Bong cloud opening

Dear Lichess Forum Users,

I am practising my bong cloud opening, and am finding it hard to improve beyond 1730 in bullet and blitz (I have played it 70 times in a row I think) using only this opening. I believe a true bong cloud opening plays kings pawn twice forward and then king one step forward no matter what the opponent has played, on either side. Is it okay to call playing kings pawn only once forward a bong cloud opening, or delaying king move until, say move 4 - I find e4 d5 Ke2 quite hard to play. There are a few other hard lines, but I am on my cellular device.

Kindest Regards,
Ted

@Rapid167 said in #1:
> Dear Lichess Forum Users,
>
> I am practising my bong cloud opening, and am finding it hard to improve beyond 1730 in bullet and blitz (I have played it 70 times in a row I think) using only this opening. I believe a true bong cloud opening plays kings pawn twice forward and then king one step forward no matter what the opponent has played, on either side. Is it okay to call playing kings pawn only once forward a bong cloud opening, or delaying king move until, say move 4 - I find e4 d5 Ke2 quite hard to play. There are a few other hard lines, but I am on my cellular device.
>
> Kindest Regards,
> Ted
Moving your king to e2 on move 2 can be called a Bongcloud.

I would call d4 d5 kd2 or f3 e5 kf2 Semi-Bongclouds.

Dear Tale,

Thank you for your response! Is it against the spirit of the bong cloud to play these semi-bong-cloud or delayed bong cloud openings? I try to compensate by getting king to center if I delay too long, but it seems too risky. It's a tricky opening!

Best Wishes,
Ted

Dear Carrera,

I can understand your first message, but not the second. However, in neither case do I understand the purpose of your messages.

In other news: I have been trying to move the king three spots consecutively after getting the first pawn forwards. Is this a known opening? Perhaps extended bongcloud?

Best,
Ted

A standard way to try to play a Bongcloud against 1...d5 would be 1. e4 d5 2. Ke2 dxe4 3. Qe1 Nf6 4. Kd1, with White scoring 48% in the lichess database. There's pressure on the e4 pawn which is troublesome to defend; the most common continuation is 4...Nc6 5. Nc3 Bf5. You can also transpose by playing Nc6 earlier in the sequence, if you prefer.

Here White can go two ways. One is the engine recommended 6. f3 exf3, with decent results in the database. The other is 6. h3, threatening 7. g4 Bg5 8. g5, kicking the knight and winning the e4 pawn.

The 4. Kd1 Royal Shuffle line is definitely not the traditional idea with a Bongcloud, which is to play d3 and f3 and maneuver the King to the Kingside via f2 and an artificial castle. This idea just really isn't viable in the Bongoscandi, however, since Black's e4 pawn will happily take on either d3 or f3 (59% and 61% in the lichess database), and White is just worse with no compensation.

The only thing to be careful of in this line is Bg4+ from Black. It's not a major threat; it can always be met by f3. If Black plays this before Kd1, then you can play a much more normal Bongcloud (potentially down a pawn), as your King can move to f2. On the other hand, if for example 1. e4 d5 2. Ke2 dxe4 3. Qe1 Nf6 4. Kd1 Bg4+, you have three choices as the e2 square is available for your Bishop or Knight. I personally prefer 5. Be2 Bxe2 6. Qxe2, putting pressure on the e4 pawn. The game could continue 6... Nc6 7. Nc3, and White is about as good as could be hoped in this position.

Hope some of that helps!

Dank you

@Rapid167 said in #6:
> In other news: I have been trying to move the king three spots consecutively after getting the first pawn forwards. Is this a known opening? Perhaps extended bongcloud?

To touch on this briefly, these variations are just losing. For example, 1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Nc6 3. Kf3??, which Andrew Fabbro's theory document calls the Accelerated Bongcloud, is almost lost by force. 3... Nd4+ 4. Ke3 Qg5+ 5. Kd3. The funniest line here is 5... Nf6 6. Nf3 Nxe4 7. Nxg6 Nxf2+, but everything is horrible for White in any line.

3. Ke3 is very slightly better, for two reasons: the first is that if Black tries to transpose with 3... Qg5+ and 4... Nd4+, White's king can run back to e1 (a bit un-bongcloud but what can you do). The second reason is that f3 is still an option, and White can still try to setup a normal Bongcloud structure down a tempo. There are also, however, two problems for White. The first is that lost tempo, which really does hurt - Black can play 3... d5 to challenge the pawn wedge setup before it can really be set up. The second is that the Queen on d1 is no longer protected, meaning that White's d pawn is pinned. If 3... d5 4. d3 dxe4, White cannot play dxe4. 4. f3 isn't much better; Black can develop 4... Bc4+ with tempo and White is way behind.

The good news is that the lichess database sees many Black players play d4+ in response to both d3 and f3, which actually dramatically helps White, as it closes the position and provides some cover for the White king. Black should never be playing this, and should always be focused in opening the center (the exact thing White tries to avoid by building the usual d3-e4-f3 wedge). But d4+ is played 60% and 59% of the time after 4. d3 and 4. f3, respectively, and White is getting a somewhat normal Bongcloud game, with the exception that they can't play Be3 as they would usually want.

I like this thema corfusmallori!