Why the Grob is Severely Underrated: An Analysis - Chess Forums - Page 21

Mar 4, 2019

0

#401

BL4D3RUNN3R wrote:

There are a couple of real refutations. So there's always hope that your opponent knows them all and cannot decide which one to choose and runs out of time.

lol!! you beat me to it😉

NM darkunorthodox88

Mar 4, 2019

0

#402

Mrmerbs57 wrote:

chessgm8 wrote:

I think the Grob (1. g4) is a very underrated opening for white. Observe:

The aggressive stance of the Grob is sure to intimidate your unassuming opponents OTB. So why is it so rarely seen in tournament practice? I think it is because people underestimate the extreme psychological impact it will have on your opponents.

By employing the Grob, you bring your opponent into unknown territory from the first move and throw their hours of opening preparation out the window.

The moment you play the move 1. g4, you tell your opponent that you are an aggressive, risk-taking player. Add this to the fact that the Grob is an opening that your average tournament player will not be prepared against, and you have the perfect psychological weapon to employ at your next tournament or online game.

The Grob will be sure to shock your average opponent, and it will be easy for them to crack under the light square pressure you apply straight from the opening.

The Grob even transcends color; the opening can be played with the black (1…g5) or white (1. g4) pieces and the same basic principles can apply, minimizing your need to memorize reams of theory on mainstream responses to 1. e4 or 1. d4. The Grob is a true one-size-fits-all opening.

So why is it that people haven’t noticed the countless opportunities this opening can provide?

Players who doubt the integrity of the Grob may bring up some of the following points:

"The computer says the Grob is a bad opening in comparison to the more popular 1. e4 / 1. d4."

While Stockfish (Ver 1.0.5 at depth 29/42) may evaluate the position after 1. g4 as -0.57, this is still well within the drawing range and does not take the psychological benefits of playing the Grob into consideration.

“It doesn’t follow opening principles.”

Precisely why it is a more powerful weapon. By playing an unorthodox (but still powerful) first move that your opponent will not be prepared against, you immediately gain a psychological advantage.

This opening has stayed under the radar for too long, and I take it upon myself to enlighten players of all strengths about its many advantages.

EDIT: Agreed, in classical games the Grob may not be a good opening, but in blitz it seems to wield quite fair results.

Everyone to there opinion a suppose, I have never considered the Grob or it's other side kick strange openings as underrated more like overrated by those who think it's good to play the strange and weired, I have met just about everything I think over the board from Grob as white, as Black as well as 1..b5 and personally I think any experienced player approaching 1800+ or above over the board is unlikely to be intimidated by such openings I taught my daughter to stick with class I am openings and improve her positional game and as rating now of 1730 over the board a proud Dad indeed.

strange and weird is good son.

DuckDuckNo

Mar 4, 2019

0

#403

St0ck-fish wrote:

As you can see, the grob is spectacular when playing blitz vs. a someone rated 207

Ok lol

Elroch

Mar 4, 2019

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#404

There was a player at my old chess club who used to play the grob quite, and one day he played his 1. g4 and I replied 1. ... h5 and pronounced "it's the book move". He never played it again. Complete nonsense, of course.

Trexler3241

Mar 4, 2019

0

#405

Why did your opponent not play ...d5.

Capt_Rook

Mar 4, 2019

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#406

I almost always play the Grob with white... whenever my opponent takes the pawn on g4 a laugh a little inside

Capt_Rook

Mar 4, 2019

0

#407

I almost always play the Grob with white... whenever my opponent takes the pawn on g4 a laugh a little inside

Capt_Rook

Mar 4, 2019

0

#408

I almost always play the Grob with white... whenever my opponent takes the pawn on g4 a laugh a little inside

CM BL4D3RUNN3R

Mar 4, 2019

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#409

As I told you 1.g4 d5 2.Bg2 Bxg4 3.c4 dxc4 4.Bxb7 Nd7 5.Bxa8 Qxa8 6.f3 e5 has a score close to 0% White in the db. Black has to remember practically nothing, he just falls for White‘s trick ending up winning.

NM darkunorthodox88

Mar 5, 2019

0

#410

Mrmerbs57 wrote:

Elroch wrote:

There was a player at my old chess club who used to play the grob quite, and one day he played his 1. g4 and I replied 1. ... h5 and pronounced "it's the book move". He never played it again. Complete nonsense, of course.

The idea of h5 is perfectly logical gxh5 is horrible and g5 leaves holes on white squares, I recall at a congress GM. Mark Hebden was paired against a FM. who played the Grob? probably thought he would lose too quickly if he played normally but lost equally quickly with his Grob, play went 1.g4?! e5! 2.Bg2, Ne7 3.c4, h5 4.g5, d5! 5.cxd5,Nxd5 6.d3, Bb4chk and the g5 pawn of blacks drops, black was positionally busted here and resigned on move 22

5.d3 intending qa4+ if dxc4. also bb4+ then white plays kf1 which here isnt as bad as it looks, since white wasnt exactly looking forward to 0-0 to begin with.

Elroch

Mar 7, 2019

0

#411

Another good plan for a big edge is 1. g5 d5 2. Bg2 c6 3. g5 h6! Also 3. h3 (used to be the mainline) h5!.

The grob being played so rarely, this has hardly any theory.

Trexler3241

Mar 7, 2019

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#412

NM darkunorthodox88

Mar 9, 2019

0

#413

Fixedthx wrote:

BL4D3RUNN3R написав:

As I told you 1.g4 d5 2.Bg2 Bxg4 3.c4 dxc4 4.Bxb7 Nd7 5.Bxa8 Qxa8 6.f3 e5 has a score close to 0% White in the db. Black has to remember practically nothing, he just falls for White‘s trick ending up winning.

just shut up already, i play this line daily and never, ever ever lose Nc3 then Nb5 often leads to a fork on c7 yeah, when a6 Qa4 if Qc6 Qxa6 Qxa6 Nc7+ fork you win on the queenside no matter what, so just shut up already; you have no knowledge of it where as I've played it four years daily; bottom line is you're too chicken to play it and to snobbish to learn about it; makes you a hater; database games are not the end all be all and it is upon which you're basing your "research," just stfu you engine watching chump

except thats entirely correct. Even the engine usually prefers black in that position, and even if the engine said equality, database records show its certainly black who has the practical chances at the master level.

CM BL4D3RUNN3R

Mar 9, 2019

0

#414

Nice opening, if Black falls for White's trap he is winning...

Even better are the Grob players, they are really objective.

Hadron

Mar 10, 2019

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#415

It is a real pity that admin does not seize the initiative and lock this thread.

571 posts of the "Grob is crap, no it isn't" two step.

The sisyphian thing about all is with how good or bad the Grob is or might be, it is still going to be played....

So what is the point?

igiveupnow

May 21, 2020

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#416

Maybe there is no point!?

ARenko

May 21, 2020

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#417

There was a Southern California chessplayer named William Duckworth who used to play the Grob a lot in blitz games in the 1980s and 1990s and did quite well with it. At his peak Duckworth was a strong FM, but he was more well-known as a blitz player (he was the "fat man" in the book "Searching for Bobby Fischer"). I seem to also recall a tournament game against a NM that he won with the Grob.

But those were the pre-engine days when the opening theory accessible to club players was still pretty limited. Those days are long gone, and now anyone with 10 minutes to spare can find a good line against the Grob. That having been said, the Grob is still probably playable below a certain level, and possibly even at the master level if the rating disparity between Black and White is large enough. But why give yourself an uphill battle on move 1?

LiamThompson77

Sep 9, 2024

0

#418

chessgm8 wrote:

BobbyTalparov wrote:

Yes, the psychological effects of telling your opponent "I am going to ruin my pawn structure and give you a much better game by simply following opening principles and potentially go into a losing endgame" can be quite daunting.

While playing normally and blindly "following opening principles" may not get you very far in the Grob, with practice you can learn to tailor it into a powerful attacking weapon.

BobbyTalparov is right why would you get rid of all your advantages that you could have and let your opponent gain?

crazedrat1000

Sep 9, 2024

0

#419

Its eval is so bad - like -0.60 immediately by leela and she's usually conservative - it's like you're down a pawn but you haven't lost a pawn... talk about positionally bad. Even if black plays like crap... black will probably still be better. Black can afford at least a blunder and still remain even. How bad do you expect black to play? And how relevant is the g4 pawn in causing tricks? It's just a fiancetto that's more vulnerable than your typical kingside fiancetto.

If you want dubious openings play the blackmar-diemer or something. Get some actual compensation for your dubiousness. Or play 1. b4 - what do you achieve with g4 that isn't achieved and better by pushing b4?