All things Grob
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Lent_Barsen wrote:
Sorry @chessterd5, I may have misunderstood what you were saying at one point.
I don't think Spassky was maneuvered into the Hippo against his will. He also played it in game 12 of the match and seems to have been inspired by a prior encounter he had with another player to try it.
That's OK. No, I don't think that Spassky was maneuvered into a Hippo against his will. Spassky chose to play a Hippo. But I do think that with Petrosian's two knight moves, that he was trying to entice Spassky to play something concrete that he could not "take back " while still leaving himself flexible to develop any way he wished.
https://www.chess.com/game/139786252282?move=28
Grob #6. I'm still having issues developing the kingside knight, I think.
Jun 19, 2025
0
#66
chessterd5,yes,it's Radiohead. The vignette is meant as praise for your unconventional approach to chess. o7
badger_song wrote:
chessterd5,yes,it's Radiohead. The vignette is meant as praise for your unconventional approach to chess. o7
Thank you. It is a high compliment and well respected!
One thing that this last game showed me was just how vulnerable Black's bishop can be on g4, if he chooses to accept the Gambit.
Jun 19, 2025
0
#69
@chessterd5 re #70 I suspect you're maybe over-fond of putting the Ng1 onto h3. It works occasionally (usually when you've already seen via Concrete Calculation that it can guaranteedly get onto f4 to hit Black's centre pawns) but it's really yearning to go to f3 or sometimes e2. Bunging it to h3 "on spec" in the hope it'll get to f4 "one day" can be dodgy and risks it being marooned there. NB: I'm biased - I favour Basman's interpretation on the rare occasions when I play the Grob and that usually involves playing 2. Ph2-h3; which thoroughly rules out any chance of me playing Ng1-h3.
https://www.chess.com/game/139849223680?move=1
Grob #7. Surprisingly, some one played the Grob opening against me. Not a great game of course. But it was interesting to see it from the other side. I knew absolutely nothing about the Grob opening before this thread except that it was 1.g4.
I made some fundamental mistakes and I fell for the same tactic against the bishop on g4. But I had a reasonable position in the end and lost on time. It is just a matter of learning to see board patterns in new positions that I am not accustomed to.
I think the key to Black's defense is to be familiar with the "tricks " , make classical principled chess moves, and build the advantage throughout the whole game. Hopefully more games to come. Learning is a process.
Sorry @chessterd5, I may have misunderstood what you were saying at one point.
I don't think Spassky was maneuvered into the Hippo against his will. He also played it in game 12 of the match and seems to have been inspired by a prior encounter he had with another player to try it.