Conversations in the Club is our ongoing series introducing the people who make Edinburgh Chess Club the special place that it is. Each post offers a glimpse into the personalities, stories, and passions behind our community. Grab a coffee, take a seat, and let’s see who we meet today…
What is your name and playing strength?
Simon Gibson, intermediate.
What is your relationship to Edinburgh Chess Club?
I attend the University but this is where I play.
What do you love most about chess?
Weird Openings!
I have become obsessed with strange and unusual openings. It affords a new front of chess which has rarely been explored; which makes me feel like a great explorer setting sail to the new world. I would like to thank David Archibald, Edinburgh Chess Club historian, who helped nurse the flame of my interests in strange openings by lending and suggesting books for me to read on the topic.
My two favourite weird openings are the Grob and the St George/Polish defence. To which I have amassed a sizable collection of opening books which cover these topics.
Who is your favourite player/streamer?
Micheal Basman.
Based on the first answer, this would be a very reasonable guess. Basman’s play and openings are innovative, and is where my interest all began. The idea that one can play terrible opening moves, such as the Grob, and play seriously and win with them I consider very impressive. Thus, I devoted myself to the study of this style of play.
One night I came to the club for casual play, and I had the pleasure of meeting Chris Morrison, who has played Basman. In particular there is one game between them which has been published in three of my books on the Grob [Game for reference: Chris Morrison vs Michael Basman (1981) ]. I was playing my usual nonsense of g4 and whatnot, which got Chris talking about Basman and then he started showing me the game I have just referenced. We spent some time analysing, he was particularly passionate about a line at the end which showed he was better.
This is one of my favourite chess memories as it was a real pleasure to talk to such a strong player about his game. Especially as I had studied this game a few times so it was a particularly unique experience for me, for I felt like I had direct access to British chess history.
What is your favourite book/online course/learning resource?
U cannot be serious! Avant-Garde strategy in Chess by Michael Basman & Gerard Welling.
This was a wonderful first introduction to Basman play, for it provides close to two hundred wild games and it is something I have pencilled in heavily on the margins of this book. It covers a few tournaments he played in whereby he shows off his skills in winning with these strange openings against strong players, and as well presents detailed cover of a few of the openings he invented. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to know what on earth I am talking about, for some people look at my opening choice like Alice does with the Mad Hatter.
What advice would you give to fellow chess players?
Read chess books you enjoy. Do not just buy books for retail therapy, for it is tempting to buy a chess book in order to scratch the urge that you are doing something to help improve your chess, particularly I feel this urge with endgame study. As someone who has more than a hundred books in my collection, I will be honest in the ugly truth that I have not read all of them. But with chess books I have enjoyed, I have read and studied deeply and found I had gotten a lot out of it, simply because I could not put down the book.
Thanks Simon!