Grob's Attack is an unconventional
chess opening in which White begins with the move:
:1.
g4
It is widely considered to be one of the worst possible first moves for White. International Master
John Watson writes, "As far as I can tell, 1 g4 is competitive with 1 h4 for the honour of being White's worst first move. Against an informed or skilled opponent, it is simply masochistic."
History and usage
The opening takes its name from Swiss
International Master Henri Grob
Henri Grob (4 June 1904 – 5? July'3 July' according to Gaige, '9 July' according to Golombek, '4 June' according to ''Mundo del Ajedrez'' November 1974, p. 318. 1974) was a Swiss chess player, artist, and painter. He was Swiss chess champi ...
(1904–1974) who analysed it extensively and played hundreds of
correspondence games with it. In Grob's newspaper column analysis of this opening, he referred to it as the Spike Opening, a name which is still used occasionally. Other early references used the name Ahlhausen's Opening, after Carl Ahlhausen (1835–1892) of
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, one of the first to play 1.g4.
Savielly Tartakower
Savielly Tartakower (also known as ''Xavier'' or ''Ksawery'' ''Tartakower'', less often ''Tartacover'' or ''Tartakover''; 21 February 1887 – 4 February 1956) was a Polish and French chess player. He was awarded the title of International Grandm ...
sometimes played this opening in
simultaneous exhibition
A simultaneous exhibition or simultaneous display is a board game exhibition (commonly chess or Go) in which one player (typically of high rank, such as a grandmaster or dan-level player) plays multiple games at a time with a number of other pl ...
s and called it the Genoa or San Pier D'Arena Opening, after the city and suburb of
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
where he first used it. In the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
and
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
, 1.g4 is called Fric's Opening, and in other parts of the world it is called Kolibri's Opening.
Along with several other uncommon first moves for White, the Grob is classified under the code A00 ("
irregular openings" or "uncommon openings") in the ''
Encyclopedia of Chess Openings
The ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' () is a reference work describing the state of opening theory in chess, originally published in five volumes from 1974 to 1979 by the Serbian company Šahovski Informator ( Chess Informant). It is curren ...
''. White has three main plans: to support the g4 pawn with h3; pressure against d5 or on the h1–a8 diagonal, preventing Black from playing ...Bxg4 (e.g. 1.g4 d5 2.Bg2 Bxg4 3.c4, exploiting the pin against the b7-pawn); or advancing the h-pawn in a attack.
Perhaps the highest-profile game to feature the Grob was when
Michael Basman
Michael John Basman (16 March 1946 – 26 October 2022) was an English chess player, chess author and International Master. He was awarded the International Master title in 1980. Basman was a prolific writer, who made many contributions to the ...
defeated grandmaster and renowned theorist
John Nunn
John Denis Martin Nunn (born 25 April 1955) is an English chess grandmaster, a three-time world champion in chess problem solving, a chess writer and publisher, and a mathematician. He is one of England's strongest chess players and was forme ...
with it in 1978. The Grob was also forced upon
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov ( rus, links=no, Анато́лий Евге́ньевич Ка́рпов, p=ɐnɐˈtolʲɪj jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈkarpəf; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet chess grandmaster, former World Che ...
by former Soviet premier
Mikhail Gorbachev in a friendly match against
Susan Polgar in
Lindsborg, Kansas
Lindsborg is a city in McPherson County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 3,776. Lindsborg is known for its large Swedish, other Nordic and Scandinavian Americans ( Nordic- Scandinavian), and Germ ...
2005. Gorbachev made the ceremonial first move and played 1.g4. Normally players can simply retract ceremonial moves they do not like. In this case Gorbachev insisted Karpov play on, saying he wanted to "cause some difficulties for the older player."
The Grob was included in the opening book for the superfinal of the 12th
Top Chess Engine Championship
Top Chess Engine Championship, formerly known as Thoresen Chess Engines Competition (TCEC or nTCEC), is a computer chess tournament that has been run since 2010. It was organized, directed, and hosted by Martin Thoresen until the end of Season 6; ...
season (April–July 2018). Both finalists,
Stockfish and
Komodo
Komodo may refer to:
Computers
* Komodo Edit, a free text editor for dynamic programming languages
* Komodo IDE an integrated development environment (IDE) for dynamic programming languages
* Komodo (chess), a chess engine
People
* Komodo ...
, evaluated the position after 1.g4 as providing a clear advantage for Black, and both failed to defend the White position.
Responses
International Master
Michael Basman
Michael John Basman (16 March 1946 – 26 October 2022) was an English chess player, chess author and International Master. He was awarded the International Master title in 1980. Basman was a prolific writer, who made many contributions to the ...
and Grandmaster
Spyridon Skembris are advocates of the opening. It has a certain surprise value, and the average player is unlikely to know how to refute it and more likely to get overconfident and make mistakes. Moreover, the lack of theory along this line may negate the repertoire of an experienced opponent. Intuitive play by Black can lead into dangerous traps. Many of these traps rely on Black's replying with 1...d5, attacking the pawn with his . White can sacrifice the pawn with 2.Bg2 Bxg4 3.c4 with Qb3 to follow, giving White some pressure against the weakened squares d5 and b7.
Black is not obliged to give White these opportunities. In response to Grob's Attack, Black may also play 1...e5. Good responses would be 2.Bg2 (dominating the light-squared center diagonal) or 2.c4, the English Variation, preparing Nc3 to solidify White's control of d5. After 1...e5, Black can take aim at the h4-square, left weak by White's pawn advance. 2.Bg2 h5 will force a weakening of White's pawn structure. 2.d3 (intending to answer 2...h5 with 3.g5) or 2.h3 can be answered by 2...Ne7 with the threat of ...Ng6 followed by ...Nf4 or ...Nh4, disrupting White's kingside
fianchetto
In chess, the fianchetto ( or ; "little flank") is a pattern of wherein a bishop is developed to the second rank of the adjacent b- or g-, the having been moved one or two squares forward.
The fianchetto is a staple of many " hypermodern" ...
.
Another frequently used setup for White in the Grob is 1.g4, 2.h3, and 3.Bg2. A Black counter-setup might be 1...d5, 2...e5, and 3...c6 (these moves may be played in any order), which, if used in conjunction with an eventual ...e4, negates White's 's influence over the center.
A key element of the Grob is deploying the king's bishop on g2 and having it
rule the diagonal. In order to further this goal, White must keep the center clear of pawns. This leads to frequent "tearing at the center" with c4 often being White's third move.
Due to the unusual pawn structure White attains by playing g4 and c4 so early in the game, there is frequently little advantage to
castling. Play often devolves into a wild and wide-open game, with a definitive advantage usually resolving itself in the first 20 moves.
Borg Defense
Black's responding to any opening move by White with 1 ... g5 is called the "Borg Defense",
B00 Reversed Grob (Borg/Basman defence/macho Grob)
/ref> Borg being the reverse spelling of Grob.
See also
* List of chess openings
This is a list of chess openings, organized by the ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' () code. In 1966, Chess Informant categorized the chess openings into five broad areas ("A" through "E"), with each of those broken down into one hundred subcat ...
* List of chess openings named after people
''The Oxford Companion to Chess'' lists 1,327 named openings and variants. Chess players' names are the most common sources of opening names. The name given to an opening is not always that of the first player to adopt it; often an opening is nam ...
* Irregular chess openings
References
Bibliography
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{{Chess, state=collapsed
Chess openings
pl:Nieregularne otwarcie#1.g4 – atak Groba