What rating do you need to employ the Hedgehog?
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And can the Hippopotamus defense help train for it?
"What rating do you need to employ the Hedgehog?"
++ You can play it at any rating. It is not easy though, you have to play accurately. You have to like cramped positions.
"can the Hippopotamus defense help train for it?"
++ No. Both are different. They are both system openings: you can play them against everything and you can play these as black as well as with white.
This is a Hippopotamus in a World Championship Match:
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1106734
For me the Hedgehog works for part of the game and then I move a pawn or something and it all falls apart very quickly like a house of cards. I don’t think that I’m good enough to understand it’s timing. So I thought something similar would help.
@3
In both the hedgehog and the hippopotamus you get a cramped position and you have to be careful about every move. They are both system openings usable against everything and playable with both colors. So far the similarities. The devil is in the detail. What is the right move in one will be the wrong move in the other. Pick one and stick to it. Play it against everything and with both colors. Analyse your lost games. You will thus accumulate experience of how to play and how not to play, what works and what does not work and why.