The Spike or Grob Opening

The Spike or Grob Opening line begins with the strange appearing 1. g4. Most players would not think of making this move in a game of chess that they want to win. It damages king side pawns with an unguarded advanced pawn. The Grob opening does offer many tactical advantages for white though along unusual opening lines.

After using 1. g4, follow with 2. Bg2 and depending on your opponent's reactions, 3. c4. These odd moves will send your opponent's head reeling with trying to figure out what in the world you are thinking. Your opponent's may even think that you are obviously inexperienced and will not even take this opening, or you, seriously, which gives an automatic advantage.

One difficulty with playing chess against more experienced players is that they have a common response to common openings. Every time you use a certain opening they will respond with a certain defense that has worked for them in the past. This is where the Grob comes into play, since it is so unusual for someone to use it, opponents are often unsure of how to respond to it. The Grob opening is particularly useful in speed, or blitz, chess games.

The Grob is also effective in chess games that are not timed. The Swiss correspondence master Grob used his namesake to win many different correspondence games. In this case, a B-Class player defeated a strong master with the Grob. Try out this unusual opening in your games and see if you can make it work for you. It does give you, as white, certain tactical advantages whereby you can exploit blacks responses when your opponent is unsure of how to respond to such a different opening.



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1. Offense or Defense
2. God Save The Queen
3. Bluffing
4. Keep from Blocking Yourself
5. Middle or sides
6. Skewering and Pinning
7. Castling
8. Put your Pieces to Work
9. The Power of the Pawn
10. The Double Threat

21. End Game Ideas
22. Doubled Pawns
23. End Game Goals
24. Middle Game Tactics
25. Chart Your Progress
26. Deflection
27. Master An Opening
28. Chess Notation Part 1
29. Chess Notation Part 2
30. Chess Notation Part 3

41. The Classic Kings Pawn Opening
42. Chess Variants
43. Checkmate
44. Defend Yourself
45. Simplicity
46. Attack on the Kings Side
47. Play Against a Computer
48. Zwischenzug
49. Do Not Fret
50. Take Advantage of Your Opponents Doubled Pawns

61. Memorizing Openings
62. Winning a Won Game
63. You Are Going to Lose
64. Castling Ideas
65. A Winning Attitude
66. Develop Your Pieces
67. The Best Move
68. Ways to Protect an Attacked Piece
69. What is Your Opponent Trying to do?
70. When to Capture a Promoting Piece

81. Pinning
82. Plan Ahead
83. Retreat
84. Take a Risk
85. The Best Move 2
86. The Center of the Game
87. The Problem With Pawns
88. The Skewer
89. The Unopposed Bishop
90. Two Weaknesses

(more coming)

Other Chess Resources
11. The Trade Off
12. Three Types of Draws
13. The Strategic Sacrifice
14. Hidden Attacks
15. Understanding The Three Stages of a Chess Game
16. Four Move Checkmate
17. Use Your Moves Wisely
18. Utilizing Your Bishops
19. King Of The World
20. Pony Up


31. Join a Chess Club
32. Chess Etiquette
33. Pay Attention
34. Gambits
35. Have Your Game Analyzed
36. Long Term Thinking
37. Think Ahead
38. Watch Others
39. Learn from Grandmasters
40. The Spike or Grob Opening

51. The King as an Offensive Piece
52. Blockades
53. Chasing
54. Study Chess Problem Diagrams
55. Exchanging Pieces
56. Exploit Weaknesses
57. Learning About Bishops
58. Play the Board
59. The Lone Pawn
60. Why Play Speed Chess

71. When to Capture the Pinned Piece
72. Doing Nothing
73. Which Forked Piece to Capture
74. Explore Variety
75. Studying is Hard Work
76. Activity
77. Center Domination
78. Development
79. Pawns on the Third Rank
80. Piece Values

91. What is your opponent doing?
92. Chess History
93. Lack of Tempo

Books:
Chess History And Reminiscences
Chess Strategy