New: Arne Kaehler - The Discombobulating Bongcloud Attack

by Arne Kaehler
4/1/2021 – As José Raúl Capablanca famously said: ”You may learn much more from a game you lose than from a game you win. You will have to lose hundreds of games before becoming a good player.” The Bongcloud attack might be the perfect opening for you to become a better player! While the main idea is to “shock” your opponent, the move 2.Ke2 signals your intention to plunge one of the most vulnerable pieces right onto the middle of the action. The king bravely states: ”Here I am folks! Try to get a piece of me.” The Bongcloud is a deadly weapon, and once you manage to pull it off, your opponents will be smoked.
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Arne Kaehler - The Discombobulating Bongcloud Attack

In the last couple of years, the Bongcloud Attack struck the chessworld by surprise. Even top Grandmasters like Magnus Carlsen or Hikaru Nakamura seem to want to play this nebulous opening more frequently. 

In this course we will tackle the three main lines with the brave king either advancing to 3. e3, d3 or f3, controlling the center and protecting the e4 pawn. While Kd3 is the old mainline, Ke3 gives the player some nice options. But we should focus on Kf3, the “Discombobulating Bongcloud Attack” variation, which can further advance to the Foggy Fianchetto.

We will cover many variations against 1….e5, especially the “nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition” Game, conquer the Sicilian variations with the "racketeering attack", and also touch on the other side-lines like the Bongs Indian, or the Fools Cloud.

Furthermore, we will take an in-depth look at the modern “Double Bongcloud” and how to break out of the dead draw.

• Video running time: too long (English)

• Exclusive database with model games (A handful of bullet games)

• Including Vape Generator for CB16

Content:

  1. Intro
  2. Background and History (Starting early 2020s)
  3. Main ideas (This might take a while)
  4. Typical ideas (I have no clue)
  5. Typical ideas II (Still no idea)
  6. Typical ideas III (Leave me alone)
  7. Untypical ideas (Now we’re talking!)
  8. All Bongcloud Opening main lines with Ke3, Kd3, Kf3 and the Double Bongcloud
  9. Puff The Magic Dragon/Old main line (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Nf6 3. Kd3?!)
  10. The Discombobulating Bongcloud Attack I (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Nf6 3. Kf3!)
  11. The Discombobulating Bongcloud Attack II (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Nf6 3. Kf3!!)
  12. The Discombobulating Bongcloud Attack III (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Nf6 3. Kf3!!!)
  13. The Discombobulating Bongcloud Attack IV (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Nf6 3. Kf3!!!!!!!!)
  14. The Foggy Fianchetto Puff (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Nf6 3. Kf3! Bc5 4. g3 Nc6 5. Kg2!)
  15. The Foggy Fianchetto Main line (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Nf6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Kf3 Bc5 5. Kg2!)
  16. Advanced Bongcloud Variation (3.Ke3!)
  17. Far too Advanced Bongcloud Variation (4.Ke4???)
  18. Double Bongcloud King Rush (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Ke7 3. Kd3!?)
  19. Double Bongcloud King Rush - Pea Soup March (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Ke7 3. Kd3!? Bc5 4. Kc4!)
  20. The Immortal-Carlsen-Nakamura-Giggle-Draw/Double Bongcloud (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Ke7 3. Ke1 Ke8 4.Ke2?)
  21. The Immortal-Carlsen-Nakamura-Giggle-Draw/Delayed Discombobulating Double Bongcloud Attack "Carlsen could have won" variation (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Ke7 3. Ke1 Ke8 4.Ke2? Ke7 5. Kf3!)
  22. The Immortal-Carlsen-Nakamura-Giggle-Draw-Ha-You-Thought-I-Would-Draw-But-Instead-I-Changed-My-Mind-Again-No-Castling-Variation according to FIDE rules (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Ke7 3. Ke1 Ke8 4. Ke2 Ke7 5. Ke1 Ke8 6. Nf3!)
  23. All side-lines and other Bongcloud Variations with 1...e5
  24. The Xiong Perplex/Hikarus Haziness (3. d3!?)
  25. The Meme trap (3.Ke1!?)
  26. King Kong Gambit (3.f4?)
  27. Bongzilla Counter-Gambit (3..f5??)
  28. The Compulsive Counter Cloud/Halloween Mist (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nxe4 4. Nxe4 d5 5. Ng3)
  29. The “Bobby Fischer on ICC Attack”/Guest71 Attack (3. Qe1?!)
  30. The “Bobby Fischer on ICC Attack Completed” (4.Kd1!)
  31. Fischers Red Herring/ABBA's Dancing Queen Variation (3. Qe1 Nc6 4. Qd1!)
  32. No-Smoking Variation (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nxe4)
  33. Sheep Game/disillusioned Petroff (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nxe4)
  34. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition surprise (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Nc6 3. Kd3 Nf6 4. Kc4 d6 5. Kb5)
  35. Delayed Hammerschlag/Slow Guest71 (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Nf6 3. f3 Nc6 4. Kf2)
  36. The accelerated Bongcloud (1.Ke2???)
  37. The <3 Emoji Defense (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Nf6 3. g3 Nxe4 4. Bg2<3)
  38. The Zoom Call Game (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Nf6 3. c3!?)
  39. The Zoom Call Game - “Can you hear me” Attack (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Nf6 3. c3 Nxe4 4. d3?)
  40. The Zoom Call Game - “I can hear you, but I cannot see you” Attack (1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Nf6 3. c3 Nxe4 4. h3?)
  41. All Bongcloud Openings with a different line  than 1...e5!
  42. The Fools Cloud (1. e4 e6 2. Ke2 Nc6 3. f4 d6 4. g4)
  43. The Fools Cloud - “Fell for it” Variation (1. e4 e6 2. Ke2 Nc6 3. f4 d6 4. g4 Qh4?)
  44. “Les nuages ont caché le soleil” Defense (1. e4 e6 2. Ke2 d5 3. d3)
  45. The Bongs Indian (1. e4 Nf6 2. Ke2 g6 3. d3 Bg7 4. Nc3)
  46. The Bongs Indian (Game 1)
  47. The Bongs Indian (Game 2)
  48. The Bongs Indian (Game 3)
  49. The Bongs Indian (Let’s have another look at Game 2)
  50. The "Snus" System (1. e4 d5 2. Ke2 dxe4 3. Ke3)
  51. Alekhines “follow the black rabbit” attack (1. e4 Nf6 2. Ke2 Nxe4 3. Ke3 Nc5 4. Kd4!)
  52. The “How Caro can you do this?” Defense (1. e4 c6 2. Ke2 d5 3. Ke3)
  53. A nebulously solid system against 1...c5!
  54. The racketeering attack (1. e4 c5 2. Ke2 Nc6 3. Kd3!)
  55. The accelerated racketeering attack, inverted and revisited (1. e4 c5 2. Ke2 g6 3. Kf3!)
  56. The accelerated racketeering attack rejected, dand declined(1. e4 c5 2. Ke2 g6 3. Kf3 Bg7 4. Ke2)
  57. Quiz (Guess the Cloud Formations)
  58. Loads of games in our Bongcloud Servers
  59. Reference Games (Bullet mostly)
  60. Tactic Section (Test your steaming Skills)
  61. Test 1-8 [5160 minutes]

Arne Kaehler, a creative mind who is passionate about board games in general, was born in Hamburg and learned to play chess at a young age. By teaching chess to youth teams and creating chess-related videos on YouTube, Arne was able to expand this passion and has even created an online course for anyone who wants to learn how to play chess. Arne writes for the English and German news sites, but focuses mainly on content for the ChessBase media channels.

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