River Horse sounds a lot more aggresive than the hippo is! But it also doesnt sound Silly. So maybe ill call it the modern, Riverhorse variation.

Perhaps i could write an article called Rise of the Riverhorse for NIC...ok maybe not but they should print one with such an neat title.

Well my curiosity gave in and i watched a lecture on USChesslive. It was rather interesting and i might give it a try. the worst that could happen is i could transpose into a french or owens. o my gosh thats horifying 

Very flexible and i can play a hippo if it comes down to it! Gotta admit i have some love for the hippo even it it sounds silly.

Dont like any other animal openings though!

Back when i was a queens indian player i remember facing g3 often! So i think that if you want to play g3 it might be possible ot transpose into a g3 queens indian. Dont know if thats the type of position you are aiming for though

Nice to hear what a player experienced in these lines have to say! Thank you!

In white`s aggressive line with Bd3 and exf5 I am not too happy though, because black will probably know this by heart and my question is: Is there really is such an edge to find? Looking at the games in the Daring-defence section (for instance Shirov-Suttercane)  I noticed the annotators comment that black often wins. The play seems forced and I don`t like to go into such lines which my opponent probably have prepared at home, unless I can get a decent advantage. Looking at the games in the Daring-section one could think that black either wins when white does a mistake or gets a forced draw. Please comment on this if I am wrong! 

I`ll have a closer at the Nc3 and f3 lines, since you say it is the reason you gave up on the english   Thanks for the advice!

Surprisingly it seems like this topic died. Surprisingly because I have had troubles finding something comfortable against the english defence and it seems to give black good chances for a lively game. I`ve tried Kosten`s recommendation of 4. Nge2, but black seems to get a fully satisfactory game and possibly even more with for instance an early d5. Is the above-mentioned variation with an early d4 white`s best try? It looks very much like a queens-indian, are there any differences?

Hmm ... certainly has a nice feel to it - thanks for the suggestion, I will look into it some more  8)

I see that there has not been much interest here so far, so let me be the first ...  8)

I am coming at this from a different angle - I like to play 1.c4 with White and find 1...b6 a little bit irritating as it stops me fianchettoing my king's bishop - I probably should not admit this as I know it only encourages you English Defence freaks!!

Anyway, I guess I am looking for a good way for White to play it.  I don't really think the idea of refraining from d4 promises anything, so I think I may as well get on with it and play 2.d4, then one idea I had was maybe to develop quite slowly with a3, Nc3, e3, f3, Bd3 and then either Nge2 or Nh3!?, 0-0 and only play e3-e4 when I am good and ready 

It feels a bit like a Classical Nimzo, which I have been known to play with White.  Theoretically it probably isn't threatening enough to get any meaningful advantage, but I thought it might have the potential to frustrate Black players who are intent on hitting the centre with ...Bb4 ...Qh4 and ...f5.

Anybody got any thoughts on this or other suggestions as to how to meet the English Defence?