U Cannot Be Serious!

ADVANCED STRATEGY IN CHESS

This book is about co-author and international master Michael Basman, who has been a cutting-edge strategist on the chessboard since his early days as a tournament player and who has accumulated his share of teasing and scorn over the years. But it has been quite successful, so we can ask ourselves who was right, the teacher or his critics.

Former world champion Mikhail Botvinnik saw through the facade of the experimental game and named Basman a creative and talented player. But even on the British player's playing field, there was often a strong rejection of his chess playing. Interesting gains were described more than once as lucky and losses as the natural consequence of sins against chess. Even in the late 1970s, when Mike Basman was a household name in British chess, British Chess Magazine kept writing that he was "harming" himself by his unfortunate opening choices. An interesting exception to this trend was grandmaster Raymond Keene, who in 1982 wrote an extensive article on the Basman games of the Benedictine Masters in Manchester. He praised the strategic ideas but criticized the implementation. And he ended his article with an example of how these ideas might have found a place in one's own strategic arsenal.

Of course, as a kind of counterweight, cutting-edge chess has a cult of players who catch the spark of inspiration, study examples, and often copy ideas. Co-author Gerard Welling was an example of a player who borrowed some ideas from Michael Basman, and even went on to play 1.Nf3 h6 in a decisive match in the Dutch Championship semi-finals 36 years ago (I won and qualified). Studying experimental players can broaden your horizons and give you new ideas. Even a famous chess coach like Mark Dvoretsky has given this advice. So be critical, but keep an open mind!