Hodgson Attack

The Hodgson Attack (also called the Pseudo-Trompowsky, Levitsky Attack after Stepan Levitsky, Queen's Bishop Attack, and Bishop Attack,) is a chess opening that begins with the moves:

1. d4 d5
2. Bg5
Hodgson Attack
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Moves1.d4 d5 2.Bg5
ECOD00
Named afterJulian Hodgson
ParentQueen's Pawn Game
Synonym(s)Pseudo-Trompowsky
Levitsky Attack
Queen's Bishop Attack
Bishop Attack

Strategically, the bishop on g5 exerts an annoying influence where it pins Black's e-pawn and is ready to meet 2...Nf6 with 3.Bxf6, giving up the bishop pair in exchange for saddling Black with doubled pawns. White's aim is to provoke weaknesses in the kingside position while it engages the bishop.[1]

Modern Chess Openings considers the line a variation of the Trompowsky Attack, although that term is usually reserved for the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5. The Encyclopedia of Chess Openings covers 2.Bg5 in chapter D00.[2]


Development

Although the opening was tested by Preston Ware in the 1880s, the namesake of the opening is the English grandmaster Julian Hodgson who studied and played the opening extensively, finding several new ideas and gaining an understanding of the arising positions that yielded him successful results with the line. The Hodgson Attack was a very rare line until the 1980s, when several players including Michael Adams and Tony Miles tried the opening, but the opening remains a sideline compared to the Queen's Gambit (2.c4).[1]

Black responses

Black has several options, for instance falling in with White's idea after 2...Nf6 3.Bxf6 transposes into a variation of the Trompowsky Attack that is playable. Moves like 2...c5, 2...g6, 2...c6 and even chasing the bishop with 2...f6 are also possible. An unusual response is 2...Bg4 (the Welling Variation). A solid line is to chase the bishop with 2...h6 3.Bh4 c6, where Black will play 4...Qb6 on the next move, attacking the b2-pawn and thus taking advantage of a drawback in White's system, namely its absence from defending the queenside.[1]

gollark: You should use a Haskell program to generate bash code to generate Amulet code.
gollark: Weird thing I noticed today: my desktop, which was plugged in and had the PSU on, but was off according to the front panel power light, was showing Ethernet connectivity and network activity on my cheap switch. Even though the status lights on the actual network port (on the computer, not switch) were off.
gollark: I kind of want to make a random password constraint generator.
gollark: *your password must be between 8 and 4003 characters in length, the length must be a prime number not ending in 7, and it must contain one or nine Egyptian hieroglyphs, at least one valid SQL command, the tears of a unicorn, and a proof or disproof of P = NP*
gollark: What about ~~foolish~~ places which limit password length to 0.5KB?

References
  1. Rizzitano, James (2005). How to Beat 1 d4. Gambit. pp. 103–111. ISBN 1-904600-33-6.
  2. "Chess Opening Explorer (D00 Levitsky attack (Queen's bishop attack))". 365chess.com. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
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