English Opening, Hedgehog Defense

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In chess, A17 is the ECO code for the English, Hedgehog chess opening. The game begins 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.g3 b6 or arrives at the position shown through some transposition. It was developed in the 1970s. The 'Hedgehog' is a generic term for the Black defense with a compact pawn structure difficult to attack. Here, Black attempts to attain a center pawn majority by trading the c-pawn for White's d-pawn and hopes to achieve equality with an eventual ...b5 or ...d5. White, on the other hand, has to find some way into Black's position without exchanging too many pieces. See Hedgehog Defence for more details concerning Black's setup.

Grandmaster Tony Kosten suggests an immediate d4 believing the move leads to workable white advantages and forces black out of the Hedgehog Defense, but Kosten's position is a move up for white as Kosten suggests an early Bg7.