Don’t Get Crazy When Facing an Offbeat Opening, Either

We have looked at how you should meet Black’s peek-a-boo defenses. Odd moves can come from White’s side as well. As Black, you’ll want to know how to meet these attempts to confuse and upset you.

Grob’s Attack

Probably the most famous of these is “Grob’s Attack” or “The Spike.”

The main idea in the Grob is to open this way: 1.g4 d5 2.♗g2 ♗xg4 3.c4 c6 4.♕b3 with pressure against d5 and b7. Black, however, can avoid all this very simply.

1.g4 e5 2.♗g2 h5

Remembering general principles and playing 2…d5 3.c4 d4 4.d3 ♘c6 5.♗xc6+ bxc6 is OK, too.

With …h7-h5, we immediately hit the weak pawn.

3.gxh5

3.g5 ♕xg5 4.♔f1 ♘c6 5.d4 ♕f5.

3…♘f6

There’s no rush to take the pawn – it’s not going anywhere.

4.d4 exd4 5.♕xd4 ♘c6 6.♗xc6 dxc6 7.♕xd8+ ♔xd8 8.♘f3 ♖xh5 9.♘c3 ♗f5 10.♘d4 ♗g6 11.♗f4

♗d6 12.♗xd6 cxd6

Black’s game is preferable because he’s better developed and has the superior pawn structure. The

“I think I had better explain some reasons why I think the way I do. Back in the ’60s, Weaver Adams used to promote his gambit in the Vienna and Larry Evans would reply showing how Black you ‘chances and some compensation’ and dismal disappointment as you get better because good players will handle it, or to select a solid opening which keeps White’s initiative (like a Ruy López or an English or QGD) and in which you can grow.

“Now, with the Grob, I just picked one line as a sample of how Black can play. I have no real desire to argue about what move 15 or 20 should be in an opening line. I think that misses the point of my complaint against someone adopting the Grob. I just wanted to show you what I think would have been played by those masters I was talking about. In fact, the one line where White lines all his stuff up on the g-file reminds me of a game long ago, where the master just defended and about 50(!) moves later won because once you stop the attack, you just grind it out. Granted it’s not exciting and nobody publishes any book on that style, but I think it’s a style you should know about. It’s long, it’s hard, it requires patience, but it is still chess. So, every time somebody gets all excited about an attack (which frankly includes me!) I like to think back on those guys in Greenwich Village chess houses that would have you for lunch (or your lunch money!).”

The Orangutan Opening

The late great GM Savielly Tartakower wrote the following while annotating a game from 1919

in his book of collected games: “Later, at the New York Tournament of 1924, I termed this the

‘Orang-outang’ Opening, not only because I employed it there – against Maróczy – after a previous consultation with a young orang-outang (during a visit by all the masters to the New York Zoo on the eve of the game in question), but also since the climbing movement b4-b5 is reminiscent of that inventive animal.”

You have to admit that he had a sense of humor. In recent years, many have called it Sokolsky’s Opening because of the master who developed it further. While all of this might be quite interesting, how do you meet 1.b4 when you see it over the board?

You meet it by developing your pieces! That’s the way you meet all openings. There are several good ways to meet 1.b4. Here’s one that does not simply develop the pieces, but tries for a win. Let’s look at an …e7-e5 approach first.

1.b4 e5 2.♗b2

White is daring you to take the b-pawn in exchange for which he will grab your e-pawn. Usually, that’s not a good idea – giving up a central pawn for a wing pawn: however, you’ll be getting something else in return: time!

2…♗xb4 3.♗xe5 ♘f6 4.c3

Nothing else helps, either: 4.e3 (4.♘c3 ♗a5 5.e3 d6 6.♗g3 ♘bd7; 4.a3 ♗e7 5.e3 d5; 4.♘f3 d5 5.e3 0-0; 4.c4 0-0 5.e3 d5 6.cxd5 ♘xd5) 4…d5 5.♘f3 0-0 6.♗b2 c5.

4…♗e7 5.e3 ♘c6

This is what we meant by time. Look at the position. After five moves, Black has three pieces out to White’s one and is ready to castle and play …d7-d5, completely freeing his position.

White, on the other hand, has not developed his kingside pieces, is nowhere near castling, and has his bishop under attack. Not only that, but c2-c3 – attacking your bishop – only served to cut off a line of retreat for his bishop. Sometimes White will play a2-a3 instead of c2-c3 to keep that diagonal open, but you go back with …♗e7 anyhow and you’re fine.

6.♗g3 0-0 7.d4 d5 8.♗d3

Things can go dreadfully wrong for White if he tries to get too active: 8.c4 ♗b4+ 9.♘d2 ♘e4 10.♘gf3 ♗g4 and White can resign as he loses a piece after his queen moves to unpin the knight on f3. Black will capture on f3, then d2.

8…♘e4

We “violated” a general principle earlier with the pawn swap, and here we are going to “violate”

one more: don’t move the same piece twice in the opening. General rules are good as general rules. If they were always true, then chess would be a lot easier! Why did we play …♘e4?

There are several reasons. We are establishing a knight on a very aggressive square in White’s camp. He probably doesn’t want to take it because recapturing on e4 with the pawn puts a serious

cramp on White. And there is another really interesting reason: we’re going to violate yet another general rule! We are going to play …h7-h5-h4, heading for White’s bishop. Moving the knight uncovers the queen on d8 and bishop on e7 who will both support the advance to h4.

Now, why would we want to mess up our castled position? We do it because the pluses outweigh the minuses. Let’s follow this a bit more.

9.♘f3

If White tries to chase you with 9.f3, then 9…♘d6 is very effective as it will help make pawn advances to e4 or c4 difficult for White.

9…h5 10.♘bd2 h4

We’re playing for a win here. This is a very sharp position. White and Black both have to be careful, but the better-developed side should come out on top. That’s Black here!

This was a fighting defense to 1.b4. If you are not comfortable with a sharp game, here’s what Purdy called the All-Purpose Defense.

It works against just about everything! It works quite comfortably against not only 1.b4, but also 1.♘f3, 1.♘c3, 1.♘a3, 1.b3, 1.g3, and a bunch of others. Here’s the setup:

The All-Purpose Defense

There are no moves for White because we are giving you a general setup for all the unusual

…a7-a5 because as White’s pawn advances it becomes weaker. Notice how White is already on the defensive! What a waste of the first move.

4…a5 5.b5

White can’t afford to ignore it: 5.e3 axb4 6.axb4 ♖xa1 7.♗xa1 ♗xb4. White can’t afford to defend it: 5.c3 ♗d6 because since the long diagonal is blocked, Black’s bishop is more useful on d6.

5…♗e7 6.e3 0-0 7.d4 c5 and we reach this diagram:

White has a number of replies here. The two possible pawn captures favor Black:

9.♗e5 ♕xc5 10.♗d3 ♘bd7 11.♗b2 ♗d6 and now Black has his rooks connected and ready to double on the c-file as part of their plan. Another possibility involves putting the rooks on c8 and e8,

Conclusions: The more you play chess, the more unusual openings you will meet. You should react to them with calm and confidence. As much fun as we’ve had violating some general principles,

34. When Playing Against the Colle System, Do Not Think That