If your opponent offers you a draw, try to work out why he thinks he's worse off.
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[Event "Chicago Lawn Open"]
[Site "Chicago"]
[Date "1987.06.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Tom Belke"]
[Black "Marvin Dandridge"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "David Hayes and Tom Belke"]
[BlackElo "2307"]
[ECO "A00"]
[TimeControl "0"]
[WhiteElo "1727"]
{ Contemporary analysts tend to highlight the down side of the <a
href="http://www.logicalchess.com/learn/lessons/openings/grob.html"
target="_blank">Grob</a> -- often quoting inferior White
moves to justify sweeping claims to a fool-proof "bust" of the opening.
However, even recent published Grandmaster analysis is imprecise in its
condemnation of the <a
href="http://www.logicalchess.com/learn/lessons/openings/grob.html"
target="_blank">Grob</a> in light of new possibilities for
white.|Unlike most other openings, there is no way for black to avoid the
<a
href="http://www.logicalchess.com/learn/lessons/openings/grob.html"
target="_blank">Grob</a> after white's first move: 1.
g4!?. Every basic concept of piece placement and positional play must be
reevaluated in the <a
href="http://www.logicalchess.com/learn/lessons/openings/grob.html"
target="_blank">Grob</a> due to the peculiarities of the
unique positions that arise in the opening. The resulting psychological shock
to black players in amateur tournament play is phenomenal.|Even masters
succomb to the mistakes that frequently occur in over-the-board competition.
Black tends to play out of his opening repetoire and white reaps the
benefits. In amateur competition, these benefits generally take the form of a
pronounced positional advantage for White due to black's opening errors, a
considerable time advantage for white due to black's over-the-board opening
analysis, or both.|Over the years, I've had many wins, including a couple
10 move wins in a National Open against an A player and a C player. The game
that follows occurred in 1987 when I was driving East through Chicago on the
way to my next submarine homeported on the East Coast. I saw the Chess Life
Tournament Life Announcement for the Chicago Lawn Open, stopped by, and ended
up getting paired against the #1 player in Round 1 -- Life Master/Senior
Master Marvin Dandridge. Back then Marvin was rated 2307 and I was a B
player. He's now rated 2278 and remains one of the Midwest's strongest
players. Experienced master's aren't supposed to lose to B players. Marvin,
unintimidated, ventured headlong into the classical <a
href="http://www.logicalchess.com/learn/lessons/openings/grob.html"
target="_blank">Grob</a> mainline variation. However, I
was seriously booked up on the Grob -- having 5 books on the opening -- and
later wrote one myself. This illustrates the home court advantage of knowing
chess theory coupled with a generous supply of manna from heaven.
Afterwards, Marvin said he knew the <a
href="http://www.logicalchess.com/learn/lessons/openings/grob.html"
target="_blank">Grob</a> well, even used to play it. He
was quite gracious in his post-mortem commentary. } 1. g4 { A00: Irregular
Openings } 1... d5 2. Bg2 Bxg4 3. c4 c6 { White attacks both black's d-pawn directly
and black's b-pawn and Queen's Rook indirectly along the long diagonal. Black
has several responses to choose from. In this game we see the natural 3... c6
trying to blunt the long diagonal. This is one of the most popular ways of
defending against the Grob, because black both captures the g-pawn and
momentarily maintains the illusion that he can keep it indefinitely for a
permanent advantage. } 4. cxd5 Nf6 5. Qb3 Qc7 6. Nc3 e6 7. h3 Bf5 8. e4 Bg6 9. dxe6 Na6 10. d4 Nb4 11. exf7+ Bxf7 { The passed pawn on e4 is a dangerous
weapon. } 12. Qd1 O-O-O 13. Nge2 h6 { Controls g5 to avoid Bg5 and all its
complications. } 14. a3 Na6 15. Bf4 { White prepares e5 } 15... Qd7 16. Rc1 Nh5 { This
move may seem a bit odd, but black wants to develop his bishop to d6.
However, if he does so immediately, then e5 would fork both the bishop and
knight on f6, and all would be lost. So he removes the knight from the
center of play. } 17. Bh2 { White chooses to keep his bishop with pressure on
black's king. } 17... Bd6 18. e5 Bc7 19. Qa4 g5 20. Ne4 Bd5 21. Nd6+ Bxd6 22. Bxd5 Bb4+ 23. axb4 Qxd5 24. O-O Nf4 25. Nxf4 gxf4 26. Bxf4 Rhg8+ 27. Bg3 Qxd4 { Black's strongly centralized queen threatens both Rxg3+ and Qxe5 based on
the pins against white's king. } 28. Kh2 { Black can complicate matters now
with 28... Qxb2 29. Rxc6+! Kb8 30. e6+ (not 30. Rxh6 Rxg3 31. Qa1 Qxb4) 30...
Rxg3 31. e7 (31. Kxg3?? Qe5+ 32. Kg2 Qe4+ (32... bxc6?! 33. Qxc6 (33. Qxa6??
(if White takes the knight he will lose) 33... Qg5+ 34. Kh1 Qf5) 33... Nc7
34. e7 Qxe7 35. Rc1) 33. Kh2 Qf4+ (33... Qxc6 34. Qxc6 bxc6 35. f4) 34. Kh1
Qf3+ 35. Kh2 bxc6 (35... Qxc6 36. Qxc6 bxc6 37. f4)) 31... Rg2+ 32. Kxg2 Qg7+
33. Kh1 Qxe7 34. Rc3 (34. Rxh6? (is no good) 34... Qe2 35. Rg1 Qe4+ 36. Rg2
Rg8) 34... Qe4+ 35. Kg1) } 28... Rdf8 29. Qb3 h5 $2 { Instead, 29... Qxb4 30. Qe6+
Kb8 31. Qxh6 Qxb2 32. e6+ Ka8 leaves white with a dangerous advanced passed
pawn. } 30. Qe6+ Kb8 31. Qd6+ { Black's powerful queen must be exchanged away. } 31... Qxd6 32. exd6 { The passed pawn on d6 is very dangerous. } 32... Kc8 33. Rcd1 Kd7 { A
king blockade is easily broken. } 34. Rfe1 Rf7 35. Re4 Rgg7 36. Bh4 c5 37. Re7+ Kc6 38. d7 1-0