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Every now and then, I encounter the The Whale in the English Opening (1. c4 e5 2. e4). Looking up the opening in Eric Schiller’s book, “Unorthodox Chess Openings” it seems like just like the Giraffe Attack, this opening may have been named by Schiller as well! He writes on page 144,

“It seems to me rather large and lumbering, and one of its fans has a tendency to spout effusive praise on it. So, I’ll call it the Whale.”

Now, one of the conceptual ideas in chess is that whenever a pawn moves forward, it weakens something behind. In this case, what has been weakened with e4 and c4 is the d4 square, as none of White’s pawns can defend/attack that square. From that logic, Black’s next move is reasonably clear; (2… Bc5) to take control of the d4 square.

The rest of the opening is sensible and White castles early kingside on move 6. I decided that in this game I would take the initiative and immediately go on the attack. So firstly, (6… Nd4) to remove White’s kingside defensive knight. This works. With White no longer having a defender other than their king on the h-file, I immediately went on the attack and pushed (9… h5).

White trades in the centre but then at the next opportunity (11… Ng4). White attacks my knight with their h-pawn, but this is what I want! I offer to sacrifice the knight with (12… Qh4), a brilliant move! Having delayed castling, my goal was to attack down the h-file and if White opened their h-file by capturing my knight, it would only benefit me! On move 14, White miscalculated the defence and blunders, giving me a massive winning advantage [-6.5].

White managed to avoid checkmate, but we entered the endgame on move 19 where I had two activated rooks, a pawn majority, and a king that was well defended, against White’s exposed king and undeveloped knight and rook. White continued to play accurately, and I needed to keep my wits as a knight can be very tricky to play against with rooks. However, on move 30, I had outmanoeuvred White and they resigned in a hopeless position. GG!

The big takeaway from this game is strategically to keep an eye on the prize, the opponent’s king! Where the opponent is a little slow, launching an immediate attack in the middlegame can be tactically overwhelming.

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/89005267385

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2023.09.21"]
[Round "-"]
[White "CalvinHale"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C20"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Kings-Pawn-Opening-The-Whale-Variation"]
[UTCDate "2023.09.21"]
[UTCTime "03:18:17"]
[WhiteElo "1298"]
[BlackElo "1322"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]
[StartTime "03:18:17"]
[EndDate "2023.09.21"]
[EndTime "03:32:22"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/89005267385"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/80869650.cd552dd9.50x50o.1cc37b86d8e9.jpg"]
[WhiteCountry "111"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.f52a0759.50x50o.ab18600a8723.png"]
[BlackCountry "17"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. c4 {[%clk 0:15:09.9]} 1... e5 {[%clk 0:15:02.7]} 2. e4 {[%clk 0:15:16.1]
English Opening: Whale Variation [-0.3]} 2... Bc5 {[%clk 0:14:53.6]} 3. Nf3
{[%clk 0:15:20.8]} 3... Nc6 {[%clk 0:15:01.2]} 4. Be2 {[%clk 0:15:23.5]} 4...
Nf6 {[%clk 0:15:08]} 5. d3 {[%clk 0:15:27.6]} 5... d6 {[%clk 0:14:43.1]} 6. O-O
{[%clk 0:15:31.2]} 6... Nd4 {[%clk 0:14:46.7][%c_arrow
c8g4;keyPressed;none;from;c8;opacity;0.8;to;g4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g4;keyPressed;shift;opacity;0.8;square;g4;persistent;false] An aggressive and
somewhat provocative move, but my goal is to remove the knight defending h2
[+0.3]} 7. Nxd4 {[%clk 0:15:33.1]} 7... Bxd4 {[%clk 0:14:55.3]} 8. Nc3 {[%clk
0:15:40.2]} 8... c6 {[%clk 0:14:36.7] Restricts further forward development of
White's remaining knight} 9. Be3 {[%clk 0:15:44.8]} 9... h5 {[%clk
0:14:27.5][%c_arrow
d4e3;keyPressed;none;from;d4;opacity;0.8;to;e3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e3;keyPressed;shift;opacity;0.8;square;e3;persistent;false] The engine thinks
that trading bishops is best and that this is suboptimal [-0.2 $37 0.00]. However,
I didn't want to help White open the f-file, and thought that using the tempo to
immediate start an attack on White's king with h5 would be a winning tactic.}
10. Bxd4 {[%clk 0:15:41.1]} 10... exd4 {[%clk 0:14:35.7] Although this is
White's best move, it forces the White knight to un-develop, winning me some
further tempo [0.00]} 11. Nb1 {[%clk 0:15:35.4]} 11... Ng4 {[%clk
0:14:21.7][%c_highlight
g5;keyPressed;shift;opacity;0.8;square;g5;persistent;false][%c_arrow
g7g5;keyPressed;none;from;g7;opacity;0.8;to;g5;persistent;false] Bringing
another piece to attack White's king. Stockfish thinks that g5 is a bit better
[+0.3].} 12. h3 {[%clk 0:15:28.4][%c_arrow
g7g5;keyPressed;none;from;g7;opacity;0.8;to;g5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g5;keyPressed;shift;opacity;0.8;square;g5;persistent;false]} 12... Qh4 $3 {[%clk
0:14:18.9][%c_effect h4;square;h4;type;Brilliant;persistent;true] Brilliant
move $1 I sacrifice the knight as it allows me to open the h-file, creating a
crushing attack down the h-file} 13. Bxg4 $2 {[%clk 0:15:23.8][%c_arrow
b1d2;keyPressed;none;from;b1;opacity;0.8;to;d2;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d2;persistent;false][%c_effect
g4;square;g4;type;Mistake;persistent;true] A mistake as the h-file will open
[-1.8]} 13... hxg4 {[%clk 0:14:21.5]} 14. f4 $4 {[%clk 0:14:29.1][%c_arrow
d1e1;keyPressed;none;from;d1;opacity;0.8;to;e1;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e1;persistent;false][%c_effect
f4;square;f4;type;Blunder;persistent;true] It wasn't clear to me what White was
trying to achieve, but this was a blunder [-6.5]. White might have assumed that
I would capture en passant, but my goal remains to open the h- and perhaps
g-files.} 14... gxh3 {[%clk 0:14:19.8]} 15. Qf3 {[%clk 0:14:17.9]} 15... hxg2
{[%clk 0:13:47]} 16. Qxg2 {[%clk 0:14:16.1]} 16... Bh3 {[%clk 0:13:39.6]} 17.
Qg5 {[%clk 0:13:50.3]} 17... Bxf1 {[%clk 0:13:28.5]} 18. Qxh4 {[%clk 0:13:55.8]}
18... Rxh4 {[%clk 0:13:35.2]} 19. Kxf1 {[%clk 0:14:04.4]} 19... O-O-O {[%clk
0:13:44.4] And we enter an endgame where I have two activated rooks vs White's
undeveloped knight and rook, a safe king, and a pawn majority [-6.1]} 20. Kg2
{[%clk 0:13:52.4]} 20... Rxf4 {[%clk 0:13:48]} 21. Nd2 {[%clk 0:13:59.3]} 21...
Rh8 {[%clk 0:13:53.6]} 22. Kg3 {[%clk 0:13:53.4]} 22... Rfh4 {[%clk 0:13:55.1]}
23. Nf3 {[%clk 0:13:44.7]} 23... Rh3+ {[%clk 0:13:57.7]} 24. Kg2 {[%clk
0:13:50.9]} 24... g5 {[%clk 0:13:46.8] Luring the White knight to come forward}
25. Nxg5 {[%clk 0:13:48.6]} 25... Rxd3 {[%clk 0:13:50.5]} 26. Nf3 {[%clk
0:13:13.2]} 26... Rg8+ {[%clk 0:13:53.7]} 27. Kf2 {[%clk 0:13:20.1]} 27... Rg4
{[%clk 0:13:30]} 28. e5 {[%clk 0:13:18.3] Clever move by White, seeing a
potential knight fork of the rooks. However, it I saw this and it doesn't work.}
28... dxe5 {[%clk 0:13:18.5]} 29. Nxe5 {[%clk 0:13:24.9]} 29... Rf4+ {[%clk
0:13:26.8] Because, this comes with check...} 30. Ke2 $4 {[%clk
0:13:16.5][%c_arrow
f2g2;keyPressed;none;from;f2;opacity;0.8;to;g2;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g2;persistent;false][%c_effect
e2;square;e2;type;Blunder;keyPressed;undefined;persistent;true] This is a
blunder [-M8]} 30... Re3+ {[%clk 0:13:33.2][%c_effect
c8;square;c8;type;Winner,e2;square;e2;type;ResignWhite][%c_arrow
e3e2;keyPressed;none;from;e3;opacity;0.8;to;e2;persistent;false,e3e5;keyPressed;none;from;e3;opacity;0.8;to;e5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e2;persistent;false,e5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e5;persistent;false]
GG. The knight is immediately lost. But, it is easy to force capture White's
rook as well.} 0-1