Annotated chess game: The Modern Robatsch Pirc Hippopotamus Defense

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ANNOTATED GAME

The Modern Robatsch Pirc Hippopotamus Defense
yogy (1905) vs. blake84120 (1977)
Annotated by: blake84120 (1200)
Chess opening: Robatsch defence (B06), two knights variation

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1. e4 g6

This is my 2nd longest game here on GameKnot, just three moves shy of my longest game. This one turned out to be a well-contended slug-fest that ends in a bit of a tricky endgame. It's a team match and I'm playing black. I'm tired of the Sicilian, so I try something different. The Robatsch, or Modern defense. As anyone who reads many of my annotations knows, I have long forgotten anything I used to know about openings, so I generally fly blindly through them, charting my course primarily by way of the GameKnot DB - for better or worse. I don't know this opening at all, so I was looking forward to exploring it a bit.

2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6

Main line so far.

4. Nf3 a6 5. a4 b6 6. Bd3 Bb7

More development. It looks like we can't decide whether we're playing the Modern Defense or the Pirc. Maybe it's a Modern because it's not quite a Pirc - is the term Modern Defens just a catch-all for non-Pirc lines starting with 1. e4 g6?. Then again, maybe it's just a Hippopotamus.

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7. O-O Nd7 8. Re1 c5

Time to take on white's center.

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9. d5 Ngf6 10. Bf4 O-O 11. h3 Qc7

OK, both sides seem more or less fully developed, but all things considered, I think I would rather have the white pieces. More room, more likelihood of finding a good attack. Black feels a bit cramped to me.

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12. Bf1 Ne5 13. Nxe5 dxe5

Uncramping a little.

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14. Bh2 Ne8

Hey, if white can retreat his pieces, so can black... Actually, I was thining this knight woudl be betterplaced on d6 and the bishop on g7 would want as few black pieces on the a1-h8 diagonal as possible.

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15. Qd2 Rd8 16. Rad1 e6 17. Qg5 h6 18. Qg4 Nf6

So much for d6. Maybe later...

19. Qf3 exd5 20. exd5 Nh5

To defend e5.

21. Bc4 Nf4

To threaten d5 without losing defense of e5.

22. h4 Rfe8 23. g3 Ne6

The pawn on d5 is pinned to his queen, and therefore cannot capture the knight without loss of material.

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24. Qd3 Nd4

Oooh, what a sweet sweet post for this knight.

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25. Ne4 Bxd5

Oops. The knight on c3 defended the far-flung d5 pawn. Moving to e4 doesn't create any new threats, but it does remove a defender. Black pounces, but not after working out the eventuality of 27. c3.

26. Bxd5 Rxd5 27. c3 c4

I think white's plan was to pin the black knight to the undefended black rook on d4, then attack the knight with a pawn, winning material. It doesn't work, because black has a counterattack.

28. Qe3 Nf5 29. Qe2 Red8 30. Rxd5 Rxd5

Crisis averted, and black has a pawn to the good.

31. Rd1 Rxd1+ 32. Qxd1

And now white is making it easy for black to trade down pieces and try to leverage his pawn advantage into a winning endgame.

32... Qc6 33. f3 Ne3

White's queen is the only defender of the pawn on a4. This knight move drives her off of the defense.

34. Qe2 Nd5 35. Nd2 Qxa4 36. Nxc4 b5

But in the end, all we do is exchange pawns.

37. Nd6 Qa1+ 38. Kg2 Bf8

Finally black gets his bishop into the game. White's bishop is still trapped behind its own pawns, so for now, black is effectively up by a bishop and a pawn, and trying to leverage that into more material gains before the white bishop comes out of hiding.

39. Ne4 f5 40. Nf2 Bc5 41. Nd3 Ne3+ 42. Kh3 Bd6

42. Bd6! might be one of my sneakiest moves ever. The black bishop was en prise at c5, but it was the only defender of the white knight on e3. Surely, the bishop must retreat to b6 or a7 to maintain that defense, and then black will lose the pawn on e5. But then I found this move. Black seemingly blunders and leaves his knight hanging. But white cannot capture the knight, for that allows 43. ... Qf1#.

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