sometimes eat insects? They live in the trees in the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. There are three orangutan species, and all of them are critically endangered, mainly because of habitat loss! One species has only about 800 individuals left in the wild!!!
The chess opening Orangutan is also known as the Polish Opening or Sokolsky, named after Russian International Master Alexey Sokolsky, who researched its opening lines the most. Legend has it, that Orangutan name for this opening came from Savielly Tartakower, who played it after visiting a zoo in New York.
The Orangutan opening is 1. b4 for White. It’s kind of crazy, but it puts pressure on the queenside and has some fun ideas you can surprise your opponent with. We don’t recommend it too much, though, for normal play. One big idea of the opening is to fianchetto your bishop on b2, and, in the exchange line, you will often see the position below after 1. b4 e5 2. Bb2 Bxb4 3. Bxe5.
Black can play many things here but 3… Nf6 is very common. At that point feel free to take the Knight, open your light squared bishop with e3, or play c3 to kick Black’s dark squared bishop. Then you can play d4 to complete your center setup. Here is a typical progression of the opening as a GIF.
The Myth Sarang: The Elephant Gambit!
Before getting to the Elephant Gambit, did you know that in many languages the word for bishop and elephant are the same?! That's because in both ancient Indian and Persian chess, the bishop was a war elephant, specifically "gaja" in Sanskrit and "fil" in Persian. Many languages today continue to call the bishop "fil", including Turkish, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Tajik, and more, as well as some variations like "pil" in Kazakh, Turkmen, and Kyrgyz. Indonesian and Malay, like Sanskrit, call the bishop "gajah". In Chinese the words overlap as well, namely "xiang", likewise in Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian: "slon". Surely there are many more too.
The Elephant Gambit is a middle-tier opening but could disrupt your opponent’s opening plans. It’s an opening for Black that appears after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5!? Can white take the e-pawn you ask? Yes! That’s why it’s a gambit! Now you could take back with your Queen but that’s a bad idea because Nc3 helps White develop with a tempo and White’s position is quite nice. Alternatively, you could play the counterattacking e4 move, which forces White to make a decision on what to do with the Knight on f3. This position is shown below with White to move.
One other variation to consider is if White opts to take the e-pawn rather than the d-pawn, that is 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5!? 3. Nxe5… In this situation, we recommend Bd6! to attack the Knight while developing a piece. This position is shown below.
Note that you can take the e-pawn back very soon. These are both off-beat openings that have cool animal names! Play them occasionally if you like! Variety is fun and maybe you can trick some of your opponents with these! Here is a typical progression of the opening as a GIF.
The Man Benji: The Hippo!
In our previous post about chess openings named after animals, I talked about the Whale. So, for Part II, I had to pick the Hippo! Why? Because hippos and whales are each other’s closest living relatives! They are practically cousins, going back millions of years ago! Hippos are the second largest land animal (after The Myth Sarang’s Elephant), but they spend most of their time chilling out in the water. Hippos are herbivores, and like to peacefully munch on the grass. However, humans consider them to be the most dangerous animal! Even more dangerous than lions! Have you seen those hippo teeth? Don’t come near!
Is the Hippo chess opening as dangerous as these animals are? Let’s find out.
The Hippo is a very flexible setup, which you can play as White or Black, and your opponent has no way of preventing it. The first step is to fianchetto both of our bishops: 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 b6 4.Nf3 Bb7
Then, we put our knights on e7 and d7 and castle kingside, as the gif below shows: 5. Bc4 e6 6. Bf4 Ne7 7. O-O d6 8. Re1 Nd7 9. Qe2 O-O
After that, the idea is to play h6, and White has a hard time advancing. Even though we give White control of the center, our position is very solid, and, if White overextends, watch out, the hippo will be awakened, showing its teeth! Our main goal is to strike with f5!
To answer the question of whether this opening is dangerous, I would say it could be, if White is not careful.
Online, I play the Hippo a lot, and, while preparing this blog, I had a curious observation. When my opponents start with e4, my win rate with the hippo is pretty good. But when my opponents start with d4, I don’t win as many games. I’m not sure why, but here is my hippo-thesis. A lot of times, E4 players want a nice, attacking game, so they tend to over press, giving me chances. D4 players are slower and more positional; in a way, they are good at building hippo-potential energy!
Before you go, here are some chess animal jokes! Not only they lighten up the mood, they also help with cognitive tasks, like understanding and remembering information! So, let’s activate our hippo-campus with some laughter!
What do you call an orangutan that won a chess tournament?
A chess chimp-ion!
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What do you call an orangutan that solved a chess puzzle incorrectly?
A wrong-utan!
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Why is the Elephant so good at chess?
Because it always nose the best move!
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Why are Elephants and Hippos better during evening rounds?
They are PMs! Pachyderm Masters!
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Why is the Hippo good at chess then?
Because it hippo-tizes its opponents!
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What music does the Hippo play on his chess stream?
Hippo-hop!
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It’s getting colder out there in the Northern Hemisphere. Take care and watch out for hippo-thermia! OK, we will stop with the hippo jokes for now!
Three Cheers, Fellow Future Master Chess Friends!
The Man Benji, The Myth Sarang, The Legend Vivi
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