Eternal Hope - Meemo

Sokolsky Opening (Polish or Orangutan)

The origin of this spectacular opening is more or less well known. Tartakower played it at the beginning of this century and supposedly had the idea of the "b" climbing pawn after observing apes at the zoo. But Tartakower never took this opening seriously. Bugayev, a Russian master, also played it in matches and in a simultaneous game against Steinitz. Also, Englisch and Schlechter played the ”Orangutan” in games before Tartakower even dreamed of it!

All these players had opened a door that was to be entered by a young Russian master... It is only after many excellent (but sadly many lost) analysis by Sokolsky and many of his correspondence trials (and even OTB games!) that this opening really got serious treatment. Sokolsky (and later Katalimov) produced the first serious study of this debut.

Nowadays, top players at the international level (OTB) almost never play it (except for Ljubojevic and Larsen in their early days) and the Orang Utan is usually used for its element of surprise. The only known exception that I know is Gilles Mirallès (France champion) who played it for most of its career. Besides these few trials in OTB games, the Orang Utan opening is mostly used in correspondence chess.

What’s the idea behind this move? First and foremost White wants to fianchetto his bishop, as he does when he plays 1.b3. In addition, he takes some queenside space and discourages ...c5. In some cases, White will play b5 and the mere possibility of that move can discourage Black from ...Nc6.

White can develop in a number of ways. Most frequently he plays e3, Nf3 and c4 but a double fianchetto is possible by g3 and Bg2. Sometimes White will play f4, before developing his knight to f3, in order to strengthen his control of the long diagonal. Black is also flexibly situated. First there’s a decent chance that ...e5 or ...e6 , attacking the b-pawn, will gain a whole tempo without a meaningful concession. It also places a pawn in the centre since White has failed to do so. Since Black faces no serious threats, he can pick from a number of set-ups and develop quickly.

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