Is the Grob/Basman a con artists bogusoperandi, or is the line actually sound? The truthful answer is that the opening is a bit of both And we can call 1 g4 a good opening, the same way a mob member calls a hitman colleague a standup guy The engine already prefers Blacks chances after 1 g4, so nobody can honestly claim it is Whites optimal first move from an empirical standpoint But is it refuted? The answer is no, and what we nearly always get is a disorienting mess by the early middlegame In this volume, experienced authors Lakdawala Hansen take the Basmanic plunge and examine some of International Master Michael Basmans most remarkable victories with 1 g4 or 1 g5, along with some of his less successful tries, as well as some games by other occasional adherents, like Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura This should not become a cornerstone of your repertoire, but you are guaranteed a bunch of fun and entertaining games