Top 3 Plans for Black in the Hedgehog

Written by WGM Raluca Sgrcea, IM Renier Castellanos

Monday, 16 November 2015 00:00

Recently we wrote an article where we discussed the main ideas for white in the different
positions of the Maroczy Bind (Hedgehog, English, and Accelerated Dragon). In this article, we will see the main
plans for black in the Hedgehog setup. Let's start by explaining what the Hedgehog setup is and its characteristics.
The Hedgehog arises when black places his pawns on the sixth rank, e6-d6-b6-a6 and his pieces behind them on the
7th and 8thrank. The setup is not particularly aggressive but it is quite dynamic. The line of pawns on the 6 th rank act
as the spines of the Hedgehog, controlling the 5 th rank and not letting the opponent to step in. The pieces are
guarded behind the pawns, ready to come into play at anytime.

Here is a standard position of a Hedhehog:

In this type of positions black usually makes waiting moves, always based on a possible counter-attack. The typical pawn
ruptures are f7-f5, b6-b5 and the most common d6-d5. There are a few things worth knowing about the Hedgehog; even
though the position lacks space, trading pieces doesnt necessarily bring any relief. In the Hedgehog having more pieces
means more possibilities to counter-attack.
The popularity of this system has increased greatly for the past few years at Master level, as it combines the level of
strategy and dynamics very well. Also, it's easy to learn and the ideas are usually the same. It can also arise from many
different move orders and openings. For example, as black we can find it in the Sicilian Kan, in the English and in a
couple of lines of the Nimzo Indian. Even if the Hedgehog doesn't have a place in your opening repertoire, it's worth
knowing the main plans of this scheme.

Main ideas:

Fischer's plan Fischer's brilliant invention was starting a kingside attack by playing Kh8-Rg8 followed by g5g4. To be more accurate, we must mention that he was playing the Hedgehog as white against Ulf Andersson,
and that game started by the move 1.b3 but turned into a reversed Sicilian very quickly.

Samisch Maneuver - This plan is very common. It involves transferring the bishop from ''e7'' to ''c7'' in order to
hit on h2 after playing the typical rupture d6-d5. This plan and Fischer's can be combined as well.

Pgina 1 de 3

h7-h5 advance Probably the most flexible plan. This advance is especially effecient against the setup with the
white pawn on f3. The idea is to advance this pawn as much as possible forcing white to weaken his kingside.
With white's kingside weak, the central break d6-d5 will cause more damage in white's position.

Let's have a look now at some examples where these plans were played. Well analyze each plan separately on each
game:

Example 1: Fischer's plan

In this game we can see the effectiveness of Fischer's plan combined with the Samisch maneuver. When white plays
slowly as in this game (delaying his queenside offensive) this plan is totally advisable. Against more direct threats from
white instead, we advise you to pay more attention to the next two plans.

(413) Taimanov,Mark E (2510) - Jussupow,Artur (2555) [A31]

URS Soviet Union, 1982
1.d4 Cf6 2.c4 c5 3.Cf3 cxd4 4.Cxd4 b6 5.Cc3 Ab7 6.f3 e6 7.e4 d6 8.Ae2 a6 9.Ae3
Cbd7 10.00 Ae7 11.Dd2 00 12.Tfd1 Tc8 13.Tac1 Dc7 [Typical hedhehog position] 14.Af1
Tfe8 15.Rh1 Db8 16.Df2 [16.b4 probably better than the move played in the game. White's
plan is to attack by c4c5 at some point.] 16...Ad8 17.Cb3 [This move is a mistake. The knight
on b3 is on the way of the B pawn and white's attack becomes too slow now.] [17.b4 again]
17...Ac7 18.Dg1 Rh8! [Here this plan is very strong, considering that white has no threat or
pressure on the queenside black has enough time to carry along with Fischer's plan.] 19.Tc2
Tg8 20.Tcd2 g5! 21.Ad4 Tg6 22.Cc1 Tcg8 23.Cd3 Df8 [Black brings all his pieces to the
kingside where the action will start after g5g4] 24.Te1 g4 25.fxg4 e5! 26.Ae3 Cxg4
27.Cd5 Ad8 28.Cf2 Ah4 [White is all tied up now. Black has ideas like f7f5.] 29.Tee2 Cxe3
30.Cxe3 Axf2 31.Dxf2 Axe4 32.Cf5 Cc5 33.Cg3 Aa8 34.Td1 Ce6 35.Dxb6 Cf4 36.Tf2
Dh6 37.Rg1 Dh4 38.Db3 Th6 39.Txf4 exf4 40.Dc3+ f6 41.Cf5 Txg2+! 42.Axg2 Dxh2+
01

Example 2: Samisch Maneuver

Here we can see the Bd8-c7 maneuver and how dangerous it can be for white. We see some of the typical sacrifices on
g3 or e3 after opening the center with d6-d5.

(414) Strauss,D - Gurevich,D [B41]

USA 39/65, 1985
[Renier Castellanos]
1.Cf3 c5 2.c4 b6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Cxd4 Ab7 5.Cc3 Cf6 6.f3 d6 7.e4 Cbd7 8.Ae3 e6 9.Ae2
Ae7 10.00 00 11.Tc1 a6 12.De1 [white's queen is heading to f2 in order to put pressure on
black's queenside.] 12...Dc7 13.Df2 Tac8 14.b4 Tfe8 15.Tfd1 Db8 16.a3 Ad8 17.Cb3 Ac7
18.g3 Aa8 [Besides this move black could also consider advancing his h pawn in order to
soften up g3.] [18...h5] 19.Tb1 d5! 20.cxd5 exd5 21.Cxd5 Axd5 22.exd5 Axg3! 23.hxg3
[23.Dxg3 Dxg3+ 24.hxg3 Txe3] 23...Txe3! 24.Cd4 [24.Dxe3 Dxg3+ 25.Rf1 Cg4+] 24...Txa3
25.Tb2 Dd6 26.Tbd2 g6 27.Rg2 Ce5 28.b5 Ceg4! 29.fxg4 Ce4 [White is forced to give his
queen.] 30.Af3 Cxf2 31.Txf2 a5+ 32.Te2 Df6 33.g5 Dd6 34.Cc6 Rg7 35.Tde1 Txf3 01

Example 3: h7-h5 advance

For the last example we chose a top level game in the Hedgehog. Black had to face some difficulties on the queenside
before starting his counter-attack on the opposite wing, but we can see in this game how the advance of h5-h4-h3 can
create serious problems for white.

Pgina 2 de 3

(415) GM_Dominguez (2726) - GM_Andreikin (2687) [B41]

14.05.2011
[Castellanos,Renier]
1.e4 c5 2.Cf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Cxd4 a6 5.c4 Cf6 6.Cc3 Ab4 7.Ad2 Dc7 [7...Axc3 8.Axc3
Cxe4 9.Dg4] 8.a3 Ae7 [8...Axc3 9.Axc3 Cxe4 10.Dg4] 9.Ae3 d6 10.Ae2 00 11.00 b6
12.Dd2 [12.f3 Ab7] 12...Ab7 13.f3 Cbd7 14.Tfc1 [By keeping his rook on a1, white plans to
advance his A pawn to a5 breaking black's queenside pawns.] [14.Tac1 Tac8 15.Tfd1 Db8
16.Af1 Tfe8 17.Rh1 Ad8 18.Ag1 h5 19.Df2 Ce5 20.b3 Cg6 21.b4 h4 22.Cb3 h3 23.g3 Ce5 24.Td4
Cc6 25.Tdd1 Ce5 26.Td4 Cc6 1/21/2 (25) Topalov,V (2737)-Kasimdzhanov,R (2652)/Tripoli
2004/CBM 102] 14...Tac8 15.a4 a5 [Black can't allow the move a5. For example:]
[15...Db8 16.a5 bxa5 17.Txa5 Ad8 18.Taa1 Ac7 19.Rh1 Tfe8 20.b4 h5 21.b5 a5 22.Tcb1 h4
23.Cc6 Da8 24.Ca7 d5 25.Cxc8 dxe4 26.Cxe4 Dxc8 27.Cd6 Axd6 28.Dxd6 e5 29.c5 Te6 30.Dd2
Ad5 31.c6 Cf8 32.Dxa5 10 (31) Dominguez Perez,L (2716)-Lorenzana,W (2227)/Santiago de los
Caballeros 2011/ The Week in Chess 855] 16.Cdb5 Db8 17.Af4 [17.Td1!? Tc6 18.b3 Td8
19.Rh1 Cc5 20.Dc2 Tcc8] 17...Ce5 18.b3 Tfd8 19.Rh1 h5!? [A common idea in the
hedhehog. This pawn's fate is to be sacrificed on h3 weakening white's king.] [19...Cfd7 20.Td1
Cc5 21.Dc2 h6] 20.Af1 [20.Ag5 h4 21.h3 (21.Axh4 Cxe4 keep in mind this trick) 21...d5
22.Axf6 (22.exd5 exd5 23.cxd5 Cxd5) 22...Axf6 23.exd5 Cg6] 20...h4 21.Df2 Tc5 [21...Cfd7
22.Td1 Cc5 23.Tab1 Td7] 22.Ae3 [22.Td1] 22...d5! [a wonderful idea, now black's initiative is
very difficult to control.]
23.exd5 [23.cxd5 exd5 24.Axc5 Axc5 25.Dxh4 dxe4 26.Cxe4 (26.fxe4 Ceg4) 26...Axe4 27.fxe4
Ceg4 28.Txc5 bxc5 black is only down a pawn but is very active.] 23...exd5 24.cxd5 h3!
25.Td1 [25.gxh3 Cxd5 26.Cxd5 (26.Axc5 Axc5 27.Dg3 Cf6 28.Ag2 Ch5) 26...Tcxd5 black is
obviously better.] 25...Cxd5 26.Axc5 Axc5 27.Dg3 [27.Dh4 hxg2+ 28.Axg2 Cg6 29.Dg3 Ce3
30.Dxb8 Txb8] 27...Cxc3 28.Txd8+ [28.Cxc3 Ad4 29.f4 (29.Tac1 Axc3 30.Txd8+ Dxd8
31.Txc3 Dd1) 29...hxg2+ 30.Axg2 Axg2+ 31.Rxg2 Da8+ 32.Rf1 Cd3 with a winning attack]
28...Dxd8 29.Dxe5 [29.Cxc3 Dd4] 29...Cd1 30.Ta2 [30.Txd1 Dxd1 31.De2 Dxb3] 30...Ce3
31.Cc3 [31.Tf2 Dd1] 31...Cxf1 32.Te2 Cd2 33.Dg3 hxg2+ 34.Txg2 g6 01

We have seen now the main ideas to apply in the Hedgehog and we hope with this our readers have learned something
new and understand better this common setup. In our opinion the h7-h5 and Bd8-c7 should be considered principal
nowadays. Fischer's plan seems a bit too slow and white can get his queenside attack going really fast.

Pgina 3 de 3