{"id":3183,"date":"2023-10-02T12:06:37","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T12:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/blog\/?p=3183"},"modified":"2023-10-02T12:06:38","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T12:06:38","slug":"latest-book-highlight-basmans-folly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/blog\/latest-book-highlight-basmans-folly\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest Book Highlight: Basman’s Folly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We all like to play something a little different from time to time.\u00a0Basman’s Folly: Embracing Chaos with 1.g4!?<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>by the prolific duo of Cyrus Lakdawala & Carsten Hansen, will certainly tempt chess players of all strengths to dabble in the dark side of one of the most eccentric of all opening moves \u2013 The Grob.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Basman<\/a>, of course, always went his own way, both in real life and in chess. His Audio Chess tapes (yes, chess tuition existed before the Internet and even before CDs and DVDs) led to a brief burst of popularity for Grob\u2019s Opening in the 1980s and he even played the opening with the black pieces (sometimes known as \u2018The Borg\u2019).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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Michael Basman at the London Chess Classic. Credit: Wolfgang Jekel<\/a><\/sup><\/sub><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Assuming one is not going to go the whole hog with 1.g4 and 2.f3 (or 1…g5 and 2…f6, as occasionally seen in online protest games) then the Grob player must provide some justification for the early advance of the g-pawn.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modern chess is full of early lunges by the g-pawn (Garry Kasparov was fond of the energy created in the middlegames of the Queen\u2019s Gambit, for example) but pushing it on move one requires a degree of commitment few players will happily embrace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, anyone who perseveres with an opening will learn a few traps along the way and they will be ready to spring them over the board, especially in Blitz and Rapidplay games. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a case in point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.g4 d5 2.Bg2 Bxg4 3.c4 c6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Qb3 e6?? 6.Qa4+<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a07.Qxg4<\/strong>…\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

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