U Cannot Be Serious!: Avant-Garde Strategy in Chess

Co-author Michael Basman has been reputed to be an original and independent chess player and thinker for the whole of his chess career. However, around 1978 he mobilized his creativity to develop new ways in chess strategy, based on a personal set of avant-garde opening systems such as the St.George (early b4.. of ..b5) and Grob (early g4.. or ..g5).  Consistently employing his new ideas, a whole new system of chess playing gained recognition among his colleagues, and generated a cult following among chess amateurs. Around 1990 Mike took the next step by creating the Global opening and it's pincer movements from the flanks. This constituted the final stage in the ultra-hyper-modern school of flank-strategy that he started 12 years earlier. Pressed by popular demand, Mike Basman has written several popular works on his ideas such as 'St. George's opening', 'The Killer Grob' and 'The Global opening' but these bestsellers have gone out of print a long time ago.  So both authors felt it was about time to revive interest in the “Basmanic” school of chess.  Mike has supplied most of the material, and co-author Gerard has accepted the task (as a former cult-follower in his younger days) to do a critical selection and examination of everything available. We hope that 2021, the year that Mike Basman turns 75, will see a revival of  Basman's avant-garde ideas in chess among players of the new generations.  

About the Author :
Michael James Basman was born on the 16th of March 1946 in London, England. Studied history at Leeds university and continued his academic career in Yerevan around 1970. Mike spent some part of his professional life in the 1970ies as a public servant at the Chessington computer center. But soon his restless mind led him to other directions, such as the creation of 'Audio Chess' ,  a method he devised to tutor chess by means of audio-tapes. There have been many chess career peaks like the shared first place in the British chess championship 1973 but it makes little sense to list them all due to space considerations ;-)  . Most telling for Mike's potential were perhaps that he drew games – from a position of  strength – with former World champions Michael Botvinnik and Michael Tal. The only reason that he does not hold a 50% score against former world champions is that he declined a draw by perpetual check against Smyslov, and was duly punished for it. In the 1990-ties, Michael Basman started the UK Chess challenge, and from that day on has more or less focused on junior chess and chess tuition.   Gerard Welling was born on the 3rd of April 1959 in Veldhoven, the Netherlands.  Graduated as a historian at Utrecht University he has spent his professional life as a business analyst on banking-reporting. Practicing  chess as a major hobby he completed the requirement for the International Master title in 1992. Gerard has been a regular participant in Dutch, Belgian and German leagues but his focus of activity has been mainly on international opens during holidays. Chess career peaks have been first places (some shared) in a couple of opens, such as the Biel Major open 1979, Amstelveen open 1983, Noteboom open Leiden 1984, Lyngby open 1989,  Dresden open 2001 etc. and a few dozen IM-norms. In his junior days he has been Dutch U-20 blitz champion in 1978 but has given up speed chess a long time ago.  

Review :
Nu ligt er sinds vorige week een boek van Welling in de winkel met de intrigerende titel “U cannot be serious”. Uitgegeven door Thinkers Publishing uit België. Een prachtig initiatief van eigenaar Daniël Vanheirzeele, al in de jaren ’80 lid van HMC en nu ook al weer jaren lang spelend in ons tweede team. Het boek is een eerbetoon aan Michael Basman, een maand na diens 75e verjaardag. Wie is deze Michael Basman? Geboren in 1946 was hij in de jaren ’60 een van de topjunioren van Engeland. Later gedeeld eerste in het Engels kampioenschap van 1973 en actief in toptoernooien zoals Hastings waar hij in de loop der jaren remise speelde tegen de wereldkampioenen Botvinnik en Tal en grootmeesters als Adorjan, Miles, Planinc en Ulf Andersson zelfs versloeg. In de zomer van 1978 volgde een radicale breuk in zijn aanpak van de opening. Onder druk van de aanstormende Britse toptalenten Miles, Speelman, Nunn en anderen besloot hij alleen nog maar opstellingen met b2-b4 en g2-g4 met wit en …b7-b5 en …g7-g5 met zwart te spelen. En een tiental jaar later kwam de volgende stap:  a2-a3 en h2-h3 of met zwart …a7-a6 en …h7-h6, wat Basman ‘The Global Opening’ noemt. Dat dieet houdt hij nu al meer dan 40 jaar vol. In dit nieuwe boek schetst Welling een compleet beeld van de openingswereld van Michael J Basman. Voor clubspelers die eens wat anders willen is het smullen geblazen. Bijna 300 bladzijden vol met zorgvuldig uitgekozen partijen en openingsfragmenten van één speler. Ik heb in mijn leven al duizenden openingsboeken gezien, maar deze is echt nergens mee te vergelijken. Of om in wielertermen te spreken: van de buitencategorie! Welling had dankzij de samenwerking met Basman zelf de beschikking over eindeloos veel partijmateriaal en in jarenlange arbeid is wat hij het kaf vindt gescheiden van het koren. Wat overbleef is een schatkist vol ideeën. Rene Olthof – New In Chess YB Editor April 2021.