Chess Zoo, Part IV: Terrarium Edition
- 4 days ago
- 8 min read
Howdy! It’s the Chess Friends!
Toad-ay’s the day we are publishing our blog number 67!!!
To celebrate this special occasion, we decided to welcome back our popular Chess Zoo series! We already shared three blogs: Chess Zoo, Part III, Chess Zoo, Part II, Chess Zoo, Part I, and now invite you to the Terrarium section of our Chess Zoo!
First things first: what is a terrarium? Generally speaking, any clear (typically glass) enclosure that provides living conditions for plants or animals is called a vivarium.
We all know aquarium, a water tank: it’s a vivarium filled with water to house fish and other aquatic plants and creatures.
A terrarium is a dry enclosure, a vivarium to keep plants or animals (like snakes, chameleons, lizards, and tortoises) in their close-to-natural land ecosystem.
A paludarium is basically half-and-half, an enclosure that have both water and land to create nice living conditions for creatures that love both (like turtles and frogs).
There are other types of -ariums but we will not go into those: terrariums and paludariums are enough, because today we are focusing on three animals: Bullfrogs, Chameleons, and Tortoises, highlighting chess openings with their names.
Let’s begin our chess herpetology studies!
The Bullfrog Gambit
by The Legend Vivaan
Ribbit Friends! It’s The Legend Vivaan coming at you with the Bullfrog Gambit! Before that, let’s talk about bullfrogs! They’re the largest frogs in North America and their croaks are next level loud! They’re usually green and brown with some spots and a white belly. Some have some yellow too. They are patient hunters and love eating insects and small fish. Onto some chess! Chess Openings: Learn to Play the Bullfrog Gambit! is a great video to get you started but let me share a little bit here.
The Bullfrog Gambit, also known as the Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit, starts with:
1. d4 Nf6 2. g4!
While the engine may say this is a -0.5 advantage for black with white willingly gambiting the g-pawn, it is super dangerous and great in faster formats, like bullet, blitz, and maybe rapid. The big ideas in the Bullfrog Gambit are center control and attacking. Black can do many things here, but most likely they will play 2… Nxg4. Other common alternatives are 2… d6 and 2… d5.
Let’s look at the most common move 2… Nxg4. We now control the center with 3. e4. Black has some choices but most likely will retreat back with 3… Nf6. Then we continue our pressure with 4. e5. If the N goes back to g8, it’s like Black hasn’t even moved and you have full center control. After the more likely 4… Nd5, attack with 5. c4 and after 5… Nb6, 6. Nc3 solidifies your center control and sets you up with great attacking chances.
Black has to be very careful here and can easily fall into a trap! After 6… d6, 7. Nf3 Nc6, all seemingly natural moves, white is much better! The critical move there is 8. e6! This is a huge idea in the Bullfrog Gambit and one that can be played in many different variations.
Besides black being super cramped, you have great chances to win material here. If 8… Bxe6, then 9. d5 wins a piece by forking the c6 knight and e6 bishop! If 8… fxe6, then the idea is 9. Ng5 h6, 10. h6 Qh5, 11. d5 hxg5, 12. dxe6+ Kxe6, 13. Bh3+ Kf6, 14. Bxg5+ Ke5, 15. Bf6+! (double check with everything hanging, and note if 15… Kxf6, 16. Ne4#) Kf4, 16. Qg5+ Kf3, 17. Bg2# (or Qe3#). Wow! Just did all that in my brain! Let’s get a GIF for you!
Of course, none of this is forced and Nc6 is the real blunder for black. That said, very few will realize why it’s a blunder and it’s a very natural move. I think I’ll leave this here for now, but especially if you’re a chess com bullet or blitz player and want to get some reps with a fun opening that will throw your opponents off guard and give you mad center control and attacking chances, give the Bullfrog Gambit a go!
The Chameleon Sicilian
by The Myth Sarang
Hi Friends! Today we will be taking a look at the Chameleon Sicilian, a flexible Anti-Sicilian with many strategic ideas and lots of unpredictability. Chameleons are most famous for their color changing skin and independently moving eyes, and are typically found in Madagascar.
The Chameleon begins after the Sicilian, 1. e4 c5, where White then deviates from the main line and plays 2. Nc3! Nc6 3. Nge2!? This is known as the Chameleon Sicilian, and a picture from Lichess showing it is down below:
We played Nc3 first to DELAY Nf3 and avoid immediate tension by playing Nf3 in the Open Sicilian. If Black plays 3… Nf6, we play 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4, transposing into an Open Sicilian where black can play the Classical Sicilian, Sveshnikov Sicilian, and more, so definitely learn your lines in those.
If Black plays 3… g6, we should play 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Be3, transposing into the Accelerated Dragon Sicilian. Now, here’s the most challenging line Black can play. They play 3… Nd4, restricting our playing of the move d4. How do we deal with this? Here is how: 4. Nxd4 cxd4 5. Nb5! We are attacking Black’s d4-pawn weakness, and we have a better pawn structure for the moment. Black plays 5… e5, defending their pawn and committing another center pawn. White keeps the pressure going with 6. Qh5! Attacking Black’s e5-pawn, the base of the pawn chain. If Black plays 6… g6, we have 7. Qxe5++- forking Black’s king and rook. Instead of that, maybe Black will play 6… d6, defending the pawn. White puts even more pressure on Black with 7. Bc4! Attacking checkmate on f7 and White has more active pieces while Black’s entire back row is sleeping, as you can see in the picture below.
Here is a GIF showing this line.
Of course, if you choose the Chameleon as your main anti-Sicilian, you should study it much more deeply. That said, it’s relatively low theory and super flexible. It also will take most Sicilian players out of their deeper prep in more common lines like the Classical, Dragon, Najdorf, or Sveshnikov. Good luck!
The Tortoise
by The Man Benji
Hello friends! Today, I will learn with you about tortoises, and a chess opening named after these smart and gentle creatures!
Tortoises are turtles that prefer land, and, just like Sarang’s chameleon, are reptiles, which means they need sunlight to keep themselves warm. These tortoises have been walking, slowly but steadily, since dinosaur times. I’m talking about the last 200 million years! What helped them survive and even thrive in this harsh-harsh world is their… shell! Their shell is an example of nature’s amazing engineering, consisting of two parts: the top part, called the carapace, and the bottom, called the plastron, connected and kept together by 60 bones.
The largest tortoises come from the Galápagos Islands, and they can weigh over 900 pounds, just like an adult horse! Unlike horses, though, tortoises are slooooow, because they have to carry that sophisticated shell of theirs. But what they don’t have in speed, they make up for in longevity. Thanks to the protective shell, tortoises can live for up to 250 years! That’s how old USA is!
So, does the Tortoise Opening in chess lead to long games that help you to survive? I am here to find out!
My first finding was that there are no master games with this opening! A red flag! It isn’t some sharp gambit that Vivaan discussed, nor is it a flexible and playable system that Sarang talked about. Instead, just like its name, it’s… slow.
It starts with:
1.e4 e5 2.Bd3!?
2.Bd3!? is a move you don’t see every day. Maybe not even every week. It looks very counterintuitive, with the bishop on d3 blocking the d-pawn, and freezing the dark-squared bishop for a long time! Way too slow, with no obvious compensation.
Sorry, tortoise fans, but I can’t recommend this opening for tournament play. It’s just too slow! That’s why, instead of showing how to play it, I will explain what I think is a good way to counter it as Black, in the rare occasion you do see it in your games.
When facing the Tortoise Opening, remember the Aesop’s Fable The Tortoise and the Hare, and go with advice from it: “Slow and steady wins the race!” Black doesn’t want to rush with 2. … d5? right away, because White then would play
3.exd5 Qxd5
4.Nc3!
White doesn’t mind that Black can take the g-pawn (4. … Qxg2), because they would attack the Black queen with 5. Be4, and Black’s only move would be retreating the queen to g5.
White then can attack the Black queen again while establishing control of the center with 6. d4, and, despite the fact that Black is up a pawn, White is ahead in development, has huge activity, and all the opportunities to press.
So, don’t assume that all turtles are nice and slow. Have you seen the jaws of an alligator-snapping turtle before? So, be careful! Take your time to respond correctly when you see that someone played the Tortoise Opening against you. As Black, you usually want to wait for White to play c3 before striking with d5.
A good way to proceed for Black is to develop normally, say with
2. … Nf6.
Now, in this position, a pretty common move for White is
3. c3.
The idea with this move is to retreat White’s bishop to c2, then follow up with d4. Except, when White plays c3, their knight on b1 becomes stuck, and it’s the perfect time to play: 3. … d5!
Here, if White takes the pawn with 4. exd5, Black’s best way to play would be 4. … Qxd5!
Then, White would be forced to play 5. Bf1 to defend their pawn on g2, and Black’s position would be unquestionably better. Meanwhile, all of White’s pieces are still on the first rank!
If White decides not to play 4. exd5, Black can still enjoy a better position with easier development.
So, what if White doesn’t play 3. c3 and instead develops their knights? Then, I would simply recommend Black to develop normally as well. A line could go:
3. Nc3 Bc5
4. Nf3 d6
5. O-O O-O
Eventually, White would have to play 6. Bc4 so they could play d3 and develop their bishop on c1. Then Black could play 6. … c6
This position, believe it or not, is like the Giuoco Pianissimo, only for Black instead of White. It is still playable for both sides, with Black having a slight advantage, as if they moved first. So, unless you want to practice the Giuoco Pianissimo as Black, I do not recommend this opening. But in blitz, you can catch your opponents by surprise!
Thank you, dear readers, for tuning in on another blog! You’re not dismissed yet, though! Stay put for some hilarious knee-slappers, Terrarium Edition! They are toad-ally funny and will sure to croak you up!
Why did the Frog lose its chess game?
It was newt to chess!
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What did the Frog do with its notation sheet after that?
Rippit! Rippit! Rippit!
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What did the Frog say when advised to read Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual?
“Reddit! Reddit! Reddit!”
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Why do chess games between the Frog and the Turtle always last for so long?
Because they like pond-ering each move!
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What should we call Benji’s writing on Tortoise Opening?
A chess Turtorial!
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What do you expect when a tortoise plays a Tortoise Opening?
A turtle disaster!
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What did the Turtle say when its opponent yelled Checkmate?
“Don’t be so loud! You sturtled me!”
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What did the Chameleon say when its opponent yelled Checkmate?
Nothing. It just rolled its eyes.
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How can you stop a chameleon from playing bullet chess online?
Just switch it to chamele-off!
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Three Cheers, Fellow Future Master Chess Friends!
The Man Benji, The Myth Sarang, The Legend Vivaan
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