18 Bizarre Chess Openings Named After Animals

I spent hours compiling a list of all the chess openings named after animals. Today I share with you 18 of the most oddly named ones!
Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
0:44 - lichess database explanation
1:34 - Kangaroo Defense (as black against d4)
2:51 - Scorpion-Horus Gambit (as white against Caro-Kann)
4:00 - Fried Fox Defense (as black)
4:47 - Chameleon Variation (as white against Sicilian)
5:46 - Lobster Gambit (as white against Latvian Gambit)
6:45 - Double Duck Formation (as black against d4/f4)
7:40 - Gibbon Gambit (as white against Grunfeld Defense)
9:19 - Dodo Variation (as white against King's Gambit Accepted)
10:14 - Tortoise Opening (as white against e5)
11:34 - Vulture Defense (as black against d4)
13:31 - Horsefly Gambit (as white against Mexican Defense)
15:24 - Snail Variation (as black against d4)
16:22 - Mosquito Gambit (as black against d4)
16:55 - Porcupine Variation (as white against f5)
18:19 - Penguin Variation (as white against d5)
19:17 - Mongoose Variation (as black against e4)
20:50 - Monkey's Bum (as white against Modern)
22:44 - Hippopotamus Defense (as black)
25:18 - Part 2 (Animal Opening Traps) Coming Next!
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[@user-iu1xg6jv6e]

I once played the duck without knowing it, The funny thing it ended with a draw because we played 50 moves without any capture. I didn't know that.

[@pinkigamer3534]

?

[@tonyh6522]

@@pinkigamer3534 50 move rule

[@simonbelte]

When one of the players make a pawn move it is considered as a try to win and the 50 moves are reset. To take the boredomness and the chance to make your oponent fall asleep to a peak, its wise to make 49 random moves without repeating and then a pawn move. Ruy Lopez would be proud of you

[@2003LN6]

I once played the Double Duck with 1. f4 d5 d4 f5

[@Mintice]

Kangaroo Defense can easily transpose into Nimzo-Indian after Nc3 Nf6. I and my friends like to jokingly call it "Accelerated Nimzo-Indian Defense". :)))

[@almost12inches]

I like to call the modern opening the super hyper accelerated dragon

[@imamasterbaiter6645]

@@almost12inches a dragon comes from a Sicilian. you can’t call the modern the super accelerated dragon whatsoever

[@shondadavis5663]

Understandable

[@pocoknight8209]

@@imamasterbaiter6645 🤓🤓🤓

[@gCarrot]

​@@almost12inches The illegal bishop to g7 on the first move is called the hyper super omega quick fast instant accelerated dragon

[@raifegeozay687]

2:02 i like how 46 people blundered their queen with Qd2

[@Joseferberger]

A mouseslip may happen once in thousands

[@rosiefay7283]

Some more: Elephant Gambit: 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d5 Orang-Utan: 1 b4 Whale Opening: 1 e4 e5 2 c4 and several Rats: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Defense

[@zanti4132]

There was also the Pelican Sicilian after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5. However, chess annotators were always misspelling it as "Pelikan," so now it's called something that's way harder to spell.

[@biharek7595]

There's also the walrus - 1 Nf3 e5 2 Nxe5 Nc6, resembling the Stafford Gambit.

[@twentyrothmans7308]

"I spent hours " That is very much appreciated, great video as always, Nelson.

[@yeahthisismyname5016]

Was hoping you showed the Snake Benoni, one of my main openings with great results

[@-petrichor-7263]

It's supposed to be openings that no one knows. The Kings knight opening which goes e4 e5 Nf3 should also be included as a knight is a horse. Two knights Tango, Cow opening, etc. should also be included by your statement which would make the video too long and boring as there is a zillion more openings as I could name these of the top of my head in less than a minute.

[@Gregorycrafter]

I actually switched to the Chameleon about a week or two ago because of this video. It's really really good!!! Like, against variations that I am comfortable playing against (the najdorf and the dragon) I transpose to the one of the mainlines (the english attack and the yugoslav), but for pretty much every other variation (which I previously struggled against), the chameleon does sooooo good! Thanks for that!

[@Berek71182]

24:10 Hippo-Defense The Main-reason to play the Hippo: Expose Cheater in a rapid game. For the average online A.I the Hippo is very time intensive to crack. Cheater will always fall into time-trouble.

[@FrancoisTremblay]

I love playing the Hippo against e4. At my level, White generally doesn't know what to do and I can push them back quite a bit before attacking. And you can attack anywhere you want, as well.

[@juangalton999]

These are interesting. I'd like to see you play some of these against opponents and see what discoveries you make.

[@Nimzowitz]

I just played the Scorpion against somebody. Wiped them off the board with it! It was a fun game.

[@ballsligmer5572]

"youre not developing your pieces, youre putting your king in a precarious place" this is a contradiction, clearly the KING is being developed

[@josephrusyn9913]

Just came back to report I have started playing the scorpio horus gambit and absolutely crushing. Thanks for that!

[@seilaoquemvc2]

Now I need to play the double duck formation.... very few things in the world will make me happier than "bore my opponent to death"

[@hiphopesq]

Can't wait to see if Dragon makes the list...

[@robertyounger5849]

I love the vids about wacky openings. Although I want the vast majority of my attention on a few openings, I do want to have all the wacky ones in mind to bust out on some occasion

[@Fenamer]

Missed the great snake variation of The English opening. Would give it a good.

[@robertmac7833]

These are awesome!

[@vilasmahindrakar8854]

I enjoyed much , Thanks

[@arrowofkira5658]

I'm a caro player and I've never seen the Skorpion-Horus Gambit and honestly it might really catch someone off guard. If you really want to take a caro player out of prep or you wanna put pressure in a faster time control it might be a really powerful weapon if you study it thoroughly. (Usually I'd recommend something like the fantasy variation f3, but a lot of caro player know about that already so the surprise value might not be that high these days.)

[@VladimirPutin-wt5yh]

My way to surprise the caro dude is to play the blackmar diemer but with the point that c6 move by black is very awkward. So it goes like e4-c6-d4-d5-Nc3-de-f3?!-ef-Nxf3 and my winrate is like 55-60% but stockfish hates it. Btw I have a guy at my academy who doesn't like to play this as black so instead of simple de he plays Nf6 and after e5 by me he responds with Nfd7. This variation from him is harder to break for me tbh

[@luckylucas8596]

How does the Penguin variation even have a name if there were only two games of it played in the past five years?

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

That's a fantastic question

[@teambellavsteamalice]

While it's funny to have openings with funny names, it's a bit all over the place and some depend on a specific opening to react to. It could be boring but easier to remember or look up if grouped as similar openings. All e4 e5 variations, d4 openings, Sicilian and "other". Maybe branch of a few so you have them grouped in equally often played sets. Certain knight moves first just change the order. So in addition to main lines, main traps and the main blunders you should know, there are decent variations. Some are nice for short time control or to break opponents' opening theory advantage. Some just result in a type of play (offensive, defensive, a certain pawn structure, pieces remaining after trades such as a bishop pair) that could be personal taste.

[@GlobalWarmingSkeptic]

The Hippo is such an underrated opening that is great against impatient attacking players and even does well against most engines.

[@edenhawk2425]

I love learning animal names in English! thank you ! :D

[@vladislavchessmate1567]

Next part: Openings named after places

[@FloydMaxwell]

Wild Kingdom. Thanks, CV !

[@cwp24]

You should do a video about all the openings named after places.

[@drone231]

some of these look really fun

[@jiemileng7745]

Amazing the number of openings with such names lol

[@vladislavchessmate1567]

It starts after 1.e4 e5. 2. f4 Bc5. 3.Bc4 Bxg1 4. Qh5!

[@chapmanchan4788]

I play the Fried Fox defense quite often. I was quite unhappy to see it being in the ‘bad’ tier list….

[@khateatingcactus]

does it give you an advantage mid-late game perhaps?

[@paulr3934]

Didn’t include the colle system - Yusupovs, zukertorts and homophonic farm dogs everywhere are outraged!

[@_xelua_]

You missed the most popular animal opening of all time ... birds

[@josephrusyn9913]

Ahhh, my new repertoire for the week =)

[@vladislavchessmate1567]

I also have own chess opening, which called Crocodile defence. It similar to hippo, but you only fianchetto the bishops and play h6 and a6. The point of this is try to fight for the center by pushing d5 or e5

[@vladislavchessmate1567]

Very interesting

[@shaunmcisaac782]

20:49 maybe useful in bullet to force opponent to burn clock when their premove is stopped :)

[@rgbatom5145]

I love the black mustang defense

[@Andrew-xv8zq]

I love playing the lion defense as black! (1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nbd7)

[@gingeral253]

7:18 I played like that when I was 8.

[@Eidenhoek]

I think the Fried Fox is a worse Bongcloud. Which is... That's... That's *really* impressive.

[@Joseferberger]

Actually, Fried fox is better. The only reason the engine may like bongcloud is because *you can move your king back*, you lose two tempos and castling rights but at least you have a pawn on a decent square. However, you cannot do that with the fried fox, because without Kf7 the pawn on f6 is just a weak move. So, if you chicken out and move the king back, perhaps. Otherwise, never.

[@kaidoChess]

Did your voice fast forward when naming the openings ?

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

I just split the audio/video part so it had the audio of my voice but didn't show the video until a few seconds later. I try to dabble in "fancy" editing techniques every now and again =P

[@kaidoChess]

@@ChessVibesOfficial very nice ! 😁 Loved the vid!

[@khateatingcactus]

me and my friend came up with this silly opening (im not sure if it exists already) a3 followed by ra2, we called it the living room opening because it gives the rook a little living room

[@crim3553]

Genius

[@lovrencija8503]

U missed the lion defence in the pirc

[@lazarlol4132]

There's also The Whale, the English, but with knight to C3 as the second move.

[@kiernanconnolly9040]

The English are already animals, bro.

[@terrifiedpingu1927]

Looking forward to Orangutan gambit pls

[@ThinkingSk3ptically]

Indian Defence: Gibbins-Wiedenhagen Gambit, *Maltese Falcon* 1.d4 Nf6 2.g4 Nxg4 3.f3 Nf6 4.e4

[@ThinkingSk3ptically]

Ah, there's this one, too... Trompowsky Attack: *Raptor* Variation 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.h4

[@ThinkingSk3ptically]

P.S.: Just remembered _another_ one: Modern Defence: *Lizard* Defence, Mittenberger Gambit 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d5

[@hohrhamikaiolaf464]

I believe the intention behind the penguin is to give black the lead so you can react to his moves. A zeitzug very early in the game so to say.

[@dactylionpriest]

I feel we need a Naruto version of this "kangaru-boei-no-jutsu"

[@hanspetervollhorst1]

Is there any publicly available way to contact you?

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

[e-mail]

[@shane_0154]

Nice!

[@spaceflightarchitect]

I have made a fried fox gambit too! e4 f6 d4 kf7 e5! If fxe5 then Qf3 check, and then black's position is worse

[@wyattmeche2378]

I once played a game where not a single piece was taken

[@sammarks9146]

Really curious how many games the "Bad" openings have in the database!

[@Igor-kv8lh]

pterodactyl defense in some future vid?

[@myst3ry_g3n3ral]

18:31-18:36 literally scared the sh*t out of me

[@samuelelliott8453]

I absolutely lost it at 18:42 while i was cutting vegetables in the kitchen and i had to take a break so i could rewind and hear that whole thing again Edit: typo

[@Standard____]

Fried fox defence Me with bongcloud lifetime repertoire course on chessable

[@molobelalesedi]

basically Acceptable openings are just "Meh!" oppenings!

[@vladislavchessmate1567]

By the way, yesterday I found a funny variation in the king's gambit, it's called Stein gambit

[@Indian-357]

The fried fox defence is worse than the bogcloud

[@Farfous1]

the problem that the kangaro defense is also called keres defese

[@fishcanroll0]

double duck is also counter strike tactical move kinda bizarre

[@elad2054]

the is also The Whale varitation with e4 e5 c4 c5

[@johnsharkey5255]

I would love have known why they're named what they're named

[@moronoftheinternet8864]

I just crushed somebody with the fried fox defense. I probably made someone quit chess after that.

[@noexitnoproblem6037]

1 main advantage for all of these: Surprise random people on online chess sites.

[@user-xy9lx6xk3k]

My games always ended fast idk why the opening that i always see when im playing as white is barnes opening :fool's mate

[@nikitadubinin9918]

19:27 among us variation

[@sleepymanz9000]

I thought f6 then Kf7 was the Bongcloud for black. Hikaru lied to us

[@fliegendeluftwaffeli835]

Fried Fox Defense = Bongcloud Opening 2

[@stevensutton2252]

you forgot the whale and hiphopanonymous egg because still an animal cracker

[@reinnner5964]

you forgot to add crab variation

[@user-qp8sw4st4d]

The last one in my language is called the rat's defence))

[@edvin3956]

6:09 it actually looks a bit like a 🦞

[@robertdemare6140]

i think the fried fox is also known as the tumbleweed or drunken king opening if i dont confuze them

[@williamsmith8640]

The Tumbleweed comes from the Kings Gambit Accepted 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Kf2

[@darrylkassle361]

I have heard the hippopotamus is actually a good reliable system. I wonder what reasoning was behind naming each of these openings after an animal ????

[@sakazeboi4426]

I think its because their aspects or similarities

[@kruksog]

@@sakazeboi4426 bristling and unpredictable, lol.

[@pinkshortcomedy]

fried liver I get, but fried FOX? why.

[@kruksog]

All the pieces are red now!

[@wyattmeche2378]

13:55 let me guess the first person to play this opening was el chapo

[@asriel522]

Yes the fried fox, hikaru second favorite

[@jiemileng7745]

Looking forward to part 2

[@mattgiguere5638]

I like the Hippo👍

[@rosiefay7283]

How is the Hippo not the Hedgehog? (i.e. moving most pawns one square)

[@brightrealityy]

thats why it was named tortoise opening, just slows doen your development

[@brightrealityy]

good vid btw, thanks

[@hyvanianempire7605]

Couldn’t a windmill tactic have been employed with the last game?

[@galravid9018]

what about the chameleon in the slav

[@fr4sek]

Crab opening is my favourite meme opening (a4 h4), I don't think it's on here tho xd

[@MrCelestial]

How about the Whale where you go e4 and your opponent goes e5 and then you play c4? I don't know why it is called the Whale, but I think it is called the Whale because you are spewing your pawns out like how a whale spews water out.

[@elgatosancho3820]

I was expecting the Orangutan, also called Polish opening

[@user-ik9wr3wv9u]

What, no Orangatang?

[@kiernanconnolly9040]

Orangutan pog

[@aha5406]

Orangatang xD

[@Standard____]

Did you miss the black lion!??!

[@MKUMBRA]

No Crab??

[@pehwuichia4080]

The whale variation e4 e5 c4

[@vantael]

unfortunately the opening is called the double duck so I'm going to play it even if it's awful

[@stevesidare2493]

Chameleon looks like the KIA but the Knights are "reversed."

[@liuty4791]

What about bird's opening 1.f4?????

[@ThinkingSk3ptically]

Named after a _person_ (Mr Henry Bird, a 19th-Century player), *not* the animal.

[@bigpapamanman1550]

I just resign against hippo defense i'm sick of playing against that shit it's so exhausting

[@varuni7076]

a name is sicclian defense dragon

[@misterunknown8923]

The win percentages for black and white can be ignored. Maybe low rating players mostly win with black and high rated players mostly win with white. I would check the database instead and see how it worked out for other players.

[@paulakroy2635]

Hippo is the best opening vid an engine