Statistics are important, but you also have to consider the players involved. At this point, the consensus is that 1 g4 is unsound (the kingside thrust comes way too early), and my guess is that if 2700+ players started using it against each other, Black would be winning a much higher percentage.
Then again, IM Michael Basman has had some nice games with it.
Below the master level, anything is playable. With most openings, even unsound ones, the player who knows the opening better will have an advantage. So there are players who use this opening and do well with it, but theoretically, it's not very good.
The only game I know of where two grandmasters played with this opening was an exhibition game between Karpov and Susan Polgar. Former Soviet Premier Gorbachev made the ceremonial first move and chose 1. g4. Apparently, Karpov tried to talk him into changing it to something better, but he really liked that move, so Karpov was forced to play it out. According to Polgar's description of the game (it was a fast game, so the moves weren't recorded), she had the better position (as black), when she got distracted by Gorbachev pouring water for the players or something like that. She lost her concentration and Karpov eventually won.
--Fromper
"Just out of curosity I looked it up on www.chessgames.com and found that there database only has 234 games where white played 1.g4, however white won 59.8%,lost 29.5%, and drew the other 10.7%... so maybe it's best to say that 1.g4 is unclear?"
If you look closely, you'll notice the statistics are skewed by Bloodgood's prison massacres against lesser opponents.
C.Bloodgood-W.Waymire, Prison 1960:
1.g4 d5 2.Bg2 Bxg4 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Qb3 Qc8 6.Bxd5 Nc6 7.Bxf7+ Ke7
8.Bxg8 Rxg8 9.Qxg8 Nd4 10.Qc4 1-0
In the past 10 years, the Grob's scored 39% wins, 18% draws, and 43% losses. It's best to say it's unsound, but playable at the club level.
I've played g4 in several games on this site hoping for my opponent to follow this line but nobody has taken it. I've also tried a number of times in blitz games on playchess.com without anybody following. If anyone is interested in the Grob I recommend reading the e-book "The Tactical Grob" by Claude Bloodgood. You can find it here: http://www.chessville.com/downloads/misc_downloads.htm
my opinion , it's a very fun opening to play and can win games because :
1.nobody prepares as black against the grob ...
2.in blitz people do tend to make easier mistakes (with this opening even faster because they think you're a newbie)
3.the strange positions coming from the grob can be very annoying to someone who is used to normal classic openings .
4.people complain that it's weak because it weakens the kingside , but most people don't even know how to punish it.
btw, i hate doing something because everyone else does it to . I like playing ruy lopez , but it's no point playing that against someone who learns all the variations from it and has only played that since he/she was a beginner .
it seems that all theory has to say on the Grob Attack are lines with 1... d5 will control center and attack the pawn, but going after the pawn opens up the attack on you. it seems to me that 1...e6 should be good. kind of like saying, "ok white just wasted a move, now i'm going to play like i'm white."
The eBook based on Bloodgood's Tactical Grob is in ChessBase format and has a good number of games that Bloodgood played. I wrote Grob's Attack that included everything is Bloodgood's book, as well as Henri Grob's original book and Michael Basman's book and cassette tapes. It is dated now (written in 1988), but it included every Grob game I could find in print at the time. You may find the book at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Grobs-Attack-Bill-Wall/dp/093146286X) or eBay, or just buy one of the CDs or DVDs that have milliions of games and search for 1.g4. I might add some 1.g4 collections to the www.chess.com downloads later.
I know a guy who uses the Grob as his main opening and he usually wins!
The gromper 1.g4?is a bad move.S
Huh? If no first moves in chess are unsound, then that means all first moves are, in fact, sound. Sorry, but I don't buy it.
I've noticed a lot of posts about this opening mostly people claiming that it is not a good opening for white. I have never played this opening, and I have never played against it. I have also not studied this move at all, so I do not claim to know if it is good, bad, or questionable. Admittadly if I where black and I saw this move I would consider it questionable, but again I have not studied it so saying that is just my "first impression" of the move. Just out of curosity I looked it up on www.chessgames.com and found that there database only has 234 games where white played 1.g4, however white won 59.8%,lost 29.5%, and drew the other 10.7%. The database at chessbase.com turned up 2000 games after 1.g4 (it only displays 2000 games at a time) and by my count white won 38.4%, lost 39.45 and drew 22.15% so maybe it's best to say that 1.g4 is unclear? I will look for other databases and post the results in the future. Here is a nice short game played by Henry Grob
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