The Sokolsky Opening, also known as the Orangutan and the Polish Opening, is an uncommon

chess opening The opening is the initial stage of a chess game. It usually consists of established Chess_theory#Opening_theory, theory. The other phases are the chess middlegame, middlegame and the chess endgame, endgame. Many opening sequences, known as ''op ...

that begins with the move: : 1. b4 According to various databases, out of the twenty possible first moves from White, the move 1.b4 ranks ninth in popularity. It is considered an irregular opening, so it is classified under the A00 code in the ''

Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings The ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' (''ECO'') is a reference work describing the state of Chess theory#Opening theory, opening theory in chess, originally published in five volumes from 1974 to 1979 by the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugos ...

''.

Origins

One of the earliest opening plays of b4 was by

Bernhard Fleissig Bernhard (Bernát) Fleissig (1853 in Austrian Empire – 7 March 1931 in Vienna) was an Austrian chess master. Fleissig took 18th in the Vienna 1882 chess tournament (Wilhelm Steinitz and Szymon Winawer won), took 2nd, behind Vincenz Hruby, at Vi ...

playing against

Carl Schlechter Carl Schlechter (2 March 1874 – 27 December 1918) was a leading Austro-Hungarian chess master and theoretician at the turn of the 20th century. He is best known for drawing a controversial World Chess Championship match with Emanuel Lasker. Ea ...

in 1893, although Fleissig was handily defeated in just 18 moves.

Nikolai Bugaev Nikolai Vasilievich Bugaev (; September 14, 1837 – June 11, 1903) was a Russian mathematician, the father of Andrei Bely. Early life and education Bugaev was born in Georgia, Russian Empire into a somewhat unstable family (his father was an a ...

defeated former world champion

Wilhelm Steinitz William Steinitz (born Wilhelm Steinitz; May 14, 1836 – August 12, 1900) was a Bohemian-Austrian, and later American, chess player. From 1886 to 1894, he was the first World Chess Champion. He was also a highly influential writer and c ...

with it in a simul exhibition game, and later published an analysis of the opening in 1903 in a Russian magazine article.

Savielly Tartakower Savielly Tartakower (also known as ''Xavier'' or ''Ksawery'' ''Tartakower'', less often ''Tartacover'' or ''Tartakover''; 21 February 1887 – 4 February 1956) was a Polish chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster (chess), Internatio ...

defeated

Richard Réti Richard Réti (28 May 1889 – 6 June 1929) was an Austro-Hungarian and later Czechoslovak chess player, chess author and composer of endgame studies. He was one of the principal proponents of hypermodernism in chess. With the exception of N ...

using b4 in a match in 1919 when both were top-level players, and Reti himself defeated Abraham Speijer in

Scheveningen Scheveningen () is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict () of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is popular ...

1923 using the opening. The most famous use came in a game between Tartakower and

Géza Maróczy Géza Maróczy (; 3 March 1870 – 29 May 1951) was a Hungarian chess player, one of the leading players in the world in his time. He was one of the inaugural recipients of the Grandmaster (chess), International Grandmaster title from FIDE in 1 ...

at the

New York 1924 chess tournament New York 1924 was an elite chess tournament held in the Alamac Hotel in New York City from March 16 to April 18, 1924. It was organized by the Manhattan Chess Club. The competitors included world champion José Raúl Capablanca and his predecess ...

on March 21, 1924. The name "The Orangutan" originates from that game: the players visited the

Bronx Zoo The Bronx Zoo (also historically the Bronx Zoological Park and the Bronx Zoological Gardens) is a zoo within Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. It is one of the largest zoos in the United States by area and the largest Metropolis, metropol ...

the previous day, where Tartakower consulted an

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ...

named Susan. She somehow indicated, Tartakower insisted, that he should open with b4. Also, Tartakower was impressed with the climbing skills of the orangutan, and thought that the "climb" of the b-pawn was similar. In that particular game, Tartakower came out of the opening with a decent position, but the game was ultimately drawn.Danelishen, Gary; M. "The Final Theory of Chess". Phillidore Press 2008 . pp. 15-16. The opening received sporadic play in the decades that followed. Tartakower had more success in 1926 when he used it against

Edgard Colle Edgard Colle (18 May 1897 – 19 April 1932) was a Belgian chess master. He scored excellent results in major international tournaments, including first at Amsterdam 1926, ahead of Savielly Tartakower and future world champion Max Euwe; fi ...

for a victory. One of the most notable proponents was the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

player Alexei Pavlovich Sokolsky (1908–1969), who often used it in high-level play. Sokolsky wrote a monograph on the opening in 1963, ''Debyut 1 b2–b4'', which would lead to the opening being called the "Sokolsky Opening". Sokolsky's work defended the viability of the opening even at the highest levels of professional play. The final term, and the one used in contemporary books and chess websites such as

Chess.com Chess.com is an internet chess server and social networking website. One of the largest chess platforms in the world, the site operates on a freemium model in which some features are available for free, and others are available via subscription ...

and

Lichess Lichess (; ) is a free and open-source software, free and open-source Internet chess server run by a Nonprofit organization, non-profit organization of the same name. Users of the site can play online chess anonymously and optionally register an ...

, is the Polish Opening. This is by analogy to the

Polish Defense The Polish Defense is the name commonly given to one of several sequences of chess opening moves characterized by an early ...b5 by Black. The name "Polish Defense" is given by analogy to the Polish Opening, 1.b4. The original line was : 1. d4 ...

(1. d4 b5), where Black's Queen's Knight pawn is advanced two spaces.

Notable later usage

In general, the opening is not popular at the top level.

Alexander Alekhine Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine. He disliked when Russians sometimes pronounced the of as , , which he regarded as a Yiddish distortion of his name, and insisted that the correct Russian pronunciation was . (March 24, 1946) was a Russian ...

, who played in the same 1924 New York tournament as Tartakower and the Orangutan game, wrote that the problem is that it reveals White's intentions before White knows what Black's intentions are. That said, it still sees sporadic use among top level grandmasters.

Boris Spassky Boris Vasilyevich Spassky (; January 30, 1937 – February 27, 2025) was a Russian chess grandmaster who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 to 1972. Spassky played three world championship matches: he lost to Tigra ...

used it against

Vasily Smyslov Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov (; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster who was the seventh World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidates Tournament, Candidate for the World Chess Championship on ...

in a 1960 match, albeit having to settle for a draw. In May 2021, world champion

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...

essayed the opening against GMs

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraWesley So Wesley Barbossa So (born October 9, 1993) is a Filipino and American chess grandmaster, a three-time U.S. Chess Champion, and the first World Fischer Random Chess Champion. He is also a three-time Philippine Chess Champion. On the March 201 ...

in the online FTX Crypto Cup rapid tournament.

Details

The opening is largely based upon tactics on the or the f6- and g7-squares. Black can respond in a variety of ways: For example, a common response is for Black to make a claim on the , which White's first move ignores, with 1...e5 (it is normal for White to ignore the attack on the b-pawn and play 2.Bb2, where 2...d6, 2...f6, and 2...Bxb4 are all playable), 1...d5 (possibly followed by 2.Bb2 Qd6, attacking b4 and supporting ...e7–e5), or 1...f5. Less ambitious moves like 1...Nf6, 1...c6 (called the Outflank Variation, preparing ...Qb6 or ...a5), and 1...e6 are also reasonable. Rarer attempts have been made with 1...a5 or 1...c5. Black's reply 1...e6 is usually followed by ...d5, ...Nf6 and an eventual ...c5. After 1...a5 White will most likely play 2.b5 and take advantage of Black's queenside weakness. Black's 1...c5 is much sharper and more aggressive and is normally used to avoid theory. After the capture Black will generally place pressure on the c5-square and will develop an attack against White's weak queenside structure at the cost of an inferior central position.

Named variations

* 1…b5 (Symmetrical Variation) ** 2.a4 (Queen's Knight's Gambit) * 1...c5 (Birmingham Gambit) * 1...c6 (Outflank Variation) * 1...c6 2.Bb2 a5 3.b5 cxb5 4.e4 (Schuhler Gambit) * 1...d5 2.Bb2 c6 3.a4 (Myers Variation) * 1...d5 2.Bb2 Qd6 3.a3 e5 4.Nf3 e4 5.Nd4 Nf6 6.c4! dxc4 7.e3 Be7 8.Bxc4 O-O 9.Nc3 (German Defense) * 1...e5 2.a3 (Bugayev Attack) * 1...e5 2.Bb2 c5 (Wolferts Gambit) * 1...e5 2.Bb2 f6 3.e4 Bxb4 (Tartakower Gambit) * 1...e5 2.Bb2 f6 3.e4 Bxb4 4.Bc4 Nc6 5.f4 Qe7 6.f5 g6 (Brinckmann Variation) * 1...Na6 (Bucker Defense Kingsley Variation) * 1...Nc6 (Grigorian Variation) * 1...Nf6 2.Bb2 g6 3.g4 (Polish Spike) * 1...Nh6 (Karniewski Variation)

References

Bibliography

* * * Konikowski, Jerzy; Soszynski, Marek: ''The Sokolsky Opening 1.b4 in Theory & Practice''. Russell Enterprises, Milford USA 2009, * *

External links

1. b4 variations and games by Marek Trokenheim (Marek's 1.b4 Encyclopaedia)

by Edward Winter
Sokolsky
a web site dedicated to the Sokolsky opening {{White's twenty opening moves in chess Chess openings 1924 in chess 1963 in chess