Destroying EVERYONE With The Cow Opening 

Here's the thing about the cow opening. You're forcing your opponent to actually play chess and not just memorized moves/positions. However, time will tell if this opening is not made obsolete as people start learning how to play against it. But for now it's a fun and cool opening.

The Cow speaks for itself…

I no longer play for myself. I play for the honour and the glory of The Cow.

Anna @27:31 “what is the deal with people putting their knights at g4” *2 MILLISECONDS LATER* “Wait …. Is she going to checkmate me” Gotta say, the response time is quite impressive 😂

That's actually crazy a 2000+ didn't immediately see that fork in game 1.

So far (game 2) the Cow relies on getting your opponent out of prep, so that they blunder and give up. I'm a bit worried for when people start figuring out the theory.

Anna is a huge reason chess is so fun for me. Her attitude is just the best.

The queen fork in game 1 was BRUTAL. Long live Cow.

The “accelerated cow” is when you play one of the knights to c3, g3 before moving the other knight. If you have two knights on d2, e2, it is called “cow piano”

You found the line and still went for it, so I don't think we can blame the opening.

I freaking love "The Cow" I'm a brand new player, who just got started a few weeks ago, and "The Cow" has freaking changed my life. I had gotten to the awkward stage in my game where openings suddenly had become dangerously important. Normally I like nice solid developmental opening, where I can stage my pieces analyze my opponent and choose my strategy. But now I've gotten to the stage where one out of three players, I play against is trying to run silley gimmick opening or another, forcing me to spend the first half of the game chasing their Queen around my front lines like a 1950's cartoon house wife chasing after a mouse. I had resigned myself to the fate of having to learn and master the counters to dozens gimmick openings, just so I could work on the rest of my game. Then 'The Cow" moo'd its way into my life. "The Cow", runs easily from both White or Black. "The Cow" preserves its defense while developing its pieces quickly. "The Cow" can't be rushed, and runs at my pace. "The Cow", doesn't care about gimmicks, and leaves gimmick players poking it with a stick before being batted away and run over. I freaking love "The Cow", thanks Anna.

I think the cow takes all inexperienced opponents out of their preparation. “You know what they say about the bishop pair...”😂

We already were fans of horses and used a similar opening style but now ... we have taken your cow opener to the board and so far it is making for fun and fancy competition. Thank you Ana, you are a wonderful instructor. ❤

It's kind of crazy just how effective this opening can be. It's not an unsound "meme" sort of opening like the bongcloud.

My first time playing the cow opening and I guess it scared my opponent into resigning.

been trying to cow opening and it led to pretty eventful games so i actually really like it!!

That was entertaining. Most fun I've had in chess in ages. I laughed, I cried, I was moo-ved. Thanks for the video

Anna, I remembered where I'd seen the Cow Opening before. A guy called Pafu invented it in 2002 and called it the D-System or Defense Game. He wrote a free pdf book which is easy to find on Google and kind of crazy! :)

I just tried this opening as a complete beginner, as in I know how the pieces move and that's it. And I dominated the whole game. The cow is clearly superior to all openings.

I looked over several of your videos over your Cow and won my first game using it while playing black just now. Makes them play chess not just memorize. Thank you!

I used the cow opening in two games Saturday and won both. Great way to make some openings with out moving to many pons.

When I learned playing chess in high school, our elder brothers from higher grades were just playing as the Brasilian girl. Opening motives (patterns), that finishing on the corner.. Every single move took me back to 25 years ago.. I still play in this style. I live in Turkey and I am still surprised how that play felt so much familiar. Ofcourse I am nothing close to competitve playing 😂

I love the RU-vid algorithms. This is the 3rd video of yours that I've now watched tonight. I downloaded a chess game for my computer to give it a try. I have no idea how to play chess, I think I know the way each piece is allowed to move. @15:30 when was the last time you saw something like this... I honestly have no idea what I'm even looking at but your enthusiasm and love for chess is extremely clear. Subbed

The phrase “the Cow is fast” will get me through my day.

Anna is all in on this cow opening. Holy... cow.

I’ve been using The Cow almost exclusively lately, and it’s done me solid!

Been using the cow a bunch this week, loving the dynamics of it!

Well done Anna, Ive been playing this for a week and its very strong. You can tell most people at the beginning look confused. Its like they are thinking 1.) this guys doesn’t know what he is doing, or 2.) what is this guy up to??? LOL. This is so fun to play. Thank you.

The Cow is an excellent opening for chess players who ruminate! 😂

And speaking of inspiration… I haven’t played chess in the past 40 years, LOL, but this cow opening is definitely what I needed to jump back in!! 😊

It's decent, I'm nowhere close to 2100 and I'm not beating everybody with it but have been using the cow as an experiment and i think the number one thing I'm finding is that i win by time out; the cow just confuses them from the start.

OK I have been playing the Cow ALOT tonight with black and white pieces. Anna you are brilliant. This opening is amazing. It is so fun to play. The lines are sensational. The horses are deadly and the bishops...well damn. All the pieces are well utilized. Excellent offense and defense options. And so easy to play. The fact that it can be played both black and white is uniquely brilliant. This opening is fricken awesome. I am 42 and have been playing since 5 and I feel like this opening has brought a new excitement to my playing that I haven't experienced since starting online digital chess. And Anna that displeased look on the thumbnail of the cow refuted video is like, the most adorable thing I have ever seen. You are cooler than school homegirl and completely brilliant. Thank you for bringing new life into this old man's game.

The last one was an attack like Tal's with these signature knights. I think a subtle move like h3 would solve everything. But there's probably a better center setup against these knights. Next time end with a win - the last scoop out of the jar is often more important than the first one to leave an impression.

Anna: "I don't believe it!" (Her opponent's check mate idea in the final game.) That was Cypher's last words in The Matrix, before he got roasted by Tank. 😂

Hey Anna. This is the first I've seen your videos, and I'm beyond impressed! I've watched several of your vids today. I love your parents! What a great opportunity to learn chess right! I'm an "old school" player. I used to play all the time in the 70s and 80s. I won so much that after while no one would play me. I haven't played now for years. So, the first of your vids I saw today was the "cow" introduction (birthday present). I used that exact opening for most of the chess I played. I just called it "street chess". I played and won against a few chess club members and I wasn't too impressed. It's GREAT to see you do what you do and with your parents!

I love soft spoken sarcastic Anna😂😂Didn't even know she had that mode!

I’ve played the last 7 games with your cow opening. I won all. Looks like you’re on to something. Keep up the good work

I'm thinking, when you put the bishops on d2 and e2 and you have this full cow's head going, it would be the 'Cabeza De Vaca' variation. It's also a funny Mexican last name.

Anna: "But I have the Bishop pair...and you know what they say about the Bishop pair.... the say the Bishop pair is good" LOL 22:20

this should be an official opening in the database😅

Just won 2 more games with the Cow against players rated above me. This really works!

Holy cow, that last player was good. It looks like they blundered, but it was all part of the plan. I would've feel for that too tbh

After watching this video, one of my online opponents used this opening. I recognized it, took total control of the center of the board and destroyed them.

Anna, don't give up on the cow! 4/5 ain't bad! And OMG, the speed at which you played the last 30 seconds of the 2nd to last game, my head was spinning. I am a complete chess noob, but still love watching your videos!

LOL Anna, you saw it coming but still played the moves 😂

There is a clear advantage when nobody has seen an opening before.

This is amazing. I was strugling. With this open, in one day I went from 1150 to 1260. 85% winrate

I won with a variation of the Cow Opening. I guess you could call it the Unicorn Variation. That's where I used the Cow on the king side. And regular opening on the queen side.

I have been using the cow opening, it's pretty crazy how effective it is.

This is now my favorite opening. I’m not a great player but my rating is improving with this opening! Go Cow!!!!!!

I have to admit, I have been using the cow opening in blitz with great success. Much to my own surprise. It is quite effective but you do have to soak up quite a bit of pressure in the early stages of the game. But in blitz, it definitely takes the opponent by surprise and it creates a lot of joy for the bishop pair in the middle game. 👍

8:56 the Hippo vs the Cow 😂

Magnus might troll grandmasters with it.

She invented the 17 moves mate opening to counter the cow 😁

Bovine Bliss! Anna you videos are so fun to watch, and I am learning so much from the way you voice your thoughts during games.

8:56, after this 'moo' 😆

Also hey Anna, after what Mia said about the cow, challenge her to refute it against Danya or Hikaru playing the cow! ❤

The Cow is the new bongcloud

At 5:09 in the video you talk of sometimes pushing the h-pawn, and I modestly propose you refer to that as the Mad Cow variation!

Hi Anna, my first tries were not this successful, because I played very defensive, as the nature of this opening looked like. But when I played more aggressive / offensive, I beat some players at about 1650 level in Blitz. I think the strategy is to wait for opponents making mistakes and then simply collecting free pawns and even knights. In one case I got two passed pawns this way.

The Cow opening has broken chess!

I think after the initial setup, you finish with Ke2, for the bong-cowed variation.

Its official Anna has officialy broke chess. Just jumped online for couple quick games, and it was pure mayhem. Everyone from the players to the bots are flailing around wildly at "The Cow". Three games, 2 players and one bot, every single game devolved into total chaos. Everyone of them I played threw completely random crap at the cow. Contests devolved into melees, and melees into an outright brawls. Even bot went nuts and tried to play the stampede... the #$%@ stampede! It was chaotc, it was brutal, and it was beautiful. Thanks Anna

Used to play a lot. But not in awhile. The cow tho... it has inspired me to play again, more. Tx for your videos. Also inspiring, and fun.

Can’t wait for Hikaru to do a cow opening speedrun and reach 3000

ive gone from 450 to almost 550 with the cow

I commented elsewhere but I won with the Cow opening last night (well, 1:30am this morning) even after blundering my queen. It helped that my opponent was semi-clueless also. I made a lot of mistakes and could have lost my queen much earlier. I had tunnel vision and went for something. My opponent completely over extended and I was able to start destroying him from the back. I'm starting to see a few common attacks against it.

Your opening is amazing! It can bring into the chess lots of colors! Thank you Anna!

Have we seen a Cow vs Cow opening yet? Ground beef :)

I love the cow opening. I'm on a 70% win ratio streak. Thanks Anna!

Just played it for the first time (against the computer set at 1800 so I could see the eval) it was 0.05 on the eval after the opening. It wasn't a "pure" cow though cause it pinned my d7 knight with a bishop so I had to move a bishop and castle first.

Amazing! I followed this game in the lichess opening database, and in April 2021, upto and including the Ng6 move, the exact same moves have been made. Whereas in Anna's game white moved the bishop, the game I'm seeing (kevets (1725) v philipb36 (1640), dxb5 was played by white who went on to win the game. This was way before Anna named this opening the "Cow". Same situation in August 2023 two 1500's players, except white pushed the d4 game and went on to lose. Fascinating stuff.

Love this opening!

Wow, cool opening😊

"the cow is not scared of baseball sticks."

At 25:44 Anna went Hikaru mode xddd loved it the cow rocks

Feel like my game is improving with the Cow. TY...just beat a 1350 Bot with this Opening.👍🤩🤩🤩🤩

Was watching your live today and it was so fun and the energy was great! And I agree with you, pineapple on pizza is amazing!

" You're gonna give me your queen instead, that's much better Pedrin, thank you..." SAVAGE ANNA

25:30 the speed at which whites pieces just disappeared still amazes me. i dont think i'll ever be able to play that quick

Anna always hitting us with her big vocabulary, followed by "I think that's a word" 😂

This sequence of Moves for white and black was 1st published by Pafu in The Defense Game 2002, pdf Page 13 of 214

"thank you for the game, thank you for the queen that was awesome"😂😂

It was that dark square situation near your king that finally killed you but dang game 6 was inspiring. Love that speed

Hilarious games! I got the best laugh I've had for a long time. Many thanks Anna!

But what do you do if your opponent moves their center pawns up 2 squares after you move yours 1 square, then they move one of them 1 more square? I ended up just moving one of my pawns up one more, which then deforms the cow. I moved my right knight out to the proper cow position, but I had to move my left knight to c3 because b3 was already under attack. I ended up with about half a cow. I think the Cow Opening is vulnerable to pawn pushes early on.

I hope there is an ever growing cult of cow opening players now

I have been playing the Cow opening since your introduction video, interestingly one opponent recognised it!!

@AnnaCramling , The Chess Giant posted a vid today, using the Hippo against your Cow. I would love to see you develop a variation to make it work better in the scenario that he presents.

The middle game you got during the first game reminded me of a Caro-Kann Advanced Variation middle game.

the cow opening make sense just put ur knight on g3 b3 to protect ur central pawns and help to to central breaks and bishops will come out its pretty reasonable to play

I'm a beginer and played only a few cow games. But rly like to go for it for black when ppl some weird openings that Im unaware about. So the cow makes them play actual chess, nlt just memorized lines

The reaction when Anna see the fork 🤣🤣🤣 4:03

The psychology of ownership of your own game! Class... Real competitive emotions... The highs and lows... Very impressive and inspirational!

492 videos, 492 likes. I became addicted to this narative style. And the Cow opening is the only one with I can prevail.

You are absolutely amazing, Anna! The cow will forever change classical chess for the better.

I've been using the Cow recently Since I'm low ELO it's proven particularly effective against gimmick openings 😂 but also it leads to very interesting games where you get to push whichever pieces you want basically

My native language is spanish and when i saw the name of the brazilian girl i read " tocinato " and sounds like she makes your cow tocino ( bacon ) or a fusion between tocino + asesinato

Thanks to you, I started playing Chess on online and it analyzes each move you make. So, I decided to test your Cow opening and it tells me; D6 book move, E6 book move, Nd7 best move, Nd6 a inaccurate move, Ne7 best move, Ng6 good move, Be7 best move and instead of pushing with D5, I pushed with E5 and it was best move. So, overall analysis seemed to think The Cow opening a bit unorthodox but overall pretty strong set up! EDIT: Pushing one of the pawns up the side of the board is an excellent counter to the Cow opening, it forces you to retreat your knight

so ive been using a variation of the cow opening i dont swing out the knights like Anna does but this opening is insane. Ive been able to grind games down to a hault playing a very defensive game and trapping black as it focus its attack on the center of the board/ Thanks Anna! Yes im avg at chess. Im much slower dislike blitz. So i look to grind a game down and slow it way down.