Some of you will know that I am playing 1st Board for Chesspub.com in the event indicated below.  I'm sharing this Hedgehog game not because it's theoretically important, but because the play after 29.Rxd7 is quite interesting.  The play before then no doubt reveals my abominable ignorance of how to play the Hedgehog.  For example after 22...Bc6 23.Bf1, I could think of nothing better than to put the bishop back on b7!  Clearly I am sorely in need of lessons on the Hedgehog.  I would very much welcome anyone's comment and criticism.

Nevertheless 29.Rxd7 was overreaching, so I think, and I was able to drum up nice counterplay on the f-file.  Play after that was very challenging, and I must admit that OTB I could not have played with such, ahem, machinelike precision.  At the end, if 50.Kg2 then 50...Qe3=.

So far on Board 1 I have eight draws and two wins, and the most likely result of my last two games is two draws. In that case, the event will have been a moderately successful one for me.  In at least two other games besides this one, though, I had to fight hard to draw.

[Event "Champions League 2007 Fast Track Group 1"]
[Site "ICCF"]
[Date "2007.9.1"]
[White "White, David V."]
[Black "Morss, Mark F."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[Board "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Chess Nomads"]
[BlackTeam "CHESSPUBLISHING.COM"]

1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 Nf6 
6.a3 Nxd4 7.Qxd4 b6 8.Qf4 Bb7 9.e4 d6 10.Be2 Be7 
11.O-O O-O 12.Rd1 a6 13.b4 Qc7 14.Bb2 Rac8 15.Qg3 Rfd8 
16.Rac1 Bf8 17.Bd3 Nd7 18.f4 g6 19.Ne2 Bg7 20.Bxg7 Kxg7 
21.Nc3 Nf6 22.Re1 Bc6 23.Bf1 Bb7 24.e5 Nd7 25.Qe3 h6 
26.Na4 dxe5 27.fxe5 Rf8 28.Rcd1 Bc6 29.Rxd7 Bxd7 30.Nxb6 Rcd8 
31.a4 f5 32.exf6+ Rxf6 33.c5 Bc6 34.Bxa6 Rdf8 35.Bb5 Bxb5 
36.axb5 Qf7 37.Qe5 Kh7 38.h3 h5 39.Kh2 Rf1 40.Rxf1 Qxf1 
41.Nd7 Rf5 42.Qe4 Qxb5 43.c6 Qa4 44.Ne5 Qa7 45.Nf3 Qb8+ 
46.Kg1 Rd5 47.Qc4 Qb6+ 48.Kh2 Qc7+ 49.g3 Qa7 1/2-1/2

Quote:

Like it! 

Thanks for the info, Zhon!

[quote]Still think it's Yorzh, mind.... [/quote]

I recall checking this a while back with Ken Neat, who said that 'Yozh' is correct.

Markovich wrote on 04/03/08 at 00:40:05:


I thought the latest Vol.2 of Khalifman's Kramnik series contained a great explanation of the system from the White perspective. I sometimes wonder though, if 7. Re1 is the best way to reach the hedghog. if anything 7.. d5 8. cd5 Nd5 9. e4 Nb4 looks solid lately.

Markovich wrote on 04/03/08 at 00:40:05:

You can't get a good version of the Hedgehog after 2. g3. Shipov recommends a system with Nf6, c6 and d5 against this.

Another branch is 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3. Shipov suggests 3. .. e6 4. Bg2 d5 5. Nf3 d4

White can also play an anti-Benoni. 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3.d4 cd 4. Nxd4 or something with e3 and d4.

MagicTrick wrote on 04/08/08 at 17:03:26:

I heard the russian volume was decent work, so I hope he keeps up that quality in the second edition. What I understood that the number of pages was an objection to publish it in english. So I hope they do not do the same as with Oznoz publication about the Reti, when they were translating it from russian to english.

I think many will be delighted to hear (IM John Cox, for instance) that GM Sergey Shipov is publishing a 2nd Edition of his famous "Hedgehog" or "Yozh" in English! He says that the new edition will be very different from the 1st one.
And nyoke, Markovich wants a weapon vs. 1.c4 and not 1.e4

Suba's book is useful in this regard. He has a chapter entitled "Fine Points in the Hedgehog" in which he discusses some move-order issues.

With the popularity of 2. g3 soaring among amateurs in recent years due to Kosten's Dynamic English, it is harder to actually get to play the Hedgehog. Note that Suba in the pre-Dynamic English era actually recommended that Black play 1. c4 Nf6 rather than 1.c4 c5 because it gives Black more options against 2 g3. 

Other than 2. g3 I think White's only other attempt to avoid a hedgehog proper is with an very early d4. But I stand to to be corrected. To get some ideas you might want to filter a database for Michael Adams as Black against both 1. c4 and 1. Nf3

Would someone, anyone, care to lay out the principal branches of a defense to the English based on the Hedgehog?  I don't mean the Hedgehog itself, just what else somebody needs to know who is willing to play the Hedgehog.  Every Symmetrical English book under the sun is deficient in its attention to the question of what constitutes a complete system.  The usual attitude is, "There are just so many move orders, la de da!"

They should have called it the Porcupine, in any case.  The porcupine is a much more formidable and prickly beast than the adorable little hedgehog.  Nobody in his right mind could adore a porcupine.