YOU Play the Hippopotamus Defense?? 

Glad to hear! The Hippopotamus Defense > Everything Else.

Thank you brotha!

Thanks a ton for that, glad you enjoyed it. Go Hippo 🦛🦛

Thank you Michael! And you're very welcome!

@@TheChessGiant I hope all is well with you!

Hey! Thanks a ton for watching the RU-vid videos on the hippo and I'm glad you're enjoying them. The hippo defense is a great system, and I second everything you said. Most underrated system out there in my opinion! 🦛🦛🦛🦛

Thanks, glad to hear you learned something from the games! Go Hippo! 🦛🦛

Pumped to hear this! The Hippo is a great system!! You got it man, and keep it up! 🦛🦛🦛🦛

You're welcome!

Hey Daniel! Thanks so much for the encouragement brotha, appreciate it a ton. Truly humbled. Thanks for all the support. And thanks for asking about more white Hippo videos. I actually have one of those dropping soon! (Just a tournament game I played as white with the Hippo recently) Thanks again, best wishes to you as well. Don't be afraid to reach out! Here to help!

@@TheChessGiant You are so welcome. Your teaching is fantastic!

Glad you liked it!!

You're very welcome! The Hippo is a cheat code!

Great ideas with the earlier f5 / c5 to break the 3 pawn center! I was nervous about the Knight xb5 hitting the Rook, but definitely didn't see that attacking idea after. Geeze! thanks so much for covering this. If there's a lesson for me to take from it, it's: don't stop calculating early just because it looks bad in the next few moves.

The position where I locked it down with c6 was very complicated. I do remember game review calling it a blunder, which was upsetting since I could've sworn it was the only move. Ha

You got it!! Glad you enjoyed this!

Totally. And ya you finding a flank pawn vs 3 pawn center is a great approach for the Hippopotamus Defense player!

That's always tough!

You're very welcome Jim! God bless you as well!

The Hippo is a cheat code! And yessir, same here! Good to see GM Eric Hansen rocking with it!

Glad to hear you enjoyed it. Let me know how I can help your progress, and keep it up!

That's right! Don't forget part 3 when they start playing the Hippo themselves! 😂

You're welcome!

LOVE THIS IDEA! Just took a picture of this!

You as well my friend!

Thank you! I appreciate that! And are you asking me if I can review a game of yours?

Totally! And ya you got it! Glad to help. I wouldn't have said this at the time, but more Hippo on the way!

Hi Joe can you tell me if you need a computer/laptop for the Hippo course? I use an IPad not sure if that is any good for it or the PGN?

@@barrymcgregor6233 I haven't tried the PGNs but the videos just stream on the browser so should be fine on an iPad. You can get PGN software for an iPad I'm sure. Enjoyed the videos and just won an over the board game playing the hippo. Lost another to someone much higher rated but that was a miscalculation rather than a bad opening. I was doing well out of the opening with the kingside pawn attack. Overall it's nice to play in a slow game because you get a big time advantage getting all the way to the hippo setup while they ponder every move.

@@joegreenwood86 Thanks very much Joe for taking time out to reply much appreciated am not very savvy with technology😂will check it out that’s good your getting on with the Hippo a bet the course is brilliant Solomons content on it is fantastic.

Glad to hear this Joe! Here's some things you can do (in no particular order) 1. I would say you should play some Hippo games yourself, and maybe get a coach that knows the Hippo that can help you through it! (You can also plug it into engine although engines aren't always helpful with the Hippo in my personal experience. You will have to take the early "best moves" with a grain of salt.) I am available for coaching and I'm sure there's others who can help you as well. Maybe even hit up a friend who is slightly better and see what they think! 2. Keep watching Hippo content on RU-vid! You can rewatch videos, and eat up the new ones that come out! Ya Eric is coming out with some great content, super happy to see him adding to the Hippo community!

Love to hear it!! The Hippo is a very strong option whether you are black white OR black! And it's also nice because every day you can go in your skills with the Hippo, and soon it will be your 1000th time playing it as your opponent will at the same time not even know what it is. Preparation goes a long way in addition to comfortability. Keep it up! 🦛🦛🦛🦛

I'll keep this in mind going forward! WIll probably be awhile until I do a long Sicilian Defense series but when I do, I'll make sure to touch on this! Love from the US

Hmmm are the downloads not working? Feel free to email me at "thechessgiant@gmail.com" so we can get this worked out!

Those who say the Hippo is "timid" and "too slow" and "a waste of time" are simply incorrect!

@@TheChessGiantChess engines don’t give the first few moves of any opening, like the Hippo, that gives up central space the highest marks. HOWEVER, when the Hippo middle game kicks in the evaluations swing more in the Hippo’s favor & the most critical positions get very complicated requiring strong nerves, good positional understanding & deep tactical calculation. As daunting as that sounds, such will make anyone’s chess well rounded & a better player… & with relatively few exceptions one does not need to memorize variations, unlike other defenses where theory can go quite deep into the middle & even the endgame. How many chess players truly enjoy chess as a memory contest? I for one don’t. I doubt many others do either. Playing the Hippo will make you a better chess player overall & while you will have to understand how to counteract certain set ups by white you will generally be free of having to memorize reams of variations & enjoy playing chess were each player is duking it out on their own resources. For me the Hippo has made chess fun again. Of course, there’s a learning curves especially against 3 pawn set ups… i.e., c4, d4, & e4 or d4, e4 & f4, as well as d4, e4, f3 (as a prelude to setting up a Be3/Qd2 battery) .. but these can be studied & neutralized. Solomon’s aka ChessGiant’s Hippo defense course will go a long way in this regard. To all interested I wholeheartedly & enthusiastically recommend it. Indeed, I now enjoy playing the Hippo set up both as White & Black (tho in bullet & blitz I play other openings too for variety). Give the Hippo a whirl! Cheers!

Hopefully soon! Although I'm not playing in tournaments super frequently though. Next one is in late May.

Hey Jake! Good to hear from you, thanks for putting this on my radar!

Ya for sure. They're both a cheat code.

Yup! 😂

WOAH WOAH WOAH

Agreed! Studying at a wide range of levels is helpful!

Hey! Hope you're well man. I mean there's a ton of lines/games/etc on there. And to be honest, you don't really need to memorize much for the Hippo. I do dedicate a chapter to things we need to memorize, but most of the course is focused on the middlegame and what to do when that point is reached. The hippo is a middlegame focused system, not looking to win outright in the first 10 moves, but gain positional leverage and use those attacking chances to convert later on in the game. It's a "slow burn" system but the results can be fantastic if played correctly. Anyways, if you get the course I hope it meets your expectations! Thanks, and keep it up Solomon 🦛🦛🦛🦛

Hey! Thanks brotha, glad to hear you're enjoying the RU-vid hippo vids! I'm assuming you mean what to do if your opponent goes with a d4/e4/f4 setup? The video below should give you some ideas to work with! (Was a game I played against the setup.) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DKLZmuhObKE.html Let me know if you have any further questions or thoughts! Thanks, Solomon 🦛🦛🦛🦛

Hey I covered this in my online course on the Hippopotamus Defense! However, I would type out by saying that you want to pinpoint whether e4 or d4 is weak, and then go from there. A common idea is to play Nf6 attacking the pawn on e4 with your bishop on b7 as well. If white advances, we can play Ng4 (often attacking a bishop on e3) followed by Nf5/dxe5 ideas looking to chip away at that center. This can be done on the other side of the board as well with Nc6 and Nb4. Just depends on the pawn structure + placement of white's bishops. There are other ideas you can go with but this is my favorite and the one I look to the most. I try to encourage white to push the e or d pawns at the right moment because it simple weakens squares and diagonals. White can continue to push like crazy, but eventually there will be cracks in the wall that start to form. That is what the Hippopotamus Defense player wants to go for there.

@@TheChessGiant I will practice on this variation, very grateful for your reply and great ideas. Thanks ☺️

Did you try clicking on the link below?

@@TheChessGiant I do not see a link below. Could be that my iPad is not showing the link? IPads do not work like a normal computer. I do not know.

@@TheChessGiant ok got it. Had to click on “more” then the link showed up in the side bar.

thechessgiant.gumroad.com/l/hippopotamusdefensecourse

@@jamesreed4483 Ah cool glad you found it. I also dropped the link in another response to your comment.

This could be fun!!

🦛🦛

Accidentally dropped 2 in one day 😭

As you may have seen in the last video, I brough it back!

You got it! Thanks a ton for tuning into it!