Basman's Folly

En faktisk etterlengtet og høyst underholdende bok om å spille den fre(s)kke åpningen 1.g4!? og til og med som svart 1 c4 g5 eller 1 d4 h6 fulgt av g5. Nå avdøde Michael Basman briljerte med alt dette mot gode spillere.

Sjakk er en praktisk kampsport, så det spiller litt mindre rolle at analysemotorene ikke krediterer disse åpningene som aldeles korrekte. Sjakkbutikkens medarbeider Jan Gunnar Fredriksen trakk fram 1 g4(!) mot daværende IM Lars Oskar Hauge i NM i hurtigsjakk for noen små år siden, og kapret en artig remis som neppe hadde skjedd med en hverdagsgrå åpning.

Forlagets egen omtale

Is the Grob/Basman a con artist's bogus-operandi, or is the line actually sound? The truthful answer is that the opening is a bit of both! And we can call 1 g4 a "good opening," the same way a mob member calls a hitman colleague "a stand-up guy." The engine already prefers Black's chances after 1.g4, so nobody can honestly claim it is White's optimal first move from an empirical standpoint. But is it refuted? The answer is "no," and what we nearly always get is a disorienting mess by the early middlegame.

In this volume, experienced authors Lakdawala & Hansen take the Basmanic plunge and examine some of International Master Michael Basman's most remarkable victories with 1.g4 or 1...g5, along with some of his less successful tries, as well as some games by other occasional adherents, like Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura.

This should not become a cornerstone of your repertoire, but you are guaranteed a bunch of fun and entertaining games.