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  • Monday, May 15, 2023

    Grob’s Defense

         Everybody has heard of the Grob Attack, 1.g4!! It’s is widely condemned by the experts, but I have long played it with a modicum of success since way back in the days of chess played by post card. But then I wasn’t playing the “experts” so perhaps that’s why it frequently brought success. 
         On the other side of the board there is the Grob Defense which begins 1.e4 g5, but if the Grob Attack is really bad then it stands to reason that the Grob Defense must be even worse. 
         Sometimes it’s also called the Borg Defense because that’s Grob spelled backwards. It’s also known as the Basman Defense, after British IM Michael Basman. 
         The move weakens the K-side severely, but according to Modern Chess Openings (MCO), black is only somewhat worse. 
         These days whenever I feel like a a couple of quick games Chess Hotel is my site of choice. You can create a free account or you can sign in anonymously as a Guest or you can sign in with a screen name, They have a wide variety of time limits and ratings are meaningless because it gets reset when you sign out, Most of your opponents will not be particularly strong and engine users are pretty rare. On the downside, it’s not unusual for players who get a bad game to simply abandon the game; after they do, you are awarded the win. Also, occasionally there will be a childish opponent who likes to bombard you with profanity and name calling. The funny thing is that when you ignore them it seems to infuriate them even more! 
         The Grob Defense is fun to play and can lead to some unusual positions. If you are interested in playing over some games with the this defense to see some of the possibilities you can refer to Chess Tempo HERE

    . A game that I liked (Fritz 17)

    GuestTartajubow0–1B00Chess Hotel2023Stockfish 15.1
    Grob's Defense 1.e4 g5 2.h4 Odd, but not really bad according to the engines! 2.d3 This is not an attempt to refute 1...g5 h6 3.c3 g7 4.g3 d6 5.g2 c5 6.ge2 f6 7.0-0 c6 and the players agreed to a draw in Zelcic,R (2540)-Palac,M (2545) Pula 1998 2.d4 This is the almost universal response because it attacks the g-Pawn. h6 3.h4 g4 4.c3 d6 5.e3 g7 6.d2 c6 7.0-0-0 b5 8.f3 h5 White is better, but eventually lety his advantage slip away and lost. Sadhwani,R (2611)-Nakamura,H (2768) chess.com INT 2022 2...gxh4 2...g4 3.xg4 d5 4.d1 dxe4 5.c3 f6 6.d3 exd3 7.xd3 c6 8.g5 g7 with equl chances. Narayanan,S (2669)-Vovk,O (2315) chess. com INT 2023 3.f4 This looks to be a P move on the wrong side of the e-Pawn...it slightly weakens the K's position. Better was 3.d4 3.d4 d5 4.exd5 g7 5.c3 f6 6.c4 is the engine's way and white is clearly better. 3...c6 4.f3 4.c3 Hinders black's nerxt move and so it is just a bit better. h5 5.f3 f6 6.e5 g4 7.d4 d5 is quite interesting and the chances are about equal. 4...d5 Sooner or later black must make a jab at the center. 5.exd5 5.e5 does not work out so well after g4 6.d4 e6 and black can claim a slight advantage. 5.c3 and black can polay either 5...d4 or... dxe4 6.xe4 f6 A move only an engine could love because after 7.xf6+ exf6 8.b5 d6 9.e2+ e7 Stockfish evalautes the position as just slightly in black's favor. On the other hand, Komodo 14 thinks the position is equal. 5...xd5 6.c3 e6+ Questionable as it badly hinders black's development. Better was 6...Qa5 with equal chances. 7.e2 After this black gets the advantage. 7.e2 remains equal. g6 7...xe2+ 8.xe2 d7 9.xh4 0-0-0 is also equal. 8.xh4 f6 9.d4 g3+ 10.f2 is just one example line. There are many other reasonable possibilities. 7...g4 Attacking g2, but 7...Qg6 does the same thing plus it also puts pressure on c2. 8.0-0 Placing his K opposite the black Q is a mistake. Best was 8.Kf1 8.f1 f6 9.xh4 g6 10.e5 10.b5 g8 11.h2 d8 black is slightly better. 10...xe5 11.fxe5 f5+ 12.f3 xe5 An unusuak position to be sure, but thelchances are about equal. 8...h3 8...xf4 allows white to gain the upper hand after 9.d4 g3 10.e4 9.f2 xf4 This was wrong last move and it's wrong this move! 9...f6 and all is fine. 10.d4 g3 Black has good chances against white's weakened King 's position. 10.d4 With this move white gains time to complete his development. g3 11.d5 11.e4 was even better because after g6 12.fg5 the attack on f7 gives white the advantage. 11...e5 A serious tactical error! 11...f6 12.b5 nearly equalizes. 12.dxc6 g4 13.e4 h2+ 14.h1 xf2+ 15.xf2 xf2 and black has the advantage. 12...a6 13.dxc6 axb5 14.d4 g7 15.f4 g6 16.e5 h5 A complicated position, but with correct play black should prove to have the better of things. 12.dxc6 Obvious and wrong! 12.e4 is the narrow road to win. g7 13.dxc6 Black does not have sufficient compensation for the piece. Just a sample line... bxc6 14.fg5 h6 15.f6+ e7 16.ge4 f5 17.g5 and white is winning. 12...c5 Thanks to having this move available black is able to maintain the advantage. This move was the idea behind 11...e5 13.f1 Now, if white could just get in Nd5 he might have something. hxg2 This lets white off the hook! 13...f6 Keeps the pressure on white and brings up the reserves. 14.b5 b6 15.e2 g4 16.xe5 hxg2 17.xg4 gxf1+ 18.xf1 xg4 with the advantage. 14.xg2 This loses quickly. 14.e1 f6 This move adding the N to the attack is probably black's best option. 14...xf2+ 15.xf2 xf2+ 16.xf2 f6 17.cxb7 xb7 18.b5+ A highly unbalanced material situation has resulted (B+N vs. R+3Ps), but the outcome sould be far from clear. In Shootouts white scored +1 -0 =4 15.b5 g4 16.e3 xe3 17.xe3 b6 18.e2 Materially white has a N vs. 3Ps and the chances are about equal. In Shootouts 5 games were drawn. 14...xf2+ 15.f1 White was almost out of time. 15.h1 was only marginally better. bxc6 16.e4 xg2+ 17.xg2 b6 18.xe5 e6 19.c4 19.xc6 d5 19...0-0-0 Black's material advantage is sufficient to score the point. 15...h3 White resigned. 0–1

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