IMJohnCox wrote on 02/26/08 at 17:49:26:


An English r.  And we hear so few of them.

Yes, obviously there's no 'r' in the Russian version, but then the Russians pronounce the r differently from the English anyway. But if you want to render the sound in English, you need to use an English r.

I just asked her again and she says it's pronounced the same as the second syllable of Eeyore, only with zh on the end. So there.

I guess you could email him through his site (crestbook.com, is it?). Whether he answers random inquiries about the HH I don't know.

I've just asked our Russian assistant and it sounds like Yorzh to me, but I doubt there's any rule about it.

Another good thing about "Yorzh" (it means Hedgehog, so we can call it that as well) is that it's possible to contact the author and ask him about something which is not in the book. By the way, I think he's the biggest Hedgehof expert around: even players rated 100 points higher choose mostly d4 against him, cause it's the most difficult one to transpose 

Gambit wrote on 02/23/08 at 19:09:50:


Yes. Stop worrying about who counts as a coward and start playing chess.

I am highly surprised  to read this question from you, LDZ. I thought it would be paramount for you to answer x...c5 with y.b4 at any stage of the opening.

Markovich wrote on 02/22/08 at 19:37:14:


No, I am not. I have a very common name.

I am John Hall from Canada- with no chess title. My peak rating with Canada's chess federation was 2245 although I am currently about 100 points lower than that.

Markovitch's original question is interesting and deserves discussion, especially as it seems that there is not an ideal source for this formation available in english.

I don't have experience with the opening OTB, however I have played through some annotated games and, like Markovitch, have an interest in learning how to play the opening. It seems like a good weapon against lower rated players as it avoids simplification and is complicated positionally and tactically.

Maybe we can start a list to try to re-create what was said to Kasparov in that conversation!?

let's take the basic formation as a starting point:

Black pawns on a6, b6, d6, e6, f7, g7, h7. Bishops on b7 and e7, knights on d7 and f6 and 0-0 in place.

It seems that black wants to put his queen on c7- but in many games I have seen him first move it to c8 and only later to c7. In Understanding Chess: Move by Move by Nunn (Karpov vs Ribli) Nunn exlains that in some lines the q needs to go to c8 first to stop an early e5 break from white.

The rooks seem most often to belong on c8 and e8. I would naturally put the king's rook on d8- wanting to support ...d5- but e8 seems much more common. I'm not 100% sure why- it seems maybe to discourage a later f5 by white- or perhaps to support ...e5 (a break whch seems to happen a lot- even though most general texts talk more about ...b5 and ...d5).

I don't have 'Revolution in the '70s' but there is a viewable component on Amazon on the hedgehog. In that it mentions some strategical advice- something like 'Black has a number of safe maneurcres he can perform. Basically, you perform those maneurcres and wait for a mistake- so that you can break out tactically (...b5, ...d5, ...e5). It is best to time this right before time control when your opponent may be under time pressure- as it is very difficult to determine the consequences of the resulting positions.

The above makes a lot of sense, and can serve as a sort of 'game plan'. You manuevre around, playing quickly- making sure you prevent the opponents aggresive intentuions- and then break out later (I think whether sound or not!?). Note- this is an OTB strategy- I personally think the hedgehog may be best suited for OTB play- but I know a lot of members of this board focus on corr.

Something else I read in the Queen's Indian by Y&T was that if the light squared bishops end up getting exchanged on the long diagnol (say after a later Ng5 by white), it is imporatnt that black is able to occupy the long diagnol with his queen (presumably on b7).

White often expands on the q-side with a later b4. It seems that black should not try to prevent this plan with ...a5 of his own- as his formation cannot afford the resulting weakness created on b5. It is better to allow b4, and try to gain counterplay against the resulting slight weakening of the c4 square by white.

If white tries to quickly pile up on d6 with Qd4, b3, Ba3, Rad1- it seems that the general solution is to meet Ba3 with Nc5- blocking the diagnol. Of course this can be kicked out with b4- and that may cause d6 to fall. I think this brings the position to a critical point, where black may need to look to tactics to support his position (altough I haven't really found games that have gone down that path).

There is also a plan for black to play ...Kh8, ...Rg8, ...g5- aiming for counterplay/activity on the k-side. The intent can be either to gain space or open lines over there. Often times the rooks are doubled on the g-file with this plan. Note: It seems that many strong players do not believe in this plan for black. I remember Anand lost a game vs Charboneau at the last Olympiad where he implemented this plan as black.

However, it seems that black can play h6 without compromising his position too much- so if it's necessary in a position, it shouldn't be considered a major concession.

Also, black can sometimes get away with re-locating his bishop to g7. After ...Bf8 and ...g6. ...Bf8 is extremely common- but the bishop relocation to g7 seems less so.

A common way forward from the starting point for black seems to be:

...Qc7, ...Re8, ...Rc8, ...Qb8, ...Ba8- when black is starting to have solid support for the b5 advance. Often it seems black maneurvres around with the light squared bishop and queen in preparation of this advance with ...Qa8 or ...Bc6 and ...Qb7. Increasing the pressure on e4 in this way can tie white down a bit. Also, it seems that white often launches an eventual pawn storm on the k-side with f4, g4, f5, g5 etc. It seems that at this point ...b5 is always good- even if it loses a pawn outright- because black can sort of 'play around the corner' and go for counterplay against the (hopefully) overextended white position.

Lastly, when the white formation is bishops on e3 and e2, and pawns on c4, e4, f3 (as opposed to the k-side fianchetto), it looks like a common plan for black is ...Qb8, ...Bd8, ...Bc7- with counterplay on the b8-h2 diagnol. Probably forcing an eventual h3 from white- which may soften things up there a bit.

Anyways, thats what I have learned looking at database games and my book sources. Maybe others can update/fix my list and maybe even the whole thing can be made more efficient and re-packaged into "everything you need to know about the hedgehog in 5 min"!

For those of us that won't be able to learn Russian to learn this opening that is!!

John