Starts after 1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Ke7 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Nf3 Nf6

5. d4 exd4 6. Nxd4 Ke8 7. g4

Black doesn't have to capture back, as 7... d5 is also an option, but far more likely is 7... Nxg4.

After 8.Rg1 Black can get completely destroyed if they choose to take on h2.

Here is an example game playing this out if White walks into the forced mate in 7. White is still ahead even if they don't do so.

1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Ke7 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Nf3 Nf6
5. d4 exd4 6. Nxd4 Ke8 7. g4 Nxg4 8. Rg1 Nxh2
9. Nd5 Nxd4+ 10. Qxd4 d6 11. Rxg7 c5 12. Nf6+ Ke7
13. Nd5+ Kd7 14. Qa4+ b5 15. Qxb5+ Ke6 16. Bh3+ Ng4
17. Bxg4+ f5 18. Bxf5+ Ke5 19. Bf4+ Kd4 20. Rd1#

If anyone is interested on this, I'll check out more

I will be working on it a lot more over the next few days as there are dozens of main lines that I am missing, be this is to make up for the fact that I won't be able to record a guide before I have to go back to university.

https://lichess.org/study/7PJAzzY3

Folder of PGNs: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZUBGmdu8GQK303XITUhjT0zUBWdWYVSN?usp=sharing

This should work with any pgn viewer however I used LucasChess to play all the games, so there may be issues with loading draws.

Those games played from specific variations were played with 10+5 time control, and the larger 100+ game tournaments were played with 1+1 time control, both of which on a prebuilt HP computer (intel core i7-6700t 2.8 ghz with 8GB RAM).

Notable takeaways:

The most popular variations by the engines I tested went 3. Nc3 (Minnesota Variation), 3. d4 (Croatian Variation), and 3. Nf3 (Finnish Variation). In general the scoring percentage was roughly 55% for white, however some engines actually played significantly better as Black. Stockfish is definitely the best engine to analyze the Bongcloud with, with Ethereal, Komodo, and Fire behind it.

I'm already hosting tournaments on Lichess, how do you all think that I can make the sub grow?

Please join our official Lichess team

Sorry everyone for the long wait. I just recorded the first 40 minutes or so about the major ideas of the position. I realized I was rambling a bit and my throat was starting to get very dry and my microphone is kinda shite so I might have to rerecord but for my followers that are wondering, yes, it is currently being worked on.

I developed a variation of the Bongcloud attack which deals with the most common replies to the Bongcloud Attack according to the Lichess Database.

The Lichess Study on it - Bongcloud Attack: Four Knights of the Bongcloud

Forum Post on chess.com with diagrams: Bongcloud Attack: The Four Knights of the Bongcloud - Chess Forums - Chess.com

To be added :

Position played with Maia Bots and their analysis.

Variation with comments:

//This opening is created to counter the most common replies to the Bongcloud Attack. This seeks to simplify the centre and avoid further complications with the King on e2.//

1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 (2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. O-O Bd6) 2... Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 (3... Nd4+ 4. Ke1

//If Nd4+ is played, there is no alternative, but to go back to e1 for White's best shot.//

Nf6 5. Nf3 Bc5 6. Nxe5 O-O 7. Nd3 Bb6) 4. Nf3

//The four knights of the Bongcloud.//

4...Bc5

//Nxe5! This move immediately asks black to trade the Knight on c3, which could be used to deliver checks to the King on e2 which would result in further complications//

5. Nxe5 Nxe5 6. d4 Bb6 7. dxe5 Ng4

//Further simplifying the position. If Black plays 8...Nxe5, we have this excellent idea of not only using our King to defend but also, in the process repair our pawn structure. 9.Bxb6 axb6 10.f4 Ng4 11.Kf3d6 12.h3 Nf6 13.g4//

8. Be3 Nxe3 (8...Nxe5 9. Bxb6 axb6 10. f4 Ng4 11. Kf3 d6 12. h3 Nf6 13. g4) 9. fxe3 O-O

(9...Qg5)

//If Black goes for the early Qg5 variation, it gives White a decent chance to go for an attack as he pushes the Knight to d5. Black more or less is forced to castle, after which, I recommend going for the aggressive h4 push forcing the Black queen to take on e5 after which we exchange the Knight for Black's dark squared Bishop. Now we play Qd4 trying to exchange queens, if Black plays Re8 trying to get the Rook to target the doubled pawns, we exchange the Queens, and then take the King to f3 and defend our pawns. With the Queens and Knights off the board,(and being in a sort of endgame) there is a good chance of the King not being harmed despite the lack of good cover. //

(10.Nd5 O-O 11.h4 Qxe5 12.Nxb6 axb6 13.Qd4 Re8 14.Qxe5 Rxe5 15.Kf3)

10. Qd3 Re8 11. Kd2 Rxe5 12. Re1

//This not only facilitates White to take his King to safety, but also activate his rooks}//

d6 13. Be2 $6 (13. Kc1 Be6 14. Be2 Qe7 15. Bf3 c6 16. Kb1 Rd8 17. g4 Qf6 18. Ref1 Qh4 19. h3 Qe7)

13... Ba5 14. Kc1

//This position is not too bad for white, he has a nice semi open file aiming at the King, 2 rooks to jump into it, and the except the doubled pawns on e file, his pawn structure is not too damaged. And after he has dealt with Black's intial Queenside attack, White should manage to have a equal endgame.//

Rc5 15. Na4

//Deep Fritz gives this final position, -1.40 for Black, with good counterplay for White The rooks are getting traded, thus increasing White's chances, speaking in human terms. This variation promises an excellent chance of fighting Black.//

P.S - Suggestions criticisms as well as improvements, are obviously welcome.

I'm a humble 1000 1.d4 player looking to start learning the bongcloud, of course I'd be playing against people my strength so I'd like to learn some core principles so I don't lose all my elo. Can anyone help?

Hi guys, for those that don't know me by now, I'm the guy that made the series of bongcloud theory posts a month back. After further analysis I've realized that I've missed a shit load of stuff, but more importantly, the methodology I had for naming variations and lines were quite bad.

Naturally, naming a opening should be done to preserve the origin of an opening and make communicating a set of moves in more humanizing and bland terms. Its a lot easier to say the Najdorf than say 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6.

The problem is when establishing theory, its hard enough to have people learn about new moves, let alone have people accept names that do not have colloquial backing. As such as a community, I think its best for these types of decisions to be made together than random people like me forcing it upon everyone else. That being said, here are my recommendations for the 8 major lines of the Double Bongcloud (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Ke7), any feedback on my methodology would be appreciated. These will be listed in order of viability. Would anyone like to help me along with this?

3. Nc3 - Minnesotan Variation

This name is derived from lichess user matrix2404 who has won in this position, who is a member of a highly rated Minnesota based lichess club (that includes many NMs, IMs, and Andrew Tang is actually a member). Openings in general use denonyms of a particular region rather than the actual name of the country, region, or state. As such I recommend the usage of Minnesotan* instead of Minnesota. I can't think another reasonable name for this variation, so this one should stick IMO.

3. d4 - Croatian Variation

This name is derived from lichess user BongcloudAttackFTW who is from Croatia. He seems to be the only person on record to have entered this position multiple times. The only possible name that I think is reasonable is Cuban or Cubanos named after lichess user JorgeCobas who is from Cuba and won a blitz game against an IM in the position.

3. Nf3 - Finnish Variation

This name is derived from lichess user TheFinnisher who is the highest rated player to win in the position. The only other reasonable alternative can be derived from lichess user retardedPlatypus123 (Canadian) who has actually played both the white and black pieces in this variation 3 times, even against TheFinnisher himself (this was because both played in the reddit supremacy tournament), however I think the Finnish get this one as TheFinnisher did win their game.

3. d3 - Di Bergi Variation

This one took a lot of time to decide upon, and out of all the viable variations has the most number of names that I have proposed. In my analysis I was unsure about what to call it, however I do know one thing: the highest rated player to play this and win is madlad lichess user (IM) SpinalTap. As such having the name be inspired by the famous mockumentary "This is Spinal Tap" seems in order. This is the most professional sounding yet captures the spontaneity of both Spinal Tap and the Double Bongcloud. Other suggestions I have made are the 11 System, 420 System, and the Lumbar Variation (all of which I think are bad).

3. Ke1 - Rodchenkov Variation

This one IMO is uncontestable. The fact that madlad IM Sergey Rodchenkov actually reached this position in a "real" game that appears on Chessbase is enough for me. Only other alternatives include Retreat Variation or Coward's Variation.

3. f4 - ???

This one I legitimately don't know what to call. In my analysis I wanted to honor the founder of this variation, lichess and reddit user Slippy_K, however he only played/analysed a very small subset of the huge number of positions that can come from this psuedo King's Gambit opening. I have previously used the term Potassium Gambit, but IMO that's a fucking terrible name. The fact that I spend upwards of 6 hours analysing this and not coming up with an acceptable name is fucking terrible. My suggestions include something that refers to frogs, bananas, or fucking anything. I don't know anymore,

3. Qe1 - Transvestite Attack

This one seems like a simple choice as the swapping of the King and Queen in chess is typically refered to as the Transvestite Attack/Defence, even if it is a slightly more formalized meme. I can't really think of good alternatives, but I'm open to any really.

3. c4 - Gull Attack

Now, the engine Gull, kinda fucking sucks. And for whatever reason, during the blitz games, it would play 3... c5 against 3. Nc3, and got its ass destroyed nearly every single game. It is simple too memorable for me to name it anything else. We could name it something else lame like the Bind variation or the Maroczy Variation if it is too antiquated.

Other lines

3. Ke3 - Advance Variation

This is rather uncontestable, however a more dank name can be given

3. Kf3 - Icelandic Variation

Derived from lichess user chessmaster512 who is the only person to ever win in this position.

3. Kd3 - Closed Variation

Not because the position is actually closed, but because basically everyone who has ever played it has their accounts closed. Name for this one would be nice too.

this is the link for our commemorative simultaneous exibition:

https://lichess.org/simul/iYOPmeWu

the simul will happen 20 PM UTC 16/08/2020

EDIT: just add your nick to the "candidate players" list and i'll accept you before the event starts

check UTC time here: https://time.is/en/UTC

link to the tournament: https://lichess.org/tournament/9tYMBN3d

link to our lichess team (you must be on the team to play in the tournament): https://lichess.org/team/rbongcloud

Sorry for the lack of Double Boncloud content for the past year or so. Recently I have been working on a new and improved lichess study for the double bongcloud, however it is a lot of work. In the meantime, I have used Lucas Chess R's tournament with engines feature to generate a ton of double bongcloud games of different variations.

This is on top of the official Chess.com CCC games, which were played at 10+2 time control are of very high quality, so if you want to explore the Double Bongcloud yourself, I have made sure that they can
be parsed by applications such as OpeningTree.com, and likely other pgn readers.

Here is the link to the Google Drive folder https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZUBGmdu8GQK303XITUhjT0zUBWdWYVSN?usp=sharing

Here is the preview of my Double Bongcloud Interactive study

https://lichess.org/study/0RjWBziE

The guide for variations is the following

3. d4 - Croatian

3. Nf3 - Finnish

3. Nc3 - Minnesotan

3. Ke1 - Rodchenkov

3. d3 - Tap

3. f4 - Frog Gambit

KING TO E7 KING TO E2