Would You Like To Solve All Of
Your Opening Problems With Black With An Ultra-Flexible System You Can Play For Life?
If so, then you’ll love this sampler, which takes a few pages from
The Hippopotamus Defence by
FIDE Master Alessio De Santis.
It’s a complete opening system for Black, which meets just about
any opening by White with an “easy to remember” universal setup. So you never again have to wonder how to start the game.
Here’s what it looks like:

Here, your bishops have free-flowing diagonals. Your knights are ready to leap into action, and hit multiple targets in White’s camp. And your pawns itch to spring forward to take over the initiative.
You only need 10 standard moves to reach the setup above. All of which are interchangeable and near-impossible to avoid — so rest assured you’ll get your ideal starting position game after game.
And in this sneak peek,
Grandmaster Simon Williams — a specialist on the Hippo himself — draws from his hard-earned experience and De Santis’ analysis to…
Get You Up And Running In Record Speed
Here’s a quick walkthrough of the course:
The first 60 seconds will show you the pure Hippopotamus formation, as well as the Semi-Hippos to build your familiarity with the opening.
Next, you’ll see the Hippo’s
six thematic breakthroughs. These include defensive central breaks which stop White’s aggression cold — as well as the flank pawn breaks which set your counterplay in motion.
Then, Williams will break down the opening’s thematic maneuvers — such as the
four must-know ways to handle the Hippo’s flexible structure… an important piece exchange which gives you an
outright opening advantage… and the tactic you must avoid if you don’t want to get checkmated in eight moves!
And finally — after laying down the groundwork — Williams will equip you with a mini-repertoire against 1.e4 and 1.d4 with only
15 core variations.
Pair those must-know lines with
27 minutes of insightful video, and you’ll be more than ready to play
and win with the Hippo.
Enjoying this free sample? If so, then check out the full course by FM Alessio De Santis and GM Simon Williams, The Hippopotamus Defence